Topsail Beach

This year was our first experience renting a townhome at the beach. We've gone to one of the hotels in N. Myrtle Beach in the past years. It was nice to have our own little place and there weren't a lot of other people around. Definitely a very different atmosphere from a hotel complete with pool, restaurant, and lazy river. It was so peaceful and quiet!

We only had time to walk down and check out the beach when we arrived. The tide was high and there was pretty much no where to walk. After seeing that I was glad that we were across the street from the beach (the picture below is the view from our balconies) and not staying in a place on the beach. I think having the waves breaking (given they are pretty gentle in comparison to the ones in OR) just below the base of the little sand barrier, in some cases 50ft from your back deck could be a little intimidating. I can't imagine the cost of insurance on these houses with the possibility of hurricanes hitting.

The next day we headed down to first test out the water. It was love at first sight for Katherine. She was not a happy camper when we headed back to the townhome to put on our swimsuits. Elizabeth was a little cautious and insisted on holding Daddy's hand. She was more than happy to ride on his shoulders back to the townhome. She did think it was neat to see a few little crabs and was fascinated by all of the sand and shells. I was a little relieved that Elizabeth was content playing in the sand and only going down to the water on occasion. Katherine was the wild child that would run from the chairs straight to the water without fear. She was quite the social butterfly as she danced, sang, and visited with the gals sitting next to us on the beach.

Dennis purchased a boogie board and got Elizabeth to get out on it for a little while. She was really enjoying it until she got flipped. She did get back up on it and ride a few more waves before she called it quits. I was glad that she ended on a good note. Katherine could hardly stand to wait her turn on the boogie board. It actually took both of us to keep her on the board. She was ready to stand up and jump right into the water. Dennis handled the board while I kept Katherine on it. The little wave just could not come fast enough or big enough for her. By the time her turn was up (our choice not hers) she was up on her knees on the board. I think we may have a little surfer girl on our hands. I definitely look forward to future boogie board adventures on our next trips to the beach. I'm certain the girls and Dennis do as well.

On Friday we headed down to check out the Turtle Rescue Center on the island. Elizabeth has always liked turtles so we thought that she'd really enjoy it. The bad thing was that the center was only open from 2-4pm. That meant skipping naptime, but I think it was worth it. The temperature by that time was 90+ degrees, too. The facility is small and there was a line outside as they only let people in in groups of 8 or less. It was very interesting to hear the various patients stories. One of the turtles, Boater, actually has metal plates holding her shell together so it could heal. They were telling us that she doesn't move around much because it is still very painful. We'll be following the recovering and hopefully release of some of the turtles we got to meet on our tour of their facility.



We were sad to leave the beach on Saturday (also Dennis' birthday). I'm sure that making packing up the vehicles and driving home was not exactly the ideal way to spend your birthday. He was very lucky to be driving in the truck without two screaming kids (a large portion of the drive home). I think Grandma and I were ready for us to be home about halfway through the drive home. Once we got home Grandma and I headed out to get Dennis a birthday cake, so we did get to celebrate a little.

We are definitely looking forward to future trips back to Topsail Beach.

(Link to Additional Beach Pictures)

I Be Four!

For a good week or two before Elizabeth's birthday she was constantly asking if she was four yet and if that day was her birthday. She was so excited on Tuesday when we finally said that yes, she was four and that day was her birthday.

Her day started off with her waking up to Grandma Mary & Poppa Royal being here to visit. She was so excited to see them. Then Elizabeth and I headed out to go to her normal speech therapy appointment and run a few errands. Her speech therapist, Ms. Kelly, had a gift for her and she was so tickled with that. She thanked Ms. Kelly for her Lightning McQueen race car and Mickey Mouse kite with a huge hug and declaration that, "I be four now!" She's so proud of being four! Then we headed to pick up her cake. We ordered a Maggie Moo's Lightning McQueen ice cream cake! She's always excited to go to Maggie Moo's. She announced to the owners that she's four and that today was her birthday. They, of course, thought that she was adorable and told her happy birthday. I was a little concerned that they weren't going to be able to fit her name on the cake, but they made it work.

The rest of the day was pretty much the normal routine. While she was napping, I did all of the prep work for dinner. We spent some time the day before going through a few of my cookbooks and asking Elizabeth what she'd like to have for dinner on her birthday. She picked out a pasta dish that we had not had for a while, but it was one that she usually ate without any hesitation. When she woke up, she went with Daddy, Grandma & Poppa to get a gift for her from Grandma & Poppa. She was so proud of her gift (a teeball set). They also brought both of the girls little wing sets, but Katherine was the only one that could be convinced to wear them.

Before dinner we had a couple of neighbors stop by to drop off gift for Elizabeth. She was so tickled with her visitors and gifts! After dinner we had cake and she opened her gifts. She was excited about every gift and card that she opened. I think her favorite was the one gift that I chose not to wrap since she picked it out the day before at Walmart. She's obsessed with the Cars movie. She had picked out a McQueen light for her room. She loves that it turns her room red at night.

June's a big birthday month for our family. Dennis' birthday was on the 7th (shared with our nephew, Ben) and mine is on the 17th (was shared with my Grandma Ruby & dear friend Kim G.), so she was quick to ask Dennis if he was four now, too. We told her how old Dennis was and she had this look on her face like, "Wow, that's really old!" She proudly tells folks how old her Daddy is now. Got to love that one. I'm sure we'll go through the same routine next week on my birthday. She's also already asking when she's going to be five and if today's her birthday.

Additional Birthday Celebration Pictures

First Day at the Pool

Saturday, May 31st, was our first day at the pool for the season. It was our neighborhoods yearly season opening BBQ. It was the first year that I was not involved with helping organize and work at it and that felt a little strange. I felt like I should be doing something. It didn't take long before I was enjoying not having to do anything but enjoy my family and friends!

Every year we're not too sure what to expect from the girls initially. Will they love the water? Will they even get into the water? Will they be cautious? This year there was little hesitation. Elizabeth actually enjoyed playing in the shallow end since she could touch the bottom. The water came up between her chest and waist. Katherine, who wasn't too sure about it last year, was fearless. That's a little scary. I think she'd jump in with out even thinking twice. She couldn't get enough of the water.

After playing for a good 3 hours in the pool, Elizabeth was content to sit wrapped up in a towel (teeth chattering in the 90+ degree weather). If you asked her if she was ready to go home she'd loudly tell you, "NO!" Then she'd head back to the pool. Katherine finally gave in and napped a little on my shoulder while Elizabeth got down and boogied to the music (there was a DJ there). Who knew she knew how to to the chicken dance. She had a blast dancing!

Both girls were beat after a long day of playing at the pool. It was weird for us to have both girls in bed by 8:30pm. Weird, but nice! I think we could get used to that!

Sisters

It is so rare that I can catch both Elizabeth and Katherine in the same spot long enough to snap a picture. There's usually some debate of who's sitting on which bean bag or who's toy is who's. Then there are those moments when I just can't grab my camera quick enough. I'm glad to say that those are becoming more and more the norm. Moments when Elizabeth and Katherine playing and laughing hysterically. As soon as I grab the camera they both head for me or have moved off to do their own thing. This just happened to be one of those rare moments where they stayed put long enough for me to catch a great picture of two sisters having fun.

Elizabeth often times sits in the middle of her bean bag and calls it her boat. She pretends she sitting in it fishing or just hanging out. Sometimes she'll say, "Don't rock the boat!" or maybe sing, "Row, Row, Row your boat...." Katherine likes to climb in and sit with her. Normally she climbs right on her lap and Elizabeth can only handle that for about 10 seconds before she's either abandoned ship or pushed her sister overboard. Katherine giggles with delight either way.

I've been trying to come up with ideas to get them to stay put so I could take a few good pictures with both of them. I asked Elizabeth is her sister could join her and she agreed. The first picture I snapped was perfect! Those grins are priceless! Nothing like that to melt your heart!

Wild Bird in Our House

A week ago as Elizabeth and I were eating breakfast in the family room. I kept hearing this loud chirping. I thought it sounded awful loud. The sliding glass door was open (screen closed) so Bandit could go in and out. We still have that hole in the screen from the screen dog door that fell out a couple of years ago. What bird could possibly fly through that hole? That would be crazy. Sure enough when I went into the kitchen to make sure there wasn't a bird in the house, there was this little wild bird! It made two laps around the kitchen stopping only to re-examine it's options. Then it flew straight out the hole in the screen! WOW!!!! All I could think about was how in the world am I going to get this bird out of here. I was baffled by the whole thing.

Cute Katherinisms

Over the last couple of days, Katherine has been completely cracking me up.

Last night she brought Dennis the remotes specifically so he could turn on the TV to music for her to dance. As soon as she handed off the remotes she turned looked at the TV and started dancing and singing like a crazy woman! When we didn't turn on the TV she froze and threw herself to the floor. Two seconds later she was standing and dancing again. Crazy girl

This morning, I was helping Elizabeth with something and Katherine was clearly ready to eat her breakfast right then. I hear her saying, "Help me! Help me!" When I got up and headed to the kitchen she had pushed the kitchen table chair (they are on wheels) with her booster seat in it all the way to the desk between the nook and family room. I guess she was really hungry. During her breakfast she said, "Want milk!", "more banana!", "All done now!", and "Want down now!" After she finished eating, she was so excited to be out of her chair that she started dancing (given there was music playing in the kitchen and we normally dance and sing every morning). As Elizabeth and I watched her she told us, "I dancing. I singing. I turning. I clapping." Wow!

Where did all of those words come from?! She's been speaking and speaking pretty clearly for a while now, but there had only seemed to be a few complete sentences/phrases. She's turning into such a little girl so quickly and seems to be on the learning fast track. I'm not sure I'm ready for her to be so grown up yet.