Archive for July, 2014

Putt Putt

Posted in Family outings, Family visits, Trip on July 11th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

What's a trip to the beach without some putt putt golf. And this was no basic miniature golf. This was Professor Hacker's Lost Treasure Golf. First stop, the train ride to the first hole.

Putt Putt

Here's the other half of the train car as we approach the tunnel.

Into the tunnel

The second hole started in a castle turret.

In a castle

Some holes were inside of caves.

Caves

They had a hole on a pirate ship, though that was on a different course than the one we did.

Pirate ship

It was lots of fun. We had two hole-in-ones: Molly and Jen. Jen and Scott had a serious battle for the lead going the entire time and ended up tying for the best score. If you're in the Outer Banks and looking for some putt putt fun, this place is pretty cool. I'd definitely go back.

A lot of sand

Posted in Family outings, Trip on July 10th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

We headed to Jockey’s Ridge State Park to check out the huge sand dunes. After a long hike through the sand, we broke out the kites for some fun. Well, Molly got hers out. Leah was tired from the hike and not in the mood.

Dunes

After a while, Molly was ready for a break and Leah was ready to fly her kite.

Leah's kite

Eventually, they started flying at the same time. It really was a fantastic place to fly kites.

Both kites

After the heat of the sand dunes, it was time to cool off with a popsicle back at the house.

Popsicle break

The big birthday

Posted in Celebrations, Family visits, Trip on July 9th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

The main event - celebrating Grams’s 60th birthday. Aunt EA made sure Grams was fully adorned, and Aunt Caroline made some yummy red velvet cupcakes. I think Grams is excited.

Sixty

What??? One gift from all her kids. What could this be?

Wha???

It’s an iPad!

An iPad

Happy birthday Grams! We love you!

That about covers the first couple days, but this is a week long trip so there's much more to come. Well, at least it was supposed to be a week long trip. More on that later.

Staying cool

Posted in Family visits, Trip on July 8th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

After a morning on the hot beach, we spent a little time indoors in the cool watching World Cup. Molly thinks she can help Uncle Scott appreciate the World Cup game he’s watching by bonking him on the head repeatedly with her new toy unicorn.

Bonk

Then it was time to stay cool in the pool. Molly showed off how she can swim down to the bottom to pick up diving rings.

Diving rings

Leah spent a long time just swimming from one person to another in the pool, with very little break between each trip. She can move pretty quickly now. Here she is coming at me.

Strokes

Here’s Leah having fun with Aunt EA. Jen and I got to relax on the side of the pool for much of the swimming as Aunt EA and Uncle Scott swam with the girls. It’s nice to have aunts and an uncle around.

Swimming with Aunt EA

The beach

Posted in Family visits, Trip on July 7th, 2014 by c-had – 1 Comment

For Grams’s 60th birthday, we all went to a beach house on the Outer Banks (Southern Shores, to be precise). It’s the one behind the girls. In fact, our room is the room on the top floor on the right (with the hot tub on the deck outside it). After arriving, the girls were anxious to hit the beach as quickly as possible.

The beach

The girls didn’t want to go far in the water, but Molly did get a little damp in the spray.

Ocean spray

Next step - sitting in the water and letting the waves wash over their legs.

Sitting

Leah enjoyed the light splash.

Light splash

After sitting in the surf for a bit, a larger wave came in. It picked Leah up and moved her six feet up the beach, leaving her drenched. She wasn’t a fan, and so decided to sit in the sand for a while.

Soaked

Molly was OK with getting all wet, though she still ran from the waves when she thought they might be too big.

Running from the waves

The next day, it was time to hit the beach again. This method of burying Aunt Caroline may take a while.

Burying an aunt

Well, that was a failed attempt.

Washed away

Leah opted to avoid the surf today, and instead played in the sand and shade.

Sitting in the shade