SSS Fun

It's so hard to believe that summer is almost over. For many school starts back this week, for us it's the end of an 'era' because the boys will start preschool in less than two weeks and we no longer will have our sitter. That officially marks the end of summer for the Schralls. Usually we don't ever notice because our schedules just continued as normal. Now it's about to turn topsy turvy as we adjust to preschool schedules. 

Anyhoozle, I thought it was a good time to reflect on some of the Sun and Sand time we had this Summer. (SSS get it? sand sun summer. It was the best I could come up with people. The children are making me sleep deprived.) 

I already told you about the mountains here but we also had plenty of time on the other end of the spectrum. Ahhh, I love sand and sun. 

The boys and I went to visit Nana and Pop-E at the beach for a week while poor daddy had to work. The new trick we learned this year was dribbling. No, not dribbling that you think of when you typically associate dribbling and boys (although that happens often too and I find it gross). I'm talking about when you take a bucket of watery sand and dribble it to make tall columns or castle tops. That was a huge hit with Charlie...

Cole preferred a more destructive pattern of pouring his out and stomping on it or anything else he found someone made. One thing they both loved was sitting with Pop-E and building sand castles. 

I think one of the cutest moments I captured was finding Pop-E and Charlie in the hammock. They were sharing squirrel stories. Yep, you read that right. Stories about squirrels.  It was a cute little moment that warmed my heart. I can picture many more conversations and stories being shared between them. I couldn't ask for a better influence for my boys. 

OK moving on before I start to cry...

Cole has just started getting in to dressing up. Not cross dressing thankfully but dressing as bad guys, super hero's or in this moment, a pirate. (but notice the super hero t-shirt)

It started as a little walk to the bank with Pop-E (all of 1/2 block down the street)...an hour later they came rolling in with pirate gear, candy and pirate money. Apparently they got lost on the way home and went to the museum, rode a trolly, found some ice cream and bought some pirate gear. 

This is Cole's "ARRGGH MATEY" face over a bowl of oatmeal. Yep, he wore the eye patch to breakfast the next morning. 

And not to be bested by his little brother...

Nana and Pop-E's is always an adventure...and full of lots of love. 

Perhaps one of the things we did most this summer for the first time was go to the lake. The "Other Anna" has a lake house and we got to go on day trips throughout the summer. The boys were so excited each time we got to go. I mean, wake me up at 6am with "can we go to the lake house now?" excited. I'm sure I never did that as a child. I was always patient. 

(see how I distracted you from that whopper of a lie with a cute picture of Cole?)

They would play and play and play with their best little friends and even some new friends! On the last day trip we took them out tubing for the first time. I thought for sure Charlie would skip it (he usually doesn't like to try new things) but he jumped right on! At one point, after being popped up high by a wave he yelled "woohoo! yeah!" 

It helped that his best friend, Christopher, was joining him. 

Somehow when I joined them I think they were a little less enthusiastic and a little more "what is she doing" . I mean I have no idea what they're talking about...isn't this how most people ride? 

Needless to say, there were some happy kiddos every time we got together.

Summer may be over but the memories are not. I'm excited about starting a new season of life and building some more fun memories as the holidays approach. 

Wait, is anyone else panicking that Christmas is only 19 weeks away???

You can thank me for that panic attack later. 

Fires and Bears and Rocks?? Oh my!

It's been a fun and busy summer here at Schrallville. I often have lulls in my business and I try to take advantage of those by spending them with family. This summer has been no exception - beach, mountains, lake - we've pretty much covered it all. 

Just a few weeks ago we went to Banner Elk, NC. I admit I was happy to go but wondering what we'd do. I'm a beach bum so the mountains in the summer were throwing me off. Little did I know it would totally make all three of my boys super happy AND bring up so many fond childhood memories spent in the mountains. I even realized that this was our FIRST FAMILY VACATION with just the four of us. That in and of itself was special. 

Our first stop was Grandfather Mountain, just 10 minutes away. Cole was especially excited to go see the B-E-A-R-S. Seriously, he couldn't wouldn't stop asking about them. The boy loves a bear...and a lion...and a tiger...and a wolf...and a dinosaur. Those are his favorites at the moment. 

Here we are at the bear exhibit (we visited twice that day)...

Note the sign in the bottom left corner "Do not feed the bears" so this is pretty much how it went down: 

Cole: Mom can we feed the bears? 
Me: No honey, we aren't allowed. 
Cole: whyyyyy? 
Me: Because the bears would bite you.
Cole: They'd eat me? 
Me: Yes
Cole: whyyyy? Can I touch the bears? 
Me: No honey, they are dangerous.
Cole: whyyyy? Can I go down there? 
Me: No
Cole: whyyyy? 

You get the picture.  

We also went on a little hike while at Grandfather Mountain; a simple 0.4 mile trail that was a good tester. The boys really got in to seeing what was under rocks with daddy, especially when we found a newt or a salamander (I forget the difference).  

And Cole began continued his life long obsession with rocks. 

He carried that rock the entire trail. It's now back home with us because he couldn't bear to part with it. Get it? Bears. Bear to part. I'm so not clever. 

There was even a "I'm the king of the world!!!" moment. No literally, Charlie screamed this when he was on the rock. And well Cole...he was just happy to be near another big rock. 

The next day we ventured to the original Mast General Store just to look around. Here is where we discovered one of Charlie's favorite things: Coke in a bottle. Seriously, it's like crack for him. I understand. Truly I do. If they had had Coke Zero in a bottle, I'd have been there every day. 

Oh who am I kidding. Twice a day. 

Then there was Tweetsie Railroad. The promise of riding a big train (one of the original steam engine trains). The promise of seeing Cowboys and Indians. The stage was set...

And then we made them ride a ride first. Take a close look at Charlie's face. FOUL would be an understatement in describing his mood. 

Finally we made it on the train and it was full steam ahead (no pun intended). They were mesmerized by the skit they do throughout the train ride through the mountain trail. Watching the Cowboys and Indians "fight" and the "gunfire". It was game on. 

There was candy...(they tossed these two licks in)

There were animals...

There were snow cones (also a bust)...

And mining for gold...(a huge hit)

And one of my favorites...riding the ferris wheel.

It goes fast giving you a tickle in your tummy since it's also looking over a valley. Perhaps the funniest comment of the entire trip was from Cole as he cackled and said "Mommy! This makes my pee pee laugh!" 

Tweetsie brought back memories and flashbacks of when I was a child and our 4-H trips. We'd camp every year as a group and take our horses (yes we brought our own horses) along the trails. So much fun. 

There was an abundance of things to do for toddlers and we stayed for f.i.v.e hours. I literally carried Cole out of the park sound asleep. He just passed out. 

Then the big hiking came the day before we left. We found a hiking trail just around the corner from our condo that was beautiful and more difficult (difficult = more fun). Cole christened the trail by of course, finding a big rock. Charlie christened it in another way which we won't discuss in a documented way. 

And then we hiked...

Surprisingly, this was right up Charlie's alley. I knew he would like it but I didn't realize how much he'd love it.  He led the way and we often found him singing to himself looking at nature. Totally and completely content to be in his surroundings. 

Made my heart smile! I'm a total nature girl (despite also being a girly girl) and can't wait to do it again with them. 

The trail followed a creek for a good bit and of course both boys couldn't wait to get in and throw...wait for it...wait for it....rocks. So in they went. 

We could be those parents that say "no you can't get in, you'll get your shoes and clothes wet" but I say "why not?" That's the fun of being spontaneous! Speaking of spontaneous, they also wanted to hike back...in the creek. They saw two other boys doing it so they of course wanted to try. I quickly realized they couldn't really do this safely on their own so...in I went. 

The boys had *the best* time hiking in the water. It was a complete adventure and I have to say, I totally enjoyed it too. Reminded me of camping with my extended family at Cherokee each summer and the fun I had with my cousins in those creeks. Although I did forget how cold it is!

The trip wouldn't have been complete until we roasted s'mores in the fire pit. They didn't really care about eating them; maybe each took only one bite. It was more about the fire. I daresay that this might have been the pyromaniac Daniel's favorite part of the trip. 

We are so excited to go back again next year (and have Nana and Pop-E join us...or since it's their timeshare maybe I should say join them). A fun new annual family vacation has begun (thanks Nana and Pop-E!) 

How about you guys? Where do you like to vacation? 

A Week of Firsts

Isn't it always fun the first time you do something? The first day of school, the first tomato from the garden, the first kiss, your first home run...(it's PG here so we'll stop there)...but there's always is a level of excitement when it's a first. Last week was no exception while on vacation. The boys had a ton of firsts and it showed in their excitement each day. And thankfully because I'm their mother, I got to relive the excitement too. One of the many blessings of being a parent.

So without further ado, let's relive a few of the firsts from last week...

#1) First bite of green beans (for Charlie)
Probably one of the ones I was most shocked by was that Charlie ate green beans. Seriously, the kids has been given them over and over and over. Refuses to even consider them. But low and behold, Daniel and I go on a date and we get back to hear that he not only ate 1 but 4. Apparently they had a race to see who could eat a green bean first and Charlie raced to win totally forgetting that he won't eat green beans. On the fourth one he did gag a little but he still ate it. Cole of course loves them and it's one of his favorite veggies. We came home looking like this (all grins), especially after hearing that Nana and Pop-E worked their magic.

#2) First trip to the "real beach"
Usually we go to a little island called Radio Island where all the locals go if you live in town. This time we got to drive over to Atlantic Beach one morning and hang out on the big beach. Radio Island is great for kids because it's part of the inlet and has no waves or rip currents but I really wanted them to see the big waves and all the seashells. True to form, Cole loved being in the waves while Charlie preferred the safety of the sand.

 

 

#3) Watching a parade

#4) Holding their first crab
Or if you're Charlie, tabs. (we still can't say the "cr" combination yet). Once we learned there were crabs in the tiny holes on the water front, we became obsessed. And somehow he managed to find adults and kids who would catch them for him every time he went down! We also loved sticking our fingers down the crab holes. Thankfully the crabs were kind and no fingers were lost in the making of this blog post.

 

#5) Izzy came in to heat (this one's for you mom!)
OK that wasn't really one I wanted to chronicle but I found it fair to include Izzy (the dog) since she practically became one of the toddlers during the week. I'll spare you the picture of the diaper she had to wear all week.

#6) Watching fireworks
I wish I could explain the kids excitement at being allowed to stay up late, drive in the car to a dock and then sit outside and watch fireworks over the water. In theory I brought my camera and captured fantastic photos of the event. In reality I totally left it sitting on the counter.

#7) Boat ride on a big boat
This one was a last minute decision by Pop-E but a really good one. They have several boats at the town docks that go out on tours and he booked us on The Crystal Coast Lady. We could have easily gone out on Pop-E's boat but that would require the boys to wear life jackets which would then result in epic meltdowns. Instead we hopped on board the bigger boat where life jackets aren't required. Huge hit. Huge. And it was a perfect amount of time - 1hr. We even got to see some of the wild horses that live on the island across the inlet (Carrot Island). They are said to be descendants of the horses brought over on Spanish ships that crashed on the NC Outerbanks. (Cole did go with us despite the pictures...but he was too busy running around to be captured in a picture)

 

#8) Cole learns that everyone else's ice cream is better than his own
Didn't take him long but Cole quickly learned that if he refused to eat what he ordered then he could have two. Part way through the week, every time we went to the General Store, he managed to convince someone (usually mommy or Pop-E) that he needed our ice cream instead of his. I'm sure my waistline appreciates the few cones I didn't end up eating.

Yep, he played us. But who can blame him for trying when he's this cute? Kid totally works it.

#9) Building sand castles
In prior years (all two of them) the boys were too little to appreciate the sand. This year they realized the fun of filling a bucket and creating a little sand castle. OK, really it was partially fill up the bucket, whine to Pop-E so Pop-E would fill it up faster and then turn it over to create the sand castle which they promptly squashed. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. But it was still fun.

So all in all it was a great week of firsts for the kids. We even managed to squeak out a few great family photos without having to force it. (note the way Charlie likes to close his eyes when he says "cheese") Maybe that should be #10 - easy family photos!

 I could actually go on and on but I'll stop at the top 10. Anyone else having fun family firsts this summer? Thanks for stopping in to share a few of ours!