Up, Up and Away

Nora completed her first year of dance this June.  The theme of the recital was Up, Up and Away.  I kept trying to explain to Nora what a recital is, but she never really got the picture, therefore was kind of emotionless about the whole thing.  Well...until i told her about the makeup part! 

We got to do a trial run for the professional pics a few weeks before the recital.  

with some of her friends at the studio

look at my pretty girl!

The day of the recital was long and i was in the trenches of first trimester fun...so really i was just trying to get through the day.  Nora on the other hand was soaking up/loving all of the attention she was getting from everyone!

she did great...what you'd expect from little 3 and 4 year olds...they were cute, no one cried...i'd say it was a success.  i was 'stage mom' the night before, so some of my pictures are from behind the curtains too. 

(5th from left)

(7th from right)

(3rd from left)

(3rd from left)

she was very excited to get pretty flowers!

we were so proud of our tiny dancer

some of our family were also able to come support Nora.  Pop Pop and Grandma, Nana and Poppy, and Aunt Kelly--we appreciate you coming to watch our girl and make her day so special!

End of The Year

May/June means the end of all of our scheduled activities.  In particular, preschool and cubbies. 

I did this last year and was amazed at how much the twins changed over the year.  This year they both shot up in height!

~First Day and Last Day of PreK-3~

Their end of the year program was cute.  Holden was a little more active than last year and Nora was all over those songs and motions, like a rockstar!

hey momma and daddy!

a little "hi" from our big boy

N and H with Adelyn

best friends

with Mrs. Amy--another awesome teacher this year!

 There was a small awards program for Awana.  The Cubbies kids just walked across the stage and got a prize from Mrs. Rachel, their teacher, but they thought they were big stuff of course.  Mike and I have been really proud of the kids this year though, they learned a new bible verse almost every week from Sept. thru May!

life and science museum

We loved the Life and Science Museum in Durham so much that we had to take Daddy back there.  This time there was no snow, the weather was gorgeous and we got to do a lot of stuff that we didn't do the first time we were there. 

we found a cool inch worm when we got out of the car...the kids wanted to keep them, but of course we didn't take them inside.  when we got back to the car at the end of the day we found two more, so the twins each had one to play with on the ride home!

train ride

the mist gardens were super cool and Holden and Nora's part

blocks with Daddy is always fun

it's rare for this guy to knock out in the car...Davis shared Snoopy with his sleepy brother

Reunited

As always one of the best parts of going on a trip is coming back home to our babies.  

The morning after getting back from OBX Davis was up early ready to hang out with Momma and Daddy..we coulda used a little more shut eye..haha

Once we all got awake and moving we took the kids to the zoo park before heading home.  The zoo has some pretty cool things to do besides seeing the animals and with an annual pass, it's okay just to go play for a while without having to pay an entrance fee. 

playing in the stream

taking a walk on the swinging bridge

the mud cafe is awesome....dirty...but awesome!  just bring some extra clothes if you plan on doing this. 

 and who doesn't love HUGE BUBBLES?

OBX

The next day we got up early and drove the rest of the way to the OBX.  We started in Corolla for some BBQ lunch and to climb the Currituck Lighthouse and then worked our way down to Kitty Hawk where our cabin was. 

the cabin was pretty sweet..it was tucked in the woods completely hidden from view, with a perfect hammock on the porch that we may or may not have spent the majority of our stay in ;)

we did venture out for food and to explore a little bit.  i did really enjoy all the fun shops full of antiques and repurposed things. 

we stopped at the Wrights Brother's Memorial, but got there a little late in the day and didn't have very long.  we opted to hear the presentation and forgo walking up to the memorial

this is as close as we got before it was closing time

i did get to reconnect with an old Caswell Staff friend, Nikki and her husband Jake, who now live in Kill Devil Hills.  I haven't seen her since the summer we worked together 9 years ago, but it was still great to sit down and talk over coffee.  

on our last day, mike and i got up super duper early to drive to Hatteras and see the sunrise. the drive was kinda creepy in the dark and the fog was super intense, but all was beautiful at sunrise and the trip was well worth it.  We wanted to get home and see our babies before bed that night, so we just spent a few hours in on the island before starting the drive back home. We did of course climb Hatteras Lighthouse and then we stopped to see Bodie. 

We debated heading to Ocracoke--but the trip was too much to fit in that day, so we'll just have to make it back out again :) All in all it was a great trip...relaxing, fun and i even got to read a whole book!