Trick or Treating Part 1

Since my kids get to trick or treat numerous amounts of times at Halloween, I thought that I would make it into parts!! We had our first yesterday because the town of Blowing Rock likes to do their events the Saturday before the holiday!! Bob really loves this tradition, but oh well. Bobby had a great time as usual, doing all the fun activities before the Monster March and trick or treating begins. He got to go on an inflatable obstacle course, ring some pumpkins, a sack race (with Mommy), and run around on the playground. The weather was nice, but the wind could have STOPPED!!! That's what really made it cold, but we had fun anyway. I think that Amaryllis really enjoyed her first experience. She wanted to get down and walk during the Monster March, which made things slow moving, but she was too cute!! She kept reaching in her pumpkin pulling out little bags of candy! Too bad she can't eat it!! The kids did really well though, pulling in about a half pumpkin each of candy!!! We had fun and got to do it as a family, which was so awesome too!!

Pumpkin kids

Last Tuesday, both kids wore their Pumpkin shirts!!! They were too cute and I had to get some pictures of them in the leaves! Here are a few:

It's All About The "U"

On Saturday, October 28th we all took a trip to Durham, NC and the Campus of Duke University to see the football game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Duke Blue Devils at Wallace Wade Stadium. It was Amaryllis' first Miami game, Bobby III and Melanie's third Miami game (and my 22nd Miami Game). Everyone had a great time at the game. Bobby was too young at his previous football games to remember or get into the game, but this time he really did get into the game, asking many questions. The best question the he asked was "Where is the blue line that we see on TV?" referring to the Line of Scrimage computer generated line that the TV networks put on the screen. Amaryllis was pretty much attached to Mommy during the game, though there was a moment of brother and sister loving on each other. During the fourth quarter they announced that any kids who pick up 100 of the plastic drink cups in the stands and bring them to the recycling area will get a free gift...well we could not pass that up..could we?!? So Bobby started walking around the stadium dumping and picking up plastic cups, Melanie and I also took turns and we did get 100 cups and turned them in and Bobby got a little Duke clock (Duke was only the villain on this day so its ok). After the game as we were walking through the stadium, Melanie saw a University of Miami cheerleader walking with her parents, Mel stopped and asked if she would take a picture with Amaryllis. The cheerleader was excited to do so and so was her mother who got out her camera as well. as you can see the only one not thrilled about the idea was Amaryllis. It was a great time, for all the reasons, but of course it was great for the real reason
MIAMI HURRICANES 49 - DUKE BLUE DEVILS 31.

Fun at the park

Last week we had such great weather!! It was cold in the morning, but warmed up during the day and was PERFECT for the park. So, after school one day, I surprised Bobby with a trip to the park! Amaryllis had so much fun too, it was the first time that she could really enjoy the park herself!! It was great fun and Bobby made a new friend and met up with a little girl that was in camp with him over the summer!! It was fun, so much fun that we ended up staying for 2 hours!!

Bobby jumping to grab the bar! Almost there!

Daddy had some work near the park
and stopped by to say hi!

Having so much fun!

She loves the swing!

Found some leaves to play in on our walk home!

Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad

After the fun on Friday evening, we got to go to the Ghost Train at Tweetsie on Saturday! This time, Bobby and I left Amaryllis at home with Daddy. We met up with our friends Jamie and Brooklyn and had a great time. The weather was chilly, but not too bad!!

First things first, we went on the Ghost Train itself. This is our 3rd year doing this and every year we do the train first. And it's was so nice to see kids younger then Bobby going on it!! The suggested age for the train is 8 years old, but Bobby has been on it since he was 2!!! I'm such a great Mommy! HA! It had a great concept this year, but wasn't as spooky as in years past! I actually did pretty well this year!! Trust me, if it wasn't for Bobby wanting to go, I would NEVER go on the
train!!
Yes, I am a BIG chicken!!

After the train, we did some rides... the ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl and then went up the mtn to do the "scrambled egg" (the twister) and ride on the tunnel of terror!! Bobby flipped last year at the tunnel of terror, but decided that he would try it again this year. "Mommy, last year I didn't do good on the tunnel of terror, but I was three. Maybe I will do better this year since I am four!" At first he wasn't going to go on, but he ended up wanting to go and that was his favorite ride!! We didn't end up leaving until 11:30pm!!! YIKES!

Leaving the park!! Oh what a night!

Disney on Ice

Last Friday, I took the kids to Charlotte to see Disney on Ice. I was kinda nervous because it was Amaryllis' first time at something like this and I wasn't sure how she would do, especially since I was by myself!!! All I have to say is WOW!!! Not only did she LOVE it, Bobby was awesome as well!! I could not have asked for a better evening out with my kids!!! It was so much fun and they both really enjoyed the show!! I took a ton of pictures, here are just a few!

His light up twirly dragon

Mickey and Minnie

Oops Goofy!


Lightning McQueen on ICE!


Look!!! It's the Lion King!


Timon, Pumbaa and Simba!


Young Tinkerbell


Sleepy girl finally gave in!

Tinkerbell can fly!

What a fun NIGHT!!

Walking home from school

One our my favorite things to do lately is walk Bobby to and from school! We are so lucky to live close enough to do this and I like to take advantage of it whenever I can. It's just Mommy and Bobby time in the morning, but in the afternoon, Amaryllis gets to come along too. It's such a great way for us to get out of the house and for a little exercise too!! Amaryllis loves to people watch, and usually gets lots of attention from the people that she watches.
Bobby decided yesterday that he wanted to push the stroller home (except up the hill, make me do the hard work), so I let him!! What fun to watch the two of them going down the street together. We also stopped inside the ice cream store to get a sampling of the fudge!! YUMMY!!
Bobby has also found out the if he crosses though the empty lot on our way home, that he gets ahead of us and can beat us up the hill!! He now thinks this is very amusing, and has to do it on a daily basis!! Oh what a funny child!!

Your Daddy's Son

So this is my first time posting on this blog. Why? Well Melanie and Amaryllis left Blowing Rock for a week in Florida leaving the boys on their own on the mountain. Monday is our first real day together because I was at work all day yesterday.

Don't worry, this isn't the first time that Melanie has left me alone with my son for longer then a 24 hour period...its the second time...this past spring Melanie and Amaryllis went out of town for five days and Bobby was fine, so relax.

Ok, so Bobby knew we were getting this time, and about two weeks ago he tells me a secret. The secret is that when Mommy and Amaryllis go out of town we should go out to dinner, and he has a specific restaraunt he wants to go...Beef O'Brady's...of course we could not tell Mommy while she was here that we were going there, so tonight we went to Beef O'Brady's

Why did Bobby want to go to Beef O'Brady's...was it because it has his menu of choice, was it because he knows he can watch three different ballgames and SportsCenter at the same time...no you see Beef O' Brady's has Video Games that we have played before. So of course while we waited for our dinner we (i.e. Bobby) played Video Games. Then we had to of course go to Marble Slab Creamery for dessert. A good evening for father and son.

Apple Fest at the Library

The library had an apple fest yesterday and the kids had fun with apples. The children's librarian, Judith, has apple trees and brought in buckets and buckets of apples!! She also has an apple press that she brought in so the kids could crush the apples and press them to make apple cider!! It was really neat to watch the kids turning the crank!
They also had fun activities for the kids to work on including stamping apples, molding with a cinnamon dough (and boy did that smell good!), plus carving apples! They had apple treats and read a book about Johnny Appleseed! Bobby used to go to the library every Tuesday with me, but since he's been in school he hasn't gotten to go, although Amaryllis and I still do! It was good fun for him to go and we all had a good time!

Crawling and Picture Day

Yesterday was a BIG day for Amaryllis! She finally started crawling on her hands and knees!! I really didn't think that she was going to do it. I figured her army crawl was going to be her way until she started walking, but I was wrong and yesterday she was off!! It was so funny and cute. Although, she still does like to army crawl and roll, like she did today. I do think that once she realizes that crawling the othe way gets her from point A to point B faster, there will be no stopping her!

And yesterday was picture day for Bobby! On our walk to school, I did coach him a little to make sure that he was going to make a "nice" smile instead of a crazy face! Has anyone else done this before, or am I the only wacky one?? But we talked about how he should smile and made him smile a few times for me!! And the one of the first questions out of my mouth when I picked him up was "How did you smile for your pictures?" I know, I know, let it go. Now it's just the waiting to find out what he really did! I have a feeling that one year, he'll do something totally crazy just so he can see my reaction when I get the final product in my hands!! I guess that's just one more thing that I need to let go of since he's growing up!! I'll still have control over Christmas pictures and any other ones that I get done!

The joys of swimming.

Yesterday after Bobby got home from school, he sat on the couch and was ready to watch tv or play on the computer. BUT it was such a nice day outside and his pool was set up, so I figured he would enjoy going in the pool for awhile. So before he got home, I went and cleaned the pool as much as possible from grass and bugs. When he started asking what he could do, I told him that he needed to change, which he was none to happy about. Then I showed him what he should change into, that's when he got excited. I asked him if Amaryllis should go swimming too and he wanted her to go also. After getting suited up, we went out to the pool and boy did they have a great time. Amaryllis hasn't been in a pool since April and this time she could sit up and and "enjoy" herself, that is, unless Bobby was splashing her, putting toys in her face, or taking toys away from her!! HA! They had so much fun though. Enjoy looking at the pictures and watching them in this video!