Outerbanks Beach Trip 2011

Well, after a 15 hour drive back to Indy we are home!  Dennis and I had been dreading the drive to and from the beach, but it went better than we could have imagined (not that we would jump to do another 15 hour drive anytime soon).  On the way there the boys were great, they colored, watched a couple shows, and slept.  On the way back was a bit more eventful.  Logan vomited not even an hour in to the trip, we think he just put too much of his breakfast in his mouth.  Then Dennis got a speeding ticket.  Except for Logan getting a bit fussy and restless the last 2 hours and Evan getting cranky right before he fell asleep, the boys were pretty good.  We didn't even hear "are we there yet" too often.

As for the beach trip...we had an awesome time as usual, though it seemed to fly by even quicker this year.  We went out to dinner a couple times, but other than that we just hung out at the beach house, spent everyday by the house pool and went to the beach.  All 3 boys loved the beach this year.  They all enjoyed building sand sculptures with Dennis.  They also all loved the pool this year.  Colin has become a fish in the water, swimming the length of it underwater and jumping in over and over again.  Logan enjoyed sitting in the float, and Evan swam all around with his life vest on.

Evan with Grammy

It is very important to me that my boys have a close relationship with their cousins, like I did growing up.  Moving so far away from all their cousins, this is going to be a challenge, so I am glad we have our annual beach trip to allow them a chance to bond with their cousins.  The boys were really great most of the vacation, because they had so many kids to play with.  I actually felt at times like I hardly saw Colin and Evan because they were busy playing Foosball with their cousins or coloring.  It was great to see them having so much fun.

We stayed in an 8 bedroom house this year.  With 12 adults and 12 kids, it made for a fun trip.  We were also excited to see Holly and Pete's new baby, Cameron.  Colin, as usual, loved to hold him!  That boy loves babies!

Everyone in this picture is part of our group, and several of us are missng!

A funny Evan story....Our niece Farrah, turned 2 during the beach trip, so we had a birthday party for her.  The kids all played some games, including hot potato.  When the music stopped they had to peel one layer of paper off of the potato (since there was no potato in the house, my sister used a banana).  Who ever unwrapped the last layer than got a prize.  Well, Evan was the one to win and when he unwrapped it, he got a huge grin on his face and said "I won a banana!!!!"  I said, "Wow, you love bananas don't you?"  And, he smiled and nodded his head.  Of course then Carol said you also get to get another prize.  But, later he told me, "My banana is the best prize ever, and the silliest!"  When we were 6 hours in to our drive back home to Indy, Evan got real sad and said, "You need to turn around and go back, we forgot my banana!!!!"  Luckily, Carol said she will hold on to it for him, for when he visits next time.  That seemed to make him happy again.

It was a wonderful vacation, and we are already talking about next years trip!  But for now, we are back in Indy and back to reality.  We are spending today unpacking, buying school supplies for Colin, and ordering uniforms for Evan.  School starts in one more week!  I can't believe how early they start here!

Cabin Fever...

In my last post I mentioned that I would be keeping the boys out of the sun.  Well, it has been going okay so far.  They have colored, played video games (a little too much for my taste, but there is only so much available to them to do in this small apartment), played with their cars, played with my hair, and have even helped me clean. 

Of course, after 4 days of keeping the boys inside and with Colin's rash all gone, we ventured out to a new park yesterday, Dillon Park.  It had a great playground and a splash park as well.  I let Logan run around this time too and he enjoyed all the spinning equipment. 

Today, I was waiting on a phone call all day (that never happened), so we spent all day inside.  It started out fine and the boys had a lot of fun building a fort.  Logan even enjoyed crawling in.  However, by the end of the day and with the help of Evan and Colin not napping, Evan was a mess.  He was being mean to Colin, tearing down the fort, and not listening well to me.  Evan in his usual layed back way, will often smile when you are stern with him, which can be so infuriating.  He just can get under our skin like crazy.  I hope that he is just going through terrible "3's and 4's" like Colin did and that he will outgrow these moments.  However, there is a twinkle in his eye that I think he will always have.

First Visit to West Park

Taken by Colin!

I have been trying to keep the boys busy with the pool at the apartment.  Unfortunately, going to the pool with a 15month old Logan is not very relaxing.  Colin and Evan at the same age used to stand right next to me in the pool for hours.  Logan is more curious.  He likes to crawl out of the pool and explore.  Which means I have to follow him around the pool, so that he doesn't get hurt.  His favorite thing to do is climb on to chairs and stand up on them. 

Anyway, today I just didn't have the energy to follow him around the pool again, so I took the boys to a park near our new house called West Park.  It was awesome!  There was  big slides, lots of swings, a toy tractor to climb, a corn maze, splash area and a big rope tower to climb.  The boys had a blast!

Evan took this picture!

I had planned on taking them to a different park tomorrow, but it looks like the rash that Colin started on Sunday is Fifths Disease.  We had thought he wasn't feeling well because of too much sun exposure and that he was sun burned, but it has been spreading.  He is no longer contagious, but sun can make the rash worse so I am going to attempt to keep them out of the sun for a little while.  That should be pretty hard given that it is summer time.

Children's Museum, Waterpark, Food and More Food, Oh My!!!

Well, our first full weekend in Indiana was jam packed with fun.  Grandpa McLaughlin came to visit and with 6 people in a 2 bedroom apartment we knew we would get very stir crazy if we didn't find lots to do outside.  That, in addition to the fact that our apartment pots and pans are really not big enough to cook for a large family, meant eating out almost every meal.  We had burgers and subs and sandwiches.  We tried out a few different restaurants in town, all of which were pretty wonderful and we will be returning to. 

Saturday, we went to the famous Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  I have been told by many people that this a must see and well worth the membership.  So, of course we wanted to see it right away.  And it did not disappoint.  The Richmond museum that we have been going to for years probably would take up about 1/4 of one floor of this museum, and this museum has 4 floors!  The boys especially liked the dinosaur and Dora and Diego exhibits and the fun play area.  Logan also loved getting to walk and play around in the toddler play areas, he had a huge smile on his face the whole time.

Evan dressed up as Diego

Saturday evening, Dennis and I were able to go out for a related 9th Wedding Anniversary dinner.  We went to the famous steakhouse downtown, St. Elmo's.  My mouth is still watering thinking about the amazing and spicy shrimp cocktail!  The boys were great for Grandpa McLaughlin, thank goodness!

Sunday, we ventured out again to the Monon Center, which is like a YMCA on steroids as Dennis likes to call it.  It has a water park, zero entry pools and even a lazy river.  We had a ton of fun.  Logan of course was happy the whole time in the water.  Colin was upset that he was a couple inches shy of being able to do the big water slides, but he was able to sneak on to the diving board.  He jumped twice and his bravery shocked me!  It is amazing how comfortable he is in the water now!

Well, when we weren't eating and checking out the big attractions here, the boys were keeping Grandpa busy with games, especially go fish and some drawing too.  Logan seems to be fascinated with crayons, I wonder if he is going to end up liking drawing as much as his big brothers.  Anyway, it was a fun filled weekend and we are very excited about all that our new home has to offer!

July 4th Carmelfest!

We must have planned when to arrive in Carmel, Indiana perfectly, because the very next day was one of the biggest festival of the year...Carmelfest.  What a way to ring in Independence Day and welcome us to Indiana!

The Carmelfest had a great parade, the boys especially liked the fire trucks.  We obviously did not know what to expect as we didn't bring lawn chairs with us, or bags for the boys to collect candy in, but we had fun anyway.  The parade was crazy long so towards the end we started the long walk towards the food and games.  I have never seen so much food, it was great!  There was also live music, a few rides and bounce houses.  Colin who is becoming more and more brave wanted to do a bungee jump ride and he did awesome!

After a while we headed home for naps.  The sun doesn't go down here until about 9:45pm, so with 3 little kids there was no way we were going to stay out for fireworks.  Despite that, it was a wonderful first 4th of July in Carmel!

Moving Out...

It has been a busy last couple weeks, between packing up the Richmond house and moving to Indiana.  So, much has happened that I could write several pages, but will try to keep it brief...

Watching the movers pull up to the house.

The move out of the Richmond house went very well.  Once the house was all packed up Dennis flew to Indiana while the boys and I stayed with Holly for a week.

This past week at Holly's was jammed pack with fun.  With 5 boys 6 and under in one house, we needed to keep them busy or else wrestling and running would start up.  So, we went to a splash park, playgrounds, the pool, played in the sprinkler and I am sure a few other things, but I can't think of them right now.  Colin and Evan also enjoyed a day and night staying at their Grandma's house. 

While Dennis was in Indiana he bought a house!!!  Now, I am either very trusting of my husband or have completely lost my mind and at this moment after just driving 10 hours to Indiana, I honestly can't say which.  Anyway, because it was a good deal and we didn't want the house to get taken, I agreed for Dennis to buy a house without me ever seeing it!  I will say that I looked at LOTS of pictures, so I wasn't completely blind in the decision and I did see some houses last summer, so I had a slight idea of what was out there.  Anyway, with some reservations, we went ahead and made an offer and are now owners of 2 homes!

Dennis flew back to VA Friday night (unfortunately, he got in late and missed out on a family barbecue with my whole family, minus my parents who are in Italy).  Saturday morning we got up and drove back to Richmond so the boys could enjoy their last baseball games of the season.  And what a day it was....Evan got a couple outs when he played first base!  Colin also played first base and got 4 outs in his game and got the "game ball"  which he was thrilled about.  Saturday evening was spent at Grandma Bridgers house and getting to say our goodbyes to Dennis' side of the family.

One highlight of Saturday was Logan got his first haircut!!!  He was nervous at first, but after a few tears he ended up doing okay.  Speaking of Logan, he is walking much more now!  He really took off this past week.

Today, we hit the road for Indiana.  After just shy of 10 hours we pulled in to our temporary apartment.  That included a 45 minute lunch break and two potty breaks, so we made pretty good time.  The boys were surprisingly very good during the drive.  Colin and Evan went back and forth between watching movies and coloring.  Colin also took a couple cat naps and all 3 slept the last hour and a half.  Logan took a couple long naps and most of the time just sat there quiet looking out the window or laughing.  He fussed a few times briefly, but for the most part was awesome.

Despite spending all that time in the car, we hoped back in it so we could take a look at our new home....We are very excited about it.  I love the backyard and view of the lake.  The house is nice inside, a little smaller than I had wanted, but we love the lot so it was worth sacrificing a little on space.  We can't wait to move in and get settled.  Well, I have already gone past keeping this "brief" so I will end it here.  After a long, long time coming, we are in Indiana.....let the new adventures begin...