A few days after Christmas we made the journey down to Florida. This year we decided to spend New Year’s down there. The jmonsters couldn’t wait to see everyone. They love visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Florida (mommy and daddy do too!) Jessie, Abbey, and LuLu were waiting to greet us at the door. I think they get excited too since Tallmonster and Smallmonster play with them. After a great meal, Courtney and the gang came over and we opened presents and visited the rest of the night. Amazing how grown up the kids are getting! Colby now has his permit and on Tuesday he drove us to the beach. It was a perfect day to go to the beach, and this time we were smart enough to dress the boys in their bathing suits but did forget towels. Sure enough as soon as we got there Tallmonster was playing in the waves. Smallmonster takes a little longer, or he’s more cautious, but was soon wet. They dug holes and watched the surf fill them back in and in no time had sand filled bathing suits. Not having towels was a bit of a pain and the jmonsters did not like the idea of showering without a towel. At least we had thought to bring extra clothes so it was a just a little bit of suffering. It was worth it and someday we vow to rent a place for a few days on the beach…
After suffering through the school day the jmonsters were beside themselves about Halloween. Not only were they ready to collect all the candy it was on a Friday night to boot.
Smallmonster kept reminding mommy that he was going to stay up until 9:00! Whoo-Hoo! After rooting through the costume tote Smallmonster decided to dress as a mummy in a costume that Tallmonster had worn a few years ago.
Tallmonster wasn’t so easy and after many trips to all the Walmarts, Targets and even a Party City we settled on a scream costume much to Mommy’s dismay. There was no talking him into something original so he joined the thousands of other scream masks on Halloween night.
Daddy stayed home and handed out the candy while mommy (dressed as a cowgirl) went out to trick-or-treat. We met up with some neighborhood friends and walked the hills of our neighborhood. It took over an hour to do the 30 or so houses. We were all pooped by the end and their buckets were overflowing with goodies.
We got back to the house and checked out their loot and smallmonster spent a while sorting all his candy into different piles. After having some treats it was off to the showers and dreaming about next years’ haul…
Smallmonster and a couple of friends from the neighborhood learned a hard lesson today. They were over in the neighbor’s yard playing when they found a bee’s nest. Someone thought it would be a good idea to throw rocks at the nest to see what would happen. Well Mommy was in the garage when I saw Smallmonster running as fast as he could screaming about being stung. Mommy tore off his shirt (and in the process got stung) and started counting the bee stings. He had two on each shoulder and after getting him in the house and getting his shorts off out came more bee’s. He was stung at least 8 times and wasn’t a happy camper. Smallmonster vehemently denies throwing any rocks but Mommy told him the bee’s didn’t care who was throwing they just wanted to get even! May this be the only bee incidents for the rest of the year…
We packed up the trusty van and headed west towards Memphis, TN and Uncle John’s Wedding. Daddy implemented an “everything must be in a bag” rule, and was soon being referred to as the bag Nazi by Mommy. The rule was adopted from the utter chaos that ensued while driving to New York the week before last. There was stuff everywhere and Daddy was always on the look out for the chickens and goats that may have been accompanying us. Call names if you want the van look much more reasonable on this trip when compared to last, and you should always strive to “PUT THAT BACK IN THE BAG”!
We had made hotel reservation on the west side of Nashville and rolled in around 5:30pm only to be reminded that it was central time and it was really 4:30pm… Way cool! We immediately got changed into our trunks and headed down to the swimming pool. We blubbed for about an hour or so, and decided to break for dinner.
Mommy and Daddy actually relented and allowed the jmonsters to eat out. We found a really good Mexican place and the jmonsters decided they really like tacos and enchiladas. Go figure, we can actually add something new to the will eat food list. We are up to about ten things that both jmonsters will eat and can be found at the same establishment… Yahoo!
We stopped by The Red Caboose Park in Bellevue on the way back to the hotel. The park had a killer play set that was designed and built by Leather Associates from Ithaca, NY. The also had a real red caboose (go figure) and an old cabin from the late 1700’s. The jmonsters had a great time running from one end of the play set to the other. We finished the night by stopping into Toys ‘r Us and Circuit City for Daddy.
We dusted off the tents for a night of camping at our favorite State Park. After looking at our sad tent of 14 years, we decided it was in our best interest to purchase a new one so we wouldn’t spend an hour trying to figure out how to put it up. We had bought the jmonsters one for Christmas a few years back and we were jealous of how easy theirs went up. After a quick trip to Dick’s (and a lot of extras) we were ready. Saturday morning we loaded up for the hour trip to Hanging Rock. We were trying to ignore the fact that it was going to be 95 degrees that day, and we were sleeping in a tent. Luckily the campsites were in the woods and were shaded so it only felt like 90! Before too long we had the tents up and were ready to cool off at one of the many waterfalls in the state park. We decided on the Upper Cascade falls that has a little wading area that the kids could “swim” in. Sandee came along and enjoyed cooling her feet in the mountain water. That night we made a camp fire (still 90) so we could have the mandatory smores and mess (daddy’s favorite) that goes along with camping.
Sunday morning everyone was up early ready for another hot day. We decided a morning hike would be best and headed off to Balanced Rock, 2500 feet up. After 2 miles everyone was hot and tired but decided it was worth it after seeing the few. There was a fire tower at the top you could climb and look out. It was a beautiful sight and it energized us for the trip down. Sandee as usual was the leader and we stopped along the way to cool our feet (and Sandee) in a creek. We decided to pack up before lunch and head home happy that we came and talking about when we could come back…
Well the baseball season has come to a close. Smallmonster’s team came in second place but lost in the first round of the playoffs. Tallmonster’s team finished in sixth but won their first game in the playoffs. The second game was played on a sticky and steamy Friday night. It was close the whole game but the Yankees couldn’t pull off the upset in the last inning and lost by one run. It was a great season and they both want to do it again in the Spring…
WOW! We have been lax on the blog lately! Sorry GIF we will certainly try and be better. We started April with baseball practices for tallmonster and smallmonster. They both wanted to try it out so Mommy was busy shuttling them off to practice 3 days a week. Tallmonster’s team is the Yankees (fitting) and Smallmonster is the Dodgers. They have been playing games for the last few weeks and seem to be enjoying it. It is fun to watch the teams and they have really improved since the first game.
The Moravian Carmichael’s came down for a visit on their way to Myrtle Beach. It was great to see them all. We had Jim and the gang over for dinner Friday and went to their house on Saturday. We had to avoid raindrops but the kids didn’t seem to mind and had fun exploring the woods and trying out the infamous swing over the ravine. Their stay was too short but on Sunday they left for the sand and surf of Myrtle Beach.
Daddy did lots of traveling this month. He spent a week in Houston and was stranded in Tulsa, OK for a day, not the highlight of his trip. We took a trip over to Myrtle Beach to visit Grandma and Pap-Pap before they head back North. The weather was beautiful and the jmonsters had a blast swimming in the ocean taking on the waves. By the second day tallmonster was complaining of a rash from the sand in his bathing suit. We will be sure to buy him bike shorts to wear under his suit next time. He loves to roll around the surf. Smallmonster is much more cautious and likes to stay closer to shore. He and Mommy built multiple sand castles and garages for his monster truck and then sat and watched them get demolished by the surf. We took them putt-putting (one of smallmonsters favorite things) and made a stop at the Dairy Queen, (YUM) big mistake because Mommy is now in love with their flurry. Greensboro does not have one so we will have to wait for next year 
, probably a good thing for Mommy’s waistline. It was a great visit and we look forward to next year and checking out Grandma and Pap-Pap’s new Condo selection on the top floor!
We now are boat free! Daddy called to boat people to check on our boat situation and ironically the guy was trying to find our phone number because he had someone interested in buying our boat. We struck a deal and Daddy was heading to Auburn for business so it worked out that he was able to bring the boat paperwork and settle everything while he was there. We will miss the boat but enjoyed it the short time we had it. It was the perfect situation last summer and who knows maybe someday we’ll do it again.
As we welcome in May, Grandma and Pap-Pap are here visiting for a few days before they make their trek back North with Georgie (our resident cat for the last 4 months). Sandee will surely miss her and will be searching for her after she’s gone. I don’t know what we’ll do without hearing the daily hissing and growling fights. You would think after 4 months they would be bored with each other.
The garden is in and the landscaping projects have started. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, watermelons, cukes and peppers. We look forward to watching them grow and bear fruit (hopefully). Spring has truly sprung and it is beautiful down here…we look forward to many more projects and plantings in the next few months…
The great thing about living out a bit is the creatures that crawl through the area. The jmonsters always have the nets on ready and love to put the creature ‘du jour in the bug box. This lizard was pretty docile, we are waiting for the first official bite, and then we’ll see who still wants to be Jeff Corwin.
After a week of Smallmonster asking if it was his Birthday yet, the big day finally arrived. Mommy and Daddy are still amazed that it has been six years already. He awoke with a room filled with balloons (a tradition). Luckily, we weren’t jolted awake in the middle of the night with the sound of popping balloons. Georgie must not have found them fun to play with. He tried hard to open a present before he went off to school but we told him he would have to wait until after his party that night.
The jmonsters only had a half day of school so the afternoon was spent getting ready for Smallmonster’s Birthday celebration. We had some neighborhood friends over for pizza and carnival games. Luckily, the rain held off and the kids had a great time playing dart balloons, ring toss, can toss, air hockey and the grand finale, a baseball piñata. The piñata didn’t last too long but everyone was able to get plenty of good whacks in before it spilled its goodies.
The train cake was a hit and everyone had fun picking out what part of the train they wanted to eat. Smallmonster got lots and lots of loot and looks forward to playing with it all tomorrow…
