Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Barnes Beach Vacation
We had an oceanfront Duplex in North Topsail. The weather was good, but the huge forest fire in North Carolina caused a few days of smoke, brown clouds, and ash on the beach. The girls played on the beach every single day and both loved the water. Claire was in the water within 10 minutes which was a HUGE difference from last year!! (No bribes to put her feet in the water this time around.) Of course that also meant not much sitting down and relaxing for the parents! Another favorite thing to do on the beach was hunt for sand crabs. They let Alison do the hunting and then they watched the little crabs and set them free back in the water!
In between beach time and hanging out in the house, the girls loved playing in the little pool on the deck (sometimes with bathing suits, sometimes without). Here's just a few of my favorite photos. I'm working on a slide show with more.
Rob, Claire, and I say a HUGE thank you to Bob and Coral for taking us this year. We had a blast!
Storytime with a real princess
OK, one more post out of order before I get to the beach stuff....
Yesterday I took Claire to a Princes Storytime at the library and met up with a couple other moms from our neighborhood playgroup. She was so excited to dress up and meet a "real princess."
This picture cracks me up. All the princesses (and spiderman) waited patiently for Belle to arrive.
And here she is. Real princess? I'll let you be the judge.
Yesterday I took Claire to a Princes Storytime at the library and met up with a couple other moms from our neighborhood playgroup. She was so excited to dress up and meet a "real princess."
This picture cracks me up. All the princesses (and spiderman) waited patiently for Belle to arrive.
And here she is. Real princess? I'll let you be the judge.
Claire was into it for the first 15 minutes or so - Belle sang a couple songs and started reading Beauty and the Beast. Let me tell you, that is a long book. And it's especially long when you let the kids come up and say a line in the microphone (and then each kid hurls the microphone onto the floor so it makes a loud thud). She (and I) lost interest after a while and we snuck out a few minutes early. Otherwise it was a really cute, fun, and FREE activity for the morning!
It's a...
BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See the resemblance?
So far everything looks healthy, but the stubborn little guy refused to change positions so I have to go back for more pictures in 2 weeks. (He's in a breech position and she couldn't get a good picture of the heart.) She did however, tell us with 100% certainty that he is indeed a boy - and we saw the proof!
After the appointment I went home for a few minutes before work so that I could tell Mom and Claire in person. I gave Claire a Big Sister bracelet that says "it's a boy" and explained that she would have a brother. Rob and I have been enjoying telling everyone today and debating about names. Sorry, we're not telling! ;-)
Friday, June 17, 2011
What a difference a year makes!
About this time last year, I was dropping Claire off for summer session at preschool for the first time. Looking back, my blog post is a little more cheery than I remember it. Truthfully, she did love it but she also cried every single morning that I dropped her off. Same thing in the fall and it took a couple months to get past that! This summer things were SO different! She just finished up a week of summer camp called Commotion in the Ocean (the perfect thing before we gear up for our beach trips this summer!) Each morning she was so excited to go to school and would jump out of the car and run into her class room. I was so proud of how much more confident she was this time around. She had a blast all week with new teachers and new friends (and a few from her class this past year). Her buddy Jacob from our playgroup came this week too and everyday she would ask to make sure Jacob was going to be there. She had a great week! We're looking forward to another week of summer session in July!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Zoo Day
We've been wanting to take Claire to the DC zoo for a long time and at the last minute this weekend we decided the weather looked decent and we should give it a shot! Mom and Dad joined us for the adventure....and it was definitely an adventure. Instead of driving into the city and parking there, we wanted to try the metro. I had some great tips from friends and we figured out exactly what we needed to do - should be simple. Except we had NO IDEA that it would take 2 hours from the time we parked in Springfield until we actually got to the zoo! The sign said the metro ride would take 45 minutes, but even with an extra change of trains due to work on the metro line we thought maybe an hour tops. Luckily we weren't in any rush! (And thank goodness Claire never had to go potty....I have no idea what we would have done. I was bad enough - don't tell a pregnant lady she can't use the bathroom for over 2 hours!)
Claire thought the train was really fun. I wasn't sure how she'd handle it, but she loved it - especially when the train was outside (not as much when underground) Her face was priceless when the train first started moving - she kept saying "wheeee! this is fun!" Once we got closer into the city the trains became more and more crowded. There was also a Race for the Cure going on so hundreds of extra people were all trying to get on the metro. There were a few scary moments of being pushed and shoved and crammed into the train like a sardine!
So after a 2 hour car ride, 3 trains, and a half mile walk, we finally made it to the zoo! It was a gorgeous day and I was so glad we decided to do it.
One of the coolest exhibits the zoo has is the Orangutan "O-Line" - a travel system for the orangutans to go back and forth between ape houses. Unfortunately we didn't get to see one go across it.
They had these great misters to cool off in.
She's checking out some naked mole rats running through the tube. They were pretty weird looking - they kind of looked like....well, nevermind.....let's just say they looked weird.
I was honestly kind of disappointed that we didn't get to see some of the animals. The elephant house was closed for construction as well as several others. We felt a little jinxed - every time we'd go to see an animal, we'd see it for a few seconds and then it would go inside or curl up to take a nap. We saw the panda and the lion very briefly and only 1 of the 7 lion cubs. I actually think there are more animals to be seen at the Richmond zoo! But either way, it was so pretty in DC and I was still very happy we went.
This giant ant eater was really cool
Our favorite was the gorilla exhibit. We saw 4 of them outside and then later inside we got to see the baby gorilla playing - he was adorable.
Claire thought the train was really fun. I wasn't sure how she'd handle it, but she loved it - especially when the train was outside (not as much when underground) Her face was priceless when the train first started moving - she kept saying "wheeee! this is fun!" Once we got closer into the city the trains became more and more crowded. There was also a Race for the Cure going on so hundreds of extra people were all trying to get on the metro. There were a few scary moments of being pushed and shoved and crammed into the train like a sardine!
So after a 2 hour car ride, 3 trains, and a half mile walk, we finally made it to the zoo! It was a gorgeous day and I was so glad we decided to do it.
One of the coolest exhibits the zoo has is the Orangutan "O-Line" - a travel system for the orangutans to go back and forth between ape houses. Unfortunately we didn't get to see one go across it.
They had these great misters to cool off in.
She's checking out some naked mole rats running through the tube. They were pretty weird looking - they kind of looked like....well, nevermind.....let's just say they looked weird.
I was honestly kind of disappointed that we didn't get to see some of the animals. The elephant house was closed for construction as well as several others. We felt a little jinxed - every time we'd go to see an animal, we'd see it for a few seconds and then it would go inside or curl up to take a nap. We saw the panda and the lion very briefly and only 1 of the 7 lion cubs. I actually think there are more animals to be seen at the Richmond zoo! But either way, it was so pretty in DC and I was still very happy we went.
This giant ant eater was really cool
Our favorite was the gorilla exhibit. We saw 4 of them outside and then later inside we got to see the baby gorilla playing - he was adorable.
I think we all had our fingers crossed it would be a smoother trip back to the car, but it still took 2 hours. We were a very tired group! We stopped for dinner (thanks Dad!) and made it back home safe and sound. Very long and exhausting day, but worth it!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
School's out for Summer!
Tuesday morning was Claire's last day of preschool for the year. Here she is ready to go....seems like just last week that we were taking pictures on the first day of school!!
The parents were invited to come later in the morning to watch the kids sing songs and have a popsicle party. When I got to the classroom, I saw this poster (they always have a question of the day that the kids answer.) Claire said she felt sad on the last day of school!
They sang about 5 or 6 songs that they had learned during the year. Claire loves the songs and sings them all at home, but doesn't sing along with the group yet. She just likes to do the hand motions and dance to the music!
It was a super hot day so we all sat in the shade for popsicles and to say goodbye to teachers and friends. Here she is with her 2 teachers
One last time to run around with her friends and it was time to go! Now what am I going to do on Tuesday and Thursday mornings?! (Luckily we have 2 weeks of summer session coming up and a week of vacation bible school!)
The parents were invited to come later in the morning to watch the kids sing songs and have a popsicle party. When I got to the classroom, I saw this poster (they always have a question of the day that the kids answer.) Claire said she felt sad on the last day of school!
They sang about 5 or 6 songs that they had learned during the year. Claire loves the songs and sings them all at home, but doesn't sing along with the group yet. She just likes to do the hand motions and dance to the music!
It was a super hot day so we all sat in the shade for popsicles and to say goodbye to teachers and friends. Here she is with her 2 teachers
One last time to run around with her friends and it was time to go! Now what am I going to do on Tuesday and Thursday mornings?! (Luckily we have 2 weeks of summer session coming up and a week of vacation bible school!)
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