What was I talking about, oh yeah, our visit home. We arrived in Swansboro just in time for 4th of July! I love being home for the 4th. If I can't be there for Mullet Festival, then 4th of July is a close second. We got to see several friends and do some boating and of course the fireworks. Considering the size of the town they were awesome!! Our kids are finally old enough to stay awake for them and not be afraid! Monday the 5th we packed everyone up and headed for Raleigh. Jim had to fly back for work and the kids were going to spend a WEEK at his parents house in VA. It was hard to leave them at his sister's house, but once I got back on I40 East, it got easier. HA HA HA Seriously, they needed to spend some time with mamama and gaga and I really needed them to spend some time with anyone other than me! The week went quickly in some respects but dragged in others. I missed having the little monkeys around, but not really all the bickering and whining. Can you say conflicted?! I did get to see several movies that week. In fact I can't remember the last time I saw 2 movies in the theater in the same week, not to mention several on TV.
I picked up the children in Raleigh on Saturday and the whirlwind of visits began. First order of business was to swing by my cousins house to say hi and then precede to meet a college friend for lunch on I40. I hadn't seen Nona and Bryan since their wedding 11 years ago!! How is that possible? Their children who I have witnessed growing through Christmas cards (sad) are just precious!! The lunch was too short but we had another "appointment" to get too. Next up was a trip to Emerald Isle to see the McLeans and Kilpatricks. What was going to be just a quick stop turned into 4 hours! The kids had a blast on the beach and quickly ditched their clothes and were running around on the beach in just underwear. Good thing I still had all their clothes in the car!
Up next was Lucy's actual birthday! We drove over to MacDaddy's and played some games. She had a ball! I can't believe she is 4! Blows my mind!
Can't go home with kids and not go the Water Boggan. This time Ben was able to do all of the mini-slides by himself. He conned Gigi into going down with him several times, but after she sustained a few bruises she told him to man up and go alone. None of my kids fancy waiting in line. I was amazed how proficient they became at cutting in line. I am so proud!
Someone (Nanny) thought it would be fun to buy the girls some Barbie makeup. They had a ball with it. I tried to get a picture of Ben "done up" but he wouldn't cooperate. Sure, he sat still long enough for them to put it on, but wouldn't for me to snap a picture. I am reminded of the story my mom tells of my 7th grade English teacher telling mom to quit washing the eye shadow off before letting me out of the car, because it was right back on before the 1st bell! Ahh, Junior High. Just a few years later, I wouldn't be caught dead in eye shadow much less BLUE. I did give the girls some advise, if they must blue up their eyes, they needed to strive to keep the shadow BELOW their eye brows.
We did get out on the boat one day. It quickly resembled the 3 hour tour that stranded the crew on Gilligan's Island. We arrived without too much trouble - although I did lose my brand new sunglasses overboard. Thank goodness they were Target cheapies, but still, I was quite bummed. Once there, we went shelling and shark tooth hunting; had a snack then decided we had had enough. It was time to call the marina and have someone come back and get us. One teeny tiny problem: no cell phone. Gigi left hers thinking Nanny would have one, Nanny forgot hers on the counter and mine was in the car. I didn't mean to leave it there, but that is where it was. Luckily we flagged down a clammer and sent word back to the marina that we needed a ride. Of course that didn't mean that anyone would come! I am pretty sure if the kids had not been with us, the dockboys might have left us there!
Our last night in town we decided to hit MacDaddy's again this time to ride the go-carts! Ben had been asking Uncle Rick all week to take him back, so who is Uncle Rick to refuse. Of course we had to play some more games too!
Saturday was our 7th Anniversary. Since we were picking Jim up from the airport and then driving south towards Florida, we had decided to not do anything for each other. I should have KNOWN not to believe that because I had been burned a few Christmases ago for the same agreement, but I showed up with nothing, not even a card. Jim jumps out with not only a card but a gift. Apparently the 7th year gift is copper and he found some lotion/bath gel set from Body Shop that had a copper box. You have GOT to be kidding me! I couldn't even find a card in any of the gas stations we stopped in the entire 14 hours to home. Finally picked one up once we got here. Soooo, it was almost 2 days late. Talk about being in the dog house.
This weekend is Lucy's actual birthday party - 12 days later. So I am in the middle of trying to put together a cake. She has requested another mermaid cake. The one Gigi made her was not only cute but tasty as well. So I have something to aspire to. We are doing a pool party because it is just so blasted hot that and it is one of the easiest parties out there to throw together last minute. More on that in the next post!
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