Bowling with Uncle Chad

August 20, 2011 Saturday - Sara and the kids came over. Their whole family was able to come to NC and visit March 2010 & we took everyone bowling. Well, ever since then David has remembered that and talks about "Bowling with Uncle Chad". It is so amazing that he remembers that when he was 2 years 1 month old. So, on this visit we had to take them BOWLING. David was looking so forward to it.
Everyone had a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed playing the arcade games afterwards & winning prizes!
August 21, 2011, Sunday - Sara & the kids came over after church. We hit the pool later & had a splashing good time!
Mixed up on the start time sent Nathan & I rushing to make it to his skills test for soccer. We arrived for Nathan to be number 43 in line & missed the director telling the parents what to expect in this league. Opps! When we arrived back home Chad had supper ready from the grill & we enjoyed supper. Then the cousins put together their new tents & were ready for the sleepover!

Badin

August 18 & 19, 2011 Thursday & Friday - The kids and I packed up and drove to Badin Lake to join the gang. We enjoyed the two days boating, swimming, playing putt-putt, playing games riding on the golf cart & spending time with each other.

Play Time

August 17, 2011, Wednesday -The cousins came over here & Nana watched them while Sara and I did some Back to School shopping.

NC Zoo

August 16, 2011, Tuesday - Today we took all the kids to the zoo to see some great animals & enjoy the beautiful weather. We had only planned to see North America, but the kids did so great walking that after a pretzel snack we were ready to explore Africa. Everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you Nana and Papa for taking us!

Welcome to America

August 15, 2011, Monday - We headed to my Mom & Dad's today to welcome my sister-in-law and 3 kids to America! They arrived in Washington, DC from Holland on Saturday, but due to the truck brakes catching on fire & getting those fixed they didn't arrive in NC until last night.
We are so glad to have them in the USA. My brother is still in Holland until he presents his paper for his PHD in September.
The kids enjoyed riding on the driveway & playing in the back yard with their cousins.

Summer Vacation

August 6 - 13, 2011 Saturday - Saturday - We are headed to our favorite vacation state - Florida! During the week we had a fabulous time. We enjoyed the oceanfront room in New Smyrna Beach, FL. We woke up early some mornings and searched for the best seashells. We drove over to Kissimmee and enjoyed a day at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon. The kids loved this day the best. Brittany enjoyed the fun water rides & Nathan loved the 6 foot waves. He especially liked it when daddy threw him into the oncoming wave. The kids enjoyed the visit to the Lego Store in Downtown Disney (I wish we had one in NC).

Another fun day was when we drove on the beach to the jetty (structure of stones projecting into the sea) & we saw sea urchins, striped fish, large crabs & baby crabs. The kids loved exploring around the rocks. Earlier when we were trying to find the jetty we discovered wild gopher turtles (land tortoises that originated in North America 60 million years ago, thus making it one of the oldest living species) & their burrows in the sand dunes. I was so excited to find live, wild turtles. It was so amazing!

Throughout the week we also enjoyed building sand castles, swimming in the pool, playing ping pong, shuffle board, riding the waves, playing in the water park, shopping, eating and relaxing. Thank you, Florida! We enjoyed our summer vacation. Good Bye, until next year!