Monday, June 13, 2016

NC Zoo

This is a bit overdue, but a few weeks ago we hit the NC Zoo and had a great time.  First, we hit the weather lottery, with hardly any humidity!  And we kicked off the trip trying something new (well, new to us).   You can pay a small fee for the chance to stand on a raised platform to feed giraffes at their level.  You aren't supposed to actually pet the giraffes, and I wasn't inclined to, but you so could have!  In fact, if you were really quick, you might even be able to shimmy down the neck of one and go for a ride, but who wants to get kicked out of the zoo right after paying admission?


The big kids participated in a little activity answering questions and learning about bones and were rewarded with stamps (and they made sure the little ones got stamps too!)


I was sure Gwen would be really into the zoo this time, but she still mostly just ran around and the animals were still not that fascinating.  I think she is still at the age that all animals are equally odd and interesting, so chipmunk, house cat, bird, squirrel are on par with elephants, zebras, lions and giraffes. Maybe next time she will be absorbed by the different creatures the zoo offers.  In the meantime though, there were no shortage of animal statues to set her on for photos.






Oh the polar bears this time!  Last time, they had only one, and we didn't see it.  Blake assured me that they had rarely seen it on any of their visits, and we decided that perhaps an expensive polar bear enclosure was enough to attract zoo guests, and that the expense of an actual polar bear just wasn't worth it.  But the zoo recently acquired a second, more active polar bear from Kansas City, and this time we really got to see an awesome polar bear show!  The one bear kept diving down and back in the same area, so we got to take lots of photos.  Oh, and note the shirt Stephanie picked to wear, which she had set aside for the zoo for days in advance.  


The first time he did this, she screamed and fell down.  It was pretty spectacular.
And we ended the day in the water play area, and let the kids get very very wet... Luckily, we had planned for this and had extra clothes and towels.  



And we definitely needed those towels!



Friday, June 3, 2016

I go to water

Beach Week!  It's over officially tomorrow, but Alaina and I have been collecting and selecting our best photos for 24 hours now, and I think we are finally done.
First, let's talk about how the kids feel about the beach.  Stephanie: Best playground ever!  Gwendolyn: Most interesting thing ever!
Actually, Stephanie's first impression when standing on the balcony of the condo and seeing the beach for the first time was to yell, "There's a pool!"  And, don't get me wrong, the pool has been great, but she quickly learned the ocean was even better.

First time EVER in the ocean!
She really likes to hang out just on the shoreline and look.
We spent each day pretty much the same.  Wake up, kids demand to be outside (Gwen would say "I go to water" first thing every morning while dangling from the doorknob of the condo), spend mornings and afternoons in the ocean and on the sand and the evenings in the pool.  The condo itself? - small but beachfront, and frankly- who needs big if you can live outside?















Stephanie made a few friends, but none better than this guy, who was really into hunting for things in the ocean.  In fact, we met them because he came rushing over to give her a freshly caught sand crab, which just won her over.  Many fish and hermit crabs later, and these two were inseparable.  His grandma owns a condo in the building we were in, and they were just an incredibly sweet family, or as Alaina would prefer to call them, the future in-laws.


One of my major goals was to find a perfect, full shell.  I found one, but some mollusk already lived in the shell... Bummer, but I enjoyed keeping my mollusk friend in a bucket of water and sand and watching him (her?  hard to say, I guess) burrow. 









And what kind of beach trip is it without a little putt-putt.  Kevin and Stephanie squeezed it in on our last night. 



Overall, the beach was so great for the family, and it will be hard to leave tomorrow.  But at least it is a mere 3 hour drive now, and we can enjoy this several times a year. 

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Gwenzilla- A blast from the past

While looking through the blog with Alaina, she was shocked to discover that I had 11 drafts of posts I had never published.  At least a third are hardly started, most need pictures added, but there were a few gems like this one that are mostly finished, waiting on some touch-ups.  So prepare for a few oldies (and for sure goodies).... (Make that 10 drafts now!)

Speaking to you from a year ago, in Lawrence Kansas...

Gwen has turned into a total monster.  She is, at least, the type of monster who grins so adorably at you while simultaneously ripping every shirt you have hung in your closet off the hangers that you can forgive the monster that she has become.  No, really.  Paper towels, toilet paper, tissues... Shredded.  Toothpaste... Grabbed, toddled away with, and hidden so well, I have nearly resorted to using the bubblegum flavor in Stephanie's bathroom.  Wallet and purse... well, see for yourself.


Is there something that is not safe to climb on?  She's there, even faster if you should happen to be making dinner or trying to wash dishes.  Total, adorable monster.  
It wasn't long ago that Stephanie would tell you point blank that she didn't love Gwen.  At one point, I told Gwen that Stephanie loved her.  Stephanie said, "I never loved her".  So I told Gwen that her sister liked her a lot.  Stephanie informed me that she liked her, but not a lot.  It seems to be, however, that the more of a monster that Gwen turns into, the more Stephanie likes her.  
Last weekend, Stephanie did something that resulted in her getting sent to her room.  She told me it was boring in there.  A few minutes later she peeked out and lured Gwen into her room, and then I could hear them laughing and playing.  I thought that I should probably shut it down, since Steph was technically in trouble, but watching her lure and capture her sister to have a playmate was too cute.  
Stephanie always looks out for Gwen, and is genuinely kind to her.  Was there a moment today where Stephanie was on the floor half crying because she couldn't play something her way because Gwen was destroying it... Sure there was, but she's four, not a saint.   And lately she seems to like her enough that I decided to run the love test again, and this time when I told Gwen that her sister loved her, there were no objections.  


Got to be NC

If you are ever in the Triangle area and need something to do with the kids, call me, cuz I know a guy... Or in this case, a gal, that knows all of the hot spots to take the kiddos (you may have already guessed Blake, and you would be correct).  She has been touting the Got to be NC festival pretty much since the day I met her, but I was still kind of half excited and half dreading it, as it seemed like a very long and busy day with the kids.  It is held every year in May at the state fairgrounds, and is apparently called by some as "State Fair Light".  You know, carnival, animals, tractors, etc.  A $20 bracelet gets the kids on as many carnival rides as they can stomach (which as it turns out is more than 5 hours worth, and the adults were the ones that called it quits at dinner time).  Initially, I only bought Stephanie a bracelet , as I figured Gwen couldn't ride most of the rides.  We quickly figured out (Blake just a bit faster than me) that Gwen could indeed ride many of the rides and WOULD NOT appreciate being left out.  So she got a bracelet too. It worked out quite well, actually, as the older girls could go on 90% of the rides, whereas the younger ones had fewer options, and the rides were staggered such that the adults could split the kids and still stay near each other and everyone could go on a ride.  It was also really nice that, while the big girls loved the bigger kids rides, they also got a kick out of the little rides, and often all four went together.  
Lines.  Let's talk about lines.  There were none.  Zero.  The biggest time killer was just the time it took the carnies to buckle the children in, and sometimes they would finish a ride, Gwen would announce "again!" and I would just have them start the ride over, as there was no one waiting to get on.  
Oh, and the weather!  While I did manage to actually get a sunburn on my face, it was totally overcast and cool.  It would have been a lot more tiring if it were hot and sunny.  The kids didn't have sun problems because they were often shaded by the rides, but I for sure learned my lesson about overcast days (which I think I knew, but won't forget again soon!)
In the end, we saw zero animals, and only the tractors that we walked past for potty breaks.  I could barely get the kids to drink water or have a snack.  But they got to ride ride ride!  What a fantastic time we had!

The big girls favorite

One of Gwen's favorites




Enjoying the roller coaster?  Out your feet up and stay a while!

She is yawning!

Showing off her bracelet, which she was so proud to get.

Oh, and I got to be Gwen's plus one on this for as many times as I could handle the walk to the top.  Definitely her very favorite, she laughed the whole way down every time.