BEACH BONANZA!

We have had such a good time at the beach this past week. We went down with five other families to the outer banks in North Carolina. We had a great house down by the beach and had good food and great times. It was so much fun Siena kept asking to go to her beach house instead of coming home.

Siena was a beach bum! she loved it. Ben didn't like the beach so much. We would lay him on the blanket and he would always make his way off onto the sand. He took a big handful of it one day and ate it, then we called it a day and went home. Luckily we had a pool at the house and we had great fun in there when we didn't feel like packing everything up to go down to the beach. As you can see in the pictures, the boys loved the pool and entertained themselves very easily. There were six families there and each of us had one kid and we had two but I was surprised how well the kids did considering they were in different beds and way off their regular schedules.

We did a lot. We had heard about these wild horses that roam freely on the beach. We wanted to take a tour from a company that had SUV's and we were going to but then we decided to just do it ourselves in our cars. I was terrified! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It was very soft sand and I was afraid our car would get stuck or the tide would come up and sweap us away. We had poor Aubrey (5 months pregnant) in the back of our car and it was really bumpy. We saw some cars being towed out because they got caught in the soft sand. When we were out as far as I wanted to go we got out and walked around, we saw this lady drive right up through the beach tide and get her car stuck in the water. I was so glad it wasn't us. She had flooded her engine and had staled. So yes, I sound like a big sissy, but I was scared. We had three kids in the car and it was almost dinner time and I didn't want to get stuck out there on the beach. We got some really cute pictures of us on the sand but we didn't see ANY horses so big dissapointment there. The little girls were really excited about it.

One day we were driving to visit a friend at the beach and Dave had his IPod going and we look back and Ben is rocking out! He was shaking his head back and forth it was so funny. Siena thought it was hilarious, which made Ben do it even quicker. It was so funny. Ben is our little clown. He loves it when he gets attention, especially from Siena.

It rained two of the days we were there so we went to a nearby aquarium one day. Apparently everyone else decided to go too but Siena loved it. She has never been to one before. She was so excited the whole time.She is really into Peter Pan lately and she was so excited about this alligator that she could climb on. At first I think she thought it was real, she kept looking at the mouth. One of my favorite things about going down south is that they have Sonic restaraunts everywhere. I know a lot of people have these right near their house, but we don't and I LOVE their drinks. I went 6 times while I was there. YUMMY!

One night we went down to the beach and caught sand crabs. It was actually quite scary and gross. They dug hole during the day and would hide there but at night they would come out. There were tiny ones and big huge ones. So people go down with their flashlights and buckets and catch them. We caught a lot of them and then released them after we put them in a bucket all together and saw them fight. It does sound a little cruel huh. Siena like it for a little while. There was a lot of screaming from the women. I kept my distance. They are fast until you shine your light on them then they freeze and you catch them. We had sparklers that we hadn't used from the 4th so we brought those down and lit them on the beach. The beach is so beautiful at night.

We went to two lighthouses. The first one was Bodie Island and we could go in it but we couldn't climb up it, to Siena's great dissapointment. They are so beautiful. The next one, the red brick one is Currituck and it was right by our house. Dave and Siena climbed it. Siena walked all the way up it by herself. Good job Siena.

We had so much fun and it is so sad that it is over.I am proud to say no one came back too burned. We have been planning this trip forever and now I don't know what to look forward to. We ate great food and had a great time with friends. Siena had a great time with Kaylee. Dave and I were so excited Kaylee was there so we didn't have to entertain Siena. They are only a couple months apart and became great friends. We would find them down at the pool table standing on top of it pushing the balls around. It was fun. I guess it's time to start planning for next year.

For living in such a historical area Dave and I have not done many historical sites but we decided to visit Jamestown on the way back. It was amazing. We walked around and there were people dressed up in period clothing and there were actual deer walking around and roosters and chickens. They had real gardens growing and food that they made back then. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. We walked around the Indian camp and the Fort and walked around the replicas of the boats. It was very interesting. Siena loved walking on the boats. There was a lot to learn about in their little settlement.

This is the only video I have of Dave. We called it their special olympics. They stayed out for hours one night making new pool games up. The next day they showed us what they had learned to do. They had high jump, pole vaulting and diving into the pool floatie. It was amazing that nobody got hurt.

silly Siena

Siena cracks me up. Yesterday she was coloring on white paper (because that's the only paper she will color on now) and she has a white crayon and she says "mommy it's broken it needs batteries." It wouldn't color because it was white on white but there is no explaining that to a 2 year old. I try not to put batteries in things once they run out the first time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Then today at lunch she offered Ben a quesadilla (sp?) and I told her he didn't have teeth so he couldn't eat it yet. She says mommy I have white teeth and then asks what color mine are and I said white and then she says "no I have pink teeth like Ben." She's so funny. I love her funny conversations.

Ben army crawling

Ben is eating poop!

CAUTION!!!! I know this is disgusting.
So we were running some errands late afternoon and I could tell that Ben had pooped but he was asleep so obviously it didn't bother him that badly. After the last errand on the way home it smells TERRIBLE in my car and I ask if Siena had pooped too. She hadn't. Ben and Siena are right next to eachother in the car and Siena says Ben is eating poop! I tell her no he isn't it's ok. Leave him alone. Finally after an intoxicating ride home I check his car seat and find him covered in poop. It was so gross. He has never had a blowout. This was the worst one ever! We took a good long bath and cleaned him up really good. I don't know if he really ate any of it but he was covered on his face and hand... so gross. We will see if he is sick tomorrow. It's kind of funny because Dave asked yesterday if he had been having any runny poop because he is teething and I had said no. Now he has. Lesson learned, change a poopy diaper right away.

Summer with No Humidity = Bliss!

I never take pictures of the kids together so this is my random attempt...

These last couple of days have been so nice. I HATE humidity! but it has been perfect summer weather lately. We can go outside and not be all sweaty and gross in two minutes. So today we decided to go to the zoo. We love the zoo. I have never really realized how cool it to live in d.c. and have a free zoo and all these fun things to look at on the way there. Siena has the whole route mapped out. She tells me we go see the helicopter at the Pentagon (we saw one land right in front of us one time on the way to the zoo, it was pretty cool) then we go on the horse bridge (Memorial bridge) then we go by the river and see the boats (Potomac River) and then we go in the big tunnel (right before the zoo). See we do have a lot of cool things in D.C. I feel like all we ever go and see is the zoo but I took her to a museum once and she really could care less so we will wait a couple more years for that. It was great fun and PERFECT weather. Apparently everyone else thought so too because it was crowded.

Dumpster Diving!

I love good finds. The other night we were out taking a walk and my neighbor was taking out this running stroller to put in his trash. It was in great condition. They said they were throwing it away because it was dirty. How lame is that! Of course I took it. He came back out a couple minutes later to bring more stuff out and he saw that it was gone, so I am a little embarrased but it is in great shape. The whole fabric part snaps off and I ran it through the washer and it looks like new. Now I need to actually use it. I am trying to figure out how to do that with 2 kids and one stroller. I think I may wait till Dave comes home and run in the early evenings. We will see how it works out. It's just a great find! I was so proud of myself and I told Dave that I was saving us money as he was so embarrased by the whole thing. He, being the dollar sense man, said that I really wasn't because we wouldn't have bought one ever it is just another thing we don't need. We do have a lot of things from my dumpster diving. Almost everything in the back yard like Siena's toys are second hand freebies! People around here throw away the greatest things! I just think of it as having good karma!

He's mobile!

It's craziness! Ben has been rolling all over the floor. I leave the room and I come back and he is in a whole different area. Now he will wiggle his legs and leap forward towards toys. I can't believe he is doing this already. With Siena I was a little more eager for her to move. I don't want him to grow up quite as fast. He is doing it even more than this video shows. Look at my big boy grow.

Birthday Month has begun!

yes you heard that right. Dave has decided that we need to celebrate all of august for his birthday. He started in July when he bought himself a wii and guitar hero. I hid it till August though. Honestly there are no surprises for birthday month so Siena and I (and Ben) have decided to indulge him and give him little presents each day if he is going to buy the big presents for himself. Today he got candy. So he loves guitar hero and is really good at it. I am still working on not getting booed off the stage. I will get there I'm m sure if I want to practice. It's frustrating. Happy birthday Dave! we love you! (and you are spoiled!)