Memorial Day Weekend

Well, alot went on this past weekend. Lucas turned 3 on Friday and we had a small get together at the Saunders' house. The kids had fun but fought over the balloons when they weren't eating cake. Then on Saturday we went to a cookout at my cousin's house. No pics because I forgot the camera. Sunday after we got home from church Claire decided to play in the back yard in her dress and that thing in her mouth is her "Made in China" rubber duckie. Safe huh?

Monday we went to Jon and Cecile's for a cookout. It was great and we had fun playing in the back yard with a frisbee. Except Claire would go get it but didn't want to give it back. Tuesday we played in the backyard. I put the slide in the pool and Claire had a blast. Watch the video.
Then later that evening we met my Mom, Dad, Jen, Saunders, Lucas and my Brother for dinner. My brother Chris was in town for the day playing golf with the parents. It was nice to see him and he seems to be doing really well. Well that's all for now. Pretty soon we should have pics from the Water Park at Carowinds. Can't wait for our first trip there.

Charleston

We started off our trip at Carowinds so Frank could have a chance to ride some rides with Claire and we thought she would be worn out enough to sleep all the way to Charleston. NOT! Instead I sat in the backseat and we watched Finding Nemo. Great movie but not what I had planned. Our first night there was pretty uneventful and the next day we started by going to the beach. Claire had a blast but we could only handle so much. Who has enough energy to run after that girl for more than two hours straight? Not me. So then we had lunch at Woody's Pizza in Folly Beach. Definitely a must, if you go there. We had the the Antipasta and the White Pizza. Yummy!

Then we went to the outlets for a bit and walked around and watched some pretty cool planes come in. I didn't know there was an Air Force base in Charleston until we got there. Pretty neat. Then we rode around and saw The Citadel and caught and glimpse of some aerobatic planes that were part of the Harbor Fest. After that we walked around King Street and then back down Meeting street where the restaurants are and our hotel. We wanted to stop and eat at a local place but after all the riding in the stroller Claire was not going to wait in line for 30 mins. to eat. We stopped at Sticky Fingers BBQ and the wait staff was so great. They could tell that Claire was a little annoyed about being confined to a highchair so they brought her crayons, a balloon, and treasure chest full of toys to pick from. Needless to say Claire was unhappy with all of that and let us all know. So she sat in a chair next to me with my plate and my fork and finished her dinner. Then was ready to go.

After dinner we headed back to our hotel. The Embassy Suites on Meeting Street(http://embassysuites.hilton.com/en/es/hotels/hotelpromo.jhtml;jsessionid=VBNZTMFHQ15Y2CSGBIU2VCQ?ctyhocn=CHSESES&promo=history&cid=OH,ES,chses,HistoryB). If you get a chance to stay there, it has a great history. It was once a fort, then a tobacco storage and then the original site of The Citadel. It is 250 yrs. old. Frank and I would love to go back again.

So after our whirlwind trip we headed home on Sunday. Again, Claire didn't sleep on the way home so I was left to entertain her. Guess being out of her routine with no naps all weekend made it hard for her. Which in turn made it hard for us. What's the moral of the story? Next time we go to a secluded beach where there's nothing to do but sleep, swim and eat.

Those Crazy Animals!

After we dropped Sarah off at the Greensboro airport, we met up with the Saunders at the N.C. Zoo in Asheboro. We started out in North America and saw Willy the Polar Bear, the Sea Lions, and an Arctic Fox. We also saw some snakes but the only person interested in that was Claire. She doesn't know how yucky they are yet. We also checked out the Kid's Zone, where they keep the Galapagos Turtles.
The next thing was the playground that had giant bugs and plants (not real of course). We let them burn off some energy so they would have the patience to ride in their strollers for a while.
Next was the Prarie where we saw Bison and Elk. They were all being a little lazy so I didn't get great pictures.
Then we moved on to the Bird Aviary where we saw frogs and all kinds of birds. Sorry I don't have the names of everything. After that we saw a Meerkat, Baboons, Elephants, Ostrich, Zebra, Giraffe and Chimps.
I think the Elephants were Claire's favorite but I personally loved the Giraffes. Check out the slideshow at the top and get a glimpse of what we saw without all the walking! Check back for Charleston pictures next week.

Grandma's Birthday

On Saturday, we drove up to Greensboro to pick Sarah up from the airport and headed back to Charlotte for a little get together to celebrate Grandma Couch's birthday. We had great food, Claire took advantage of playing on the swing and the slide and then we had a great raspberry ice cream cake from Cold Stone. Umm umm! Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics. (check out the expression on Grandma's face when she open the "bedazzled' shirt i got her from NY & Co. Hilarious!)