OBX Aug.2010 Part 2

We went swimming just about every day. Maddox was swimming all over the pool in her ring and wings without anyone touching her. Always nearby though! She's finally figured out how kicking can get her places. No, we didn't make her go into the pool with her ring AND wings, she wanted them all on because they were new to her. Poor Hadlee didn't get to swim at all. I took a swimming suit for her but found it was just easier to not mess with it. She was usually camped out in the shade in her carseat. She didn't know what she was missing. I'll probably let Hads swim in Cleveland next month or in FL if we go after Christmas. Two months was a little young anyway and still a little wobbly head. At that age she would only have been in up to her waist probably. Our afternoon at Nag's Head we had to build a proper sandcastle.

We left Nag's Head to drive down Highway 12, down Hatteras Island to spend the night in Hatteras Village. On the way we stopped at beaches and lighthouses. The beaches along Hatteras were so great! You could drive out on them but we brought Jeremy's Sonata and not my Escape so we didn't. They're also not commercialized. Just beaches and people that have driven out on them. No hotels, houses, stores, nothing. It was so nice. And it was Jeremy's favorite beach with high tide and huge waves. Maddox and I? Not so much. This is Bodie (pronounced body) Lighthouse, under renovation.

This one is Hatteras Lighthouse, the one you can pay to go up to the top. We talked it up with Maddox, got her so excited about going up. She kept saying "I want to climb the lighthouse!" (And still says that now that we're home.) We found out when we got there that no one under 42" could go up and you can't carry anyway. So neither kid could go so we couldn't go at all. It was a real bummer. This is my absolute favorite lighthouse. It is SO gorgeous and had the perfect blue sky behind it. I took a ton of pictures which I have no use for now. There's a little tiny group of people in the grass posing in front of it . . . that's us. The only family picture on the vacation we're the size of smurfs.

The next day we got up early to take the 40 min. ferry ride to Ocracoke and spend a little time there.

We stopped to look at the wild ponies on Ocracoke which are now gathered and penned up. Not so wild anymore I guess? Then we went to the beach for a couple of hours. This was my favorite beach. A much calmer surf, low tide, and nothing to see but sand and water for miles. Again, no houses or hotels, just beach. This is actually the only place I got in the ocean further than my knees. I got all the way in up to my chest and even got my hair wet jumping a wave! That's impressive for me. There's critters in there. Sharks, sting rays, fish! I don't tell Maddox that though. If she's going to be afraid of the ocean it won't be because of me. I went for a walk for about an hour and when I came back I couldn't find Jeremy's legs anymore!

While I walked Daddy buried Maddox's legs too, but I guess she wanted to do it again herself in the shade.

This is Ocracoke Lighthouse in the village. There's not much to Ocracoke Village except shops and more shops. After exploring we caught our ferry back to the mainland to head to our last three nights in Atlantic Beach, NC.

The first morning in Atlantic Beach we went to the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores just down the road from the hotel. Maddox ran all over looking at everything.

My creature loving Maddox would not touch anything in the touch tanks. She was scared when I'd try to put her fingers near the water. Not even the horseshoe crabs shells of mollusks (the sting rays and skates were not so surprising). This is the same child who, the day before, was carrying a dead horseshoe crab around on the beach. I thought being a creature lover like me she'd be willing to at least try, but I guess not yet.

Just about every afternoon we were able to fit in a nap time for Maddox (and sometimes us). It's not hard to get her to sleep on a busy vacation where we spend most of our time outdoors!

Usually after naps we'd go to the beach or pool (and first thing in the morning) so we wouldn't be there in the heat of the day. Maddox and I dug a hole for her to get in. Or, in the next picture, lay across like a bridge.

What a hot guy! Who IS that? Oh yeah, my husband.

Our last night on vacation we went up the road to see Fort Macon which is an old pentagonal shaped brick fort built into the ground on the tip of the island. It's pretty cool looking. The thing Maddox is sitting on is actually where a cannon would sit and rotate on that metal track in the background. We told her it was a sit n spin and she kept saying "Mommy, it's broken." hee hee

We're attempting to learn how to play red light, green light.
Somewhere there's a picture of me sitting on a cannon on some vacation when I was a little older than Maddox is, so I wanted to take on of her doing it too. She's a lot cuter than I was. Especially on this rare night of lots of smiles. Maddox is usually so camera shy and gets a very serious face when you get the camera out.I also knew there was a free live concert there that night so after we wandered around and saw the sites we had a picnic dinner and enjoyed a live band outside. The stage was inside the pentagonal fort and people were sitting all over the grass and up above on the upper level of the fort. Some kids on the upper level started blowing big bubbles which made for lots of fun for the little girls below. It was a fun way to spend our last night. Maddox made a friend, Mckenzie, who danced with her all night and played Ring Around the Rosie with her.

Outside, listening to music . . . what else to do but take pictures of cute Hadlee on my lap. Really, this is only a few.

Time for Maddox to dance with her little sis!

We had such a nice vacation and made such great memories with our kids. I know, I didn't write much about Hadlee, but what did she do but tag along? Both girls were good sports about being on the go, slept well at nap time and night, and were great travellers. I enjoy, so much, showing my girls new places and things and making these memories with Jeremy. Now that I've explored the Outer Banks I just have to talk the rest of the Garrison clan that we need to rent a house out there for our next big family vacation! Are you reading this Lowes and Griggs? ;) Someday, someday . . .

July's End

Maddox loves to play with her Daddy. They have such a special bond and it's so cute to watch them together. She's always asking where he is if he's not at home and loves his days off so they can play together. Even though she still usually chooses Mom over Dad, her life would be perfect if we were all together all the time.

Check out our adorable daughters . . . it's still a little weird to say that . . . daughterS.

What an adorable face!

Apparently not the best place to take a nap. I guess she was REALLY tired.

We went over to see Grady one night and he was in the bath so Jenn said "Hop in Maddox!" It made my night really easy! And this way, Maddox didn't cry when we washed her hair and poured water on her head. She's braver with Grady around.

Little bums!

A little too tight Grady!

Dad hanging out with his girls.

A little Hadlee play time in the morning. She spends kots of her days naked. It's hot and she's comfortable.

"I refuse to smile on demand for any pictures Mom. But I'm still cute!"

We started potty training a week ago and she did surprisingly really well. I wasn't sure she was ready but she caught on quick! She goes most days without any accidents. She wears a diaper of course during naptime and nighttime and that's usually when she poops. She won't do that on the potty yet nor in her undies. If I put a diaper on her to go out she usually won't even go in it then. She'll go in the public restrooms and can hold it quite a while. She's not to the point where she'll tell me she needs to go, but as long as you put her on the potty every hour to hour and a half she's fine. Next week we'll be on vacation at the beach so we'll see how she does with no normalcy. We may be starting over!
Show me your big girl undies!

We leave Saturday for Nag's Head, drive down the outer banks to Hatteras, driving and taking the ferries back to Atlantic Beach! A whole week of vacation with just our own little family! Our vacations usually involve our families somehow so this will be fun to make memories with just the 4 of us. And the day after we get back Suzy and the kids come! Busy busy!!

4th of July Weekend

We camped out in our backyard this weekend! I wasn't sure I wanted to try camping with two little ones far away and besides, we were too late to book a spot anyway. So we set up the tent out in the yard back near the woods. Hadlee settled right into this experience.To make up for the fact that Grady wouldn't take Maddox for a ride on his tricycle earlier in the day I told Maddox that Daddy would take her for a ride on the big bike when he got home. They rode for about 25 minutes around the neighborhood and she loved it! She kept saying "Faster Daddy, Faster!"

Then it was time to blow up the air mattress for the old folks. Or just blow Maddox in the face.

10 O'clock, time for bed! Hadlee slept in her basinette beside me all bundled up and Maddox slept in her sleeping bag beside Jeremy. It was cold the first two nights! In the 50s. Jeremy thought he could sleep with just a sheet but he was freezing and Jessi who's always cold when we camp cuddled up to him on the mattress. We all even wore our winter pj's with socks.

Saturday morning we went to Kernersville for the parade. Maddox waved at everyone and collected lots of candy. Anyone need some? She's still asking to go to another parade.

After coming home for naps we loaded back up and drove to Burlington for their July 4th celebration. It was at a park that has little amusement rides for really cheap, they had bounce toys, hours of good live music to dance to, and then fireworks with a little orchestra accompaniment. Maddox loved the rides, enough to ride them twice: the 100 year old carousel, the planes, the boats, the cars, and a train ride. She even went on them by herself and was not afraid! I was a little surprised by that.

And poor Hadlee just hung out in the stroller.

Getting ready to watch some fireworks.

On Sunday we went to church where they had the 4th of July musical. It was really good! Sunday night we stayed home and set off our own fireworks in the street. In NC all you can legally buy are fountains but that was enough for a 2 year old. We also threw some poppers and had sparklers which she keeps asking for. We stayed up late again watching fireworks in NY and Boston on tv. After 3 late nights Maddox was VERY tired the last night. She slept in until almost 9am in the tent.

We had a great 4th of July and loved showing Maddox all the 4th of July traditions. Maybe next year Hadlee can appreciate it too. And now that we know both kids do very well in the tent 3 nights in a row we can actually go camping sometime!

Summer Days

It's been so hot here that Jessi's even willing to get in the pool and have water poured on her. It's been 10 degrees above normal since spring until last week when it was finally in the mid 80s and felt SO much cooler. Grady and Maddox checking out baby Hadlee.

Doing what they do best, resting.

The Ultimate Runner was a couple of weekends ago and of course it was about 94*. This is a race that you do 1600m, 400m, 800m, 100m, and a 5K in one evening. It's a limited field since it's all on a track. Jeremy finished 11th which was great considering he had a two day old cold! Top 15 get awards so somewhere in there was the goal and he did it!

The best investment we could have purchased before the race was this water spraying fan. Maddox played with it for hours and it felt great on all of us. I even layed Hadlee out on the blanket and pointed the little fan at her to keep her cool.

Maddox's new thing is riding the back of the tricycle while Grady does all the work. He's been wanting her to do it for a month now and she was always afraid. Now she finally will do it, all the time, and Grady's about tired of it. He doesn't want to take her for a ride ever anymore! Then Maddox cries and cries.

Just a butterfly picture . . . Maddox wanted to chase it all over the flower garden.

My neighbor Amanda had a baby boy, Caleb, 3 weeks after Hadlee was born so here I am holding them both. We spend most of our mornings hanging out in Amanda's driveway because she's home with a 1 year old and sometimes Grady, who lives across the street, is home too. Amanda's got a garage full of toys that's always enticing to these kids. The neighbor next door to her will have a baby boy soon too, about another 3 weeks older than Caleb! We were all busy around August last year!