I can't believe how long it's been since I blogged. We have been at the shore for 3 1/2 weeks. I had to think about that, it doesn't feel like that long. In that time we have visited with my aunt and cousins from CA - Nancy, Laura, David, Karen, and Andrew. And Laura's 2 little ones - Jesse who is 4, and Henry who is 1. The kids had fun playing together, and we had fun playing together and we had fun catching up. Brian was with us the 1st week and it was a fun time! The weather wasn't that great, but we had fun playing at home. Sarah was still at school - we missed her, and were glad when she got here the Thurs. before July 4th with her friend Nicole.
While we've been here Dillon has really started talking a lot more. He tries to repeat what I say all the time now. He says "airpane" and waves to them with both hands in the air....."hi airpane." He says "anma" for grandma, and "awah" for Sarah. He loves to say HI or yell HELLO to everyone we pass in the stroller or anyone who passes by the house or anyone on the beach - oh and the boats and helicopters! :) He still loves balls and seems to say his version of baseball and basketball. He is really enjoying the bike cart, and stroller rides...while pointing out all the bikes and dogs (there are a lot!), playing on the beach, and chasing his sister around the house (every night after dinner).
Bridget has had a lot of fun too. She says Hi to everyone and is keeps making new friends. She talks to the lifeguards everyday we are at the beach. She asks them when lowtide is, what the water temperature is, and any other ocean/beach related question she can think of. They have been very patient with her - I actually think they like the attention and questions...keeps them on her toes. Bridget has been taking swim lessons for the last couple of weeks and is really enjoying it. She is much braver and has been swimming with noodles under her arms. She is so close to going under. I'm hoping it will help warm her up to the ocean - she's nervous about the waves. We've built some good sandcastles....so that giant Bridget can stomp on them. LOL She's rather outgoing on the beach making new friends to play with....she gets tired of us after awhile. :)
We have webcam'd with Brian several times since he left. The kids love it. They are cute to watch - Dillon says "hi daddy!" and Bridget tells him about our day. They fight for a place in front of the camera.

I'm going to work on some picture collages to post...very soon! And will keep updating more.
For now....Good Night!

SciWorks - June 09

I'm finally getting a chance to blog a little bit. We went to SciWorks in June just before coming to the beach. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed the hands on exhibits. We met Emily, Chris and Megan there - you can see that Dillon and Megan had a blast on the pea in the pod seesaw.

BABBYBALL

Dillon loves balls. His use of the word has evolved from Ball, to BBall, to Babbyball. He's trying so hard to say basketball. It's really cute how emphatic he is. He's destined to be a sporty kid!

This week - dancing, sleeping, popsicles and cavities (gasp!)

We've had a fun full week. As we anticipate our trip to the shore, we are trying to fit in some fun things here at home. Monday we went to the library for a small play called "Once Upon a Time." There were 2 actors doing Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk. It was really amusing as they changed wardrobes - with the man playing the stepsisters, etc. Bridget quite enjoyed it. Then on Tuesday (after our haircuts) we went to see The Big Bang Boom Band (again at the library). They were great! A rock-n-roll band for kids. Bridget had a blast jumping and dancing around. Dillon was a bit apprehensive at first, but quickly warmed up and was jumping around too. He even tried to go up on stage and join the band. This morning Bridget woke up with muscle pains in her legs - maybe we don't get enough exercise!
Both kids had dentist appts this morning. It was Dillon's first checkup, and as expected the Dentist would like to see the pacifier outta here. Me too - so we're going to work on that. This was Bridget's 3rd checkup. I was sad to find out that she has 3 (possibly 4) cavities. I'm distraught over this - what are we doing wrong?! She brushes and then we brush her teeth. Ok, we need to floss more regularly, but her juice is always watered down, she doesn't eat that many sweets, and she has a healthy diet. I'm wondering if it's the vitamins she takes b/c she likes to suck on them. No more sucking on vitamins in this house! Since we'll be going away for an extended time, we are going tomorrow for Bridget to have at least 1 of them filled. They are in the molars - 3 between teeth and one on the surface. So, they need to be filled since she'll have those teeth longest. They use nitrous oxide - hopefully Bridget will do alright with that. If Bridget is doing alright and they have time they'll do more than one -otherwise we'll wait until we get back to do the rest. The dentist said we have caught them early. Bridget doesn't really know what's coming tomorrow - but I'm already feeling stressed about it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Maybe we ate lunch too late? He fell asleep, so I tipped back the high chair and there he stayed for an hour. :)

Our favorite summer treat.

hmmm...popsicles. He took the popsicle I was going to share with him and ate it himself!

Care to kiss my red red lips?

Haircuts

Hi all!! We trimmed Bridget and Dillon's hair on Tuesday. It took the entire morning to bathe and trim hair. Doing Dillon's was like trying to trim a monkey's hair...he was walking around the bathroom as I tried to snip little bits here and there. At least he's little enough you can't tell if I've messed up majorly or not. I just took a bit from his bangs, around his ears and the back of his neck.
Bridget's was a bit more involved. She really wanted her hair cut to her shoulders. I wasn't so sure about going that short...so we went a little bit longer than shoulder. She was very patient as I trimmed, retrimmed, second-guessed and re-checked. I really was afraid of not getting it even. In the end I think it looks pretty good. She's happy with her new 'fling-about' hair. However, she has informed me that she wants her hair down to her feet. So, from now on (unless she changes her mind) we'll just be doing little trims.

Valedictorian!!

June 5th was graduation day at East Carteret High School. Our nephew Josh was a senior this year and graduated on Friday. He was valedictorian!! We knew he was up near the top of his class, but were happy and surprised by our great he really did! We're so proud of him. We had a great weekend visit with the family. Bridget and Dillon loved playing with their cousins. We went to the NC Aquarium on Friday with Dick, Ann and Jake. What a fun place! We saw a lot of neat sea life. We had a picnic near Fort Macon and walked on the beach afterward. Friday night was the big graduation night. Josh did really well on his farewell speech. Dillon and I had to leave the gym after that - it was too much for him....but we did see the important parts! Saturday we had a cookout at Sharon's house (she is Karen's twin sister - and Karen is Jon's mother - Jon is my brother-in-law --- Tammy's husband). We swam in the pool and enjoyed everyone's company. Josh tried to teach Bridget how to play chess - she was very serious about it, and had lots of questions for him. We came home on Sunday after spending a relaxing day playing hair dresser and eating some yummy seafood.
Josh is off to UNC-Chapel Hill next year and we couldn't be prouder.

Bridget can swing!!!

Bridget has figured out how to swing!! She is so proud of herself and we are of her!! We went to the Lewisville park to practice with Maythi, Reilly and Reese. We had a yummy picnic and played. It was a pretty warm day so everybody's cheeks were quite rosy.