Happy St. Patrick's Day

We've lived in the Triangle for so long and we've never checked out the annual Raleigh St. Patrick's Day Parade.  In fact, I realized that I'd never been to a parade at all!  So, it was time for us to head on over! 

We were running a little late, as usual on the day of the parade.  We never seem to get in the car at quite the time we intend.  Then, I realized I needed gas.  So, we sped into downtown, and instead of parking in the first garage we found, we tried to get as close as we could to the parade so we would make it on time.  Needless to say, we just drove around in frustrating circles before we finally ended up back at the first parking garage with time very short to make it to the parade.  However, we put one boy in the stroller and one boy on our shoulders and booked it down to the end of the parade route.

Fortunately, it wasn't terribly crowded and we were able to find the perfect spot sitting on the curb in the front row.  The parade was long, but fortunately, so were the boys' attention spans!  We all had a great time.  My favorite were the many troops of adorable dogs like the pit bulls in tutus and greyhounds riding in strollers because their delicate legs couldn't walk the whole parade (sound familiar, Merry?)  I think Ian liked the bagpipes best.  They were also very cool.  Ben was particularly enamored with a blue sports car that passed by, and Evan liked the dancing girls.  There was something for everyone!  The boys also enjoyed when someone passed by and tossed them beads or candy or stickers.  They had just a little extra sugar that day!

Our favorite part of the parade was when our friend Liz passed by.  That's right, we actually knew a parade celebrity!  She is a member of the awesome Carolina Roller Girls and not only did she skate by, but she stopped to say hi.  They boys were thrilled when she stopped to take a picture with them and even gave them their own tee shirts. 

After the boys finally got tired of the parade, we headed over to the festival located at the parade finish.  The lines were long and the boys were tired, but we managed to find a hot dog vendor that wasn't crowded on the outskirts.  Evan actually ate a hot dog in the bun, not cut up into pieces, we were shocked!  Then, they wanted to try some of the activities.  We agreed to get them each two tickets which was enough to buy admission to the bouncy house.  The line was long, but the kids were happy.

They were exhausted when we headed back to car, but a great time was had by all.  I think we're going to have to go to more parades in the future!

(a little music to set the mood)

 (Ian smiles while Evan was entranced.)

(fire truck)

 (Benny and I take in the parade.)

(Man in kilt with swords...why not?)

(Our parade celebrity...Miss Liz)

(We love our Carolina Rollergirl!)

Novels

Recently, we've started pulling out the chapter books to read to Evan.  We started with a fun little book about a dragon called Benvenuto and the Carnival.  Then, we read Tale of Despereaux.  While we had to skip and skim over a few parts in the second one, Evan sat with rapt attention.  We weren't surprised.  We've always said that Evan could sit and listen to War and Peace if you gave him the chance, and Ben is pretty much the same way.  So, about a week ago, Ian pulled out Harry Potter, book 1 and wanted to give it a try.  So, he started reading it to both boys.  Turns out, Evan hangs on every work and absolutely loves it.  Ben, as you can see, is not quite so sure.  He fell asleep the first three times Ian tried to read it to the boys, and he's never fallen asleep during storytime before.  Looks like we may have to wait a few years for Benny, but we'll keep reading it to Evan as long as he'll listen!

Outside at Last

Well, after what has felt like a long cold winter, at last it looks like spring might be right around the corner.  We had a little taste of the warm weather last weekend and had to get outside and and enjoy ourselves.  We were going to go to a little trail we had heard about called the Talking Trees Trail where kids could learn about the trees by pressing buttons and making them "talk".  Sounds great, right?  Well, we pulled in to where we thought it was and there were two park rangers standing in front of barricades.  They said that they were doing construction on the site.  We were so bummed, but he did direct us to another unknown trail off of Jordan Lake. 

We headed on over.  Turns out, things usually turn out for the best.  It was a wonderful hike.  It led through the trees down to a little clay beach with a lake overlook.  It was beautiful and the boys had a blast.  We tried our best, and for the most part, succeeded in keeping the boys out of the water.  But they still had a great time running around, throwing rocks in the lake, watching boats, and climbing on logs.  They didn't want to leave. 

However, we had other springtime adventures ahead.  So, we pried the boys away from the beach and got back in the car.  We ate our lunch on the way and headed out to Celebrity Dairy.  Celebrity Dairy is a goat dairy, and a few times a year they open it up to the public and we can go and frolic with all of the little baby goats.  This year, we had a great time again.  Evan immediately made friends with one of the little baby goats and sat next to him the whole time feeling him little plants and cooing at him.  Benny on the other hand wanted to see all of the baby goats he could find.  He wanted to scoop handfuls of pellets out of their food bowls and try to feed it to them.  Both boys had a great time!

The weather has been up and down since then.  We've had glimpses of spring, and I think that this sporadic weather is going to continue for a while, but today we sat out on the porch for a few minutes in the evening and noticed all of the little flowers starting to come out on the trees.  Ian's nose is tickling, and that means that spring is here!

 (a beautiful view of the lake)

 (looking the other way)

 (Evan takes a little break from hiking.)

 (Ben smiles in the sun.)

 (Boys on the shore)

 (Don't fall in!)

 (Daddy on a log.)

 (My boys head back from the beach.)

(baby goats munching)

 

 (Look at all of them!)

 

 (Yum, yum!)

 (Ben and Evan meet the goats.)

(Ben feeds the goat.)

(Evan and his little friend.)

A Day of Play

A few months ago Ian and I had a day of play.  We started off the day with an 11 mile run and then headed to a scuba diving class.  We were able to have all of this fun because our friends the South family helped us out and watched the boys for the WHOLE day.  The boys absolutely had a ball because Nathan and Anna South are some of their best buddies. 

Last weekend, it was our turn to return the favor.  Nathan and Anna came over and partied with the Davises for the whole day.  They were busy the whole day.  Nathan and Evan were inseparable.  They played with all of Evan's toys, they watched The Aristocats together, played some music, and even headed to the neighborhood playground with Ian where he said they spent the whole time true to form, digging and playing in the sand.

Anna and Ben were not quite as inseparable as the big boys, but they also had a great day together.  They each played with their own toys, and then they'd get together to get into some trouble.  At one point then got into the sandbox and amused each other by dumping sand on each other's heads.  That led to a bath to rinse the sand out of their hair.  They both ended up taking a nap because the day was so exhausting. 

We also had a group treasure hunt in the back yard.  I've been wanting to do this for a while.  We took a bag of sequins and dumped some all over the backyard.  Then, each kid took a bag and went out in the back searching.  Anna lost interest first, and Evan could have kept going for hours, but every kid did manage to get some sequins.  The big boys then came in and made some great sequin art with their finds. 

They were happily watching Dinosaur Train when their parents arrived after dinner.  It was a failed attempt on our part to wind them down a little.  The buddies did not want their day to end.  So, while we loved having our day without the boys, we are also happy to watch the whole clan any time!

 (Ben and Anna play with the magna tiles-Notice the wonky hairstyle on Anna.  You can tell I don't have a girl!)

 

 (Anna enjoys the see saw in the backyard.)

 (sand monkeys)

 (treasure hunters)

 (The boys confer over some toys.)

(Relaxing after a great day!)

While We Were Out...

So, while Ian and I traveled down to New Orleans to have a great time with our cousins, we weren't the only ones having a good time.  Ben and Evan headed down to Charlotte to hang with Gram and Gramps.  We were so grateful that they were willing to host the boys and completely wear themselves out.  The boys had a great time with their Charlotte family, and Gram and Gramps didn't even sound completely exhausted by the end of the weekend.  I know there were cupcakes, visits to Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice's house, photography lessons, driveway painting (sounds dangerous), and all other sorts of adventures.  I think those boys are wishing we would go out of town more often!

 (a little driveway art)

 (Photography lessons are fun!)

 (quite the collection of animals)

 

 (Evan in the box)

(I missed those little goobers!)

A Love of Art

So, Evan has never really had a love of art.  He tends to rush through any project where he has to put pencil to paper including making cards for family members, Valentine's, etc.  The teachers have commented on this in school as well.  For the first part of the year he was always the last one to finish his paper work for the day.  He would take forever and not really put any effort into it. 

Recently, however, Evan seems to have developed, if not a love for art, a little more interest in it.  Maybe we can attribute that to age, maybe to a preschool teacher that loves art and has them doing a bunch of cool projects.  His teacher even commented on Monday that he was the first one to finish his seat work that day and that he was really putting a lot more effort into it.

Yesterday, we did a little art at home.  We all started off drawing with crayons.  Both boys had a lot of fun, and Evan created a great drawing of a volcano complete with lava, tornadoes, and lightning.  Then, we pulled out the paint.  He then proceeded to create the same picture in a new medium.  This was the first time I've seen him actually draw a picture with a paintbrush.  Meanwhile his brother was busy decorating himself, the table, and even a little on the paper.  It was a great artistic afternoon! 

Looking forward to many more masterpieces in the future!

(volcano #1 and volcano #2 decorating our fridge)

Eating Our Way Thru the Big Easy

While we came to New Orleans for a race, we also came to see family and have fun, and we certainly did.  Oh, and we also ate more food than I thought humanly possible.  We started our weekend going to the race expo.  We looked around at all of the race booths and then headed out to explore the city.  It was a dreary day in New Orleans, and turns out it was a pretty dreary weekend, but it sort of fit with the dark and mysterious air of the city.

We walked through the city to the French Quarter to find lunch.  We wandered around Jackson Square which was filled with artists and musicians.  Finally, we landed at Muriel's which is a famous French Quarter restaurant complete with separate table in the back for their resident ghost.  It was a great atmosphere and the food was delicious.  I sampled the crawfish and goat cheese crepes and Ian had a stuffed mirliton which is a New Orleans signature pepper.

Afterward, my cousin Sarah headed back to the hotel to get some rest, and Emma, Ian and I continued on our explorations.  We wandered around the French Quarter, including Bourbon Street.  We stopped at Cafe Du Monde and had their beignets coated in powdered sugar and a hot chocolate.  Next, we toured the market down the street and headed back to our hotel.  A delicious pasta dinner with the whole family for some pre-race carb loading followed.  We had a great time eating with family and feasted on lobster bisque, fettucine alfredo, and gnocchi.

The next day started off with our race.  I have to say, it was really nice to be staying in a hotel right next to the race starting line.  Thanks to my cousin Sarah for finding it!  We raced and had a great time.  After the race, we were starving.  So, after a shower, Emma, Dave, Ian and I headed down to a restaurant called American Sector.  It is one of John Besh's restaurant who Ian and I have watched on several food reality shows.  One of the great things about this lunch was that we were able to meet up with one of my college roommates, Elena Perez.  I hadn't seen her since college, so it was great to see her on such a chance meeting.   I happened to see her facebook post about cheering people on in the race, so it just turned out that we were in the same place.

For this meal, we started with signature New Orleans cocktails-a side car and a ramos gin fizz.  We followed that up with a monte cristo and a po boy which were both fantastic.  After that, we were stuffed, but of course, we all had to split all five cupcakes that they had to offer-yum!  We finished off that day with a great meal at a restaurant in downtown Covington where Emma and Dave live where we had some great seafood and then relaxed in front of the Oscars until we could no longer keep our eyes open.

The next day, we had rested and were ready to explore again.   We headed back over the long bridge over lake Ponchatrain back into New Orleans.  Emma was our tour guide again, and Sarah headed back home that morning.  We started off eating again, of course.  This time it was another po boy at Mahoney's which is famous for it's po boys.  Ian tried a shrimp one with fried green tomatoes and I tried one "overstuffed" with mini shrimp.  We also topped off the meal with skinny onion rings, dirty fries coated in gravy and cheese, and local Abita root beer.  Again, it was a fabulous meal.

After our meal we toured around the Garden District of New Orleans including stops at Anne Rice's house and Lafayette Cemetery.  We sampled some macaroons and homemade soda as our last sweet treats.  We even got to stop by an authentic New Orleans artist's studio.  My mom's cousin Patty's partner George graciously invited us into our studio and showed us around.  He was the perfect New Orleans character to finish off a delightful visit.

We had a great race, saw some beautiful sights, and ate some delicious food, but most importantly, we were able to spend some quality time with family.  It was so great to have some quality cousin time which we defintiely don't have enough of.  Hopefully our next visit will not be so far away!