Evening at the beach with the birthday boy

After the aquarium, we drove the rest of the way to the outer banks and stopped at a grocery store near our hotel to pick up supper: hot fried chicken, fresh bread, jam, carrots and sugar peas. We checked into our room and had a picnic on our shady balcony with a view of the sea.

After supper (which the kids took forever to eat as always) we suited up and headed down to the beach. The last time we were at the ocean was two years ago, so it was all new to Simon again.

A lot of jelly fish were washing up on shore, and the kids had fun collecting them. No stings.

Simon was unnerved by the waves and kept waiting for them to stop so he could go swimming.  Since that was never gonna happen, he spent most of his time buzzing around being a sand cicada.

We got really lucky with the weather. I kept checking the weather radar on my phone and there were storms all around us, but clear skies above. The big storm to the south led to a double rainbow (triple if you count Alice's shirt).

In addition to beautiful weather and two rainbows (look closely) there were also some amateur fireworks on the beach right outside our hotel that night, much to Simon's delight. The Arcaro Travel Luck continues to run strong.

Afternoon at the aquarium

Our first stop of the beach trip was at the NC Aquarium on Manteo. My plan worked well--the kids had napped in the van and we arrived at the aquarium around 2:30. We couldn't check into our hotel until 4pm and the sun was still too hot for us fair-skinned northerners to brave the beach anyway, so we explored the aquarium.

The kids loved the touch tanks, where you could feel manta rays, sea urchins, crabs, and more.

The Jelly Fish room was really psychedelic, too!

We all had a lot of fun viewing the sharks and fish in the large tank.

A mirror along one wall next to the tank led to this cool effect, captured by expert cameraman, Zac.

The floor had an interactive projector where the kids could make splashes by stomping the floor.

Lion fish!

Alligators or crocodiles?

And that was the last we ever saw of Alice.

After the aquarium, we headed to our hotel.

Simon's Birthday Morning

Saturday morning we celebrated Simon's fourth birthday. We were planning on leaving for the beach around 11am, so we did the presents, then breakfast, then cake.

Breakfast fit for a four-year-old: s'more's flavored English muffin with butter, scrambled eggs, sausage (already eaten), smoothie. 

After breakfast it was time for the cake reveal:

Simon likes fire so much we relit the candles and let him blow them out again.

Although Simon purports to love cake, he really only ever eats the frosting.

Once we had fulfilled all the birthday festivity requirements, we hopped in the van and drove to the coast for our one-night beach adventure and airplane ride!

Simon's Around the Sun Ceremony

Today was the happiest--ahem--saddest day, as it is the last day we'll have a 3-year-old.

It was also the Around the Sun ceremony at Simon's daycare in the afternoon. Here is a really long video of the whole thing that Zac made using the GoPro camera (hence the weird fish eye lens that makes my backside look humongous). Simon did OK with the ceremony, but he still gets really weird and clingy whenever I'm at school with him.

Alice at Art4Fun Camp

This week Alice went to art camp at Pullen Arts Center, next to Zac's work. It was full-day camp, and Zac kindly took care of transporting both kids to and from school each day, so I had a glorious child-free week. I took walks every morning and either listened to podcasts or took a walk with a friend. In the afternoons, I worked on my never-ending To-Do list. On Friday I went to museums and out to lunch with Kate. It was great.

Meanwhile, Alice did animal-themed arts and crafts, and went swimming two of the days. She had a great time and had no problem being dropped off each day.

I still prefer the unscripted art she comes up with herself. This is a very accurate depiction of Simon buzzing around pretending to be a cicada.

Bedtime stories with style

Sometimes you've just got to dress up for your bedtime stories.

Herman the Worm

Reference for Herman the Worm:

Krispy Kreme Donuts and Home

On Saturday, we drove back to North Carolina, full of fond memories with family, but relieved to return to the 9pm bedtimes. We continued our tradition of stopping at Krispy Kreme for donuts in Charleston, WV at Riverwalk Plaza. It's a great stop because we can snack on donuts while watching them make donuts at their in-house factory. At the same stop, we fuel up the van at Kroger Gas, buy some lunch sandwiches at Subway, and some other provisions for the trip (usually some fruits and vegetables) at Krogers. But mainly, we're excited about the donuts.

Up balloons? No my friend, these are rockets blasting off!

Aunt Taesen's!

On Friday afternoon, we went to my sister Taesen's house. She recently moved into a new house that they had custom-built, so it was really fun to see. The cousins also had a good time hanging out--although Simon was quite run-down and clingy by this point in the trip and wasn't very social. Alice and Kaelyn played well together, and spent most of the time in Kaelyn's room playing school. Alice was also thrilled to have a sleepover in Kaelyn's room. (Simon slept on the floor in our bedroom).

Kaelyn had made some presents for the kids (shoeboxes with toys and art).

Kids these days. Sheesh.