Happy 6th Birthday Grace!

For Grace's party we hosted a Luau. It was a lot of work but a ton of fun and very colorful. We had leis and grass skirts for everyone and that made it even more fun!

Of course we had to have the fun cups and straws and the menu consisted of turkey/cheese sandwiches, popcorn, BBQ chips (rather than BBQ pig), pretzel stix, cheese cubes and fruit kabobs. For spirits we had a delicious Hawaiian lemonade. I can email you the recipe if you are interested.

The deck was adorned with tiki torches, Hawaiian lanterns, newly planted colorful flowers and Grandpa who was in charge of videoing the happenings as well as monitor the slide...which was quite a job at times.

By far the best part of the party was the entertaining 16' waterslide. Here is Grace and some of her friends from Kindergarten waving.

Aunt L and Isaac enjoy some refreshments. Isaac gets some much needed TLC since big sister is celebrating her birthday. It was an absolutely perfect day with temp in the 80's and a nice breeze. We were outside the entire day.

What Luau would be complete without the Limbo?! I downloaded some great Limbo inspiring music off of itunes and we were set. Turns out Grace loves the CD I made- I should have made copies for the goodie bags for the guests. Oh well.

Nana and our neighbor Lauren fill up Leah's special fish cup for the party. Leah napped most of the party...by design.

Grace's super awesome Hula girl cake that I did not make.

Here she is about to blow out the candles...

And the party cooperates for a photo.

After everyone had left Daddy goes down the waterslide breaking the 175 pound weight limit.

Isaac follows in suit- Later when the owners of the slide come to pick it up Isaac immediately tells them that Sid went down the slide. hehehe

Leah in ocean

So this is how Leah was in the ocean every single minute of every day. No matter where we put her on the beach she would run full speed back into the ocean. It was quite exhausting. She never got tired or scared of the crashing waves.

Leah in the Pool- June 2011

Ocean Isle and Sunset Beaches- July 2011

We returned last week from our best week at the beach yet! This is the first time I have been to the beach without a baby or being fairly pregnant...so even though we were juggling three kids and some sleep deprivation- we all really did have a great time. Nana came along too - she got to sleep more than we did. Though I think Isaac did get up a few times complaining of leg pains... and conned Nana into some Tylenol. He also enjoyed waking up his sisters first thing in the morning. We actually stayed on Ocean Isle beach and when we arrived on Saturday afternoon we headed to the ocean for a proper hello...and to see the look on Leah's face. She was in love.

On Monday morning, the 4th of July, we lined up on Second Street for the Golf Cart parade. The kids caught lots of candy and even a few popsicles. We rented a golf cart for the week and it was a blast. Going to and from the beach was a piece of cake.

Here is Nana, Grace, and my finger on the beach digging for shells.

One gorgeous day (we had amazing weather while we were there) the Kizakevich family picked us up on their boat and we went for a ride. Then we anchored on a little beach and let the kids swim. We had a couple of jelly fish join us, but Paul scooped them up in a bucket and put them ashore.

The girls were happy just to snack on the boat.

Several of the days we went to Sunset Beach as the beach is longer, flatter and leaves these wonderful tide pools when the tide goes out. Perfect for crazy baby Leah!

Surfer girl...not afraid of a thing. And she really did have great balance on this.

We even let Nana take a turn keeping up with Leah in the ocean. I am posting a video in the next blog with Leah in the ocean...so you can see for yourself how busy she is.

We also had a blast riding our bikes all over the island.

One day we drove into Myrtle Beach and visited the Alligator Adventures- Isaac loved the huge turtles.

Here is Leah on the 4th of July. Everyone stayed up late to watch fireworks.

Here are the kids on Ocean Isle Beach working on a drainage system for the beach.

The work got very serious.

Me and the big kids on Ocean Isle Beach.

The house we rented again had a dock. Sid and the kids love to fish and turns out Leah just loves fish.

Here she is holding her prize fish for me to see. So happy with the fish.

Mean Daddy took the fish from the baby.

One morning Isaac and Nana went down to the dock to fish. Isaac waited patiently with his net in the water for a fish to swim by and....bam! He caught one!

On our last night we went to Cinelli's for pizza. We sat on the balcony in 100mph winds. It was fun?

Has it already been a month since my last post?!

I really do not know where the summer has gone. We have been busy! Clear back in June we spent a long weekend in Albemarle with Nana. I drove the kids and Sid stayed in Raleigh and then Sid and I met up in Charlotte for a black tie event with his office. Nana had to keep all three of the kids over night! It was the first time I had ever left Leah over night and it was hard! Janice may never tell the full truth, but I know she was up many times through the night. Sorry Nana...welcome to my world! Anyway, Sid and I had a great time and we are thankful to Nana and Aunt L for taking such good care of our angels.

Upon arriving at Nana's Leah helps herself to a Gin and Tonic. Not really. But since there are no rules at Nana's house we just let the baby drink out of glasses.

Later Aunt L comes over and it looks like everyone is having a little wine!

It was hot out and so the slip and slide in the back yard was the perfect answer.

Leah does not like to share the hose- her clothes on the other hand are fair game.

And yes, she really is trying to spray Isaac. But of course he loves it!

Later Leah shares some love with Aunt L.

This is Sid and me all dolled-up at the event. I wore a navy dress and I loved it. Navy is my new color. I need to stand up straight. I am really working on that. I think when you are tall you tend to hunch over a little so that you don't tower over people, but here it looks like I am slouching. You know?

Sid and I took the kids to the zoo in Asheville on our way back to Raleigh. They didn't sleep well at Nana's so all three of them were extremely tired after 4 days of sleep deprivation- we almost left the zoo as soon as we arrived due to poor behavior. But a little game of stroller roller-coaster seemed to turn the morning around thanks to daddy!

Cute little head and big head.

I love this picture. Grace is helping Leah see the giraffes.

Good job big sister!

Daddy helps Isaac see the giraffes.

Family photo in front of the pregnant gorilla exhibit. And no- I am not referring to me.

Leah's first ride on the carousel.

No- we are not at the zoo. But Isaac's favorite place is Monkey Joe's and he LOVES Monkey Joe. Just had to include this photo.