Outer Banks

Last Friday we drove down to Kill Devil Hills, NC for the long weekend.

Lydia left an animal for us on our bed in the beach house.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we spent six hours out at the beach, except for when we had sandwiches by the pool for lunch.

Josiah found several shells.

The water was flat, like a lake on Saturday.

Wesley and Layton dug huge holes until the water came in and surprised them.

Me and my favorite person.

Wesley and Layton played fetch with a black lab.  The boys would run into the water to try to throw the ball as far as the could so the dog had to swim out and get it.  The owner had been using a tennis racket to knock the ball out into the water.  

Lydia swam and played in the sand.

Several times, the dog's owner said to the boys, "You have to give him a break."  The boys and the dog loved playing together.

When we finally got the boys to leave the beach, they wanted to play in the pool.

After dinner (pork barbecue), we gave Josiah a cupcake.  He only wanted the icing.  He made a huge mess picking the icing up with his hands.

After dinner, Layton, Brandon, Wesley, and Lydia played on iPads in the theater room.  The kids slept very well while we were at the beach.  They all had so much fun playing together.

The weather was not as great on Sunday but I convinced Wesley to walk with me on the beach for 30 minutes.

I loved seeing the sun shine through the clouds onto the water.

I loved getting some alone time to walk and talk with Wesley.  The walk was worth it to Wesley since we saw this cool ghost crab.

We got in a little time at the beach that morning.  The ocean was very different from the day before.

Josiah got knocked over by a wave and lost this bucket.

The older kids loved playing the waves.  They got knocked over and upside down several times.

Wesley was thrilled to have crabs for dinner.

Layton, Brandon, and Wesley played on iPads after dinner again on Sunday night.

When we made the kids go to bed they were all complaining about not wanting to go home the next day.

Fall Festival at Ticonderoga Farms

Yesterday, I took Josiah to the fall festival at Ticonderoga Farms. I had only been there one other time, in December, in the snow.

They have a swinging bridge that is right on top of the water in one section.

Josiah loved the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

He posed with old fire trunks.

He enjoyed seeing the animals.  You can buy food to feed the animals but I didn't see the signs for it on our way into the festival.  I was too lazy to walk back to the gate to buy the food.  

He chased a chicken or two.

I love this Noah's Ark playground.

Josiah and I went down the slides several times.  My smallest daredevil held his hands up most of the time.

He had a great time and I had fun playing with him.

A Weekend Away By Myself

Chris rarely travels for work but when he was preparing to leave for a week-long trip in May, I was very jealous.   I was jealous that he was getting to stay in a hotel by himself.   

On July Fourth, I received an email from my former boss, Becky, asking if I wanted to join her and some other PTs at a conference at Disney World.   I immediately responded "Yes!"   

I registered for the conference and immediately booked my own hotel room.  Last week, I shared at Bible study that I was excited beyond belief to travel alone and stay alone in a hotel room and hang out with some physical therapist friends.   One of the other women in my Bible study said that a recent marriage conference the speaker had shared a story where four sisters, who were all moms,  were interviewed after running a marathon.   They were asked, "What motivated you to run a marathon?" One of them responded, "We thought it was a good way to get a Saturday to ourselves." The speaker at the marriage conference concluded the story by saying, "Men, your wives would rather run a marathon than spend another Saturday taking care of toddlers!"  I wouldn't say that exactly, but I was ready for a little break.   

I love my family but I so enjoyed the time away.  I found it interesting that the two young therapists who are not married and do not have kids chose to room together but those of us who are older and have kids got our own rooms!   

It turns out, I was only in my room to sleep.  And I didn't get a lot of sleep.  I can't believe how much fun I had!  

The conference was ok.  I thought I would be very intellectually stimulated and that my brain would enjoy a good workout.  Some of the sessions were wonderful and thought provoking or at least very interesting but some of them were almost insulting in their basic presentation of material even new graduates would know.  

 The conference was a mixed bag but the fellowship with my friends and fellow clinicians was extremely enjoyable.  Unfortunately our fearless leader, Becky, could not be there since she was cheering on her husband who swam two miles in the Chesapeake Bay and then biked over 100 miles on Saturday.  

For lunch on Friday, we headed to the pool bar for fish tacos.  We saw this little gator on the way. 

The conference ended at 4:00 on Friday giving us the prefect opportunity for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!  Cara and I are Disney fanatics and we were able to convince the other three that this was what we should do.  Thankfully, we all loved it!  

They decided we should all dress up.  They had cool iron on decals and capes and I wore a Spider Woman dress costume. 

I  knew we could get into the party after 4:00 even though the party is from 7:00 to midnight.  We got there around 5:15.  Cara and I both have apps on our phones that show the wait times for rides.  It had just rained and the park was not crowded.  We went straight to Space Mountain. Marcia isn't a roller coaster fan but we talked her into riding Space Mountain.  She liked it!   

We got her on Big Thunder Railroad also.  

Cara had already booked Tony's Town Square for dinner.  It was nice to sit down and enjoy some delicious food.  We were in and out in a hour which we gave us time to find a great spot for watching the Boo To You Parade. This is my favorite parade and the other female superheroes liked it also.  

It's hard to get pictures of the night-time parades but I got a few. 

The other three left a little before 11:00 but Cara and I closed the park down!   We were able to ride all the rides except Splash Mountain , because no one but me wanted to get wet (I rode it six weeks ago so I was fine with not riding it), and the Speedway, and Carousel.   We also Trick Or Treated.  

Pooh and friends were out in their costumes.

At midnight, Cara and I walked into the bakery on Main Street and they locked the door behind us.  She  really wanted an ice cream sandwich and she was able to talk me into eating half of it.  All I can is, "Yum!".  After indulging our sweet tooths, we headed for the exit since the park was closed.  

After the last session ended at 6:30 on Saturday, we headed to Downtown Disney.  We ate at 

Paradiso 37.  

Laura, Ashley, and Cara.

Me and Marcia

The food was delicious and we had a table right beside of the water.   The music was great and we had so much fun!  The guy beside of me is an adaptive trike vendor who worked with Becky's office for at least seven years.   

Unlike the night before, Cara and I were the first ones to leave.  We left a little after 11:00.    

We went to the first two sessions but we skipped out on the last session.  We went to the pool instead!  We still talked about pediatric physical therapy though because that's what we do and that's our passion.  And yes, we went down the waters slide!  

All to soon, it was time to take the Magical Express back the airport and head home.  I feel refreshed.  Of course, I missed Chris and the kids but oh-my-gosh was it good to get away!   I'm already looking forward to my next trip with these wonderful women and Becky! 

Perfect Playground Weather

I miss summer already. I love going to the pool and water parks. I even like hot and humid weather. I like the freedom of no school in the summer. But, fall is beautiful and we are having perfect playground weather now. Wesley has a 30 minute piano lesson once a week. During the summer, I sat in the air-conditioned car with Josiah and Lydia while we waited on Wesley. Yesterday, was our first trip to the piano teacher's local school playground since last spring. The school recently open a new playground.

There is a cool surfboard that was surprisingly hard for Lydia.

Josiah had an even harder time with it.

Josiah like the curvy slide.

Lydia did a lot of climbing.

After Wesley's lesson, I took all three kids to the Christian bookstore to buy a new Bible for me.  I often take them to a regular bookstore and everything is fine, but yesterday was crazy with them.  Lydia had an absolute meltdown because I wouldn't buy her anything.  I wouldn't buy her a Bible, a toy, a wooden cross, or a metal cross.  Josiah ripped open a little toy car that he found in the party favor section at the end of the aisle of Bible.  After that, he rolled the car back and forth with Wesley which was fine.  I managed to keep my cool, but I didn't buy a Bible.  I did buy the car Josiah opened (I was grateful that it was less than $2) which added fuel to Lydia's flame.

Then we went to Trader Joe's and thankfully the kids were calmer. An older woman told me, "You have your hands full.  I hope you don't work; taking care of these kids is a full time job."  I would really like to say to people, "Please don't tell me I have my hands full unless you are offering a hand to help me!"  We stood in the aisle and talked with this lady for a few minutes and she turned out to be nice and even complimentary.

I came home exhausted and promised myself and the kids that they were going to bed at 7:00.  Of course, we ate dinner at 7:00 and they went to bed after 8:00.

Cox Farms

On Sunday, we went to Cox Farms. Here we are lined up to go through the bus to the vortex.

Two years ago when we went for the "preview weekend", it wasn't very crowded. Last year was slightly more crowded. Sunday seemed really crowded.

The kids didn't mind the waiting in line.

Josiah went down this slide with his hands in the air.

He ended up turning around backwards before the end of the slide.

Posing for a picture in a funny house.

The kids even liked the little dinosaur slide.

The kids on a tractor.

The kids really liked the hayride, but we didn't take any pictures.  We waited in line for at least 30 minutes.

The rope swing is always fun.

It was cute to see the goats up on their bridge over the slide.

Josiah went down the volcano slide with Chris.

Wesley and Lydia went swimming Sunday night and Wesley came home saying it was his best practice ever.  I really don't know where he gets all of his energy.  I was too tired to work out that night.