Three Bears with Benny

For most of the summer, the boys and I got to spend all day, everyday together adventuring in one place or another.  However, there was one particular week where Evan was at his Schoolhouse of Wonder camp, and I had Benny all to myself.  It's always nice to have days when I get to spend one-on-one time with either kiddo.

One day during that particular week, Ben and I decided to go on a little adventure of our own.  We headed up to a little place called Three Bear Acres.  It is one of the best kid play places that I've ever been to.  Ben and I got to just play hard all day long.

(we jumped...)

(we played puppets...)

(we slid...)

(we swung...)

(we climbed...)

(we got a little wet...)

And we had an absolute ball!  

One Last Day at the Beach

As the summer was wrapping up, the kids and I weren't quite done with our days in the sun.  So, before school started, we scheduled one more beach day with their best buddies Nathan and Anna.  We didn't quite know how it would go to drive three hours to the beach with just two grown ups and four kiddos-not the best odds, but we were up for the challenge.

So, on that Friday morning, Nathan and Anna and their mom Kara arrived at our house before 7.  The kids were so excited.  We hopped in the van, loaded our mountains of gear, and were off.  The drive was fairly uneventful and with a couple of movies in the back seat, before we knew it, we had found parking and were at the beach.

While it was not a quick process for Kara and I to lug the bags, cooler, tent, kiddos, etc. out to the beach.  We took the kids out to the beach to start having fun while Kara and I were ferrying gear, and it worked out perfectly.  We were so proud that we were also able to get that big tent up all by ourselves.
Then, it was time to play.  This particular spot at Wrightsville Beach was perfect because there was a shelf of beach out in the water which stopped most of the big waves.  So, the kids were able to hop out on their boogie boards and play in the waves without being taken down by too many big ones.  They loved the chance to be at the beach with their buddies.  Evan and Nathan loved boogie boarding in the ocean and later, trying to catch birds on the shore, while Anna and Benny liked playing in the sand and splashing in the waves.  Anna was having so much fun that she even wore out at one point and had to take a quick nap in the sun with her mom.

We ate our picnic lunch under our tent on the beach and played all day long.  In the afternoon, the waves started getting a little rougher and we finally decided that it was time to call it a day.  So, we started the long process of hauling our stuff back out to the car.  I was trying to take down our tent, and two college guys next to me were nice enough to offer to help.  Then, I realized that I was probably not that good looking chick who they were trying to flirt with but instead I was that older lady next to them with the kids that needed help.  Oh well, I didn't mind the assistance.

Finally, we got all the kids hosed off and in the car.  We made a quick stop for some happy meals on the way out of town and watched movies all the way back to Durham with only one small hiccup when Benny didn't quite make it to the restroom and soaked Kara's car seat, ewww.  Oh well, if that was the worst that happened, I say that it was a pretty successful trip!

Maybe we'll do it again next year!

(our view for the day)

(the big boys try to catch some fish)

(the little ones pose in the shallows)

(what a groovy group!)

(Boogie boarding boys)

(Anna takes a little rest with Kara.)

(more wildlife hunting)

(playing in the sand)

(just walking on the beach)

(What a crazy group!)

And for a little flashback....here's a few pics I found of these kiddos from a few years ago.  They've grown up just a little...

(The two big boys took some gymnastics together)

(Take a look at Anna and Benny playing in a little more sand)

(Too cute!)

(They might have gotten a little bigger since this picture, but they're still best buddies!)

A Little High School Reunion

Y'know, I really can't believe that my high school graduation was 16 years ago!  It doesn't seem possible.  However, all that time really doesn't mean much.  This summer, one of my greatest high school friends, KC brought her family up to visit us this summer, and it was like the time hadn't passed at all.  It's so much fun to pick up right where you left off with old friends and at the same time meet their family and see where we've all come to.

KC, her husband Tony, and 3 kids-Bailey, Hunter, and AJ arrived on a Friday night in early August, and we had such a great time.  The kids immediately got along and had fun playing the whole time.  The house was full of happy, lively chaos.  The first night, we all had some burgers and hot dogs off the grill and turned in early after we got the wild ones to finally go to sleep.

Since KC is training for a big triathlon, she had to get up early to run.  I hadn't run more than three miles in a very long time, but couldn't pass up the chance to join her.  We had a great couple hour run (8 miles) and conversation.  I'm sure she wasn't going as fast as she could go, but it was great to have that long to chat without being interrupted.

That day, after the run, we all headed down to one of my family's favorite places-the NC Museum of Life and Science.  We loved showing our friends around and having fun visiting the animals, flying paper air planes, climbing dinosaurs, digging for fossils, and trying to convince butterflies to land on us. That night we finished up the day with a lovely dinner out at Nanataco and a little birthday cake because it just so happened to be KC, Hunter, and AJ's birthdays all on that one day.

The next day, the Ray family had a birthday party to go to for part of the day, but we all had some time to get a little playing in that morning.  It was so nice to see the kids all playing together outside on the swingset, treehouse, and riding bikes around the cul-de-sac.

The next day, after KC and I went to the pool for a chilly, early morning swim, they had to move on, up to Virginia to continue their cross-country trek.  We paused for a group picture before everyone got in the car and said our goodbyes.  Hopefully, it will not be so long before we get to see each other again.  Just goes to show that good friends and good friends for the long haul.  So good to see you, KC!

(Lots of kids in one chair)

(All of our little munchkins)

(Watch out below!)

(riding around)

(good friends and their next generation)

(I think we look exactly the same don't you??)

Flying High...Well, Sort of

After our super fun weekend celebrating Gramps' birthday, Ian and I had more celebrating to do.  That Sunday was our 13th anniversary and we had another great Ian and Katy adventure in mind.  So, we left the boys with their Gram and Gramps for some fun, and we headed off.  We arrived in Fayetteville at Paraclete XP for a little indoor skydiving.  I had actually gotten the trip for Ian for Father's Day, but we didn't have a chance to use it until that weekend.

We arrived and headed up the elevators to the viewing room.  It was a bit intimidating when we saw people in the skydiving tube doing flips and all sorts of tricks, but fortunately, the beginners didn't have to do that.  After watching some of the experts do their stuff, it was time for us to begin.  Our group was great because it had a bunch of cute little kids and some clearly very experienced skydivers, so we had both extremes around us.  The training was just about 5 minutes of video and training on a few hand signals for bending or straightening our legs or bodies.

Then it was time to get dressed and give it a try.  It was a great adventure because it didn't take too much training and it didn't make me too nervous, but it was still something fun that we had never tried before.  We put on our suits, helmets, goggles, and ear plugs and were ready.

We headed into the air chamber where there was a little bench outside of the air tube.  We all sat down and got ready for our two one-minute turns.  All of us beginners alternated with the experienced team of four skydivers that would rush in and practice a formation routine-very cool to watch.  The kids went first and it was fun to see them flying around in there even though the guide couldn't really let go of them or they couldn't hold their form in the wind tunnel.

Finally our turns were up.  Ian went first and I watched him do a great job hanging out in the tube.  Then, it was my turn.  I put my hands across my chest and fell into the chamber, as instructed.  The guide held on to me for the beginning and then he let go and I could fly around the chamber and into a couple of walls.  You certainly didn't feel like you were flying because all the air was pushing on you, but from what I hear it was a pretty accurate representation of what skydiving feels like.  While playing in the tube was lots of fun, after that experience, Ian and I were even more confident that we never needed to try the actual thing, yikes!

We celebrated our adventure with an actual adult dinner out at Revolution, a great restaurant downtown.  Happy anniversary, Ian!  I can't wait for lots more fun adventures with you!   (Maybe we'll even take the kids next time.)

(a view of the outside of Paraclete)

(We're ready to go!)

(Ian's flying!)

(My turn!)

(We did it!)

(A great way to end a fabulous day.)

Happy Birthday to Gramps

This summer we were lucky enough to get to have two different lake excursions.  The first was our fabulous week on the lake with the Bitler clan, the second was a morning on Lake Norman for Gramps's birthday celebration.  Gram decided to surprise him with a family get together, and he didn't even know that we were coming!  He arrived home from work on Friday night and the whole family was there-all of us and Uncle Reid and Aunt Candice too!  He had a delicious dinner, a fantastic cake, and even decorations in the dining room courtesy of the boys (with a little help from Gram).

After a lovely birthday celebration, we all were looking forward to our day on the water on Saturday.  We headed out early and arrived at the lake for a great morning.  Gram had made a delicious picnic spread.  So, we boated around, showing Gramps all the big houses that we had gotten him for his birthday.  Both boys had a little time driving the boat until Gram got a little too nervous and put a stop to all of the wreckless driving.  We docked for a little while on an island and gave everyone a chance to explore.  Then, we all ate a delicious spread while floating on the water.  it was a great morning.

Happy birthday, Gramps!

(Abby says Happy Birthday to Gramps!)

(Mmmm, a delicious cake)

(Evan tries his hand at driving solo.)

(Gramps and Ben try a little wild driving.)

(Don't worry, Gram was there to calm everyone back down!)

(Brothers)

(all of the Davis boys in the water)

(King and Queen of the world)

Climbing up the Walls

We all know that my boys can climb the walls sometime.  My husband has also been known to climb some walls himself, in fact, he goes once every couple of weeks with our friend Scott and rock climbs at Triangle Rock Club.  So, one weekend, Scott and Ian decided to take the whole family, including the wall climbing little ones, to test their skills at the rock gym.  Don't worry, I wasn't going to let them have all the fun, I wanted to do some climbing myself.

We had a great time monkeying around for the day.  Ian and Scott had fun, but you could tell they were just itching to climb everything instead of helping out their families.  I had a great time actually getting a chance to climb for once, I even got to challenge myself and go up one of the tall 50 foot walls.  It was nice to show the boys that their mom can actually kick a little butt every once and a while too.

The kiddos didn't do to badly themselves.  Scott's oldest girl, Amelia took after her father and climbed up all the way to the top of one of the walls.  Benny made it up almost to the top.  Evan climbed all over the place and clearly could have made it as high as he wanted, except he doesn't particularly like heights and it made him a bit nervous.

We all had a great time, and it was great to get to all go and be monkeys together!

(Evan strikes a pose.)

(We can barely see Benny up there.)

(Dads were so happy to share something they loved with their kiddos.)

(Evan even took a blurry picture of his mom!)

Keepin' Busy in the Summertime

We went on a bunch of trips during the first part of summer, but after those were over, we were back in town to stay.  That being said, we needed some fun activities to keep us busy.  So, the boys signed up for a few camps and other activities.

Their first camp was at the YMCA.  Evan had signed up for tennis camp with his best buddy Nathan, while Benny was signed up for Kindercamp.  They weren't too sure what to expect, but Evan was willing to do anything as long as it was with Nathan and Benny was up for anything.  Despite some tummy troubles from Ben, a good week was had by all, and we celebrated with a trip to the pool at the end of the week.  Evan even got a medal for ending up on the winning team in their somewhat disorganized end of the week tournament.  Benny loved his young girl counselors and even got to make a tie-dyed shirt.

(Evan and Nathan try a little doubles.)

(This match was so intense he had to take off his hat!)

(The dramatic final point in the tennis tournament.)

(Buddies on the last day of camp)

(Benny shows off his special camp hat!)

(Ben and Anna have a little fun at the pool.)

(a couple of goofy buddies)

Our summer continued the next few weeks with swim lessons at the YMCA.  At first, I was just going to do lessons for Ben because Evan had done swim team the whole first half of the summer.  However, against my better judgement he managed to convince me to let him in to Nathan's class if he promised to be good.  Turns out that week was a learning experience for all of us.  Benny only had one other girl in his group and he learned a lot about swimming.  He loved to relax and float on his back, and by the end of the two weeks he could even paddle a few quick strokes on his own before grabbing back on to his teacher.  Evan and I however learned that Mommy shouldn't have let Evan do the swim lessons.  He wasn't in the appropriate group for his level, and he just spent the whole time goofing off and getting distracted.  Plus, there was a bit of a personality conflict with his teacher.  However, we all made it through the two weeks and learned a lot!

(Ben happily swims to his teacher.)

(Ben swims with a noodle on his own.)

While the summer was passing by and the boys were going to their camps, the boys also had several ongoing activities.  Evan continued to enjoy his parkour class.  He loves to monkey around and this gives him a chance to have coaches actually teach him how to be a better monkey.  Ben tried his hand, or should I say foot, again at soccer.  We took him back to the indoor Netsports, and he had a great time.  He loved the soccer, and as usual, he loved hanging on the young girl coach-my little flirt.

(Ben listens intently during soccer practice.)

(a riveting soccer scrimmage)

(Evan practices balancing in parkour.)

Evan had one more camp before the summer ended.  Just like last summer, he spent a week at Schoolhouse of Wonder.  I love this camp because he just spends the whole week playing outside in nature at the Eno River.  He always comes home completely dirty and full of stories.  There was even one day when he came home, just wearing his swim trunks, and proceeded to climb up to the tree house and belt out a song from camp at the top of his lungs. I thought this was so awesome because he's never one to sing, not even in school concerts.  Hopefully, he'll be able to go back next year, with his brother!

(We try to get Evan to smile as he stands with his counselor for the second year in a row, Katie.)

(Evan and his friend Zach had a great week at camp!)

Our summer was busy, and everyone certainly had a great time!  Good thing we had a few weeks at the end of summer with no camps so we could rest up and get ready for the school year!