Oldies but Goodies

Caleb and Luke raided Grandma Beth's storage room and found some of Matt and Drew's toys. Soon, their "man cave" basement was transformed into a playroom with toys everywhere.

Imagine Caleb's excitement to find a bunch of Star Wars figures and ships- Jackpot!

Luke scored with a bin of Thomas trains.

SciWorks

Since our second day in NC brought cooler and rainy weather, we decided to take the boys to SciWorks, a hands-on learning play place. While the boys had a blast, the grown ups had a great time too! Each activity has a science explanation, and the place was huge, so there was lots to do.

First up: Roller Racers! 

Remember these?! I had one as a child and loved it. Not going to lie- I totally jumped on one was blew past all the kids on the track! ;)

A little static electricity

A bus!

Caleb said this was his favorite. He loved playing dentist!

This was SO much fun! 

The spinning tire made the chair Caleb was sitting in spin, which he thought was pretty cool. 

SciWorks was awesome! Sure wish we had something like this nearby, as I'm sure we'd make frequent visits!

Loving Annie

Yes, Annie is hugging Caleb back...

Bless Annie, but she is such a trooper when the boys are around. She puts up with their noise and roughness, but is also frequently rewarded with "dropped" snacks. 

And, Luke LOVES Annie, or Awnie, as he calls her. We have to pray for Annie at bedtime, sing He's got Annie and Rhett, in his hands, and sing La, La, La, La, Annie's World on a regular basis. 

The North Carolina Zoo

On our first full day in NC, we decided to drive to Asheboro (only about an hour drive) to visit the North Carolina Zoo. The zoo was amazing, and much more like a wild animal park. The animal enclosures were large and the surroundings were so natural. And, the zoo was huge- so big that there were two separate entrances over a mile apart. We entered through "Africa" first and then took a tram to visit some of "North America" later in the afternoon. Even though we were there for hours, we still only saw around half of the animals! We'll definetly have to go back and see the rest on another trip. Caleb's favorite part of the day was his giant bag of popcorn. I loved the baby (7 months old) gorillas- so cute! And Luke favorite part- riding the bus back to the Africa parking lot. :)

Bus!

He kept saying Move on back. 

The Neighborhood Park

After we arrived, we decided to take the boys to their neighborhood park so they could run off some steam. We were also waiting for PeePaw to get home from work!

"Ah Baw" (a ball)

Good form, but I think he has a ways to go. ;)

Little stinker...he worked hard to get those shoes and socks off.

Caleb and Grandma Beth

Getting a lift from PeePaw

Spring Break Get-a-Way

Last week the boys and I, along with Papa, headed to North Carolina to visit Grandma Beth and PeePaw. The boys were SO incredibly good in the car- Caleb played games and didn't complain/whine one single time and Luke looked at books, watched movies, and ate lots and lots of snacks. Originally I had planned on taking the boys by myself, but thankfully, Papa offered to go with us to help. I would have had to pull over probably 50 times to switch out movies, pass out snacks, etc had he not been there- thanks a million, Pops!

Lunch at McDonalds just past Charleston, WV 

(Our halfway point!)

Luke fell asleep after about 6 hours, and if you know him, sleeping in a car is something he just doesn't do often.

Near the Virginia and North Carolina border, this is what we hit:

 It actually took us an entire hour to go 11 miles. (This also happened to be the hour that Luke slept!) Two days prior, on Easter Sunday, there was a horrible accident coming down the mountain. I think the final count came to 96 cars involved, and three people lost their life. It was awful.. The traffic we hit was due to workers removing the damaged guard rail. 

So, while our 7 1/2 hour trip ended up taking 8 1/2 hours, we managed to get to PeePaw's late Tuesday afternoon safely and with two very happy boys. Lots more pictures to come!

Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend this year and hope you did as well!

 Saturday afternoon we got together with some of our neighborhood friends so the kids could have an Easter egg hunt. Luke loved finding treats in the eggs, and opened each egg immediately to have a taste. 

The boys

Barrett, Caleb, Luke, & Colin 

Sunday mornings are always so hard at our house! No matter how early I get up and get ready, we are still running around the house, just trying to get out of door in time. Add Easter baskets and pictures into the mix and leaving on time for church is impossible. (Thankfully our ABF class doesn't start on time!)

Caleb was so excited about his Easter treats!

Even though he was with me and picked out his Star Wars plate, he was still super pumped to get it.

Two thumbs up!

I think Luke was still half asleep when we brought him down. He didn't know what to think!

Caleb told me he had an Easter present for Luke too...then preceded to give him a hug. Ahhhh. 

In their Sunday best... (their hair was still wet...oops!)

After church we had a yummy lunch at Grandma's and then the little ones hunted eggs in the basement since it was still a little rainy outside. Again, Luke went straight for the treats!

Sweet Cousins

Caleb, Luke, & Caroline