Another turtle siting...

This morning while I was watering my plants I saw this baby turtle.  He was only about the size of a golf ball.

Bradley's hand next to the turtle for size reference.

Eliza kept saying "cute."  She was so excited to see him.

The turtle trying to make his escape.  He didn't ever hide in his shell he just kept trying to get away!

Little box turtle in the grass.

The boys ran and knocked on Eliana's door to let her know about the turtle.  She really liked him and the kids all thought we should keep him forever.  Too bad they are protected by the state! 

Daniel was the first to pick him up, but the turtle kept trying to get away.  The "terrible" claws made Daniel nervous!  :)

Eliza loved him!  She kept touching his shell and when he finally started to move again she got a little nervous!  As a side note: Yes!  I know her hair is a little wild...okay a lot wild, but that is because I pulled  the front back to keep it out of her face.  I did her hair later in the day.  It looked great!  I promise!!!

Prune, Scult, and Twist

These are some pictures to go along with the video of Man vs. Snake.  This Racer Snake was just sitting out waiting for an unsuspecting bird, or person, to get close.  His only mistake was choosing the wrong bush!

You can see his body twisted and sitting in the branches.

Andy getting ready to chop off his head and prune the bush at the same time!!

We have also done a little sculpting with play dough.  The boys are getting pretty good at it and I need to encourage them to play with it more.  Daniel's is a brown "snowman".

I think Bradley was going for the "deluxe snowman" look.

Recently Eliza has had some rough nights.  By this I mean that she comes and finds me about 4-5 times a night.  She just wants to be tucked back in I think.  However, after a week of getting up 4-5 times every night with her, and occasionally once or twice with Daniel, I was exhausted!!  Andy let me sleep in on a Saturday morning.  He fed the kids, got them dressed and did Eliza's hair!  Then after I got up and ready we went shopping, it was a tax free weekend, and he took care of getting school clothes for Bradley!  

BEST DAD EVER!!

 Eliza showing off Dad's due.

This was the first time he has ever done her hair other than put a clip into keep the front out of her face.  He did pretty good!

About a month ago our neighbors tree broke in half during a rain storm.  The winds hadn't been super bad, so we were pretty surprised to see it down.

Fortunately it didn't do any damage to the house of any cars. 

Unfortunately we have the same kind of tree!  I checked ours to see if it would hit my van since I park next to it.  The way it is growing it won't hit the van, but it could hit the house.

With this in mind Andy took advantage of a Saturday afternoon to thin our a few branches.  He took off quite a bit of weight on the side facing the house.  I think we will wait until the fall when all the leaves are gone to thin out any more.

Andy climbing up into the tree to reach some of those higher branches.  

Daniel with part of a branch he helped cut down.

Daniel and Bradley were very good to stick with their Dad the whole time.  They helped cut branches, drag them to the yard bin and provided pop cycles when it got too hot. 

This last Sunday Andy and the kids made this huge tower while I was doing my hair.  It was pretty impressive!  They had built it is such a way that cars and trucks could drive under it.  

As you can see we have been enjoying Andy's current rotation (Anesthesia) since it give him more time at home.  He isn't ever on call and he has every weekend off!!  Plus he has some great stories when he comes home.  We are looking forward to enjoying him through September and then we will have to see how the next rotation goes.  

Man vs. Snake

The long awaited Andy vs. Racer Snake...

Disclaimer:  The content of this video may be disturbing to some snake activists.  There was one snake harmed in the making of this film!

Block Party

One of our neighbors hosted a block party.  It was a pretty hot day so there weren't as many people  who came,but it was fun to visit with those who did come.

The cul-de-sac was full of tables, tents and games.

Eliza loved the bubbles and kept walking around asking everyone to help by saying, "Bubbles please!"

This little girl was nice enough to help  Eliza.

Bradley and Eliana playing a ball and rope game.

There were cupcakes with chocolate frosting

They were a big hit!

After a bout an hour and a half it started raining.  It was a good thing we had portable shelters!  They moved this one over the food and people huddled under it.

People also huddled under the patio sets!  Mother Nature sure brought us closer together. :)

Our neighbor Tom braving the rain.

Owen loved having a little attention!

After the rain let up a little Tom and Andy started throwing a Frisbee around.  

Tom showing off some of his cool moves.  Daniel loved watching him catch.

Andy tried some of the cool catches and managed to get this one behind his head!!  

You da' man!  We really enjoyed getting to visit with our neighbors more and the rain was refreshing.  We will have to do another block party soon!

July 30, 2011

Lazy Summer Days

Our garden has been hit or miss with what it produces.  Our squash is struggling a little.  Sometimes it grows well and other times I think it is about to die!  All this heat has kept us inside more than we would like, but we still enjoying getting out in the afternoons. The kids love to watch for our neighbors little dogs.

Eliza and Daniel petting Emma our neighbors dog.

Madison played catch with the boys for a few minutes.  The kids love Emma and Madison, especially Eliza.  She runs to the window every time she hears Madison.

These are carrots from our garden and more tomatoes.  We pick this many almost every day.

These are our butternut squash.  They didn't get very big, but they did fully ripen.  They were pretty tasty!

Eno River State Park

I have heard about this park from a couple of different people, so we decided to go check it out and try to beat some of the heat we have been having.  We had only been there for a bout five minutes when we saw two water snakes and a large spider!  That is when we headed up the river to the waterfall.

Andy and kids walking up the river.  Eliza was crazy!  She wanted to be in up to hear neck and didn't want anyone to help her.  Crazy girl.

It did get up to Andy's chest in a place or two, so I took Eliza and made her walk up the path with me.  This is taken from  up on top of the waterfall. 

Eliza playing in the water.

Andy, Eliza and Dad at the bottom of the waterfall. Obviously  it isn't a very big waterfall.  :)

Daniel and Daniel

We met this little kid and his Uncle at the river.  They boys had fun playing in the water.

Andy and kids on top of the falls.

Bradley and Dad juts before sliding down the waterfall.

Andy went first and Bradley fallowed.  They thought it was a lot of fun.

The river is very pretty here.

There are some little fish in the pools here.  The boys had fun chasing them.

Dad trying to chase them up for the kids to catch.  We didn't catch any but we did have fun.

Eating lunch beside the river.  This was a very fun place to go and we will definitely add it to the list of places to take people who come to visit!  (Hint, hint!)

July 30, 2011