Just a few fun and silly photos from this week. This week after swim lessons Finn was treated to a sucker from the quarter candy jars. The free take home prize for the week was a fun little patch which he thought was really cool! In general, Griffin is a really good eater. He regularly eats whatever we make for ourselves for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, if we make something different he will ask why he doesn’t have something (like beets on my salad) and I’ll ask if he would like some. Usually his answer is yes, he wants to try it (even the beets, which he actually does like!). We regularly include fruit with his meals and one of his favorites is raspberries, which he calls finger puppets. Now you understand why: I went out with some friends for our monthly meet up. This gathering we went bowling! I can’t even recall the last time I went bowling (other than in college). I had a fun night, but I didn’t set any records. Ha! We went to Star Lanes at Polaris which was really nice and clean. The restaurant inside made yummy food and there are tons of tvs to watch while bowling. Kind of crazy! Finn and daddy have been having fun in the evenings building big towers. The one who wins seems to be the one who causes the tower to fall!Here are few others from the week. Some silly selfies and a couple of dessert with cousins at Graeters after we had dinner at City Barbeque with Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta!
We had a lovely vacation this summer with my family at our traditional stomping grounds in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. The weather was nice and sunny every day except for one afternoon when it stormed. It was perfect weather for the beach where we spent several hours each day in the water, playing in the sand, and having picnic lunches. Once we arrived at the beach Finn rarely sat down. He constantly ran back and forth from the water to our sand play area with buckets of water, which he dumped immediately and then ran back for more. He love it. He is at a great age for playing at the beach. He went out in the water with daddy, and Grandpa and Grandma many times (despite my worry of sharks!). He really wanted to let go and be the first to catch each wave. He kept telling Papa and daddy to go out further!
Here is the beginning of our trip. We hit the road by 7:30 am – I was impressed we met our goal departure time 🙂 Finn is all cozy in his pj’s with his fuzzy blanket and animals, and of course his sunglasses. Our first stop: Tim Horton’s, for some doe doe’s, of course!
Guess who we ran in to at our first pit-stop at the Tamarack exit in Beckley, WV! I had missed a text message that they were going to be stopping there and we were getting ready to leave when Kevin spotted mom and dad walking nearby in the parking lot!?
Our first night we spent in Durham and ventured out for some ice cream after dinner. (top photo compliments of Amy!). As tradition has it, we stopped for lunch at Sharky’s once we arrived in Ocean Isle Beach. It was perfect timing and we enjoyed a yummy pizza, sweet potato fries, and chicken! While we were waiting to check in at our house we enjoyed some time outside on the deck.
Once we arrived at the house it was full on play mode followed by an evening trip to the water after dinner. It was a beautiful sunset that evening. And the days that followed were pretty much wake up, eat, beach, eat, nap, eat, sleep, repeat!
Cousins in matching new vacation pajamas!
Daddy and Finn are about to get a big splash!
Dad took a photo of me,
Trying to take a photo of them doing this:
But they were moving a bit too fast for my phone/camera…..so here is a better look:
Finn and RoRo spent lots of time sharing the chairs.
Special beach treat!
This is what Finn looks like after a day at the beach 🙂
And if you can’t tell by the smirk on his face, this is him pretending to sleep. He’s snoring too. We had a nice family dinner overlooking the water. We were able to watch the sun set and capture a family selfie.
Graham was posing with a fabulous smile, asking me to take his photo in these! Such a handsome boy.
G and Finn having some fun chats.
Dad took these next two – good ones!
Piggy back rides on Grandma!
Grandma and Grandpa spent lots of time on the floor building really cool trucks, cars, towers and such with the new magnetic set they brought for the kiddos.
It’s always fun to play with the couch pillows…..where’s Grandpa?
Hitting the big waves with Grandma and Grandpa!
Heading out with Papa and Daddy.
Snack time: rainbow goldfish and drinks! Uncle Andy had them each sit on a pillow 🙂
And this photo is right before we departed for home, at about 6:45 in the morning on Saturday!
Can anyone find Finn? His keepsake this year was a large stuffed turtle – you know, it was the year of the turtle with the ride and all.
And here are many lovely family photos that Amy took, not that you couldn’t have sensed the focus and quality is far better than mine – but wanted to give credit where credit is due! Check out the crazy reflections in the sand and water!Amy treated us to another family photo session on the beach this year. We are so fortunate to have her share her gift of photography with our family. When we arrived at the parking lot to head out to the beach we realized there were turtles to see! Amy was able to capture that too 🙂 There are several awesome photos – I can’t wait to get some prints!
Early in the week we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong who had just returned from their adventures out west to visit Sean, Max, and Charlotte in Arizona and the Scotts in Texas. Finn was really excited to see them! He spent some time on Grandma’s lap looking through photos of his cousins Max and Charlie. And he really loves his dinosaur shirt and hat that Geema and Papa brought back for him. He’s been sleeping every night with his new mammoth too (I think sleeps with at least 7 animal friends now!). On Wednesday Griffin and I headed to his preschool orientation at Northwest Presbyterian Christian Academy. It was a short visit where he was able to meet his teachers, see his room, and play for a bit to get familiar with everything. He walked right it and started playing with the toys they had setup in various areas. His preschool class, the Guppy’s, meets in one of the rooms he has been in during the nursery hour at church on Sunday mornings so he is pretty familiar and comfortable there. I didn’t take any photos, other than this one of a perfect rainbow that we saw on our drive over to school. This was taken right by the zoo at Riverside Drive and Powell Road. We had a super busy weekend as we hosted a cookout with family, friends, and neighbors on Saturday. We all had a really fun time and I just didn’t make a point of snapping any photos – though I now wish I had! On Sunday we hosted another cookout as a kick-off for our new church C-group that is forming. That was a lot fun and we got to know our new pastor and his wife and kids as they are going to be in our group. We’re looking forward to this new group as the format will be a bit different than we’ve done in the past. The women meet once a month, the men meet once a month, and we will have one family gathering a month.
And here are just a couple of random shots from the week. Finn has been back to really liking and asking for his “nola” bars, Cam is hanging out on her bed, and Lily strikes a pose. Cam has actually been doing really well lately. Both days during the cookouts she walked all throughout the yard (to scavenge for food) and was pretty active for those several hours. I was impressed! And Lily remained in our yard even with people coming and going and the gate being open the entire time.
Just a few fun and silly photos from this week. This week after swim lessons Finn was treated to a sucker from the quarter candy jars. The free take home prize for the week was a fun little patch which he thought was really cool! 
In general, Griffin is a really good eater. He regularly eats whatever we make for ourselves for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In fact, if we make something different he will ask why he doesn’t have something (like beets on my salad) and I’ll ask if he would like some. Usually his answer is yes, he wants to try it (even the beets, which he actually does like!). We regularly include fruit with his meals and one of his favorites is raspberries, which he calls finger puppets. Now you understand why: 
I went out with some friends for our monthly meet up. This gathering we went bowling! I can’t even recall the last time I went bowling (other than in college). I had a fun night, but I didn’t set any records. Ha! We went to Star Lanes at Polaris which was really nice and clean. The restaurant inside made yummy food and there are tons of tvs to watch while bowling. Kind of crazy! 
Finn and daddy have been having fun in the evenings building big towers. The one who wins seems to be the one who causes the tower to fall!
Here are few others from the week. Some silly selfies and a couple of dessert with cousins at Graeters after we had dinner at City Barbeque with Amy, Andy, Graham, Rowan, and Greta!
