The Beach!

Although it now seems like a long time ago, we went to the beach in September.  It was our family vacation that we decided to take this fall instead of in the summertime (when everyone else takes it!).  It worked out great!  We got a deal on the place we stayed, had great weather, and basically had the entire resort and beach to ourselves!  If anyone is every interested in taking a beach vacation with their family near the Myrtle Beach area, we highly recommend Litchfield Beach and Golf Resort (about 30 minutes south of Myrtle).  It's clean, quiet, and a great value!

Levi walking to the beach.  I love his outfit.  He wanted to wear his goggles (which he calls "goo goo goggles" for some reason-have no idea where he came up with that)

 Ready to see the ocean!

 See how empty it was?  It was GREAT!  The kids could run free while we sat in our beach chairs...pretty amazing!

 The boys playing in the water

 Addie loved to "make dog food" with the sand

 Happy Levi!

 Levi did tend to get cold a lot even though it was in the upper 80's.  That boy needs a little fat on his body.

 Addie!

 Daddy got turned into a mermaid!

 Photo shoot!

 He loved the beach and splashing in the shallow part of the ocean.  Not a fan of waves, though.

 Addie's princess castle.

 Levi with his shades on, having lunch right next to the beach.

 Pool time!

 Goo goo goggles and puddle jumpers

 Addie did great with swimming.  We were shocked to find that she was able to touch the bottom of the pool in the 3-foot section.  So, she got to take her swimmies off and work on swimming some.  She's still got a LONG way to go, but we were very proud of her for going under water and trying to kick by herself!

 Levi mostly just loved the huge hot tub by the pool.  But, we finally got him to jump in the pool.  Once he did it, he didn't want to stop!

 The lazy river is by far my favorite thing on vacation.  Thankfully, the kids enjoy it as well (and it was a little warmer than the pool, so that was a plus for Levi.  Even so, though, every time we were coming up on an exit from the lazy river, Levi would begin repeating over and over "hot tub, hot tub, hot tub" until we would finally give in.

NC Mountain State Fair

For the third year in a row, I took the kids to the NC Mountain State Fair.  We had a great time once again and enjoyed the weather being a little cooler than in years past.  Although we saw lots of animals, they were not the big hit this year...the kids are definitely growing up!

Levi has a love/hate relationship with tractors.  He loves them from afar, but not so much up close-if they are moving or making noise, that is.

Addie absolutely LOVED the pigs.  Especially when all 12 piglets were climbing all over their mom, fighting for milk!

Addie has become much braver than in year's past.  She actually went to pet a goat (they are VERY aggressive!):

Waiting for the pig races to begin:

Watching the pigs racing:

 Addie was picked out of the crowd to cheer on pig #5 (Dale Earnhardt), then received this ribbon when her pig won the race!  She was ecstatic!  Unfortunately, I let her hold on to her ribbon for the remainder of our time at the fair and she somehow lost it.  She's definitely looking forward to going back next year, in hopes to win another ribbon!

 This what the kids discovered: the rides!  Surprisingly, they both LOVED the rides.  I let each of them choose one to ride.  Addie picked this one:

In action:

Waving as Addie "flies" by

Waiting for his ride to start-he was definitely nervous as I walked away

Action shot-nervousness gone as soon as his helicopter started to go!

Dottie's visit

Dottie came to visit a few weekends ago and we all had a great time together.  Here are some pics from the weekend!

We love you, Dottie!

 Reading "There's a Wocket in my Pocket!"

 Doing the Hokey Pokey with Elmo

 Addie got brave and fed the rabbits at the apple orchard

 Levi enjoyed watching-not ready to feed them himself yet

 She didn't want to leave them!

 The next few pics were an attempt at getting a decent 2-year-old picture of him

 Too bad this one is blurry

 This is probably the best one we got, although it's also a little blurry...if only he would be still for a second!

 The bamboo forest

 Posing with Dottie

 On top of a big hay stack

 Addie's turn!

 Thanks for coming, Dottie!

The Apple Festival

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to the Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC.  It's only a few minutes away from our house, but we had never been before.  It was hot, but we had a great time and hope to go back again next year!

Addie got some stuff from the fire department:

Climbing up to the top of the slide...

Levi got to go down the slide (actually, he got to go twice since Addie got scared when it was her turn)

 Daddy got picked to go up and help the magician during his show!

 Following along...

 Great job, Daddy!

 First time having Dippin Dots...it was a hit!

 Addie found Addisyn and they had a blast dancing together!

August random

Although August ended well over a week ago now, I still have some pics to put up from last month.  This post is VERY random-just lots of pics from our day-to-day life.  Enjoy!

Daddy and Addie reading with a flashlight under Addie's bed-a fun way to read!

 Noah is our next door neighbor.  He has lived here for about 3 months now and we have loved getting to know him and play with him most days.

 We got a new pet-a frog!  Addie got to name him, so he is Dino.  Sometimes, she forgets his name and calls him other Flintstones character names such as Fred Flinstone.

 We have officially started doing preschool at home.  This is Addie doing a letter hunt (had to find different letters hidden around the house and check off her list as she found them) here.

 Letter Bingo!

 Levi is bound to be a chef someday.  Anytime I need to do anything in the kitchen, he wants to help.  If I won't allow him to help, he always says "watch, please?" and climbs right up. 

In an attempt to take a decent 2-year-old picture of Levi, I ended up getting a few of Addie.  Here's one:

 And another:

 This is one of the best of Levi-obviously not all about the picture taking:

Last one of Addie:

 Cheese!

 We have so many toys outside, and this is what he chooses to do:

Pirate hats made at story time

 While I was working on something, Addie and Levi were playing together in another room.  After a while, Levi came out looking like this:

We're headed out to the beach tomorrow...will update again sometime after we get back!