Topsail Island 2010

We packed up the van for my second solo trip with the kids. Ian had to stay back and work and we headed to Topsail Island to visit with his parents, Pop Pop and Gramzie.

Lu was all about it. She knows that going to the beach means waves, sand, surprise visits from pirates, lots of treats, and lots of for-the-kids activities. Harper was game, but really didn't have any clue what "beach" meant. She was just excited to see grandparents. Graham, well, he didn't have a clue, but was up for a carride, nonetheless. All made it in tact, even though we battled some rain and DC/ Richmond traffic held us up for more than 2 hours. We made it there in about 10 hours and all had done just fine.

The week at the beach was a great one. When the week goes by so fast that you can't hardly tell the days apart, all kids sleep each and every night and nobody has any major incident, then you can count yourself lucky.

The kids each had their own agendas at the beach. Lucy's was to spend as much time as possible in the water. She wasn't as concerned this year about going deeper in the waves as she was just wanting to be in the water. This meant, she was happy jumping in the waves, sitting in the water with her toy sharks and dolphins, boogey boarding with Pop Pop and Gramzie or skipping along and splashing about. She always had some major play going on in her head and sometimes we were players in it and sometimes not. Either way, she just wants you to go along, not really add your own two cents.

Harper's agenda was to get a bit braver each day. This meant the first day just looking at the ocean. The second day she was jumping little waves. By the third day she was gliding around on the boogey board and going a little deeper. Sometime late week she got a bit scared of the waves, turned to run, fell down and ate a bit of beach. That took away some of her bravery and she went back to be mroe cautious. She would say every day, "Daddy is going to be so proud of me in the waves!" When it came to the sand, I have to say she is a bit like me. It is fun to play in, but I don't really want it all over me. She spent a lot of time "washing her feet" in the water. She also spent a fair amount of time getting in trouble for throwing sand on Graham or piling wet sand on his head. That's ok though, they both loved the clean-up- rinsing off in the faucet or shower and the subsequent baths.

Graham had his first taste of the beach, literally. He ate sand, drank sea water and ate more sand. He nibbled on shells, spat them out and then tried them again. He would put his face in the ocean and loves splashing in tidal pools. True to form, he loved having shells and rocks stacked or sand castles to smash. And while he did love being in the water, he did not like me getting into the water. It was comical that for the entire week, anytime I got into the water without him, he would instantly cry. It happened every single time. I don't know if he was scared for me, or mad that he wasn't with me.

On another Graham note, he is a mimicking and talking machine. He began saying "shark" at the beach, along with "uh-oh", "no", and a pretty impressive seagull impression, which according to Harper and Lucy say, "Mine! Mine! Mine!" while flapping their wings. He is also communicating more with his hands. He is pointing to things and saying "dat?" and was so impressed by the birds, helicopters and planes that were flying ahead that he would hold his arms up, smile and say "dat!"

One week is just enough to have fun, start missing home and not get tired of putting on sunscreen and bathing suits. Lucy wants to know why we don't live at the beach. I told her this way we get to look forward to it and get excited about it for a long time and, yes, we're already looking forward to next year...

2010 Topsail Island Beach Videos

Lots of videos from the kids at the beach. If you are not inclined to watch them all or are short on time, check out the one of Graham in the shower- keep in mind the shower is a bit cold and that this was his favorite part of every day. Usually Harper was with him in the shower or facet rinsing off, both of them could do this for up to 30 minutes at a time, with Graham throwing a tantrum when I made him stop almost every single time.

For a good video of Harper, I love the one in her pink tutu running and the one of her evil laugh- both are short but both sum up Harper pretty accurately. The laugh was a new thing at the beach and she spent a good two days perfecting it, much to her pleasure.

For Lu, well, she is a fish and loves being in the water. I love the one of her in her pink bikini, with Pop Pop. She is jumping waves, but more importantly, she is making whatever adult who is out with her play along with whatever nonsensical scenario she has created. When we went out together, I was usually Ariel and she was Prince Eric. I had to sing like Ariel and she would battle the waves in an attempt "to keep us safe from Ursula and Flotsam and Jestsam", the evil sea witch and her gang.

Basil Capers

So, we broke out the magnifying glass, literally, the other day so that Lucy and Harper could look for clues in the backyard. What are my super sleuthers up to? Well, it seems that something is eating our basil. Well, not just our basil, our entire herb garden, including our chile peppers, but the basil is what the girls like and are not getting to enjoy, so that is what they are most concerned about.
It started a few weeks ago when our first batch of basil, 6 plants, were eaten and destroyed. Then the thief ate our sprouting lettuce and arugula, lavendar, chile pepper plants and rosemary. Then they ate two bell pepper plants that were waiting on the back porch waiting to be transplanted into the garden.
We bought one more, planted it into a pot and put it onto the table, out of rabbit and other small creature's reach. The next morning, it was completely chewed up. The girls were so upset that they immediately took it upon themselves to get to the bottom of it.
After they looked for clues (Lucy insisted that they look for "very tiny clues since the bite marks are very tiny"), I asked what they had found.
Lucy thinks it is very tiny rabbits that can jump really high, high enough to get onto the patio table. Harper's guess was goats. Not just any ol' goats, but goats that come out at night only, are "very little" and, apparently, leave little goat prints in the dirt and love to eat basil.
I moved the pot to the front porch to see if the perp is brave enough to munch on our front porch.

We're baack!

We are back from the beach, but the laptop is not cooperating so much. I am trying to load photos, but it is taking time. Hopefully by the end of the week there will be photos and videos galore- more than you probably even want.

Taking it to the Beach

Hold it right there ladies, no need to come running to our house- he's taking this awesome physique to the beach. We'll be at the beach for the week, so no updates until we return. A week at the beach, that should mean a steady diet of sand and saltwater, white tan lines in those fat rolls and lots of sandcastle wrecking.

Soft Playroom

Strawberries!

Late Spring brings one of our favorite things to do together- driving out to the farm and go strawberry picking. Lucy and Harper both dove in with both feet on their first strawberry outings and Graham was no exception. He hung out in the straw for a while, then decided to start chewing on that, and then moved onto strawberries. That opened up a whole new world. He couldn't get enough and even started picking them right off the bush himself.

Harper was competing with him on the eating front. I think for every strawbery she put into our pile, she ate three. And everyone she ate,kshe woudl ask twice if she could eat it. Then she would say "strawberries are yummy!"

Lucy was a more diligent worker, but wasn't content to stay in one place, even though you could reach out and grab strawberries by the pound they were so plentiful, she would roam throughout the field looking for the "perfect ones". This is great, but not all that productful. I was taking photos and helping with the kids so it was a good thing that we brought our favorite farmhand, Ian, with us. He did the majority of the picking. He didn't mind though, the fruits of his labor were strawberry jam, homemade strawberry ice cream and, of course, strawberries for days. In harper's words, "yummy!"

Sprayground

All love the sprayground, well, not all. Harper prefers to watch, but Graham and Lucy sure do love them. Here they are at the sprayground for the first time this summer.

Odds and Ends

Since I am playing catch-up on the blog, here are some odds and ends:


Lu loves holding Graham, so does Harper, although when Harper holds him, he looks like a giant on a lily pad. As you can see, G loves it as well.

Lucy is ripped with muscle- check out her 10 pack while trying to zip her pants. Her daily routine does include 1,000 jumps and climbing on everything in sight at all times.

Harper on her cell phone while walking with Gramzie, whom I hope was not interrupting the important call she had to make.

Sometimes I feel like somebody's watching me...

Harper with her birthday presents from the Fahey gang- so pretty in pink.

Washing baby dolls.

Fill 'em up and spill them over, over and over again.

Graham' first day at pool

This little dude is a fish like his big sis Lucy. He puts his face in relentlessly, he is determined to be in water that is too deep and he loves floating around in his turtle raft. He never minds being splashed and even tries to splash back a bit- he and Harper getin to some pretty decent little water fights. He loves to cruise around the side of the pool and when not in the water, he likes to splash in buckets alongside the edge of the pool (although that has become a little treacherous since he likes to "cruise" around his bucket and will try to go in head first- not so great when I have two others to chase after). This is is first day at the pool (Lu was in KY). I have so many photos taken since then and as soon as I can, I will get the updates on here.

Graham learning to crawl

Graham learned to crawl in early June- he still does a funny crab-like crawl where he drags one leg everywhere he goes. He is fast though, can't wait to see what his tracks look like in the sand next week!

So long preschool!

Lucy graduated from preschool last month. She is so excited about moving onto kindergarten and seems to have begun getting over her fear of not seein gher normal teachers and friends from preschool. She is taking the preparation very seriously and wants to work on writing, reading, tying her shoes and making her bed ( I threw the last one in for good measure!)

To end the school year, her school put on a gospel-inspired performance (because nothing screams "gospel" like a group of 100 white prescoolers from priveledged families). To hear Lucy sing "Wade in the Water" was priceless.

She will miss her friends but is truly excited about starting school in the fall, getting to walk to school, going 5 days a week and turning 5.

A Day at the Doc

We were at the doctor for three hours today. This was to combine Lucy and Harper's annual check-ups, which both included lab work. For Lucy, this meant a prick of the finger and a solo vaccine. For Harper, this meant a full panel of blood work and two shots. Many character band-aids, lollipops and silly band bribes later, the girls are marked as healthy and happy, incredibly smart (when checking lucy's eyes, they asked if she needed a chart with pictures rather than letters, she scoffed and promptly told them that she can even read "a little bit" and that she's "going to be in Kindergarten and she practices writing her letters and numbers everyday and she even knows her phone number". There was another 5 minutes of chatter after that and the nurse finally said, "Ok, can you just tell me the letters on the chart?" Yes, she can, and she has great vision as well.
Harper showed off by counting to 10, coloring lines, an "H" and some circles for the doctor. Then, while the doctor was asking me if she speaks in words or two word phrases, Harper said, "Mom, I'm hungry and Graham is eating all my snack. I want more dried strawberries when we get home later." The doctor just raised her eyebrows and said, "I guess she's a talker like her sister." Yep.
For the record: Lucy is 32 pounds, Harper is 21 lbs.
As for Graham, he pounded his snack cup, ate part of Harper's, and then spent the rest of the time terrorizing the office, which included slamming one of the nurse's phones on the ground (after she gave it to him), chewing on some cord in the doctor's office (why aren't doctor's offices childproof?) and singing and yelling for fun a the top of his lungs. Party boy.
We return tomorrow for Graham's visit. While the girls are both barely on the charts (Harper can barely even see the chart), I'm sure Graham will show up with snack trap in hand and tip the scales in a not-so-slim way.

775th Post

This is my 775th posting! Since our computer is still on the outs, here is the short of it:
Harper:
Let me introduce you to her little friends: Mamopes, Jimmy, and Sugarbear (or Sugarbelle or Sugarbounw). These are her new imaginary friends. She gets into a lot of arguments with them, but what you most need to know about them is that "Jimmy said stop!" According to Harper, anyways. I'm not sure what you should stop doing.
She loves to go "Fimming", or swimming.
Time-out is her designated seat in the house, she is there a lot for not keeping her hands to herself, and usually on Graham and Lucy..
She loves going on "motocycle rides" on her pink big wheel and we take the whole gang out after dinner many nights- Harper on her motorcycle, Lu on her bike (also a motorcycle), and Graham in his mini-coup- he hasn't graduated to hog status just yet.
Potty training- not even close. She loves wearing her "tinkybell underwears" but just ends up whizzing in them every time.

Graham:
GW started waving "bye bye" today, he was very proud!
He loves to say "Dada" and when I say "No, say 'momma!'" He smiles, shakes his head "no" and goes back to saying "Dada". Note, he doesn't follow Ian around crying for what he wants, he still reserves that kind of love for me- gee thanks!
He sort of listens when I tell him to stop or tell him "no". But he likes to ignore me when it comes to chewing on flip flops, pulling on lamp cords, tearing up books or eating sticks- just like reggie used to. I'll let you know if he decides to eat our photo albums.
He's cruising and his favorite place to do so is in the girls' room. He doesn't like walking with walking toys just yet, the movement scares him.
Two teeth are still threatening to come through.
The pool is an endless amount of fun for him. He splashes in the beach area and cruises around the sides of the pool. He puts his face in the water and splashes for hours.

Lucy
Just finished up vacation bible school last week with her bff Ronin. The theme was superhero Jesus and came with a cd-imagine my excitement each and everytime we listen to it in the car.
The vegetable garden is her passion and she loves going out, picking a tomato, and putting it directly onto her sandwich for lunch.
She is OBSESSED with her birthday and the planning of it.
She loves doing workbook pages and other "school work" and is super-excited about starting kindergarten. Last night she mastered writing the number "5" and was so proud I thought she might burst.
She is taking tumbling on Saturdays but find ways to thrill herself the other 6 days a week with constant jumping, balancing, climbing, spinning, going down things headfirst and never showing any fear.
Swimming is her summer love and the romance continues. She is a diving, jumping, cannonballing fool at the pool!

Ok, it has taken me 1.5 hours to write this and I am calling it a day!