EC 2011: Orange County Randomness

July 19, 2011

After another lazy morning, we ventured onto Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. My good friend Taunja walked over on her lunch break and joined us at the Mediterranean Deli. Then we went shopping for sandals in Carrboro (success!), and stopped at another store long enough for Jess to buy Ally a fairy book and for Cora to have a major rolling-on-the-floor-tantrum.
In the evening Jess shopped at Old Navy while the girls and I made some new friends. Ally bonded with the mannequins so much that she started calling them her "new family" and demanded a photo shoot. Cora ignored the people and focused on riding the dog.

Our last stop for the day was at Maple View Farms. I ordered an orange chocolate milkshake, Jess ordered a chocolate something-or-other milkshake, and Ally had a cookie dough ice cream scoop; Cora helped herself to whichever was closest to her mouth at any given moment. While we were rocking back and forth on the front porch and savoring our treats, Brittany (T's sister) magically appeared. It was fun to see her, catch up just a little, and to inform her that she was indeed on a double date. Ally and Cora had their picture taken next to the little cow again, and then they giggled and chased after bubbles on the front lawn as the sun went down.

EC 2011: That's What She Said (at the zoo)

July 16-18, 2011

On Saturday, night we hung out at the Lunger house. We ate pizza and then watched another firework show in their driveway. This one featured a glowing-eyed, fire-breathing dragon and a firetruck; both were smaller than real life. Paul and Norma were nice enough to drive Chris to the airport on Sunday morning so the girls and I could sleep in. Thus started the next phase of our adventure-- trying to have fun without Daddy for 2 weeks. Although we wish he could've continued vacationing with us, I think we managed alright without him.

We tried going to church in the afternoon, but Cora was way too chatty and loud so we left the services early. Grampy used all his lung power to blow up the kiddie pool for Ally and Cora to enjoy in the 105 degree (plus humidity) heat. In the evening, Grampy and Grandma Hoffman drove us into Raleigh and handed us over to my friend Jess for a few days. We visited with the Albrechts for a short while and then headed off to Carrboro.

We slept in on Monday. We were tired, feeling kind of lazy, and not in any hurry to spend all day in the record-setting heat. We drove to Ashboro in the afternoon and spent a few hours exploring Africa.

We rode the zebra-striped tram to the top of the hill and worked our way back to the parking lot. Along the way we rode on the carousel (twice), found a pressed penny machine, and watched the girls make "cylinders" on the air vents. Oh, and we also visited some of the animals.
We saw lemurs, white alligators, baby baboons, an elephant from a great distance, various birds, zebras, and giraffes. We also visited the flamingos, where a sign was posted: "The flamingos are in breeding season. During this time, please remain quiet as they are easily disturbed." After receiving a brief explanation about the meaning of breeding season, Ally stated, "I think it probably takes them all day to make a new flamingo." That was funny, but quite disturbing too.



Ally insisted that I take her picture with this sculpture and plaque. I didn't realize it until just now, but she had inadvertently stumbled upon an ode to "The Office".

Rest in peace, Michael G. Scott.

Star Performers

Every Sunday as we leave church, our girls stand in the grass and wait for me to announce, "Introducing your next American Idol, Miss Ally Hoffman and her little sister Cora." Then they run up to the light pole and sing their audition songs for whomever happens to be walking by.

Cora's favorites include "Sing Sing Sing", "I am a Child of God", and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Ally usually performs "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" or a variation of "If I Listen with my Heart". Yesterday she tried out a new composition that went something like this: "My heart helps me to live. My heart helps me to breathe. My heart is so special, it helps me not to freeze. . ."

I critique their performances, and I generally tell them they can continue on in the competition. Cora was so excited yesterday that she jumped down from their makeshift stage, ran down the sidewalk, and yelled,
"I'm going to Hollywood!"

11,975,521 Cubic Yards of Concrete

The view above: Lake Roosevelt and the mile-long dam

Pretending to be construction workers back in the 1930's

The Grand Coulee Dam

EC 2011: Beach Bums and Royalty

July 10-16, 2011

Ally loved going in the water-- something she's generally not allowed to do on the west coast since it's so cold. She had fun holding hands and jumping over waves, playing "spank bottom" by pointing her rear end toward the ocean and waiting to be slapped by the water, hanging around Uncle Jordan's neck for 2 hours in the deep, sitting in the sand at the water's edge as the waves came in and out, and helping Aunt Sarah overcome her fear of sharks, fish, and unidentifiable floaty things.

Cora's beach experience was quite different. She sat at the water's edge only a few times, visibly shaking for most of it. She very clearly stated, "I not like that water, Daddy." Well, okay then! She loves splashing and floating in the bathtub, but the ocean and its waves were too overwhelming for her. Cora chose to spend her time looking cute, pocketing every seashell she could get her hands on, and trying to bury Daddy with shovelfuls of sand.
Every evening, some part of the Hoffman clan went for a walk on the beach. The children busied themselves with collecting shells while the grown-ups monitored the skies for illegal fireworks and rockets that were being launched straight at them. (One night a huge shell casing landed 5 feet from Ally and me; another night something whizzed by Nate and Kenny's head.) We also experienced some fireworks inside the house-- thanks Jim and Kenny! That was the same night as the thunder and lightning out over the ocean. Not a huge storm, but beautiful.
On Monday evening, we drove into Myrtle Beach to see the giant ferris wheel. We also played around in the arcade, used the restroom at the Gay Dolphin, and ate ice cream on the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, we drove down to Broadway at the Beach to hitch a ride on the old Pavilion Carousel. Out of all the unique, hand-sculpted and hand-painted animals on this merry-go-round, Ally wanted to ride the pony. Cora rode the frog, which allowed her to chase the zebra. For the rest of the trip Cora would repeat, "Froggy go up and down, Zebra go up and down, Cora go up and down." Although it was deathly hot, we braved being outside for just a little longer so Ally could procure more souvenir smashed pennies for her growing collection. Then we met up with the Lunger clan over at Medieval Times for dinner and a show.

Daddy bought Ally a rose, and Nate got a sword. With our crowns in place, we were ready to cheer on our knight (Go Blue!) and eat some grub. We were curious how Cora would do since she has a recently-discovered fear of live horses; she thankfully did okay. The whole thing was pretty gimmicky (and the princess' voice was over-dramatic and extremely irritating), but it did have some highlights.

The show started with some swordplay in the middle of the arena. With all the clanking and grunting and people being "wounded", Ally turned to me with a concerned look and asked, "Are we going to see someone get cut in half?" When they released the live falcon to swoop through the air (just after serving everyone the main course of half a large roasted chicken), Ally told me, "I'm pretty sure that's a hummingbird." We saw a horse stand on its hind legs and another one dance. After our blue knight won the jousting competition, he kissed a a red carnation and then tossed it up to Ally.

On Thursday we had to visit Barefoot Landing to update our family portrait. Again, it was deathly hot, so we opted to return to the air-conditioned paradise of our house. Ally and Daddy briefly ventured back out to fly their kite on the beach. Later that evening, Chris and most the other guys went down to Molly Darcy's for their second night of karaoke. . . I mean playing foosball. The kids had a dance party in the driveway with Grandma and the aunts, but Ally spent most of the time making milkshakes in the pretend kitchen instead of shaking it on the concrete.




Sometime during the week, Ally wrote the entire lower and uppercase alphabet in the sand. On Friday afternoon, we made a sand volcano and decorated it with shells; when the top collapsed, we named it Mount St Helens. Also on Friday, we took a family walk down the beach. On our way back, the clouds were rolling in and so was the cold rain. Daddy and Cora were smart and made a beeline to the house. Ally and I stayed behind and took one last swim (and cold shower) in the ocean. That girl just wanted to spend every moment she could rolling around in the waves.

On Saturday, we finished cleaning the house and had a pancake breakfast. While everyone else headed out of town, we stopped at Jungle Lagoon for some mini-golf. Ally and Daddy took on the two course while Cora meandered about and I took pictures. We saw a cave with a waterfall, lots of animals, and real fig trees.

I guess that covers our time at Myrtle Beach with the Hoffmans.

The weather was great, the beaches were sandy and uncrowded, and the water was a perfect temperature. What more could you ask for? Being able to fall asleep to the sounds of the waves AND the glow of a full moon over the ocean as heard/seen from our bed every night? Yep, we experienced that too.

EC 2011: Bright Eyes for Grampy

EC 2011: Hoffman Family Photos

Here's a close-up of Baby Madison since her face is always hidden. Sorry we missed you Paul, Nick, and Michael!

EC 2011: A Rocky Start to Our Sandy Bliss

July 9, 2011

The Myrtle Beach portion of our vacation started off with a bang. There's rarely a dull moment when you're chillin' with the Hoffman Clan, but you don't necessarily expect to hear such fun comments as:

*"I can't get the door open. Wait, now it won't close. Now it won't open. Hey, now we're stuck in here."
*"If there's a fire, just throw a chair through the window."
*"Where are the rest of the chairs? Oh, they're piled in the corner, broken."
*"People are going to see Jim's hairy butt through those broken blinds."
*"Why are those wires sticking out of the wall like that?"
*"I'll be a grown-up for Cora to make sure she doesn't chew on them. We don't want her to get electrocuted."
*"I'm scared of being murdered downstairs."

My favorite, however, came from Chris: "When the health inspector comes, if he says it's stachybotrys . . . . I'm out of here."

Since there were enough people fretting about the situation already, the girls and I did our best to keep Grandma calm. We tried to stay out of the way and enjoy the one good thing about the house-- the view from the back porch. After three hours of near-panic attacks, meltdowns, and negotiations (go Paul!) with Elliott Realty, we had a refreshing re-start to vacation at our new home for the week: The SandLapper.

Chris took charge of ordering up some pizzas to feed the hungry crowd. I listened to the waves and stared out the window (from my bed!) while all the kids jumped around me. Colleen and Sarah passed out the T-shirts and shell-collecting bags, and the kids decorated their buckets. Lorra and her family arrived with Troy, and then we all hit the beach.

EC 2011: Drive Me Crazy with a Southern Accent

July 8, 2011

We slept in Friday morning while Grandma and Grampy went to work. We hung out with the Lungers (Chris' sister Colleen and family) in the afternoon and did our best to drive them crazy.

Nate was pretty good about letting Ally drive Cora around the yard, although at one point he did carjack them while they were parked at the swing set. Cora loved the ride so much that she kept climbing right in and then would patiently wait for a driver. She has also learned to go down (and up!) the slide without much fear.


We went to a barbeque place in Wilson for dinner. Chris' Dad was infatuated with the waiter 'cause he looked like Scott McCreery. When the kid asked for my order I had to laugh and say, "Can you say that again s.l.o.w.l.y? His accent was adorable, but my brain just couldn't process the southern-ness of his words. I've lived away from North Carlina for too long.

That night we returned to the Lunger's house where Kenny and Jordan set off some fireworks in the driveway.

East Coast 2011: High-Flying Antics

July 7, 2011

Our marathon East Coast Vacation got off to a very early start. We had to pull the children out of bed for our 5:25 am departure. Although excited for vacation, Ally kept trying to curl up on her pillow and go back to sleep. Cora was walking down the hall like a drunk woman, giggling and running into the walls. My friend Sarah was kind enough to drop us off at the airport (at least we were leaving from Pasco) and we were on our way!

Our first flight was perfect. The girls were awake, more-coherent, and very happy by the time we took off. As with every flight, Ally verbally reviewed all the safety precautions-- including differences in evacuation procedures for "crashing into the mountains" versus water landings; Mommy's oxygen mask goes on first, then I help Ally, then we can both help Cora; where our closest exits are; how to slide down the big inflatable slide; buckling up the life jacket and/or using the cushion as a fun flotation device. . .

We had a short layover in Salt Lake City-- not long enough to do anything but run into an old friend, Mike Nicholas, and try to play catch-up with him during a 3 minute conversation. (I sure wish Amanda and the kids had been with him.) Then we hopped on our separate planes.

Fifteen minutes into our next flight, the girls cuddled with Piggy and Pooh, and then fell asleep on each other. After their long naps, Ally entertained herself by writing her letters and numbers in a dollar store workbook and by reading Dr Seuss books. Cora entertained herself by stealing Ally's pencils and eating snacks. Cora also asked to poop on the potty. She peed, but I'd call that a success at 30,000 feet. Chris entertained himself by reading and resting. He seemed to enjoy the flight-- except at the end when a lady stuck her rear-end in his face and he got a whiff of something nasty. Since our next layover was in Memphis, we had barbeque for lunch. It was only so-so.

Our flight from Memphis to Raleigh was more of the same: sodas and pretzels and snacks, magna-doodle and workbooks and crayons. Cora went potty again. (Yes! She's catching on.) Five minutes later, she was asking to do it again. (No! She just thinks it's a game.) I told I wouldn't take her back; someone else was in the bathroom. When the lady came our of the bathroom and walked by us, Cora pointed and said, "She poop on potty. My turn now."

We arrived in Raleigh around 5:30 pm and met Kenny and Paul in the elevator (after they had been joy-riding on the escalators while waiting for us). My friend Jess also showed up at baggage claim to give/receive some much needed hugs. The girl couldn't wait another week to see us (and I felt the same way). We loaded into Kenny's truck, stopped at Chic-Fil-A for dinner, and experienced a big thunderstorm rolling in. Welcome back to NC!

A Dozen Pearly Whites

Cora hit a milestone this past week. She finally has a symmetrical pairing of teeth in her mouth. Granted, her hold-out-of-a-lower-left incisor has not reached its full height yet, but it has poked all the way through!

You may be asking yourself why this is such a big deal. Well, it's not. I just need an excuse to write down this huge difference in my girls' tooth experiences (and also celebrate Cora's lack of Jack-O-Lanternness before it returns in 5 years with the losing of baby teeth).


Ally's baby teeth arrived in predictable pairs with very little complaining or fan-fair. Cora's have all shown up sporadically and in random order after months of uncomfortable teething and irritation. I mean, what kind of child grows a one-year molar before acquiring any usable pairing of front teeth? (Her fourth tooth, on the bottom, remained short and very crooked for quite some time. Her second tooth, on the top, made up for this by growing comically long.) I'm impressed she was able to eat so well. I never bothered to record the dates of each tooth, but above is their order of appearance.

The after-Christmas Party

***This is another "throwback" blog. Blogs about our recent marathon vacation should be coming soon, but you all know by now how that goes. I just couldn't blog about our visit with Jess in NC before blogging about her visit with us in WA-- albeit 7 months ago.***

Jan 7-17, 2011

Ten hours after all our Christmas visitors left, Cora took her first steps.
Six days later, our friend Jess arrived for some post-holiday fun.
Here is what I remember:

We took Jess to Leavenworth, WA. That's the small town outside of Wenatchee that decided to turn itself into a touristy Bavarian getaway in order to survive. We drove through George, Washington on our way-- nothing much there other than a gas station, a water tower, and this bust of George.


We stayed at the same hotel as our previous visit so we could watch the old man stand precariously on the railing and play his long alphorn while we ate breakfast. We swam in the indoor pool, pretended to take a sleigh ride in the lobby, window-shopped around town, ate a German dinner, saw some snowflakes, and took in all the Christmas decorations.


We're always looking for interesting things to do in the Tri-Cities. One afternoon we followed this van to the TRAC for the gun show. Not something any of us needs to do again anytime soon. It was advertised as an antique show as well, but the majority of it was guns and related paraphernalia. Bullets, rifles, stun guns, tasers, pepper spray, or bear mace anyone?



This pic of Ally was by far my favorite part:






We took the girls to the park one afternoon. I'm pretty sure this was Cora's first time going down a slide. Ally was a great big sister and stayed right next to Cora, holding her hand the whole way.

We took Jess to see the Christmas lights at the local landscaping office one night. We sat in the car listening to music, while the lights flickered and danced to the songs.

Jess took me to the eye doctor so I could finally get some new glasses and contacts. The frames (and lenses) I had been wearing were over ten years old; my newest pair broke back in 2008 when Ally pulled them off my face in the middle of church just before we moved to WA. I'd been wearing my "back-ups" ever since. (Why does it take me so long to get anything done?)

I was able to finish Cora's baby quilt. Jess and I had picked out the fabrics, cut the squares, and decided on a pattern during one of her previous visits. I guess it's fitting that she got to see it through to the end; I just wish it hadn't taken me (us) over a year to complete.










We also started on my apron, which I later finished in March. It's an adult-sized lap apron, but Ally likes to wear it around her chest when her own belly protector is dirty. (Can you see Cora in the background, happily rearranging the contents of our recycling bins?)



Well, I believe that covers all the time we spent together, except for all the chatting and the solving of all our problems, too.

We tried to get Jess to live in our basement and be our nanny, but she ultimately chose to hop back on the plane and return to NC.