Vacation: A Visit to the Salt Marsh

The first evening we were at the Trinity Center for our family reunion I took the three girls on a walk to the salt marsh.  I really had no idea what to expect the trail to be like but thought it would be a fun adventure.  We had fun and made many more trips to the salt marsh while we were at the beach.

I took this from the van, this was the main drive through the Center.  The pond is just outside the frame to the left.  Our rooms were up the path on the right

 For all of the admonishing the girls to be careful near the water, I was the only one who almost fell in.  At the entrance to the trail I was trying to take a picture of the girls and was backing up to get the shot I wanted.  I only remembered the pond behind me when my foot got wet and I almost fell backwards right into it.  Luckily, I did not fall.  The look on the girls face was priceless.

The girls at the entrance to the Salt Marsh Trail.  It is a shame for almost falling in the pond I didn't even get a good picture.

The pond I almost fell into

Charlotte

Typical Ruby - Wouldn't you want to fall in this water?

The walk through the woods was nice.  The very long boardwalk over the marsh that had no side rails was a little concerning since I had two three four year olds (thanks Shelly) and a six year old and was the only adult.

View of Bogue Sound and the marsh

I love this picture of Eliza Claire.  Even though you can't see her face it captures her "Eliza Claireness," especially they way she is trying to block the bright sun light because it is "too much." 

Again, I really like how this captures my girl.

A neighboring boardwalk with  side rails.

Ruby, Me, Eliza Claire and Charlotte.  This reminds me of a picture I took of Michael and my shadows on the beach on our honeymoon. 

In the woods on the way back to our rooms.

I wish I would have had my other camera lens with me.  I only had my 75-300mm lens and I needed something with less zoom for some of the shots. 

I am sure there are more vacation posts to come.  I might have them all done by Christmas if we are lucky.

Jenn

Finally! Everyone is Back in School!

Rehm and Charlotte started back to school on August 23.  Ruby and Eliza Claire started back yesterday.  I am so glad to have everyone back in school.

Rehm is in fourth grade.  This year he has team teachers so he changes classes a couple times a day.  So far this seems to be going well.  He was very pleased with all of the teachers he got.

I don't have a picture of him in his classroom as he only allowed me to walk with him to the 4th grade hallway.  He's too big to have mom walk in class with him.

Charlotte is in first grade.  She loves her teacher and classmates.  None of her good friends from Kindergarten are in her class this year.  She seems to have made some new friends and be having fun.  Rehm informed her that "he had never had Mrs. J. so he could not give her any inside info on her."  Charlotte informed him that she "would be just fine and didn't need his help anyway!"  I think she was very pleased to have something going on in her life that he didn't know everything about it already.

Charlotte has mastered a new skill.  I promise a separate post on it is in the works.

Ruby and Eliza Claire are in Pre-K.  They are at a new preschool this year that is much closer to our house.  They are only going two days a week, but with me no longer working while they are in school I think that is going to work out just fine.

Ruby and Eliza Claire are in separate classes again this year.  I think that works really well for them and gives them some space to be individuals instead of twins.  On orientation day of the teachers asked me if Eliza Claire was a friend of Ruby's.  She was shocked when I told her they were twins.  Her response, "But they are so different!"  Of course Ruby was dressed in her new tutu skirt from her Cici and Eliza Claire was in jeans and T-shirt.  But, yeah, they are very different from each other. 

Both girls seemed to have a great first day of school and now trouble with the switch.

Yes, both girls picked out their outfit for the day

Thanks Hurricane Hermine for all the rain and the adorable rain coat pictures

I celebrated everyone being in school by going and having a mani/pedi and running a whole bunch of errands in the rain.  It was a good day for everyone.

Jenn

The Grinch's Poetry Homework

Assignment: write a poem about a Moose.

Bud and Bill Moose
Signing a truce with Zeus,
Zeus wrote a book on Dr. Seuss,
The moose who signed the truce had a loose tooth.

Jenn

Sent from my iPhone

What's for Dinner?

I get so tired of hearing that question. So I bought this little magnetic white board and stuck it on the side of the fridge. Now when they want to know it is right there, big as cabbage (as Cici would say), for them to see.

Having it written seems to cut down on the complaints that inevitably followed the question. Though, now they complain loudly when I forget to update it.

The special back to school dessert is to celebrate Ruby and Eliza Claire's first day of preschool this year. In case you are wondering, they requested ice cream with chocolate sauce and sprinkles.

Vacation: Eliza Claire Surfing

This was the first time Eliza Claire had seen the ocean in two years.  She was not a fan on her last visit.  Luckily, she decided on this visit that the ocean was alright after all.  

I'm not sure what she really was doing in the first group of pictures, but it sure looks like she was pretending to surf. 

So which one is your favorite?

Family Planning

I don't know how we got on the subject, but in the van coming home from the YMCA the kids started talking about how many children they wanted to have when they grew up.

Eliza Claire: I'm gonna have six kids

Ruby: I'm gonna have two kids, one to do the dishwasher and one to do my favors

Charlotte: I'm going to have three. Hopefully a girl first and then boy/girl twins.

Rehm: Huh? (He was reading and not really paying attention to the conversation, though his answer would not have been very different if he had been paying attention.)

Ruby: I'm going to have a boy and a girl so the boy can do the dishwasher 'cause he might not be that 'sponsible.

Can you see it?

A star? And a butterfly?

When things go a little too well...

Rehm needed a zippered binder for school.  He couldn't find one he loved but we did find a plain black one.  I suggested he use some of his allowance to purchase some fabric paints and embellish it so it would be more to his liking. 

He bought the paint, decided on a theme and got the Ed Emberly books out to give us some ideas on how to draw what he wanted.  He drew a rough draft on paper.  Day one of painting went great.  Day two, the painting went great, he got everything added he wanted to. All that was needed was clean up and putting it in a safe place to dry.  I posted a picture of Rehm working on the binder on facebook and went to give the dog his afternoon meds.  I left Rehm to clean up and put away paints.  

 He came outside in a panic.  He had apparently cleaned up and went to his room to read.  I had not put the binder away yet.  Since no one was in the kitchen one of the cats had jumped on the counter to see what kind of goodies might be waiting. Said cat had jumped directly onto the notebook and knocked it on the floor! 

Surprisingly, we were able to fix most of this.

This was post cat/pre repair.

Rehm was beside himself.  He had worked so hard and was so pleased with the results and he thought it was completely ruined.  After cleaning the paint of the floor, bar stools, wall and counters (yep there were paint paw prints across the kitchen island), we inspected the damage.

We speculated on which cat was to blame.  Rehm immediately blamed Phineas as he doesn't like Phin.  A few minutes later Isabella came trotting by with paint on her tail.  And then she hopped up on her favorite chair and we saw this.

The binder was salvageable with only minor repair needed.  I had one very relieved boy and one cat that was not disowned. 

What? Me? You think I did something?

I need to have him bring the binder home as we seemed to forget to take pictures of the finished product.  It turned out really cute despite Isabella's interference.  

Vacation: The Art of Waiting

We spent a week at the North Carolina coast with Michael's extended family for a much overdue family reunion.  Going out to dinner with 28 people is an interesting endeavor.  The wait was a little too long for at least one boy.

Whatever, Uncle Chuck

See, Uncle Chuck, I told you the wait was too long.

All this for a stupid grilled cheese sandwich!

I told them I didn't want to come to a seafood restaurant.

Why would I ever want to eat at a place called The Sanitary?

It is never, ever going to come!

And now I'm out of Sprite, too. 

More Spelling

Tonight at dinner I was quizzing Rehm on his spelling words. I asked him how to spell family. He proceeded to misspell it two or three times. Then Eliza Claire piped up and said, "family is spelled 'M-O-M!'"
My girl knows how to make me smile.

Cute, Quick and Easy

This is Eliza Claire's do for today. I put her hair in one big pony tail. Then I divided the hair in sections and twisted it until it started twisting in on itself. Then I used mini clips to hold it in place. Took less than five minutes.