OBX - Manteo

On the last day of the trip, Lee, Dad, and I went to Manteo to enjoy the small town.  We are now back home in Spartanburg and are enjoying being lazy over the last week of Winter Break.

OBX - Ocracoke

Well...  We didn't quite make it to Ocracoke today.  We tried...

The Hatteras ferry ran aground yesterday.  I thought that was a freak occurrence and wouldn't happen again. We made it all the way onto the ferry and half-way through the crossing when the ferry coming the other way ran aground.  So, our captain decided to turn around and head back to Hatteras.  He didn't even want to risk turning the boat around to have cars drive off, so all cars had to be backed off the ferry in reverse.  Apparently the water is just too low right now and they are having a tough time getting the ferries across.

Although I am sad that we didn't make it to Ocracoke Island, we ended up having a very nice day in Hatteras and a nice lunch.  I am just happy that we didn't get stuck on the island, or even worse, stuck in the middle of the channel for hours waiting for the tide to rise.

Here are the few pictures that I did take today:

OBX - Family Beach Walk

Lee took much better pictures than I did, but here are mine:

 Erica makes a find...

 A sea snail egg pod!

Gingerbread House Competition (Vote Below)

Entry A

 Entry B

 Entry C

 Entry D

Building a Gingerbread Train

OBX - Party Day

This year we are spending Christmas week with my family at a beach house in the Outer Banks.  It is great having everyone together.

Yesterday was our "party day."  We spent the afternoon making ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Production was prolific, but here are a few of the best ornaments:

3-D Santa (Lee), Gary as a reindeer (Erica)

Disturbed Snowman (Lee)

 Condo Decor (Unknown)

 Parasol Reindeer (Kevin)

 Snowman Hit in Face (Graysen)

 Then, we had a joint birthday party for Graysen and Erica.  The theme of the party was angry birds.

 Birthday kids!

 The evening ended with a visit from Santa.

School Activities

This week has been busy with the boys wrapping up school before Winter Break.  They both have parties at school and special theme days.

This is a picture from Caleb's holiday school performance of "How the Grinch Stole School."  It was a very cute production and he loved being on stage.

 Here is Graysen and his incredibly sweet and talented teacher, Ms. Breanne.  We are so blessed that he is in a wonderful 4K class.

 Graysen absolutely loves school.

We are leaving for the Outer Banks on Saturday.  We plan to spend tomorrow packing and are then off for a fun adventure with the Meyers!

Trusting Graysen

Laura was at dinner with a friend, so I took the opportunity to wrap her Christmas gifts. I was just finishing when Graysen came downstairs to see what I was doing.

Graysen: What'd you get Momma, Daddy?
Me: Can't tell you.
Graysen: Why?
Me: Because you'll tell Momma.

Graysen considered this for a moment.

Graysen: If you tell me, I won't tell Momma.
Me: I'm not so sure.
Graysen: If you tell me, I won't tell Momma.

I could tell he wanted very badly to be trusted. I wanted to trust him.

Me: I got her a dress. Now, you can't tell her. Promise you won't tell.
Graysen: I promise.
Me: That's a good boy.
Graysen: And I promise I won't tell you I got you a puzzle for Christmas.
Me [Realizing I've made a horrible mistake]: Thanks.

Later, Laura got home.

Laura: So Graysen, how was your night with Daddy?
Graysen: I bought Baby Ghost a dress for Christmas. I can't tell her.

Baby Ghost is Graysen's favorite stuffed toy. It was a clever lie, but Laura figured it out...

The City of Spartanburg's Official Christmas Tree

O Christmas Tree!

For the first time in my adult life, I decided to have a real tree for Christmas.  It was quite the adventure today, and I cannot say that I was prepared for the mess that real trees make, but in the end it smells wonderful and looks beautiful.  Here are a few pictures from our day:

The "tree farm," also known as a trailer parked in front of Costco, but Mommy didn't think that you could beat $27.99 for an 8 foot Fraiser Fur at a tree farm.

The boys were very excited.  They thought that it was SO silly to put a live tree in your house.

It fits!  Yay!

Sawing off the end turned out to be harder than Lee anticipated.

The tree turned out to be HUGE!  Much bigger than our artificial tree.  This made Mommy even more excited about the $27.99 price!

The boys had a blast decorating the tree.  Every year the boys get to buy one special ornament each and I try to buy an ornament every time that we go on vacation.  This makes the decorating process fun and full of memories.  Gray bought an Iron Man ornament this year and Caleb bought Thor.  The tree turned out really pretty.

Cardiology Appointment

Graysen had a cardiology appointment this past Friday.  His heart looks absolutely wonderful.  The doctor is very pleased with the performance of his homograph (engineered pulmonary artery and valve).  He said that there is some narrowing and slight leakage, but that it is performing at the best level that can be expected.  He said that it will need to be replaced, but he is anticipating that surgery will not occur before Graysen turns six and could be even later.

Overall, it could not have been a better visit and Gray isn't due back until August!

Halloween 2012

Ninjas!

Laura and her friend, Amy

Caleb and his candy

Pumpkins

Final Day - National Zoo

Today is our last day in D.C.  We leave to go back home tomorrow.  We spent our last day enjoying the National Zoo.  It has been a great week visiting Auntie & Uncie!

Day 2 - Public Transportation

The theme for today was definitely "public transportation."  The boys absolutely love to ride the bus and the Metro.  It is their favorite thing to do here.  Both Auntie and Uncie had to work today, so we decided to use meeting Uncie for lunch as a good excuse to ride the bus two times and the metro four times.

The boys waiting for the MetroBus.

This is the Cannon Building which houses offices for many of the congressmen.  Uncie works for a congressman from Virginia and this is where he works. Of course, the boys had to do some "training" while they waited for Uncie.

 We ate lunch out of a truck?!  The boys love the fact that there are lots of "food trucks" throughout the city. This grilled cheese themed truck was perfect for the boys!

After lunch, Uncie gave us a tour of his building and then took us on a tour of the tunnels that run under the Capitol and associated buildings.

Before leaving, the boys got to enjoy ice cream underground in the cafeteria.  Caleb loved the fact that it was underground.

Washington D.C. - Day 1

The boys and I are spending Fall Break visiting Auntie and Uncie in DC.  We had a great first day.  Here is a summary of our what we did:

The day started off at Union Station where we caught the Metro to the Smithsonian.

The boys loved riding the Metro.  They became experts at navigating the different lines.

Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History.

The boys loved seeing the REAL mummy.  Gray has been asking about mummies ever since I put Mr. Mummy in my yard at the beginning of the month.  He was fascinated to discover that they are real, and amazingly, he is very happy that they are dead.  I believe that makes them less likely to chase him.

Caleb was brave and held some sort of big freaky grasshopper-thingy.

For lunch, we had a picnic on the lawn.  It was a beautiful setting.

After lunch, the boys asked if they could "train."  They are obsessed with samurai/ninja training, just like the Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do.

Then, we went to Air & Space.

Finally, we finished the day back at Union Station where we enjoyed a mummy cupcake!