Katie
Brianna playing in the sand.
Katelynn and Brianna going to look for crabs.
We will be flying home tomorrow afternoon. We have had a really great vacation. Brianna and I went to see Kung Fu Panda at the movies Wednesday afternoon. She enjoyed it and I think this is the first movie that she actually sat through and watched. On Thursday morning, Katelynn was dropped off to spend the day with Brianna. After going out to breakfast, Nana took the girls with her to look for a Wii and Brian dropped me off at the beach. I layed out there by the beach listening to the waves of the ocean and soaking up sun. There was a nice breeze that kept me cool, but I still had to make a couple of trips into the water. How could I not? After 3 hours, Brian came to pick me up. And yes, in case you are wondering, I did get sunburned. I guess I waited a little too late to put on sunscreen.
Friday, the whole family went to Green Point Park, which is almost at the end of Long Island. We went there to play in the sun and sand. There is a bay there that we all played in to cool off. Brian and his Brothers helped their Dad dig for clams. Digging for clams in case you don't know(cause I sure as heck didn't) consists of moving your feet back in fourth in the sand "digging" until you feel the clams. Then you pick it up and put it in a bucket. They were very successful. They got 2 5 gallon buckets full of them. I mostly laid in the sun(as if I needed more sun) and played in the shallow water with the kids. Brianna absolutely loved it! She was finding small crabs and snails. But the cutest thing was watching her with her daddy. You should have seen Brianna out there twisting back and fourth trying to dig those clams up. I know Brian probably enjoyed doing that with her. But it wasn't long before she was looking for more snails and crabs. After a couple hours, we went to the picnic area. Brianna, Katelynn, Nicholas, and Ryan all ran around and played while the food was cooking. As soon as we were finished eating, I took the kids into the water one last time. Brianna didn't want to leave and I must say, I didn't want to either. But we had gotten there at 11:00 and it was 5:00 when we left plus we had a hour drive ahead of us to get back home.
Today, Saturday, we will be having a big seafood dinner. Whatcha think they went clamming for? I think I will probably have Wendy's!
Brianna stayed over at Katelynn's last night. I'm going to pick her up later this afternoon. I thought she would have more fun playing over at Aunt Gina's than she would staying in the house all afternoon here. I don't think I've seen the sun since we have been here. I had hopes of going to the beach a couple times while we were here, but it doesn't look like it will be today. So I've used this free time to catch my blog up and to check out other blogs that I've missed out on. It's great to be on vacation. Brian and I both needed to have a break from all the stress that we have been under. I'm not sure what we will be doing while we are here. I know that we are supposed to be going somewhere Friday for the guys to go clamming, and the kids to play in the water, and have a picnic. Hopefully there will be sun for that. I was thinking about maybe taking Brianna to the aquarium and the dinosaur walk one day and maybe take her to the movies to watch Kung Fu Panda another day. And Brian and I will be taking her to the beach at least one day this week even if the sun doesn't come out. She doesn't need the sun to play in the sand and in the ocean. But me on the other hand, I am in desperate need of the sun!! I had high expectations of coming back home with at least some color on these white legs of mine. Oh well, I guess I will just have to see.
Katelynn has never been to Build A Bear and Brianna absolutely loves it so Nana took them both there yesterday. It's so cute. Everything that Brianna has, Katelynn wants just like her. So when we were at the store yesterday, I told Katelynn she had to make one like she wanted. I think she did a great job. She picked out a pink cheetah and dressed her up in Hannah Montana clothes and a blonde wig. I bet you can even guess what she named it. Brianna picked out a leopard and dressed her up in a Hawaiian themed outfit, even down to the coconut bra. Her name is "Beachy". The girls had fun picking out their animal, stuffing it, then giving them a bath and dressing them.
Brianna spent all day Saturday playing with her cousins. They are all so close in age and just had tons of fun. We had a cookout so the kids mostly played outside. Nick, Brian's brother, brought over the Powerwheel for the kids to play on. That kept them occupied for a long time. Although we were all sitting on the edge of our seats hoping that no one would get ran over or that the tent would not get knocked down. After dinner the kids cooled off with ice pops and took a quick rest then it was back to playing some more. The night ended with all the kids, except Chris Jr., sleeping over. I took a few pictures so that you all can see how the kids are all growing up.
So we all have heard now the song by Katy Perry, "I Kissed A Girl". Well, the other day when we were driving to the airport Brianna was in the backseat telling me and Brian all about it. This is what she said:
"Momma, you know what I heard on the radio the other day? I heard a girl singing a song about kissing another girl. And she liked it! When I was down at MyMy's today, we were watching Fox News and they were talking about that song and girls kissing girls and boys kissing boys, and that it is just confusing to kids! Girls don't kiss girls and boys don't kiss boys."
I just told her that they were probably just friends, and friends do give each other kisses on the cheeks.
I personally like the song, however, I will be changing the station when it comes on the radio if Brianna is in the car with me. I really don't want to have to address these types of social issues this early in her life. I wonder what she will be asking me next.
We started out the Fourth with a trip to McDonalds. Uncle Kevin wanted to take Brianna there so that she could play. Other than that, we just stayed around the house. Brian's brothers already had plans to go to other get togethers so we are going to have our Fourth of July Cookout today. We played outside with the big bubble wand. Brianna had fun making really big bubbles and believe it or not she kept wanting me to take her picture. I know, can you believe it? I definitely took her up on the offer. I took some cute pictures of her "posing".
Brianna was disappointed that she didn't get to see Katelynn yesterday, but Nicholas and Ryan came over last night and they played together. We went outside and caught tons, I mean tons, of lightening bugs. Then we all sat outside to watch the neighbors shoot off their fireworks. This morning, Brianna had to let each one of those lightening bugs go, one at a time she had to say goodbye to them. She isn't too sad about that because she knows that she had to let them go so that she could catch them again tonight. Anyway, so everyone will be over at the house today for our Fifth of July cookout. I'll take more pics. Until then, check out the ones from yesterday. I hope you all had a good holiday and we miss you.
I would like to say thanks to a couple people who are helping out with our animals while we are on vacation:
Amber, Kaylee and Abbey--Thanks for watching Oreo. I hope he doesn't get to be too much for you.
Karen Holt--Thank you for watching our fish. I know you will take good care of them.
MyMy--Thank you for watching Bonnie for us the first couple of days, even though I know you don't want to. :)
April--Thank you for taking Bonnie off my mom's hands when you get back into town on Sunday. My mom will be THRILLED!! And just for you, I had Bonnie bathed and had her breath freshened. Don't forget about the storms, you know how she gets.
Granny--Thank you for coming by every other day to feed Mr. Pickles. Even though you will probably never see him. But trust me, that cat will NEVER go hungry.
FUNNY STORY #5
We were shooting off fireworks the other night. We shot up some bottle rockets that squealed as they went up in the air. Brianna said, "Mommy, I don't like that at all. It's very "disturving". "
I corrected her and told her it was "disturbing."
FUNNY STORY #6
This is a conversation that Brianna and I shared yesterday morning:
Brianna: "Momma, you know them beetles that keep eating up my cherry tree. You know what they are called? Oh yeah, June bugs. They are eating my tree to death."
Me: "Well, Brianna I guess they are just hungry."
Brianna: "Well, they are laying all over my tree getting married."
Me: "What do you mean getting married?"
Brianna: "They are laying there on top of each other. That's what getting married is."
Sorry, you all haven't heard from me in awhile. In case you don't know already, we made a last minute decision last week to go to NY for Fourth of July. Our plane will be leaving Charlotte Thursday night at 10:00. We will return on Sunday, July 13th. We are excited and can't wait to go. We definitely need a vacation. Needless to say, it has been very, very, very hectic around here. With work absolutely CRAZY, trying to get things packed, and tying up other loose ends....its been just awful. But I know come Friday, it will all be worth it. I just wanted to write a quick posting to let you all know what's been going on, just in case you were wondering. I will try to post again before we leave. But just in case I don't get the chance, please pray for our safe flight there and back.(As you know, I am absolutely TERRIFIED of flying.) You all have a fun and safe Fourth of July as well!!
Our niece, Macy, turned 1 June 27th. She celebrated her birthday with a party at Kid's Planet on Saturday. I can't believe she's already one and walking all over the place too might I add. Brianna didn't start walking until she was about 13 months. Macy enjoyed swinging and LOVED the cake!
Last Sunday was a great day to spend sometime outdoors. I am definitely not an "outside" person, but you can only spend so much time inside. I was looking for something fun and cheap for Brianna and I to do after church. We headed out to Falls Park and the Greenville Zoo. We have never been to Falls Park. I walked past it a few months ago when I did the March of Dimes walk and thought it was beautiful. I knew Brianna would like it. We visited there first, had pizza for lunch at the Mellow Mushroom, and ended with our trip to the zoo.
"Stress" has taken over a major portion of my life in the past month and a half, and has finally came to the front burner. It is not only affecting me, but my husband as well. We both have "issues" that we are trying to deal with. I know that we all have some stress in our lives and it is in how we deal with that stress that will make us stronger. I found a website that may help me as well as others that just need a little "break" from the insanity. It offers 7 QUICK WAYS TO CALM DOWN. Maybe it may help us on the verge of a nervous breakdown get back to reality( I say that jokingly of course:)
13 THINGS BRIANNA SAID AFTER LOSING HER 1ST TOOTH:
"Mommy, my tooth just came out!"
"It really did!"
"I'm not lying, I'm not lying!"
"I just kept wiggling it and wiggling it and wiggling it."
"And it just came out!"
"Granny wrapped it up in tin foil so I wouldn't loose it."
"Granny, where'd you put it? Oh no, Granny can't find it!"
"Ok, she found it."
"Now I can put my tooth in my doll for the fairy to come pick it up."
"She's going to leave me $101 DOLLARS!"
"She might even leave me some gold."
"You know what she does with all the teeth she takes, she uses them to build her castle."
"First it was my arm broken, now its my teeth coming out!"
