Happy Birthday to Me

We dined at Apollo, a Greek restaurant. . .
where the food is authentic but the chefs and owner are Mexican.

We then ate a made-from-scratch princess birthday cake. . .

that lacked any pillars but was coated in yummy white chocolate cream cheese frosting and decorated with tiny stars and M&Ms.

Happy Birthday to Me, Indeed!

Backtracking to Myrtle

June 27-29, 2010

After our very short visit to Pinehurst, we went south of the border for a two night stay in Myrtle Beach. Our little family got there on Sunday, and our friend Jess drove down on Monday to join us. That's the only way we happen to have this family beach picture.
Unlike the previous trips we've made there, we actually spent a decent amount of time on the beach itself. We were on the sand in the mornings and late afternoons. And we did more than just stroll around looking for seashells. Thanks to Special Agent Oso (he's a unique stuffed bear who's on a special assignment to help a kid somewhere), Ally was all excited to build sandcastles with Daddy. She also finally conquered her fear of having water splashed in her face and therefore loved walking into the waves with Mommy and Daddy. She would laugh and giggle and hang on tight as the water pushed her around. Even when the ocean stole her shoe and tried to eat it, she was happy.

Cora put her feet in the water and wet sand once, but she didn't seem to appreciate the experience. Her tiny feet also went Godzilla on Daddy's sandcastle stacks; that was a little more up her alley. Cora spent a lot of her time getting ready to go out in the sun, and then watching her big sister play from the comfort and shade of someone else's lap.

Other notable memories include walking along the new boardwalk, a visit to the Gay Dolphin, Daddy's NOT winning the baseball game in the arcade, and being harassed by a fudge-selling man (who probably loves the name of the afore-mentioned gift shop). We skipped the seafood buffets and instead opted for Chinese take-out, Jimmy Johns, and Cheeseburger in Paradise. And some ice cream. The following video adequately defines Cora's favorite 5 minutes of our Myrtle Beach excursion.

This is a funny picture of Ally being a pirate. What makes it even funnier is that Ally doesn't like pirates. Ally is helping me write this part, and she says (while trying hard to squint one eye closed) to make sure I put "AAAAAAaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!"

She's Got the Moves

She can sit.

She can stand.

She can do the splits.

She can crawl!

Moore County? Moore Quaint.

June 26-27 2010

The first Saturday afternoon of our vacation, we took a little break from our Johnston County relatives and traveled to Moore County. We needed to check in on a few people and see if things around Pinehurst have changed at all since we've been gone.  I wish we could've spent time with more of our friends (and more time with the few people we saw).  If you're reading this and we missed you, maybe we'll be able to catch you the next time around.  We visited Uncle Mike and tried to make it easier for him to find our blog again.  We also surprised my favorite Saralou, and she was gracious enough to let us invade and chat for a little while.  Then it was on to a visit and impromptu dinner with the Carlisle Family (thanks for taking us in and feeding us, Paige!), followed by giggles and conversation with the Smiths.  I should've taken more pictures of the fabulous people we saw, but I didn't.  These are two that Brady took of the girls.  I guess their modeling skills were just too irresistible for him to pass up.

We spent the night in the backwoods off Niagara-Carthage Road. Thanks to the more-senior Smiths for letting us stay with their dogs and their magical chickens. It seems one of those hens has an uncanny ability to lay specialty eggs designed with the golfing crowd in mind.

We gave the girls a very quick tour of town. We swung by our rental apartment, our house on Fox Run Rd, Moore Regional Hospital where Ally popped out (pictured at left), the post office and the rest of the village, Pinehurst #2, the fitness center, Chris' office, my office, the Hospice House site (still not built), and the hospital construction. Oh, and you can't forget a trip around the traffic circle! The only thing that seems to have changed is the quaintness factor: Moore County seems so tiny, sheltered, and woodsy now. There doesn't seem to be much to it, other than trees and golfing and the hospital. I remember when my nephew Tyson came to visit us and thought we lived in the forest. Now that we've been in the Tri-Cities for a few years, I can see where he was coming from with that assessment of our old home.

We attended church at the Pinehurst ward on Sunday, and then had a delicious lunch with my sweet Margaret and her family. After chatting with them for awhile-- and letting Ally jump in the bounce house-- it was time for us to say good-bye and drive to our next location: Myrtle Beach, SC.

My Daddy is my Favorite Pal

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home,
Glad as I can be.
I clap my hands and shout for joy

And say "Dada" sweetly.

East Coast Trip: In the Beginning

As I sit myself down at this here computer to finish blogging about our East Coast Adventures, I am faced with a glaring realization that this has taken me entirely too long. Some of the pictures I am now posting are over two months old. And, since they are mostly pictures of the kiddos, that passage of time is all the more obvious. Sorry. At this point, I think this entry will serve more as a travel log/journal for our family and less as a "hey, this is what we've been up to" for the rest of y'all.

So, back to the beginning of our adventure. . .
We got up at 4:30 am on Thursday, June 24th to catch the early flight out of Pasco, WA. We made it to Denver, CO and then Charlotte, NC. We almost died getting off of the plane in Charlotte because the humidity was so stifling. (After 2.5 years in the dry desert, we've become real wimps.) After a slight delay, we took our last plane ride and landed in Raleigh. The time was around 8 pm, the temperature was around 85 degrees. (What's up with that?) It was a full day of travel, and I'm thankful for having children that like being out and about. They loved flying, and Ally couldn't get enough of the moving walkways at the airports.

Grampy Hoffman and Jordan were kind enough to retrieve us from RDU and take us home. Grandma, Grampy, Sarah, Jordan, Colleen, Kenny, and Nate were so excited to meet Cora for the first time. I guess most of them were probably excited to see Ally again, too.


Since Normie has a job and couldn't get away, we were forced to hang out with househubby Paul during the days. One afternoon he let Chris and I try out his speedy wheels. Vroom Vroom Vroom!


Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Colleen, and Nate also came over a lot to keep us entertained. Look how excited Ally was at the chance to "fix" Jordan with Nate's tools.


We had Chic-Fil-A for lunch one day. We had southern pulled pork plates for dinner one night. (That's the only night we saw Kenny. He had some lame excuse about having to protect the people of Clayton the rest of the time we were visiting.) We bought some new shirts at the Pottery Outlets, and we made the mandatory pilgrimage to J.R.'s. So that pretty much covers everything there is to see and do while in Smithfield/Selma-- except maybe buying drugs at the Brotherhood Market.

We hung out with Grandma in the evenings. She and Chris went through a few boxes of old family photos and stuff Chris' grandparents had kept. It was an interesting, but very dusty, look back in time. Fun fact: Grandpa Charlie (Norma's dad) was too short and skinny to go off to war, so he served the country by monitoring the Erie skies for enemy aircraft. Norma still has his letter telling him to report for a physical (the one he failed), his plane spotter's guide and patch, newspaper articles, some ration stamp books, postcards from the war, and other unique things.


I spent most of my time sneaking off to eat Paul's peanut butter balls. Ally spent most of her time playing with Nate. He seemed very happy to have a girl cousin to play with, although she did tend to boss him around a bit. They didn't get into too much trouble-- the worst they did was overturn the pack-n-play and use it as a cage-- but had a lot of fun running around together. And they got to go swimming.



Here is Cora's first encounter with a pool. She screamed and tried to get out at first, probably because the water is way colder than in the bathtub. Then she settled down and had a grand old time with the help of her hilarious cousin. Why can't Nate live closer?


Stay tuned for the next installment:
Moore County, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC