Beach Trip to Topsail

Last weekend we finally drove to Topsail to stay at Grandmama and Grandaddy's beach house. Maddie was so excited to see the beach. She doesn't remember the other times we stayed at the house, even though it was only a little more than a year ago -- it was all new to her. She liked the short drive to the beach from the house and we were able to eat some yummy seafood and play at the cool park at the beach. We even saw a couple get married at the park (on a dock by the sound).

Mason's first ocean walk. He was less than excited with the water.

So I plopped him in Maddie's little beach chair.
He loved chillin' with his "drink" and watching the people go by.

And eating his Gerber cheetos -- double fistin' it!!

Maddie sand surfin'.

She couldn't get enough of the water and was in it almost the entire time we were at the beach.

Love this photo of Maddie. Note the sand-eating Mason in the foreground.

Just like I knew he would, Mason dug right into the sand and licked it off all the sand shovels.
He even licked his hands.

I covered Mason's legs with sand. He thought I was serving lunch!!

It was no use trying to get him to stop, until he got a huge mouth full at once.

Day two at the beach: Mason sits in the shade of the tent and enjoys raking and digging. Maybe he learned his lesson about eating sand??


Maddie and I made a sand castle and decided to put her mermaid in the castle. "Now let's cover her up with sand," Maddie said. Uh, ok. Poor little mermaid.

After the mermaid burial she's all smiles...

I was on a photo-taking mission to get a "matching" pic of Mason on his first beach trip. My favorite pic of Maddie during her first beach trip had the same pier in the background. A funny outtake below.

Little more hair and little less fingers next time. What can I say, he loves his mommy.

After six tries, finally the shot I want. My sweet little beach boy!

A beach veteran, Maddie takes a rare break from playing in the water. She became really brave with jumping over the waves and letting the waves splash all over her. We held her hand almost the entire time, but she gradually became more independent and let go in very shallow (barely covering her feet) water. A little five-year old girl came up and asked her to play, so they splashed together until her family left the beach.

We had a lunch picnic at the beach and then headed back for naps. After naps on the second day, we drove to see my brother David's new house. He has two chihuahuas -- one calm and one not so calm. We were sure Maddie would finally pet a dog since these two were so tiny. She finally touched one of them and was so proud of herself, but she is still afraid of them.

Mason on the other hand, was totally enamored with them. He chased them around the house and kept petting and touching the calm one. So sweet! He wasn't afraid at all -- even when they yipped pretty loudly.

Mason petting Coco.

Family photo in David's backyard. I think Mason is still reaching for the dog :-)
Frank says it's the way I'm standing, but I think I look like an inflatable Smurf.

Grandmama and Grandaddy met us for dinner with David.

Thanks to my cousin and his wife for letting Maddie borrow his son's inflatable toddler bed. While packing up on the third day, we pulled the bed out into the living room and this is what happened. They went wild rolling all over it. Anyone want to know what to get the kids for Christmas?? This bed was awesome and Maddie slept really well on it. Thanks Brendan!!

On the way back home, we stopped at Maddie and Mason's Great-Grandmama's house to visit with her. Mason warmed up to her, but Maddie was too busy showing off.

We left there with just Mason -- Grandmama and Grandaddy kept Maddie for almost an entire week!! She took rides around the farm on the golf cart and watched hay being baled in the fields. Did I mention that she ate tons of butter beans and anything else that came out of the garden?

Frank went to a jam, I had a girl's night out and we had a (gasp) date night also. All in the same week! We tried to make the most of just juggling one kid as opposed to juggling two ;-)
We missed Maddie, but gave Mason lots of extra attention. Maddie had a blast during her visit and got to see Great Grandmama a few more times.

Now the work week has started up and we are all under the same roof once again. We are getting ready for Frank's parents' visit in a few weeks and Mason's first birthday. Hard to believe he is almost one year old!!

Splish Splash!

Guess what Maddie is going to be for Halloween?

Carnival ride!!!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Random developments

The last month or so has flown by. A few rounds of hand, foot and mouth disease swept through our house. Oh, and did I mention salmonella visited us also?? It was super fun.

We had a yard sale and literally sold Mason's car seat out from under him. But it was time for a new seat anyway. So we made a little money on the yard sale and bought THREE new car seats on the same day. The kids are sittin' pretty now!

We found out that our 14-year old cat, Sunny, has diabetes so we've been learning how to care for him and give daily shots. Frank has really stepped up with that. I'm very uncomfortable with needles and syringes, but he works with them all the time. Sunny actually likes the attention and (after he hisses) he purrs!

In between all the sickness, we had a ton of playdates. Maddie was averaging two to three playdates per weekend....We had a very messy house and a very happy little girl.

Maddie's friend Salem has a new little sister and we met her (no pics of that unfortunately). Noah had a big birthday party. And we belatedly celebrated Stella Dot's birthday.

Enough talking. Here are six weeks worth of pics -- just the highlights, of course.


Grandmama visiting with Mason. After the trip to Germany, Mason began doing a cool downward-facing dog yoga pose and progressed to sitting up on his own.

Yup, I'm still a good looking, friendly kid....if only I would sleep!!!
Check out these "teefies!"

Noah's Birthday party. After deciding that the water-filled pool is NOT for him, Mason is tremendously enjoying the ball-filled pool.

Alas, Mason's animal magnetism draws in more kids -- Noah and Eli.

Whoa there folks, not quite enough room for everyone in here.

Sheesh! The crazy kids are gone. I'm exhausted.

Of course, there was cake time for Maddie, Stella Dot and the rest of the gang. Apparently the prospect of icing is worth screeching about.


Mason is in boot camp for table food eating these days......here's documentation of the challenges of spaghetti.

Musical "edumacation"........Mason and the banjo.

Pulling up on animate objects as opposed to inanimate objects. If there is a person to crawl on, he's literally "all over it."

We've figured out that one foot needs to go in front of the other.....

And we got car/walker envy looking at Kylie's new ride during a playdate. I had to get him a blue one. It converts from walker to a very low center car (he's fallen off about 5 times already!)
Note: He looks about 7 years old in this photo but I promise, it's only because the shirt is a bit big!

Last weekend, it was hot enough to cook an egg, or a kid. So of course we headed outside and unrolled Noah's Slip N' Slide. We grew up with these, but they are much improved. They've finally realized grass burns hurt like heck and created an inflatable stop at the end of the slide. Maddie and Noah haven't quite figured out the run and belly-flop process, so Robin helped with hurling them onto the mat. It was so funny.


Maddie and Noah had a blast. Then came the treacherous swing time. One minute, the kids were laughing while Frank pushed them on the swings, and the next, there were screams and blood. Noah and Maddie collided while Maddie was still swinging and Noah was walking in front of the swing. She had a busted lip and it was a bit traumatic, but a Nemo ice pack and ice cream later, it was all good. I was really proud of her calming down so quickly. Noah was really concerned and hurt as well, but not bloody. They both recovered and quickly inhaled the cones. Some more pics on Noah's blog.

Maddie's newest obsession besides being a princess, being a mermaid, wearing her necklace and taking her wand to school: curly hair from sleeping in braids. She won't let me pull it into a ponytail because "then it won't be pretty." What?? When did this happen? Great, she's 16! At least she sits still for curly -haired photos.

Cleaning up the kid's kitchen after dinner.

Maddie's writing exercises. We write a word and she copies it. She tried hard to write OMA as well but her interest was waning after this...Still, we were impressed enough to take a pic.

We are trying to eat better; and I ordered some exercise DVDs and new weights. Maddie immediately grabbed the weights and followed along. I think she burned more calories than I did. Then she said "I need a rest." Me too!