Fourth fun

We had a great time celebrating the fourth of July in downtown Raleigh this year. Fayetteville street was lined with oodles of fair food, smokey barbecue, live music and all kinds of red white and blue hulabaloo. 

After walking around in the crowd we stopped for some patriotic fun in front of the Capital building. The boys signed a copy of the Declaration of Independence with a real feather pen(turns out it's a bit harder than one would think and a lot messier!) and Bennett got to "pie a redcoat."

Next we beat the heat with a trip through the NC museum of history. The story of our state and country is a rich but heavy one, and I look forward to taking our boys back when they're older and can bear the weight of it on stronger, more mature shoulders. Until then, Evan is very proud to know that the the state vegetable of North Carolina is the sweet potato(really, he won a pencil to prove it!).

The highlight of our Raleigh afternoon was of course, the wet and wild water zone. This activity was made even cooler by A)endless bottles of dawn soap and B)the fact that we were not prepared with bathing suits and so the boys got to get wet in their regular shorts, a childhood right of passage if you ask me.

SO much fun!

Later that night we made our traditional ice cream flag cake and had a hodge podge of an on the fly dinner that included of Mexican leftovers, Chinese food and local deli meats. Chris and I agreed that this was indeed a very American dinner, melting pot style. :-) No fireworks this year due to babies and bedtime, but we look forward to them in the future-perhaps even next year. Nonetheless, we are so proud and thankful every day for the blood bought freedoms we enjoy as Americans.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Insta-Friday

Brought to you by instagram, and my favorite pair of Iphone eyes. :-)

Oh Fridays, how I love thee...let me count the ways!

Let's start with Open Gym at Artistic Gymnastics in Raleigh. A forty five minute drive, five dollars and every bit worth it! Plus, we sweetened the trip with some good friends. Thanks Mandi and Kylie for icing up our Friday morning!

Since we happened to be in the neighborhood, we made a stop downtown to the Natural Science Museum. Kylie had never sat in the big dinasour footprint, so it was a must. We were also lucky enough to catch a "meet the animals" show and learned about some seaside creatures. Evan even pet a turtle...and a beetle...and a snake.

Unfortunately the butterfly conservatory was closed for repair, but never fear-enter the snake. It did not disappoint these two tots! I'm not quite sure how I feel about all this reptile petting, but somehow I feel this is but a small foreshadowing of my life with two boys.

Before heading home, we dined outside of the "Planet Cafe" under perfectly cool, grey clouds. It was a whirlwind of a fun packed morning for these three kiddos, and Mandi and I were pretty proud of ourselves for successfully survivng the trip. Reader, it is no small matter to have three small kiddos packed and carseat ready by 8:15am. I'm still patting myself on the back...

*Side note-Don't loose your parking ticket in downtown Raleigh, because it will cost you $16. Thankfully, mine was just "almost lost" and found with slight but minimal traffic backup. End note.*

After long naps and a squash making soiree, we hit up super doubles at Harris Teeter. I heart coupons.

Boy oh boy, squash never did look so good.

To wrap of the evening, we enjoyed a spaghetti dinner and some DVR'd Top Chef. Goodnight Friday, until we meet again... 

A mommy and Evan morning

This past Friday I had my 34 week OB appointment in Raleigh. To make the trip extra worthwhile, Evan and I shared a beautiful, fun filled mommy-son morning at Marbles kids museum downtown. We had been talking about special things to do with our firstborn before baby boy makes his appearance, and Marbles was at the top of the list. This place is amazing; it's colorful, bright, swarming with excited kiddos and full of a variety of activities that are interesting and fun for all ages. Literally, we could've spent the entire day there!

Of course, as luck would have it my SD card decided to shut down on me after just TWO pictures...so I pulled out the next best thing, and followed my sweet boy around taking photos with the trusty Iphone. Enjoy!

 

 

His favorite place by far-the train table!

 

We had a blast and this little kiddo ran off a ton of energy-in fact, he was fast asleep before we even got back on the highway to Wilson!

Per my 34 week appointment, I'm happy to report that baby boy is growing well. He is measuring right where he should be and had a steady heartbeat in the 120's. As for me, I've officially gained 23 pounds thus far, and feel like this turkey should be done any day now. In fact, yesterday preferably. :-) I'm much more uncomfortable at this point than I was with Evan, and am thanking my stars for a toddler who sleeps through the night and naps well so that I can grab that much needed rest myself. It's hard to believe it's already January 1st, and this could be baby #2's birthday month!

Marbles!

On Saturday we ventured to downtown Raleigh to go the Marbles Kids Museum. It was a great family outing and I'm already planning our next trip. :-) Evan loved every minute of our time there and really enjoyed the exhibits-and so did we! His favorites were the train table, lemonade stand(or maybe it was those sweet girls serving the lemonade), the fishing boat and well, almost everything. Can you say kid heaven?! I can't wait to make another trip when Evan is a bit older so that he can really interact with and understand all the fun things to do, like surfing and ice hockey! Between the dress up stations, life size transportation exhibits(firetrucks, buses & boats galore), pirate ship and veterinarian playhouse, Marbles made an A+ in my book!

Choo Chooo! All aboard for the picture train!

Ahoy Matey!

"I'll take one glass of lemonade please."

Future president?

Surf's up dude!

Family pictures!

Yes, two in one day!

Cake Challenge!

Last week Chris & I attended Wake Tech's annual "Cake Challenge" at the Convention Center in Downtown Raleigh. As in Food Network type cake challenge you ask? Exactly. The theme was North Carolina monuments/places of interest. While Chris and I unanimously agreed that the zoo cake should take first, grand prize went to 63 year old grandmother Norma Miller for her model of the NC coast. Wow, I hope I have this much talent at 63!(Note: The first 5 pics are the challenge entries)
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Even though we arrived a little late, and the center was a lot crowded, it was fun to see the different decoraters prepare their cakes live(in the professional chef hat no less!), and then do the ceremonial "move" for judging. There were also a lot of pre-made exhibition cakes, as well as tons of food from local restaurants. All in all, a delicious experience!

Weekend Adventures in Raleigh

I heart Raleigh. The list of why we love living in Raleigh seems to grow and grow the more time we spend here. This weekend we added to the list with a trip to the famous farmers market and an awesome afternoon in Downtown's Moore square at the annual SPCA 3k dog walk/celebration event.

To start, the farmers market is always a fun Saturday morning activity. The season just opened, and the strawberries are as fresh and sweet as ever! I had an authentic German super pretzel, and Chris enjoyed his one of a kind glass bottle Sundrop, that is after his "best ever" ham biscuit from the infamous farmers market restaurant. Piper enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the market as well and was on his best behavior, mesmerized by the scent of fresh baked bread and just waiting for crumbs of many kinds. Annnd, if I knew anything about flowers, I'd have to say that the nursery was pretty awesome, overwhelmingly so. Next time I'll have to bring an expert, aka mom, to help with the picking.

Without a doubt, the highlight of my morning at the farmer's market was the purchase of a looonnggg awaited item on my home wish list. I was beside myself with excitement as I laid my eyes upon it...could it be? And just when I had stopped looking! There it was, my pink and brown monogrammed garden flag. I know it's just a little flag, but seriously, I've been wanting one since the day we moved in our house on McDowell. I can't tell you how many times I've stepped into Kirklands with fingers crossed, or saw something similar and turned it down because it wasn't "just right." Could you believe that I was just inches from ordering it online(which was about $10 more expensive) just DAYS before and then let it go because the shipping and handling was 1/2 as much as the flag itself! And there I was on Saturday...I saw some flags at a small stand in the little shops at the market and after asking the lady(just in case) she said she didn't have any, but that she thought that "Judy" did. I inquired where I could find this "Judy," and with a slight skip in my step sauntered towards her set up. To make a long story short, I found Judy, and the swirly girly "S". The waiting paid off-I ended up with the perfect flag, and at half the cost! Lord, thank you for Judy and her impeccable taste. :)

With our flag and natural Carolina honey in hand, we made our way Downtown to the big ASPCA dog walk event. The turnout was a total surprise to us-there were HUNDREDS of dogs there. Piper had a blast, and it was so much fun to walk around and see all of the different puppies, pet friendly vendors and fun activities like best kiss contest and best trick. The weather was sunny and beautiful, and it made for the paw-fect afternoon in Downtown Raleigh-they even blocked off 2 streets to make way for the all the puppies! Oh, and we scored a ton of swag-more than we had hands to hold. Piper was spoiled with dog treat after dog treat, and was a happy, full bellied and exhausted camper by the time we made it home.

In other weekend news, we had a nice "ice cream for dinner" night at our local Coldstone(thank you entertainment coupon), and I made Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches on Sunday afternoon. We had to make up for all that walking somehow! :)

The Girls are Back in Town!

The great reunion came and went too fast! I am so thankful for my favorite girls, and am already looking forward to our next grand adventure.

Girl talk-check.
Raleigh-check.
Belly laughing-check check. :)
Stroll down memory lane at Campbell-check plus.
Ice skating-Rain check :/
Shopping, brownies & cheesecake-checkmate! Yum yum!
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Cheers to lifelong friendships!

Cheers to a three day weekend!

What a nice, relaxing Labor Day weekend we had. My favorite part-probably sleeping in on Monday! On Saturday Chris and I, puppy in tow, went to visit his dad in Durham, and stopped at the Eno river along the way (so much for Piper's bath on Friday night!). After an outside lunch on Duke's famed Ninth street, we made a short surprise visit to his Grandparent's house on the way home. Needless to say, the puppy had quite an exciting day! He is without a doubt the center of attention wherever we go. We are so thankful that he is friendly and gives sweet kisses to his many unfamiliar admirers.




On Monday we had a great time walking around and exploring Downtown Raleigh in search of the "city market." Despite the fact that mostly everything was closed, it a beautiful day for a walk in the city(Piper agreed). Every time I go Downtown I am freshly awed at it's rich history, tall buildings, beautiful park areas, meaningful monuments and it's o so enticing street side cafes & restaurantes. We did find the City Market(A great Photo-Op for those artists at heart!), and look forward to going back soon when things are OPEN...all in all, we had a wonderful time and, as always, vowed to come back more often.



Other weekend highlights-Having a delicious lunch at "Pei Wei," one of our favorite restaurantes-finishing a good book-making Jello and Snickerdoodle cookies-homework(for Chris)-catching some of the Jon and Kate marathon-a cute movie-Piper's first official bath-annnnnddd laundry!

Museum Days!

On Saturday, Chris and I ventured to Downtown Raleigh to see the the Musuem of Natural Sciences and the NC Musuem of History. What a fun day it was, and we enjoyed such beautiful weather! I enjoyed learning about the tropics and all of the fun animals that make NC their home. I was excited to eat at the Acro Cafe in the Museum (to complete the experience), and speaking Acros, we also learned about some newfound dinasours. I was not as impressed or captivated with the History Musuem, most of which appealed to boys I think with its large wartime and NC Sports hall of fame exhibits. Our legs were defitley tired by the end of the day, but it was worth it. Walking around the historic downtown area and touring the musuems was a great experience and a nice break from our usual Saterday routine. It seems like we've been so busy lately; it was nice enjoy a day to ourselves. We hope to have many fun "dates" there in the warm future:)