Oh My Wordy, Look Who's 30!

Ryan turned the big 3-0 on Saturday and we had an awesome time celebrating!  It's scary leaving your 20's behind (seriously, I still have 4 months to go and I can't stop obsessing), so we made sure to make 30 a milestone to remember!

AmMa Jo Ann came in town to keep the boys so we started out Saturday with a trip to Carowinds for the 30 year old kid (aka my husband) and myself.  Not exactly how I'd opt to spend my 30th, but it was perfect for Ryan and it was great to do something fun like that without the kids (although I couldn't help but think the whole day about how much Austin would love this place).  After arriving and riding our first roller coaster at the park, the Intimidator (aka the tallest, fastest, longest coaster in the southeast), we both decided that we are, in fact, too old for roller coasters and prefer our feet a little more firmly planted on the ground.  So, we headed on over to the water park for a little less aggressive, laid back fun.

We followed Carowinds up with an early evening check-in at a "swanky" (as Ryan stated) hotel and got ready for dinner.  Our dinner was awesome and delicious and so relaxing.  Ryan mentioned ending our fun day by just going back to the hotel and turning in early, but I had a little something extra up my sleeve.  I convinced him that we should go to his favorite bar in uptown Charlotte for a few drinks to end the night and when we walked in he was completely shocked when more than15 of his friends jumped up and yelled "Surprise!"  The best line of the night was when Ryan looked at me and said, "I didn't even know this many people liked me!"

Unfortunately, this is the best group shot of the night.

Chris, Ryan & Neal 

The Birthday Bucket!

No idea what's going on here, but this is apparently the only picture I'm in...or the side of my head is in... 

It was a fun night to say the least, but we woke up the next morning realizing once again that we are also, in fact, too old to stay out partying all night.  Darn you thirties!!!!!  At least we took comfort in knowing that the boys were at home being well taken care of so we enjoyed a quiet Sunday morning of laying in bed and watching TV until noon...something we probably haven't done in almost 3 years now!  I miss that... :-)

Happy 30th Birthday, Ryan!!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend, you deserved it!!

We love you so much!

Beach Comparisons

A Look Back At The Past 5 Years

My goodness how life changes...

Summer 2011

Austin at 34 months and Owen at 15 months

Summer 2010

Austin at 23 months and a 5 month old baby Owen!

Summer 2009

Austin at 9 months

Summer 2008

6 Months Pregnant on our Babymoon

Summer 2007

Newlywed on our Honeymoon

HH '11

I took a little blogging vacation, but much to the grandparents excitement (and maybe 1 or 2 others), the Adventures finally continue....

We took our first (and possibly only) trip to the beach a couple weeks ago.  The 4 of us as well as Aunt CaCa and Uncle Nick stayed in Nick's family's 2 bedroom condo at Hilton Head.  Four adults and 2 kids in a small two bedroom place....needless to say I don't think we will be getting an invitation back anytime soon!  Ryan and I are used to the fact that our lives center around our kids right now and we've learned that sometimes we have to sacrifice our own personal comforts in order to make things better for our children.  Catherine and Nick are awesome with the boys and love them to death.... but lets face it....they're young newlyweds and probably don't look forward to vacations where they have to share a room with a 2 year old who wakes up at 7am and then never quits talking or wanting them to play with him all day.  They also sometimes underestimate the volatile nature of a child in his "terrible twos" who is sleep deprived and doesn't like to hear the word "no."  Finally, they probably didn't completely understand that you can't take your eyes off a toddling 15 months old.....ever!  Catherine and Nick, we love y'all dearly, but we understand if you never want to vacation with us again!

Other than the tight living quarters and exhaustion from keeping up with 2 wild kids in new surroundings, we had a really fun time!  Owen was a total beach baby although he definitely preferred sand to sea.  When he wasn't wondering off down the beach, eating sand, taking our room key to random strangers or chasing down birds, he was most likely carrying around his yellow shovel and splashing through tide pools.  He loved the freedom and space, especially when the tide was out and we had the entire beach to ourselves.

Austin loved the beach on the first day but could take it or leave it after that.  The ocean kind of scared him when he went in too deep and the waves started coming.  He also didn't like getting sand all over him.  He loved to make Ryan build him tons of sandcastles, however, just so he could stomp them all down.  His favorite part of the entire trip was the two rounds of putt-putt and arcade games we played.  He did have several fun moments on the beach though running around with Owen, chasing the frisbee and flying the kite.

If we thought a beach vacation with a 1 and 2 year old was crazy....I can't wait until next year!!!

Beachin'

We've been beachin' for the past several days.  More to come on that later, but I just couldn't wait to post a few favorites from our trip!

Our Deer Friends

A couple weeks ago Owen and I spotted a mama deer and her fawn walking out of the woods behind our house.  By the time I got my camera they had made their way into the front yard and were walking across the street.  Owen loved watching them and stood there looking out the window saying "deer deer."  For a few days later he would look out the window and call for them.  Well, they must have heard his calls because after he got up from his nap this afternoon we spotted them again in the woods out back.  I brought him to the window and he was so excited to see his deer had come back!  He even began kissing the window!  I know that deer season opened the other day so right now I'm just praying hard that they find solace in the woods behind out house and stay far, far away from any hunters.  Owen and I really love our new deer friends and want to see lots more of them!  Somehow Austin is always napping when they come by, but I'm sure he'd love to get a glimpse of them as well.

Just like a mama to be concerned with the potential threat watching them while baby is just wandering around looking for something to eat!

Owen loving on the sweet deer in the backyard!

Romp 'n Roll

Romp 'n Roll is a new kids gym that just re-opened down the street from us.  It's the only one in the area so I was thrilled when I heard they were reopening this month.  We just went to our 3rd open gym since they started and as usual, the boys had a blast!  It's a soft, gated, air conditioned, fun place for kids to run free....what's not to love?

End of Summer Gifts

I decided to try and be crafty by making thank you gifts for Austin's preschool teachers this year.  I love DIY projects and fun craft ideas...I just usually don't have the skill or patience or proper supplies to see them through.  I did want to do my best to impress his teachers though since I strongly believe that a good teacher/parent relationship can really help out a child while they are in school.  Maybe if I really try to hone my skills in these early years, by the time the boys are in elementary school I will be a pro!  I guess if it doesn't work out, however, I can always go to etsy.com and buy something and pass it off as homemade!

Anyway, so I found this idea on www.pinterest.com.  (Oh, you haven't heard about pinterest?  Seriously, you need to check it out ASAP!)  The basic idea was to purchase a reusable cup, put some flavor packets and a note from the child inside and add crafty straw topper to finish it off.  It looked relatively easy so I figured I could pull it off.

Here is the finished project!  (Excuse the horrible picture, I didn't think about taking a picture until after dark the night before his last day of school so the lighting is, of course, horrible.)

The cups, flavor packets and gift bags only cost about $22 from Target which came out to $11 per gift.  It really was a fun, quick, easy and relatively inexpensive way to say thanks to Austin's teachers for all their hard work over the summer!  I can't wait to start filling my pinterest boards with lots more great crafty teacher ideas to use in the future!!

Just Keep Swimmin'

Austin had his last day of summer swim lessons last week.  He's learned so much and come so far in the past 9 weeks.  I feel somewhat confident that should he randomly fall into a pool of water right now that he could make it to safety.  By next summer, I think I will be very confident.  Here's a look at his last lesson of the summer:

Waiting for his lesson to begin on Miss Hannah's bench

Practicing his kicks 

Floating all by himself! 

Owen watching big brother through the window!