Vacation ... Sweet Vacation ...

Last week we packed up the troops and headed out to North Carolina for a lovely little vacation.   We chose Bald Head Island for this one.  We'd never been there before (heck, we'd never even heard of the place before) but I did a Google search for private quiet beautiful beaches and BHI was one of the listings that came up.  After a little bit of research (or maybe many long nights of constant Googling) we picked a house, made the necessary arrangements, and hit the road.

We left on a Friday afternoon after we picked Sarah up from camp.  It's a 14 hour drive ... assuming you never stop ... so we made plans to spend the night in Beckley, WV.  It worked out well.

On Saturday, we finished the drive and arrived at the brand-spankin-new one-month-old Deep Point Marina in Southport, NC with plenty of time to spare.  I was in love with the idea that Bald Head is a no-cars island.  We had to catch a ferry to the island and then a little shuttle to the rental house.  It was pretty easy, except that I didn't realize how early we should have called to make our ferry reservations and we ended up with a choice of 2:00 (which we felt was to rush-y rush-y to get to on time) or a 5:00 ferry.  However, the 5:00 only had four seats left and, in case you haven't noticed, there are FIVE of us.  The ferry guy said, "No problem.  Just hold a kid on your lap and we'll be fine."  So, that was our plan.

Luckily, we came to learn that the ferry is a little bit loosey-goosey about their rules and there was plenty of space for us.  No laps necessary.  (On the way home, we got on an earlier ferry by accident and no one even cared!)

We've rented vacation homes a handful of times now and each time it makes me a nervous wreck.  I know, as much as anyone, that photos can be deceiving.  Plus, if you've never been to a place, how are you to know if your house is in a good location?  How are we to know if it's as nice as they claim?  How are we to know that the neighbors don't suck?  Blah blah blah.  

This time, it worked out just fine.  After a whole week of exploring, we think that our house was in the best spot.  It was exactly what we wanted: a house so close to the beach that we could just run in and out at our leisure and not worry about packing and hauling our junk back and forth.

I loved having golf carts to ride around in -- our house came with two of them.  The kids seemed to love everything.  The sea shell filled beach, the calm waves, the warm water, and a million other things.

We had a relaxing and fun week.  I packed lots of board games for when we were sick of the beach and, thanks to Paige and her endless imagination, the kids had plenty of made-up adventures to have.

It really was a great vacation.  We will go back.  For sure.

If you'd like to see lots and lots of pictures, you can CLICK HERE.  I posted them all on our website because it's easier than posting them here.

Happy day!

Princess and The Pea?

Macaroni & Cheese, Please

Because we seem to have some crazy compulsion for collecting pets, we agreed today to 'rescue' two albino frogs from our friends.  

Our friends bought them before they realized that the frogs would eat all of the fish in their tank.  Instead of dumping the little suckers in a pond ... and because (I assume) no one else wanted them, I agreed to take them.  How much work can a few frogs be, right?  (Check back with me in a few months!)

The kids are thrilled.  We brought the frogs home in an old butter tub -- without the butter, of course -- and carefully moved them into one of our old hamster tanks.  We bought some pretty rocks and a fancy pagoda/bridge thingy-ma-do-hickey and went to town decorating the tank.  

Macaroni and Cheese seem very happy in their new home.  Truman and Tucker seem like they might spend the rest of their lives trying to figure out how to order up a nice tray of frog legs for lunch.  Riley doesn't care about them at all.

Stay tuned for more news from the farm....

New Photos Online

I have been getting complaints from everyone about how many posts I have NOT been making.  We have been busy with company and traveling and camps and summertime fun.  Instead of getting online, I've been doing other things. 

Because I'll never get around to making of lots of posts here ... I posted pictures from all of our recent adventures on our website.  You can see them HERE.

Enjoy!

-Becky

June In a Nutshell

Yes ... yes, I know.  

I was a blog neglector for the month of June.  

It's true.  

It's criminal.  

My, how time flies!

We had a lot going on in June ... the official beginning of nice weather, the end of the school year, a sleepover at the zoo, a visit from Aunt Cheeky and her gang, a trip to St. Louis to surprise Poppy for his BIG birthday, and a solo vacation for the kids at Grammie and Poppy's house.  

Why I didn't manage to find time to post to the blog is beyond me, but it happened.

To catch up, I'll try to impress you with a pile of photos.  Enjoy!

Nate and Luca had a lemonade stand:

Truman spent his days trying to eat Buddy:

We made delicious homemade granola as Thank You gifts for our teachers:

Truman tried to escape:

Nate Graduated from Preschool:

Nate earned his red/black belt in karate:

The girls had their last day of school:

Sarah, Paige, and I (along with our whole Girl Scout troop) had a sleepover at the zoo:

After the zoo trip, Cheeky, Hayden, and Sabine came to visit.  

I have WAY too many pictures to put here so I'll give them their own posting.

I hope you enjoyed this abbreviated trip through June 2009!

Cheerio!

About the Kittens ....

Paige loves cats.  She always ALWAYS has.  We all know this.  

She was pregnant with a litter of imaginary kittens for just about seven of the nine months I was pregnant with Nate.  Keep in mind that she was only 20 months old when Nate was BORN.  After seven months of imaginary pregnancy she came to me and said, "Momma, these kitties need to come out!"  And so, Lollypop, Lollypop, Lollypop, Lollypop, and Suzie Snowflake were born.  

We had that litter of imaginary cats living with us for a very long time.  As a matter of fact, we still have an occasional mention of those cats.  

Now that she's older, she's moved on to reading books about cats.  She has lots.  She stays up at night looking at cat pictures and memorizing the names of the breeds of a bunch of cats that are on a cat placemat that's hanging on her bedroom wall (thanks, Grammie!).  She brings her books to me and tells me which cat she wants and why.

Until recent months, I've been able to brush off any cat-buying requests by explaining that I'm allergic.  It worked just fine.  I don't know what changed, but for several months she has been ignoring my allergies and really pushing the cat thing.  She's Paige, so she asks in a super sweet hard-to-resist way.  Please, Momma, Please can I get a kitty?  Momma, I would really love it if I had a kitty like THIS one (pointing at page 92 of her cat encyclopedia).  

We bought Sam Johnson and he seemed to help make her happy.  She carried him all around.  She slept with him.  She played with him.  She loved him.  

No more.

Now, she just really really really (I can't say it enough) wanted a cat.  A real live cat.

The other day I asked her why she couldn't just be happy with Sam Johnson.  She said that he is not REAL.  He is a stuffy and that's simply not the same thing.

I asked her what she would do with a real cat that she can't do with Sam Johnson.  She said, "If I had a real cat I would take care of it, I would love it, and I would name it Bob."

On many occasions I have taken her to Petsmart to look at the kittens there.  They are in cages and can not come out.  She doesn't care.  She will just kneel there in front of the cages and purr at them.  She talks to them.  She sings to them.  She learns their names and their ages and talks about how happy she would be to have one.  She was always willing to stay there as long as I was willing to wait.  It was sweet ... and sad at the same time.  Each time we left there talking about the cats and about how much she really wants one.

One day, my friend told me about how she is taking her daughter to volunteer at the Humane Society.  She said that it's a good way for her daughter to play with dogs and take care of them without actually having to buy one.  I thought it was a good idea.  

It wasn't.

On Friday, I took Paige to the Michigan Humane Society.  I thought that it would be a fun way for her to actually hold a cat (instead of staring at them through the cages at the store).  I also thought that I might ask about how we could volunteer to help out.

You can see where this story is going, right?  You know how this story ends.  It ends with a very happy girl.  It ends as the best day of her life.  It ends with Mommy and Paige sitting on the floor of a small room watching two small kittens romp around.  It ends with me looking at my girl's happy face and me hearing these words come out of my mouth, "So, Paigie, how would you feel about taking BOTH  of these kittens home with us?"  It ends with us BOTH being shocked at my suggestion.  And, then, it ends with my girl looking happier than I have ever seen her.  Then ... she buried her face in my belly and looked up at me to say, "I have never been so happy before that I had tears!  I'm crying tears of joy, Momma."

As we waited for the final paperwork to be completed and for the nice lady to bring us our kittens, Paige looked at me several times and said, "This is not a dream, right?  I'm not dreaming this.  This is REAL."

And now ... we have two kittens.  

Two adorable little kittens.  

Oh, happy day.

Click Here for More Kitty Pictures.

Introducing: Truman & Tucker

With tears of joy in her eyes, 

Paige declared today "The best day of my life!"  

Here's why....

I'll write more later.  Just thought you'd like to see them!

-Becky