Liam is 2!!

Liam has had the year of the endless birthday! Since Keira loves to ride her tricycle, we decided to get one for Liam, and gave it to him in July so they could ride together. Liam can't quite reach the pedals, but is learning to steer in the meantime (as I pull him with a dog leash attached to the handlebars!). At the beginning of August, Gramps and Grammy were in town and gave Liam his birthday presents while they were visiting. Then we arrived at the lakehouse in NY mid-August... The cousins weren't going to be around for Liam's birthday, so we decided to celebrate Oma and Liam's birthdays early while everyone was still here. Liam's side was Cars and Oma's side had margarita glasses. (photo below)
Finally his true birthday arrived, August 24th, and Liam officially turned 2. We made him waffles for his birthday (photo below) and had an ice cream cake for desert. He's had a great birthday and I can't believe our baby boy is already two years old!!

Visit to Hilton Head

Barb has a time share in Hilton Head, so the kids and I went for a long weekend to visit everyone. We left Saturday morning and stopped on the way at my mom's for lunch with her and Nana. We then spent the rest of our time in Hilton Head hanging out on the beach and the pool. A great time was had by all!! Keira and Liam had fun with their cousins, and I had a blast with mine (and my aunt too!).

Good times on the beach

(back) Barb, Keira, me, Liam, Brian, Jen, Deb
(front) Haley, Tessa, Ethan, Kylan

Kids having fun in the condo with their cousins
(left) Haley giving Liam some tattoos
(center) Tessa showing off her tattoo handiwork on Keira
(right) Kylan and Liam with their tattoos

Liam's big boy room

We've been working on Liam's room for quite a while, and it's finally finished! He is still adjusting to his big boy bed, but it getting better about staying in it. Or we pick him up off the floor as we head to sleep and put him back in his bed. :) The stripes took a lot of time, but they were totally worth it, and look great! I pulled the colors out of the beautiful quilt my friend Andrea made for Liam when he was born.

View standing at his doorway (straight ahead)

View from the doorway to the left
View from his bunkbeds

His ceiling is full of stars that glow in the dark, complete with the constellation Orion (of course!).

We also have been working on the back yard, and Chris built a box around the playset and we replaced the mulch with sand. It was a lot of work (moving nearly 2 tons of sand by wheelbarrow around the house takes a little time!)...but it turned out great, and the kids love their new (huge) sandbox.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago and it's amazing to look at the grass (or lack there of) in this photo. With all of the rain we have gotten lately, or backyard is actually a yard and looks much greener than the photo!!

Light the Night Kick-off Event

We are once again participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night evening walk and fundraising event. It is the nation's night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers. We walk in honor of my dear friend Emily Shimpach who found out she had CML while she was pregnant with her 2nd daughter. She is doing great and responding to her medicine, and we are thankful for that! Her oldest daughter Ava and Keira are two days apart, and in February we shared a beach house with their family in Florida. We had a great time and we hope to do this annually for many years to come!

We'll be walking in Raleigh on October 17th, and would love for everyone who is interested/available to join us! If you can't walk with us, but would still like to support our team, click on the blog title above and you can give us a donation. Any amount is appreciated!

On July 27th, there was a kick-off event for the fundraising season, and our family went up to Durham for it. We listened to a few speeches and then headed out to the Durham Bulls game. We had a great time (even though we only lasted a few innings before the kids were ready to go home).

The kids burned some energy at the playground on the upper deck before the game started.

Liam and Keira watching the game. They had more fun watching Wool E Bull than the actual game!

Keira gets here chance to meet Wool E Bull up close and personal!
Liam wanted no part of it, and held on to Chris for dear life!!

Brewery Tours

Thanks to some great friends and a babysitting swap, Chris and I toured some of our local breweries with a few other couples. Our first stop was the Carolina Brewing Company in Holly Springs (photo on right). We got there about 15 minutes before they opened, and there was already quite a line forming. Once they opened the doors, the taps were flowing and we were free (literally!) to taste any of their beers on tap. Chris and I opted to each taste their anniversary beer first which was a Belgium triple (over 8% alcohol). It was delicious (we bought a six-pack of this one), as were most of their other beers. I was already feeling the first beer, so I opted out of round 2, but everyone else we were with got back in the line for another free pint before the tour began. The taps were shut off for about 1/2 hour while the tour was going on, and as soon as the tour was done, the taps were turned back on again for another hour or so. Enough to get down a few more free pints, and by this time I was thankful we were not driving!

Stop number two was the Aviator Brewery in Fuquay Varina. They have quite a few beers on tap (for purchase) that you can try - most of their beers were good, and their Saison was fabulous (we filled our growler with this one). We went on a tour of their brewery (much smaller than the first), and had a free sample on that tour as well. Luckily there was popcorn in the tasting room so we could get something in our stomachs besides beer!

To end the night, we all headed back to Debra/Jamie's house for a fish fry with a bunch of friends and the kids. It was a great time, and a special thanks to Nikol/Collins for watching our kids all day, and to Debra/Jamie for driving us around!

Fort Fisher Aquarium

The kids and I took a road trip to visit the aquarium outside of Wilmington, and met Gramps and Grammy there. It was just over 2 hours for us to drive there, and about an hour and a half for them...so a great place to meet up and spend the day together. Unfortunately it was raining at the beach, so that meant everyone on vacation had to be inside, which meant the aquarium was PACKED. Next time we'll pick a nice sunny day to go there! :) Even though it was crowded, we still had a great time. There were a lot of fish to see (of course both kids got excited about "Nemo"), and they really liked the moray eel (so much so, that Liam had to take one home with him...photo below, which is how he fell asleep with it on the ride home!). After the aquarium, lunch and a short walk around the beach area, we headed home. It was a long day, but a lot of fun!

4th of July

We took a road trip to my mom's in Bluffton, SC to spend the 4th of July holiday weekend. We arrived Thursday night in time for dinner at Nana's house. Jaye, Jamie, Allie and Drew arrived later that night, so we were able to catch up a little bit before heading to bed. They hadn't seen Keira since she was 6 months old, and had never met Liam, so it was great to see them again. And I hadn't seen Allie and Drew for a few years, so I can't believe how much they've grown up as well! Friday morning we went over to Russell's for a boat ride before it got too hot. Chris and I, the kids and Allie went out on the first ride. Allie got a chance to drive the boat (photo right), and we saw a lot of dolphins! Liam fell asleep shortly after the boat ride started, so he got a great nap in. After we got back to the dock, Russell took the next group out, and the rest of us had a picnic on the dock. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing and hanging out. Russell caught some shrimp and Keira loved to touch them (Liam was a little freaked out by them). A few of the shrimp were used as bait to catch fish, but most of them went safely back in to the river (as did the fish).










Dini shows Keira and Liam a shrimp out of the bucket (left); Keira touches a fish that Russell caught of the dock (right)

After dinner Friday night we went on a sunset boat ride. Keira got a chance to "drive" the boat, and it was beautiful to watch the sunset over the river!











Saturday was the 4th of July, and we started out the morning by going to the beach and swimming in the river and playing in the sand. Later that day we went to a BBQ, played on Russell's dock, caught fiddler crabs on the beach and rested before the fireworks. This was the first year the kids had seen fireworks, and Russell's dock on the river was the perfect place for it! We saw numerous firework displays along the river and the dock next to us shot off fireworks as well. The kids liked the ones farther away since they weren't loud. The kids/grandkids next door joined us on the dock for fireworks, and all of the kids had fun playing with glow in the dark bracelets.

Hope everyone else had a safe and wonderful 4th!