Nature Museum with Cousin Carl!

Last week, we took my mom, my Aunt Donna, and her grandson (our cousin) Carl to the Nature Museum.  The kids had fun showing everything to Carl.  Afterwards we all had lunch at Moe's, which made everybody happy!

 

What a fun day!

Gracie chillin by the pool...

Mountain Trip!

Last week, we took my parents to the mountains for a four day vacation. We had a wonderful time!

My parents, the kids and I drove up on Friday. We arrived at the cabin in mid afternoon and my mom went with me to get groceries shortly thereafter.  Once we got settled, we had dinner and played together before bedtime. Steven was unable to ride up with us because he had a business trip in New Jersey for the day. His flight was scheduled to arrive in Charlotte at 10:30 PM and then he was planning to drive to the cabin from there. However there were several delays and he did not arrive in Charlotte until 1:30 AM!  He was so ready to join us that he went ahead and drove up to the mountains. He arrived around 4:00 AM!  I was relieved when he finally made it there!

The next morning Steven slept in until almost 10 AM! He also caught a nap later in the day.  

We went into town on Saturday to visit the farmers market. We also had lunch at Smoky Mountain barbecue, one of our favorite restaurants.  The rest of our trip was filled with family time which included playing on the swing over the creek, resting, reading, roasting marshmallows, roasting weenies, and eating lots of meals together.

We also enjoyed visiting The Honey Hole store. This is a beekeeping supply store that we enjoy visiting when we to go to the mountains. Steven has been interested in beekeeping for quite a while, and we decided to begin our adventure this year.  After asking lots of questions on Saturday, we came back Tuesday to purchase the beginner beekeeping kit.  We were pleasantly surprised when the storekeeper told us that she would have real live bees arriving later that afternoon! So we went home, packed our things, and headed to dinner. After dinner and on our way home we picked up our bees!  

We purchased a nucleus, which is a box of bees that includes five frames, a queen bee, and 4000 worker bees!

While we were certainly very excited to get our bees, the highlight of our trip was spending so much quality family time together. It truly was an opportunity to rest, get refreshed, and have lots of fun together!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Playtimes with Gabby!

Gabby is one of the kids' best buddies!  We try to have a play date with her (and her mom, my friend Jennifer) every week.  Here are some pictures from our recent play dates!

Random Family Pics!

It's Pool Season!!

Memorial Day 2013

We took the kids to Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury for Memorial Day. They enjoyed it so much! We had a picnic, rode on a little train and a carousel, visited a petting zoo and a mini-zoo, and paddle boated (well, Steven and the big kids did!). SO much fun! Then we ended the trip with a visit to Sweet Frog and later some hot dogs on the grill.

First trip to Carowinds for the season!

We got Carowinds season passes again this year, and the kids couldn't be more thrilled. We took them on the Sunday before Memorial Day for a short trip to get Elise's pass (she was free last year) and ride a bit. It was crowded but we still had a good time. The kids loved riding the sky tower and the carousel. Isaac and Steven rode the windsurfer ride while I took Elise to ride on the airplanes. Then we left for a Japanese dinner of chicken, rice and veggies.

Here's to a season of FUN!