Reese's Birthday(s)

Three words. Best.Present.Ever.
My parents deprived me of little (although, had you asked me that 20 years ago I would have had a fantastic case to present to DSS- I mean, really, where was my shineynewbeemer on my 16th birthday?). They did, however, deprive me of a Snoopy Sno Cone Machine. I can now count my life as complete.

Our neighbors decorated the flowerbed outside Reese's window with three pink flamingos (per Reese's request) and a balloon the morning of her birthday.Then we celebrated with friends later that weekend. After a week of calling for constant rain that day, we managed to get sliding, bouncing, dinner and cake in before the weather won. Good times were had by all!Check out the full-body launching into the pool action:

Frisbee

Thanks to our new best friend, Shane the computer man, our computer has been resurrected from the grave. Praise be to Shane. Hallelujah, Amen. (please step away lest the lightning meant for me hits you)

Now that things are running faster than before (which resembled turtles stampeding through peanut butter), I can post more! Aren't you thrilled!

Here are a few shots of a very serious frisbee "tournament" we had a few weeks ago. Makena got this frisbee from a friend for her birthday and it has gone with us on every lake/beach trip we've taken ever since. They've both gotten pretty good at throwing it and Makena can catch it pretty well, too. Although sometimes "catching" looks like accidentally shoving her arm through one of the slots. Whatever works.
Reese works under the theory that yelling at it and leaning will affect where it goes. Strangely, the same theory applies to Wii Bowling.

September 16

Happy Birthday, Reese!

Beach Trip 2009

This year we headed out to Holden Beach again. Our friends the Eichs joined us and we had a great time! We had a few days of not-great weather so we had to spend more time/energy than we would have liked trying to figure out how to entertain the kids. We bowled (see below) and went to the USS North Carolina one day...but for the most part, we played in the sand and swam at the pool. Here are a few pictures.
Reese on the bridge of the battleship
Makena headed into one of the massive forward gun turrets
A quick nap in the enlisted men's bunks.

When it rains, we bowl

It was a rainy day here on the NC coast. Rain + 8 people in a rented house = cabin fever. Lindsey, however, had an idea to salvage the morning. Bowling! It was Makena, Reese and Sophie's (and Stone's) first bowling experience and it was great. I have to admit, though, they might have been more excited about the shoes than bowling.
Who, exactly, is in charge of designing bowling shoes?
We used the ramp...and these were the responses...dancing a la Saturday Night Fever
...and these were the responses...dancing a la Saturday Night Fever.
I mean, really. I can't describe how hilarious the dancing was!

Lassie = cause for tears

Ahhh...the 50s and 60s. The era of family friendly TV, no gratuitous sex, no foul language, no violence included in shows aimed for the preschool set. Horses talked, families smiled at each other all day, and pigs lived with displaced debutantes in farmhouses. One dog in particular, however, is sure to be a safe watch for your children, right?
Wrong.
Reese is destined to be a veterinarian or the president of PETA. She would rather spend time with just about any given animal (minus a "wask" (wasp)) than people. So...when Lassie got hurt during her debut 1964 episode (available on channel 853 for you Charlotte TW peeps)...she bawled. I wasn't even paying attention to her (I mean really, it's Lassie, not something I need to fast-forward various parts). Brett walked in from work and said "Reese, what's wrong??". I looked over and her bottom lip was quivering and a flood of tears was about to flow. "LASSIE HURT HER LEEEEEEEEGGGGG"
Oh dear. That was 5 minutes of consoling and promising that it was all pretend. So sad!

20 Questions, Anyone?

I read somewhere recently that the average 4-year-old asks 400 questions every day. Being the incredibly intellectual skeptic that I am, I quickly employed all my past learning and came to the astute conclusion that you can't trust everything you read on the interwebs. Obviously "they"' were wrong. Then, I started paying attention.
The first morning I took notice Makena had topped 50 within the first hour of the day. Granted, many (I repeat, many) questions get repeated ad nauseum, but still. By 8:30, she had gathered every detail on what we were planning, who had just called (and what that person was doing, where she was going, where her kids were, what she ate for breakfast...), and the movie Brett and I watched the night before.
Today, we went down to the greenway to ride bikes. Great outing if you haven't tried it yet! Anyway- here's a sample of the questions she asked:

• are there snakes in that water?
• is that a snake?
• are there snakes in that grass?
• can I pet your dog? (repeat for every dog we passed- at least 15)
• (to the elderly gentleman out for a leisurly bike ride) why are you not wearing a helmet?
• (to the lady jogging who was not slender but clearly not pregnant) do you have a baby in your tummy?
• is that a playground? (no, it's someone's back yard)
• why? (because it is- do you see the fence around it?)
• can we play in it? (no)
• why? (because it's someone's back yard)
• why? (because it is, do you see the fence around it?)
• can we play in it? .....
• why is that man riding so fast? (I don't know, maybe he's in a hurry)
• (to fast man) why are you in a hurry?

So there you have 14 questions- a fraction of what came out of her mouth during our hour-and-fifteen minute outing. Reese is coming along, too. Thankfully, she hasn't gotten to the point of asking the same thing 27 times yet. I'm sure that day is not far off.