Trip to the Outer Banks

One thing we have grown to appreciate about living on the East Coast is that you can drive for a couple of hours, if not less, and be in a different state. We took a trip down to the Outer Banks and stayed in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The first day we visited the Wright Brother's National Park and saw where they launched their first four successful flight attempts from. Those are the numbered rocks that Abby is standing by. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and played some putt-putt. Both Abby and I made a hole- in- one, but Quintin was the overall winner. Adrianna had a little plastic club, but lost interest with that and just liked throwing her ball into the hole.







The hotel room was very nice- with a great view of the ocean. We had grand plans to get up and watch the sunrise together and we did, only with a little one joining us as well because Adrianna woke up too!



The weather was cloudy, but still great for the beach. This was Adrianna's first time going to the beach and she loved it. At first she was shocked when she had sand all over her feet, but she got used to it and later was trying to get it to stick to her arms! We buried Abby in the sand and made her a cute mermaid tail! We let her do most of her swimming in the indoor pool because she gets so cold when she gets wet, but before we left she ran out and played in the ocean for a while. She got knocked over by some strong waves but got right back up with her little boogie-board to go at it again!



This next picture was taken by Abigail. We were trying to get a shot of just the two of us, but Adri kept creeping in!


















Here we are getting ready to head home- all showered and with only about 30% of the sand still on us! It is so hard to get rid of all that sand after you go to the beach!


On the way home we stopped by a roadside farmer's market- Don't those peaches look great?

The Golden Champions

Abigail's soccer team is called the Golden Champions and she is the team captain! She has learned a lot about soccer already and has so much fun playing with her teammates. She scored her first goal when they played their second game. Here are some pictures from that game.

Just relaxing

We have spent a lot of time just relaxing since I got home. Good thing we were working on a lot of projects around the house when I was coming home for the weekends because we haven't done much with the house these past couple of weeks besides some work in the yard and more mulching!! Abby has had swim lessons on Mon-Thurs mornings the past two weeks and then her soccer or tae-kwon-do in the evenings so our weekdays have been super busy.

The girls love to play in the sprinkler! You can see Abby running back and forth and jumping right through the middle, while Adri prefers to hang out on the sides and feel the "rain." It hasn't been too hot yet this summer, but it sure helps us cool off to play in the water.




They also like the mist on the water hose and their pretty curls just glisten in the sun!!

Mommy's commuter car

I start back to work next week and am going to have to drive about 60 miles round-trip so we thought long and hard and decided it would be best to get a commuter car that was better on gas mileage and also so I wouldn't put a lot of wear and tear on the Enclave, because we love that car! We looked around and found a great deal on a Honda Civic. Quintin had a cute idea to get a white one so now all of our cars are white. We like white because it looks great, stays cool in the summer, and any dings or scratches are really hard to see. The girls like to sit in it and listen to the radio- who knows maybe it will be passed on to Abby as her first car...

Fun on a rainy day

Adrianna's first dentist appointment

She had her first trip to the dentist and did great! The glasses were a little big, but she didn't seem to mind. I'll work on posting a video later of her sitting in the chair as they reclined her- it is pretty cute. She let them put it all the way back and then said, "all-done!" If only going to the dentist was that easy!!

Last day of swim lessons

She did a great job in her swim lessons this summer. We found a great swim cap that kept her curls dry and chlorine free and she also liked wearing her goggles so she could swim with her face in the water.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

We decided to take the girls to Busch Gardens since we weren't able to go to Sesame Place. They have a new section called Sesame Street Forest where all the characters are. There were a lot of rides in that section that even Adrianna could ride. Poor Quintin squeezed his legs into one of the kiddie rollercoasters with Abby and he was glad she didn't want to ride it again! We went to that section first so then Adrianna was able to have a nice long nap in her stroller.

There was also one that Abby didn't like at all. It was called the Big Bad Wolf, and it was a ride that hung from an overhead rail, and you were in cars that could swing side to side- it is in the second picture. Abby was tall enough to ride, but it was pretty shaky and the g-forces were too much for her little head and neck! She liked everything else she rode, especially the battering ram, which was just the big ship ride that goes back and forth.

We had lunch in Germany and the girls had some cute Elmo cupcakes. Adrianna really liked the icing on hers!! Abby got called up to dance in the show they put on! She has the best luck with that kind of stuff.

Planting Flowers

The fruit and vegetable garden that Abby and I planted soon after we bought the house hasn't grown anything, so we thought we would try our luck again but this time with flowers. Thankfully those have already started sprouting and we can't wait to see how pretty they become.

4th of July

We had a great 4th. We grilled, played outside, and had ice cream for dessert. Quintin was sad his wasn't the slow-melt kind like the girls' popsicles.



We could even see the fireworks from our house. Adrianna loves her big sister, but isn't always in the mood for hugs and kisses!

Finally home!!

I finally finished Department Head school on July 1st and headed home. We had planned for Q and the girls to fly to Philadelphia and I was going to drive down and pick them up so we could go to Sesame Place and then we could all make the rest i=of the trip home, but that didn't work out. When Quintin got to the airport they told him his flight had been cancelled and the earliest they could get to Philly would be 10:30 that night- which was too late because by that time I could have driven all the way to Virginia. So- that is what I did and I made it home just before 10 p.m. Here are some pictures from the "graduation" we had.