Some Catchin' Up to Do

As our last hoorah in the Winston-Salem area we decided to take a break from the packing and went to the Horne Creek Living Farm for farm days. We had fun listening to some music, playing old the games, and getting the corn off the ears. 

Our first outing around Wilmington was to Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson. It was a town built in the 1700s that did a lot of shipping of turpentine and other things but was destroyed by the late 1700s by fire from the British. Then it became Fort Anderson during the Civil War. 

These men were demonstrating their firelocks. Denzil goes around now shouting "Firelock!" then makes a gun sound.

This is what is left of the Church, I think it was called St. Phillips church. The walls are there but that's it.

The mounds are from the fort. It said that the mounds were made one shovel of dirt at a time by slaves and indians.

This is Oak Island Lighthouse. 

Here is our house for the year. We love it! We have awesome neighbors and love our neighborhood. Denzil and McKinley are in love. It is sure nice to have more space to put our stuff too.

Denzil's new friend is Loren next door. She is a few months older than him but they love playing together. Yesterday they brought out the slip n'slide and the kids were in heaven!

Lake Powell 2012

It might have been a bit crazy getting all our stuff packed for our move but I couldn't pass up the great tickets and the opportunity to go to my favorite place on earth, Lake Powell!

Cute life jacket for Kris, and Denzil figured out that he could float with his life jacket so he had a blast!

She loves the water, even if it is just in the dog bowl.

Did I mention she loves sand, mud, dirt, pretty much anything that will fit in her mouth.  The first thing she did when she got by the water was stuff her mouth full of mud.

We went for a long boat ride to Rainbow Bridge.

It was pretty hot and Denzil was a bit cranky because of it but we had a great time. We saw lizards and even a dinosaur track!

The relaxation station was a hit, even when it was the target for a little boy peeing off the houseboat. I was sitting right at his target spot!

Just cute and so much fun!

Every time we went on a boat ride Denzil would fall asleep, usually covering his ears. This boy has sensitive ears.

We decided to leave Lake Powell a little earlier than originally planned because we had a small group and half of them were leaving anyway plus the wind was supposed to pick up so we made our way to the cabin for some fun.

We had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for s'mores.

And McKinley got her first try on the awesome swing. We had a blast for our short trip and it made us more excited to get back West next summer. Thanks Dad and Mom for having so many fun things and letting us come and enjoy them!

Graduation Fun

This is the real Hudson Hornet. He knew exactly who it was. "That one looks just like Doc!!"

 With beautiful weather, we visited the mountains with Jenny's parents. We headed up to Grandfather Mountain, NC. This is near the Swinging Bridge.

 The hike to the top of Grandfather Mountain is pretty cool. One section has a lot of steep rock that they have bypassed with these ladders. I think there are 7 ladders in all.

 The month of May would not be complete here in Winston-Salem without a visit to the Greek Festival. Here the Spartans putting on a show. Love the gyros and loukoumades. I think we made it to the festival every year we were here.

 We took both of our families to Old Salem. This is a Moravian village that is similar in some ways to Colonial Williamsburg, in that the buildings are kept up nicely and the demonstrations are well done in period clothing. We have been several times and it is always interesting to be reminded of the way things used to be.

 At the awards banquet.

 The next two are good friends of Kris's who we are going to miss (and many others) when we leave this town.

 This one totally loves to play in the sand. We bought this sand toy set for him and he could play for hours.

 He does not like the ocean too much though... yet.

 The view from the hotel in Myrtle Beach, SC where we stayed with Kris's parents.

 Thomasville, NC is famous for lots of furniture and this giant chair.

We are sure blessed to have had so many fun opportunities here and to have made so many friends. Sad in so many ways to leave, but we are certainly excited for the next steps and new places and friends.

My Two Cute Kids and friends

Denzil woke up one morning and started talking about making the dragon blanket the door and I remembered that we made a fort with some chairs and blankets a while ago and so we tried to recreate it. He loved it!

 Evidence of climbing the stairs.

 We decided to make a trip to the NC Transportation museum for a little train ride. Victoria was not too excited about getting on the train. I almost couldn't pry her off of me but she eventually relaxed a bit and actually enjoyed sitting with Denzil and our friend Aiden. I'm glad my friend Amy could make it. We had fun checking out the trains and cars that they had there.

 We went to the children's museum again and McKinley was so happy to play with the food. She is really starting to have fun at the places we go because she can finally play with things.

 We went strawberry picking in Kernersville the other day with Miss Rachel and Miss Mallory. These two were big helpers...at least they were quality control. Denzil keeps saying he wants to go again but our fridge is full!

9 months and more

Denzil was very proud of this balloon. He wouldn't take any other pictures without one with the balloon.

Doesn't she look so proud to be 9 months! I can't believe how big she is getting. At her appointment she was 16 lbs 15.5 oz (19th percentile) , 27 and some (I can't remember if it was 1/4 in or 3/4 in) inches tall (38th or 48th percentile...maybe I need to pay more attention), and 17 and some head circumference (65th percentile). At least my kids are always above average for the head, big brains! She is getting very proficient at crawling and standing up next to things. She also has learned how to climb up the stairs. She isn't great at it but we have to watch her like a hawk now so she doesn't sneak over to the stairs. She also has been trying table food and seems to enjoy it. She likes a bit of ice cream too.

We went camping with a whole bunch of our friends and Denzil keeps saying he wants to go camping again where all of his friends were. Too cute.

Just some of the boys playing in the water. Of course!

Don't worry, Rex just got a nibble.

These are some of Denzil's friends at a birthday party. We are sad to be leaving such awesome friends and their parents too. We have had some wonderful people in our lives while we have been here.

Canoe Camping on the French Broad River

I have wanted to go on a canoe trip for a long time, but just have never put one together. Garett Jackson and I had a backpacking trip planned during a break prior to graduation, but he ended up injuring his ankle. Rather than cancel completely, we elected for an early season canoe camping trip, which would be much easier on his ankle. We were also able to take his two young sons along. Apparently, the French Broad River is one of the oldest rivers in the world, right here in our backyard in Western North Carolina.

Day One on the French Broad River. Our course on the river is the blue line. Put in was near the lower left of the map, where the green balloon is. The river flows south to north and we camped at the near the green balloon in the upper right of the map. We floated about 8 miles. Along the way we fished a little, with no success. Garett took the bow and I the stern.

Day Two on the French Broad River. We pushed off around 9 am under cloudy skies. It never really warmed up much, but was warm enough in the 60s. It only managed to sprinkle on us for about 15 minutes. The outfitter we rented the canoe from said it would take about six hours the second day to cover the 12 miles, but with the high water and good flows we covered it in just over three hours.  It was pretty smooth paddling, except for one spot where there is a tree all the way across the river. At the lowest spot there was still about six inches of the trunk in the way. Garett ended up jumping out onto the tree and pulling the bow over and then I jumped out and pushed us the rest of the way over, It was a little sketchy for a minute, but everything went fine.

Easter 2012

Our friend Will invited us over for a little egg hunt and to decorate and devour cupcakes. McKinley just practiced her skills of crawling and playing with the eggs while Denzil and I found eggs around the house. We had a fabulous time and of course once Denzil realized there was candy in the eggs he only wanted to open them and eat it rather than search for the eggs.

The Easter Bunny brought the kids a new outfit and a cool spider book. McKinley was excited to eat the paper grass and roll the eggs around the floor and of course D was excited about all the candy! We also went to our friends house for dinner and another egg hunt.

Denzil was excited to color eggs for Easter, but probably more excited about the stickers in package. The speakers at church were great, one gave an excellent talk about the last week of the Savior's life. We had a little lesson before church with Denzil about the reason we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think he understood a little and they also talked about it in nursery. We are so grateful for Jesus Christ and his life here on earth and that he completed the Atonement for all of us that we may all be resurrected someday. It is an amazing thing to think about our bodies being united forever and in their perfect form. Happy Easter!