Down time

Three weeks of track out break for the kids has been going fast. I feel like a cruise ship director that needs a extra dose of patience. The days together have been fun and we are busy making a list of things we would like to do again. I lost count of the days but here is what the kids have been up to.

We painted Ellie's room.

Found places for all her things and created a quiet place to read.

Little man got his room painted too. 

One day we visited Marbles museum and got some lunch.

I finally got a hair cut!

See the deer? Dreams of a garden might be eaten.

We even visited Dad at his new office and had lunch.

The weather is amazing right now. The humidity is gone and it has been sunny everyday. There have been park days, bike rides, Sonic runs and a visit to the local ceramic painting studio. Plenty of down time with Matchbox cars and board games. Ellie is looking forward to getting back to school. She wishes she had a friend in the neighborhood to balance out the boy ratio. I can only sympathize...3 weeks home with 3 brothers has its challenges. Thank goodness she has ballet! We have four more days of break and a trip to the zoo and the mountains on the horizon. Please come back and visit me here soon! By the way, if you enter your email at the top of the blog you'll get updates whenever I post them. Enter your blog info or family website info in the comment section so I can stay in touch with you too!

Tracked OUT

When we arrived in Raleigh the kids were plopped right into school. The Elementary school of choice is on a year round calendar which will take some getting used to. I can see the benefits but it has been rough adjusting to the new routine. First of all, poor Ty did not get  a traditional start to kindergarten. He was thrown into a class that had already been in session for 5 weeks. After two days of not eating lunch, I guess he decided it was sink or swim. He is eating now and learning too. It will all work out.
This week the kids "tracked out" for their first 3 week break. It comes at a perfect time. The house is 90% unpacked and settled, the weather is cooler and mama needs to get out of the house!
We filled up the calendar with fun things we wanted to do each day of their break. Here is what we have done so far...Day One was discover a local park...so we chose Durant Nature Park which is only about 1.5 miles from the house.

Snake sheets and skull quilts and a tired boy

Day Two was find the local library. We found it and checked out some books with some cool pirate photos in them. The boys room is getting a new design. Their bedding came yesterday, which were some cool PBK skull & crossbone quilts. Now we just have to paint some pirate ships onto the existing "waterscape" mural that is on the wall. :) We got a little side tracked and the kids painted bird houses instead. Luckily we have two more weeks.

Birdhouse painting

Still weird to me how dark it gets so quickly here..outside looking in.

The night ends with popcorn, treats and a movie

The beach!

After  months of cleaning, sorting, purging, garage sales and then unpacking, cleaning, sorting, purging and organizing...we got out of the house! Whew...finally. It was a nice break this past weekend to spend our time together and see something new! We headed towards Wilmington and found a funky little beach house to stay in on Kure Beach. Beach towns are always a little quirky and fun. The beach "apartment" we found to rent was very, very plain and kinda smelly but it made the warm sand and glorious sun that much more enjoyable. Aside from the air conditioning we wanted to spend our time outdoors. 
It was so crazy to feel warm ocean water. It has been so long since I could let the water come up over my knees without making my feet lose feeling. 
The Oregon coast is beautiful, quaint and relaxing. We are looking forward to finding just the perfect beach for us here in NC. I think in Oregon our favorite was Neskowin or Pacific City. Easy to get to, friendly beaches and good food nearby. 

At Mellow Mushroom for Dad's 40th! 

My favorite little beach comber

She is looking for dolphins ( we saw some!)

Here is one we found on the beach!

This bush was covered in butterflies. 

No vacation is complete without a stop at Krispie Kreme!

Beach Bum all worn out. 

I spent Tuesday cleaning out the sand and washing clothes. It is nice to have quiet days to spend with my little man. Sometimes I miss my friends and family so much I start to cry so then I just turn on the tv. I don't feel lonely watching my soap opera families and all their drama. Judge all you want but the fact that Victor has amnesia is a lot more interesting than all those ridiculous talk shows on all day long. I mean seriously...has anyone ever been able to get through 10 minutes of Nate Berkus? And with that...here are some highlights from our very first road trip.