Halloween 2009 at the Beach!!

In October, Nana and Papa Fred invited all the kids and all the "grands" to the beach over Halloween weekend to celebrate Papa Fred's birthday and to trick-or-treat at the beach. Nana, Papa, Craig's Uncle Ovid, Fred's daughter, Nikki and her family, Fred's son, Dig, Craig's brother, Chris and his family, Craig's brother, Jason and his family, and our family had the most fun spending time together and watching the kids play!! I wasn't sure if Ocean Lakes would ever be the same after having all of us there at one time, but all the kids played exceptionally well together, and the adults had wonderful conversations!! I have a lot of pictures of this trip, so I will be making more than one post.One of the things that the kids, Craig, and I were looking forward to was carving our pumpkins. We took two pumpkins with us (one for Drew and one for Mikayla, of course), with the plan to carve them right on the beach! One of my friends from school shared that she and her family had done the same the year before, so the kids couldn't wait! Mikayla and Drew look on as daddy does the carving.

They told daddy just what they wanted, and he produced the perfect faces for their jack-o-lanterns!

The finished product!!

They fed the pumpkin seeds to the seagulls!!

We had so much fun on the shores of SC!! More pictures coming soon...

Enchanted Tracks!

On October 24, 2009, Craig and I took the kids to Enchanted Tracks!! The kids and I had gone with friends the year before, and they had a ball so I looked up the dates and made plans for our family to return. It is held at the Pavilion Recreation Center in Taylors, on the field in the middle of the "tracks" - train tracks that is! Hence the name - Enchanted Tracks. It is a family friendly fall festival that includes games, inflatables, food, drinks, a train ride, an Enchanted Trail with characters, and more!! There is nothing scary about it so it is just right for small children. Drew and Mikayla both love the Enchanted Trail!
Mik and Drew get candy from Shrek...

and an apple from Snow White!!

Mikayla and Drew also enjoyed getting their faces painted this year. Last year, the line was too long for this and the balloon art so we missed it.

Drew gets a spider and a snake.

Mikayla gets a rainbow and a crown. Is anyone surprised by either of their choices??

Waiting for the train ride - watching it enter the station!! I didn't get any pictures of us on the train because we were all riding. Mikayla sat with me in front and Craig and Drew were in the seat directly behind us. We laughed the whole way around the track.

Drew had lots of fun playing the games - especially this "spin the wheel" game, and the putting game!!

The very last thing we did was get in line for balloon art! Drew and Mikayla were thrilled about this - Craig and I not so much because it was a slow moving line. By the time it was our turn, there were only 5 children left. The balloon artist, however, made it very much worth our wait.

Mikayla holds her toothbrush that he made for her - he told her it was perfect for her because she was missing teeth. Mikayla thought that was sweet of him!

For Drew - a "monster" costume, complete with a head that sports one eyeball, a long red tongue, and arms and "claws" that Drew could move using the pieces he is holding in his hands. In all my life, I've never seen balloon art like that. It was definitely worth the wait!! We had so much fun as a family at Enchanted Tracks and we can't wait to go there again!!

Hunting Boys!!

Last fall, Craig took Drew hunting with his brother Chris and our nephew, Haston. This was them all ready to go one afternoon. I couldn't resist a picture! Don't they look cute?

County Fair 2009

Last October, our family went to the fair just as we have always done every year. It was very cold the night we went so there weren't many people there. That made it nice because there were not any lines for the rides. Drew and Mikayla (and mommy and daddy, too) could enjoy all the rides they wanted to. At the 2008 fair, Mikayla had asked that I ride the teacups with her, but I didn't think that I would fit. So, her daddy rode the ride with her, but I promised my girl that night that I would ride the teacups with her at the fair next year (2009). That was my motivation the whole time as I was losing weight!! I kept my eye on those teacups and the promise that I had made to my sweet five year old girl!! Well, at the 2009 fair, they didn't have the teacups. I couldn't believe it - but they did have this "Dragon Tales" version so I was able to ride them with my sweet girl and my sweet boy. Daddy takes a picture of us before the ride starts. Our family had a wonderful evening at the fair enjoying all the rides, animals, and fair food!! Poppi and Jennie even surprised us by showing up as we made our first round of the rides. They were excited to watch Drew and Mik on the rides and playing the games. It was the most fun!! Poppi and Mikayla with the hat that she won!!

My sweet baby girl rides the train with her brother!

Daddy, Drew, and Mikayla had fun riding this elephant. Mommy opted out of this ride!

Now Poppi poses with Mikayla wearing the hat she won!!

Drew pets the HUGE snake.

Craig and Drew ride the big slide!

We always visit the animal barn and Drew and Mikayla always love getting close to all the different animals!

Mommy looks on as Drew and Mikayla ride the carousel horses.

Drew LOVES the roller coaster.

Mikayla LOVES the motorcycles, but only the pink ones!!

Drew rides the bumper cars.

On the elephant again.

Fall Baseball 2009

This past fall, Drew played fall baseball. In fact, as we were walking to our car after the last game of his spring tournament, he said "I want to play fall ball." We talked to Drew and explained that he couldn't play soccer (he had played the previous two falls) and baseball, so he would have to choose. He chose baseball, so we signed him up to play for Spartanburg since BSYAA did not offer fall ball last year. Because of Drew's birthday and because Spartanburg does not use pitching machines, Drew played in coach's pitch (overhand). His team was the Dodgers, and it was made up of other kids from the Boiling Springs area! Drew had fun and he played well. I think this has started a new tradition...in fact, Drew said this year that he would like to play baseball all year. I think he is well on his way to that wish since it is now June and we are still playing ball!! We love every minute of it, though!! Drew runs to first after getting a good hit!
It is hard to tell from this picture, but Drew is running up to catch this guy's pop fly. Drew was able to run it down and catch it for the out!!

The boys were playing defense.

Drew played first base during fall ball, and he did an awesome job!!

Our cute "baseball king"!!

We didn't win many games during fall ball, but Drew was glad to be out there playing nonetheless!!

Fun at Chimney Rock!!

****Note: This is where my posts get a little out of order. Drew's birthday party and fishing through the summer (which really should have been posted here) can be found in earlier posts.

Last summer (just before it was time for me to go back to school) we took a quick, last minute "mini vacation" to Chimney Rock. We had been to Lake Lure earlier in the summer, and we were excited to take Drew and Mikayla again! We are very fortunate in that this is not a very far drive for our family and the view is really pretty. On this trip, we didn't spend any time at "the beach" at Lake Lure, but instead spent our time relaxing, walking the strip, and - you guessed it - fishing. We didn't hike up to the top of the rock, as I am a little too protective of my children for that. I cannot get the story of the little 2 year old that fell from the trail and died out of my head - and Drew is just not ready for that. Mikayla would stay right with us - no doubt, but Drew - ha, that's another story. Until I am positive that he understands how dangerous those trails can be, and I know that he will stay right with us - we will be keeping our feet firmly on the ground thank you! Drew and Mikayla were able to see "the rock" and this was our view from the front porch of our hotel - rocking chairs and all!We had dinner at a fun restaurant over looking the river - of course Drew and Mikayla wanted to sit on the back deck, and we wouldn't dare say no. Hey, sometimes you just gotta pick your battles! They look so sweet in this picture!! After mommy took pictures of Drew and Mikayla, they wanted the camera to take some pictures of mommy and daddy! I thought they did pretty well with the camera!!

Drew and Mikayla liked the river, and you can just tell that he is dying to get in the water!

Mikayla munches on boiled peanuts while putting her feet in the water - man this is the life!!

Craig tries to find out if there are any fish in the river - he and Drew were really hoping to catch some trout.No Luck - only a "pair of eyeballs"!
So Drew takes a dip to cool off instead of fishing!

Then Mikayla decides to join him!!
After lunch, we head back towards home stopping by this spot on Lake Lure - away from "the beach" - to try our luck at fishing again. Drew was so proud of himself!! Here, he baited his own hook, cast his line, and reeled in this catch. You might not be able to see the fish here - look real close almost between Drew's feet. He also removed this fish from his hook and threw it back!! That's a real fisherman right there!
Our girl was exhausted from this fun trip and catches a nap on the way home!! We all had so much fun, and we plan to go back another time - even if only for the day!! I personally think "mini vacations" are the best sometimes. This was just what I needed to get me ready to begin another school year!!