Sun, sand, & surf in NC

We spent this last week in North Carolina with Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Uncle Pete. We had a fantastic week. We spent lots of time at the beach, pool, and playground by the marina. Abby & Anna both really loved the water and the sand on this trip. They both loved running in and out of the waves and playing in the new pool. We went out to eat in Southport. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Pete had a fun trip to a water slide park in Myrtle Beach and fun playing lots of golf. All the adults had fun playing cards after the wee ones were in bed. Anna & Abby had a great time playing around the house too. Anna took her baby doll for a daily walk, learned to play a few new word games and card games, and had an especially good time playing with the dollhouse. Abby was excited to play with a new animal sounds puzzle from Nana and also enjoyed playing dollhouse and taking care of the baby dolls. Unfortunately, our trip got cut a little short by Hurricane Irene. Hopefully it won't hit NC, Virginia, NYC, and upstate NY too hard in the next 48 hours!

watching a storm go by south of the beach

playing in the sand

sharing a kindle story at the beach

snack time at the beach!

swinging with Grandpa at Waterway Park

Abby loved playing in the surf!

whole family!

Abby & Anna also loved playing in the new pool

ice cream on the porch

"Baaa! Baaa!"

Abby has been saying more and more. Often, she doesn't say single words that are clearly recognizable, but she mimics the cadence of a sentence or phrase. Last week she walked into the kitchen, held up two pretend ice cream cones to Matt & I and said, "Do you want coffee or strawberry?" Okay, so it didn't sound exactly like that, but surprisingly Matt and I both heard the same thing!

Yesterday, however, Abby did break out a whole bunch of very clear words while we were reading The Very Busy Spider. While reading the book she said the following animal noises: ba, ma, woof, meow, moo, neigh, and an attempt at oink and cock-a-doodle do! She said them so enthusiastically while pointing at the animal. She also said "da" for dog and clearly said owl.

There are a bunch of other words she is starting to say. She calls her special bear, "ber, ber." Whenever she hears an airplane outside she points up and said, "ah - ba." She says "ba" for bird and "bu" for bug - all while pointing very enthusiastically :)

Look at me!

On Thursday we went out for ice cream after dinner. As usual we got 3 cones with the intention of all sharing our cones with Abby. But Abby had a different plan - she wanted her own cone. She did very well with it and obviously enjoyed it immensely!

I'm so big!

Grandma & Grandpa visit :)

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit for a few days on their way driving to North Carolina. While they were here we had a fun time at the Playseum, painting rocks, and eating at Famous Dave's and Chic-fil-a, and getting ice cream at McDonalds.

painting rocks

sharing a ride with Mr. Elephant at the Playseum

making pizzas at the Playseum

upstate summer stories...

On Monday we got back from a great week visiting family and friends in upstate New York. Unfortunately for now, this is a pictureless post. Believe it or not I forgot our camera, Matt forgot it as well (he arrived later than us), Grandma's camera broke, and the pictures on Nana's camera got erased. I know Aunt Becky got a few great pictures of all the cousins on Sunday night so those will get added to post when they are passed along. But for now, enjoy these great summer stories...

For the first time ever Liam and Anna really played together. So we've been saying that they played together for 3 years now, but this week they really hit if off. They sorted through memory cards to find matches together, pushed around Liam's car & wagon together, went for a wagon ride at Nana's together, read stories together, and had a pretend picnic together. And of course now that Kieran is speeding around with his crawl and Abby is running around, they joined in too. It was fun to watch them all play, hug, chat, (fight), and just have fun all week.

Anna & Abby had a great time with some usual favorite activities at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They marched around the house in a parade (one time when Anna decided it was time to stop the parade Abby kept going by herself for 5 more laps - so cute!), played hide-and-seek, went swimming, and played with the little people for hours. Anna enjoyed some special time with Grandma each morning (she told me not to come downstairs with her when she got up because she wanted to hang out with just Grandma) and some special time with Grandpa each day playing Cootie Bug and other games in the basement.

Anna had a special activity this week - she slept over at Nana's house by herself! She was so excited to come to Nana's house with her packed back pack. She walked in the door and raced up to her room to unpack all her stuff. She had a great time playing train, getting her toenails painted, and going out to breakfast the next morning.

Daddy had a great weekend spending time with his friends from college in their annual trip to Saratoga. And Mommy had a great week just relaxing, playing cards with Daddy, Chris, and Uncle Dan, and playing twilight croquet with Grandma and Uncle Dan - who has found a new swing that, "is really working for him." Unfortunately, we missed Great Grandma Jane and Aunt Diane this week since Great Grandma broke her hip :( But she had a successful surgery and is getting better each day :) Feel better soon Great Grandma Jane!

A few pictures from Grandma:

in the parade!

at Hoffman's playland

Thank you to everyone for a great week!