Spring Break Beach style!

Decided to take a long weekend at Surfside Beach in NC for spring break.  Weather couldn't have been better.  Ocean temps were cold at about 64 degrees but that didn't deter Justin and Ryan from getting in, Don and I NO WAY!  But I did however enjoy sitting, and walking on the beach.

It was the perfect getaway...kids didn't really complain or argue (much), weather was perfect.  It was totally relaxing.  Sat on the beach, played some mini-golf, got ice cream and even went to an all you can eat seafood buffet....not my things but Don and the boys loved it!

Even saw a mini turtle in the pond at the min-golf place!  Ryan won mini-golf, he bet Justin before the game that he would win, and I thought to myself, ummmm.  Justin had to do Ryan's chores for a day.  Way to go Ryan!!

Friends...that stand the test of time!

A few weekends ago a friend of mine from high school came to visit, yes high school, that was 30 years ago.  We have been friends on and off since 198x-something.  At times we lost touch, not completely but you know how life gets busy but we never really completely lost our way. I have always enjoyed his company and admired his opinions. So having him come to visit my family in NC was a special treat!  The boys loved hanging out with him too! 

Decided to take him to the big city of downtown Charlotte!  haha!!  Had a great day, hit the french coffee shop/bakery, then went to one of the only museums in Charlotte, the Bechtler and then lunch.

Beautiful Day at Cane Creek

A beautiful spring day in NC, so we decided to go on a picnic and hike.  After a little bit of fussing that they wanted to hang out with their friends we were off. Turned out to be a bit colder and windier than we realized but we all had a great time!

 

 

Our quick little hike turned into a 3 hour hike.  Ryan at one point said are we lost? We werent but the path took us out further than we thought.

We saw trees that had been cut down by woodchucks, we think because I dont think there are beavers at Cane Creek, we also saw a snake in the water...yikes!

Longboarding is the new Skateboarding

So up until recently I had no idea what long-boarding was and how it differed from skateboarding.  They both have 4 wheels, so what could possibly be different.  Well Ryan has been educating my on this.  First of all the long-baord is way more expensive that is because they are made of bamboo and you can do 'tricks', like sliding but you have to have special gloves so you dont tear up your hands.

He saved up his money and purchased his first long-board but what longboarder doesn't have a cool helmet to match the board!

He Loves to Cook

Justin loves to cook and from time to time he cooks dinner for us.  Not bad for a 12 year old!

It's Official...2nd Degree Black Belt

It's Official...2nd Degree Black Belt...such a proud mom!  While in pre-school he talked about wanting to take marital arts.  Since it is a big commitment we waited until the beginning of 1st grade to start and now over 4 years later he is a 2nd degree black belt.

He started as a white belt with Blake, Alec and Zach over four years ago. So very proud of all of them! The time and effort and commit he put into just amazes me for someone so young.  It is something to be so proud of! He made great friends along the way.

 Mr. St. Clair

 Mr. Streicher

 Mr. Cousar

Another Snow Day!

Hard to believe that Charlotte got snow again this year!  That is so not like us!  But let me tell you it was a great snow, light and fluffy and more than a 1/2 inch!  We got 6 inches and loved it! Our incredible 300 year old tree in the snow, just breath-taking.

We had almost 2 days of beautiful snow with sledding and snowball fights. The boys had a blast and even got me to go down our neighborhood hill sledding twice! Thankfully no pictures were taken!

But then in the southern fashion, in came the ice.  We were concerned about power outages which didn't happen.  The boys friends came in from a long day of sledding, dropped their gear and had some mac & cheese and hot chocolate.  My dryer never ran so much in those 3 days of snow and ice!  I totally was lovin' it!

Tubing in the snow

The whole month of February has gone by without a blog from me! I have to say that this month is my least favorite month, it is typically cold and short and dark.  I am always glad when it is over because here in the south March is when spring comes marching in! Although one of my favorite things about winter is snow tubing!  I completely forgot to mention our snow tubing trip with our friends.  Great time!

Well did I mention that when we got to the house my mom's friend lets us stay at that the water pipes had burst and there was no water!  And the heat wasn't working, house temperature was 45 degrees.  We got the heat working and started a fire while waiting for the temperature to rise.  We stopped and bought 8-9 gallons of water because we had paid for our tubing tickets and they wouldn't give us a refund.  So we decided to stay the night.  The six boys (that includes the husbands) didn't seem to mind peeing in the snow, the ladies, since it was only Rachel and I knew we had 2 flushing since there were 2 toilets in the house.  We cooked and washed dishes with microwaved water.

We made the best of the situation and had a great time at the A-frame!

The boys loved sledding down the hill in the neighborhood, they even saw deer run across their path as they were sledding.

 

Next day was snow tubing! It was a beautiful afternoon!