Summer Camp

The girls did just one camp this summer, and apparently they chose the right ones because they LOVED them. 

Addie chose to do a gymnastics camp with Tyler. It had a superhero theme. :) I was worried that Addie would have trouble with drop-off and being away for me each day for three hours, but she did not! I was so impressed with her independence and excitement to go back each day and do more gymnastics. 

And Collins chose to do an art camp at Wild at Art with Reeves...she came home each day bubbling over with excitement with what they had created that day. Her theme was "Art in Nature". 

Since the girls were away all morning, Luke and I got to do some neat things together. We watched trains go by...

 played at the park...

got some things accomplished at home (new curtains up!)...

and visited with friends (baby Kate being our newest one!).

 

It was a great week. Everyone got to do something a little different and we spent some time apart (which was helpful at this point in the summer).

Next up??? KIAWAH!

Swim Finishes Up

Swim team takes up a lot of time during the first six weeks of summer. But I think it is worth it because it builds confidence, strength, a team spirit, and lets her be competitive. She also just thinks it's fun, and it's a good reason to be outside at the pool with everyone.

So at the end of the swim meet season, it was time to celebrate with dolphin cupcakes and a late-night swim with Dad... 

 

But there was one more swim meet this season...Collins decided she wanted to try the TSA Championships which is like the conference championships of swim team. It's held at the big fancy aquatic center in Cary...look at this place! 

It was a little intimidating because of it's size and because we were not allowed to walk Collins in AND because she had to be there at 6:30 AM! 

I was so impressed by our girl when she took all of this in stride...she figured out where to go and what to do and didn't look that nervous...

 

 She competed in freestyle, backstroke and breast stroke and the relays...
 

 

 

Luke was not super interested in his sister's swimming competition preferring to wiggle and snack.... :)

 But he should have paid better attention because his sister won her heat in breast stroke!!!

 

 Here she is touching the wall first...it was so exciting!

 

 Love how they put their names up on the big scoreboard for everyone to see. Go Collins!

She was glad when it was over, but she was also really glad she did it. She said that even though the pool was really cold and she was really tired (our girl is not an early riser), she definitely wanted to do TSA's again next year.

 It was a great way to end a terrific season of swimming. Very proud of our Collins.

Did you Know?

That the best day of the week is Thursday? Trash truck day reigns supreme in our house!

  

New Rides

We suddenly realized that the girls had grown out of their old bikes- big time! Time for some new rides...

 

It was great because the bigger bikes allowed them both to really ride comfortably on the greenway which is such a fun family activity...Luke and I trail behind them with the BOB.

 

 

 

Collins's bike looks huge! She has gotten so tall lately that she needed one this size (which is the smallest bike an adult can ride). She was a little intimidated by it at first, but now loves it because she can ride super fast.

 

Two necessary but great purchases!

Fun Friday

It had been a rough week. Brian had worked about a million hours with his trial and was exhausted. We had dealt with a mice invasion. By the time Friday rolled around, we were ready for a little fun.

Brian came home from work early, and I convinced my family we needed to go see a giant field of sunflowers at Dorothea Dix park. They were dubious, but I had heard it was super cool...

Eek, I was wrong. It was just a big field of flowers so we moved on to something more interesting...

 

 like the Pullen Park train! Luke wanted to see a train so we ended up here for a quick ride...

which turned into hours of play because they were having too much fun. Pullen Park really is the best park around.

 

 

 

 

We had to bribe them with a PR burger to get them to leave. But it turned out their kitchen was down, and we could only get burgers off a grill out front. No fries, no tea, no extras. But that ok because that burger was the best we had had in a long time.

A really good Friday night helped make up for that rough week. :)

Horror of Horrors

After being gone for 11 days, we were so excited to come back to our beautiful home.

But coming home quickly turned very ugly once I discovered we had visitors while we were away. Yes, I found evidence of the intruders by chance and slowly realized we had a big problem. Turns out our perfect, clean, new home had been infiltrated by MICE while we were away. NO!!!!!!!!

The whole thing was (and honestly still is) traumatizing to me. I realize that having mice in your house is somewhat normal after talking to people about it, but the fact that it happened in this lovely new home (with brand-spanking new carpet!!) was devastating to me. I truly love this place, and it made the whole place feel dirty and tainted. It was a sickening feeling.

The mice were mainly downstairs in the kitchen and playroom (worst possible two rooms), and after several late-night cleaning sessions with my dear sister's help we got rid of all their evidence. Then pest control and the cleaning service came out and we got rid of them completely. But what Collins really wanted to know was, "what type of cheese did they use to lure them in and catch them?". :)

But still...talk about snapping back into reality after vacation. It was an ugly few days around the Fork house. Then we relaxed a little and started joking about it. Because obviously those mice were having a big ol' party while we relaxing at the beach.

Lesson learned...don't ever leave your home for a long period of time, clean up after your messy baby better, and always stay alert for signs of these rotten varmits. No more mice parties on my watch!

Summer Beach Trip Time

The first couple weeks of summer vacation came and went in a flash, and before we knew it was the end of June. Time for our first beach trip! We were excited and ready for a trip to Wrightsville, but were uncertain how things were going to work out. The Forks had their house for two whole weeks, but unfortunately Brian had a major trial scheduled right in the middle of it. And the Williams were also scheduled to come out from Colorado to join us for a week. We decided we'd just see how things played out and make the best of them.

Brian was there for the first weekend so we relished those fun moments with him and just enjoyed the beach...

It had been awhile since Luke had seen the ocean, and he was very uncertain of it at first. But quickly realized it was fun.

 This boy and his smile charms me so!

After about three days of beaching it, the kids were over it and wanted to hang out at the beach house. They love the beach house...

But we would convince them to put on their bathing suits and sunscreen and go outside...once they were there of course they did not want to leave.

Does Collins not look about 16 here?!? C, stop growing up!

Love, love, love this picture of them!

 Collins "flossing" in the ocean (this dance is all the rage with the elementary school set)...

The girls got to be very close over the summer and played happily together this whole trip too...warms my heart so to see them so sweet with each other.

We switched things up from the beach with a little swim in Lollipop Cove...

And Donna scored big with this purchase..because who would not a giant double slip-n-slide with a little pool at the end? This was one of the kids' favorite parts of our Wrightsville trip. They'd beg me to set it every day and would play happily for a long time...

Finally, I had to give it a try because it looked so darn fun, and I remember loving them when I was little. Collins and I would have races down them (of course she won), and it was totally fun splashing and sliding. BUT my abs totally felt it the next day...does that make me old??

Once the weekend was over, Brian had to go to Greensboro for the trial and everyone was sad. But we tried to make the best of it. Collins decided she wanted to go back to Raleigh and participate in her swim meet since she had missed the last one because she was sick. It seemed a little crazy to drive four extra hours to go to a swim meet, but if it was important to her then I'd take her. Addie and Luke stayed with Donna and Marty.

The cool thing about this swim meet was that we swam against Seven Oaks- Bennett's team!

It was hot, and the Dolphins got crushed (apparently Seven Oaks is a powerhouse swim team) but Collins was happy she had done it. The next morning (on the 4th of July) we headed back down to the beach (without Brian). It was really upsetting that he had to miss the holiday because of work.

But we had a gorgeous day and made the best of it...

 Donna made a delicious rib dinner and the girls helped decorate a festive dessert...

Collins embraced sparklers this year (last year they were scary)!

I was confused when I didn't see official fireworks planned for the town of Wrightsville Beach. Bummer, right? But then once the sun set and I had put Addie and Luke to bed, Collins and I soon found out why. We heard the first fireworks starting to go off and decided to chase them down by bike. We eventually found them at the cove...

It was amazing! They were being shot off from all over the cove, and we could see them far off in the distance ALL OVER THE PLACE! Watching those fireworks blast off over the water was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time. But Collins got scared...they were really close!

She wanted to go back to the beach house, and that was neat too because from there you could see fireworks being shot off on all points of the island- from the beach, from the end of the island, from the marina. It was a 360 degree view of constant firework explosions that lasted probably over an hour. Who needs an official town display when amateurs all over the island did it way better? It was the coolest July 4th display I'd ever seen...if only Brian had been there to see it with me. He would have loved it.

The next morning we woke up to a "bow" as Luke called it...

and then decided to head south towards Carolina Beach and the Fort Fisher aquarium. The kids loved it! Luke had been before but was definitely seeing it for the first time. We had a great time, and then finished up the morning with lunch at our favorite K38. 

More beach time...sorry, so many beach photos but that's what happens when you are there for 11 whole days!

Love these fishing images at the dock...and look at Luke learning to scooter!

One day we swam at the end of the island just to mix things up...it was fun watching boats going by.

Then there was Addie's half birthday...we forgot again! After we forgot Luke's half-birthday cone, I thought for sure we'd remember Addie's, but not so much. We made it up to her with a big cone from Kohl's and obviously she was happy to be 4 1/2...

 

My children really like ice cream...

 Luke's favorite part of our beach vacation was undoubtedly the outdoor shower...

 it was the highlight of his day!

Collins's favorite part of our vacation was the slip n' slide, and I'm pretty sure Addie's favorite part was the mini golf! This was our first time playing at Wrightsville, and the kids were all in because it's part of an arcade/water park that they thought was super cool...

Then to our amazement, Addie hit a hole in one! If you would have seen her stroke, you would have been amazed too. :)

Back at the ranch, more slipping and sliding...

and how lucky were we to be there on consecutive Thursdays so Luke got to see the trash truck TWICE??

Our final day there, we decided to check out the new Gnome exhibit at the Airlie Gardens. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids where they had to find 10 different hand-painted gnomes across the entire garden. We finally found all ten (despite many complaints on so much walking), and they were all really cool! They each had a different theme, and it was fun to discover a new one as we traversed the park.

 

Later that day, Gigi gave the girls a present she had been saving for them...matching maxis. They were thrilled and looked so cute in them. There was a third matching one for Lexi too, but unfortunately the Williams ended up not being able to come after all. It was really disappointing because the girls (Collins especially) were so looking forward to playing with "the cousins". I hated they couldn't come, but a lot of things on this trip did not work out the way they were supposed to. Brian only got to come on the weekends, and it was hard for everyone. But Donna, Marty, and I got some great quality time with the kids, and it was very relaxing. Plus we had beautiful weather and got to do some really neat activities together.

 For example, I let Addie stay up late one night to see her first sunset!

The trip wasn't exactly what we hoped it would be, but it was special all the same. We made some great memories at Wrightsville Beach the summer of 2018. This long blog post is proof of that!