Well, it has come and gone: our annual trip to the great state of North Carolina. It was much shorter than my little heart wanted. I love being around my family, and it just doesn't happen often enough. Here are a few of the highlights:
Megamind. I had never seen this movie. I laughed--maybe even snorted a few times from all the laughter. Dorothy immediately became obsessed and ran around the house in various cape-like costumes yelling "MEGAMIND!!!" the rest of the visit. Here is our chalk tribute to our favorite blue guy.
My parents live right down the road from an old Grist Mill. There is a great little museum and hiking trails attached. It was a great morning activity for all the little girlies before it got too hot. We took to the pattern of morning outings, mid-day siestas, and afternoon pool time. Oh, it was heavenly.
Downtown Raleigh has a great hands-on, interactive children's museum called "Marbles." We left Marty with the two little girls, and the big girl cousins and baby boy came with the mommies and grandma for a whole afternoon of playing. I loved watching Dorothy play at the water tables, climb around a pirate ship yelling "arm-ah-teee!" (her version of arrr-Matey), pretend to groom all sorts of animals, make all sorts of meals for us (like pretzel, chicken, and bread smoothies) with all the plastic play foods, and just be a little girl! I know I push her too often to be the "big" kid because she is the oldest--but it is good to stop and remember that she is still just my tiny three year old girl. I need to let time slow down as much as possible, not speed it up.
And then there was (one of my personal favorites) the breakfast weiny and s'mores roast!! It heats up way too fast down south to even have the slightest desire to do a camp fire any other time of day. So, in the beautiful morning light we marched on down to the fire pit and roasted the obligatory summer foods of hot dogs and marshmallows. It was wonderful. And I hope we get to do it again next year!
Some of the non-photographed highlights were lunch at an awesome Turkish restaurant followed by chocolates at our favorite local chocolatier "Chocolate Smiles." Oh, mama, stop in and try a caramel cloud if you ever make it to Cary, NC. Please. We also loved going to the farmer's market, story time at the local library, visiting grandma's bookstore, and train, boat, and carousel rides at a local park. I can't believe I didn't take a single picture by the pool, but we spent a lot of delicious hours in the water. I know my girls miss that part of our daily routine already!
Man, I'm tearing up a bit just thinking about how much I wish we had had a few more days, but I will take what I can get. Til next year--thanks for the great kick off to summer!
No comments:
Post a Comment