Twin Falls

My sister and her family are in town so that means we have to take my nephew, C, for a hike to see a waterfall. This year we decided to try a different waterfall and settled on this Twin Falls. I am so glad we did. What a perfect hike and impressive waterfall. Directions can be found here.

It took awhile to get there, but the hike length was perfect for our age group. Andy and AM ended up being worn:





James and Grandma did a little "bushwacking":



Halfway there, there was a nice little rock over the stream. The kids like to thrown sticks in:







Off this rock, was a great view. This will be great for a picnic this summer and some swimming:



I am not going to lie, there was actually a sign here that said, "no eating, drinking, or swimming" What a buzz kill!

Post hike gloat by C and James:



and the dumb look by Andy:

Proof it doesn't get better

I just love this picture



That is Mr. Tony with brand new baby Christopher. He is 6 weeks old. It is indeed expected and apropiate that he would need to be held and walked around at a preschool Christmas program.

There is me with OH, ANDY! He is 18 months old and weights 30 pounds. He walks and talks and really should not need to held and walked around like this. In all fairness, I am pretty sure he got suddenly ill during this program, so that plays into it...but even when he is not sick he wants mommy to hold him and walk around.

We caved

Perhaps you remember this post about a trip to the new Greenville Children's Museum. You can think of this post as PSA II.

This past saturday it was cold and rainy. Oh, what to do with two active kids on such a day? Decisions, decisions. Mark mentioned the Children's Museum, yeah...but for $50...not sure... When Mark was checking out another option (World of Engery at Duke Power, free, but only open 12-5 on Saturdays) he looked at the Children's Museum again. Guess what, they are no longer charging for the ages between 0-2. Andy would be FREE. We could go for the bargain price of $36. Ok, still a little high, but at this point, anything to get out of the house.

We walked in. It wasn't crowded and there were volunteers just milling around. He was SO EXCITED as soon as he walked in and saw the exhibts. Even one of the workers commented "you look more excited then your kids!" I am talking of course about Mark. Mark had a great time.

However, so did the kids. There was climbing:



Yes, there is a sticker on his head. He liked it. We left it there. James climbed all the way up.



Andy liked recycling. Good thing because the rest of us hate the earth.



The rotating exhibit was on fairy tales. It was really great.



We hit the music room again:





If it looks to you that Andy had an Unscheduled Outfit Change, you would be correct. That is due to this area:



Andy was really anti-smock, and usually anti-bib for that matter. Couldn't get to him fast enough. More water:





We actually ate on site. They had a great little cafe, with a bakery case. What are they doing to me? The good news is that they had this cute little cupcakes for $1. I mean, $1, that is practically FREE.



There is also really large elevator, but the purpose of this picture is to show that James also had an Unscheduled Outfit Change. Same reason.



Lastly, Andy in the wind tunnel.



We could have spent more time there, and I wish we would have. Not sure why this outing was more succesful than the last one. Andy is just at a great age where everything is fun, but James had a great time too. Mark is already planning on going back.

Shining Star(s)!

So, I totally signed James up for theater class. If you have met James, this should not surprise you. This class was only 6 classes long and met on Monday afternoons. It was a good introduction to the performing arts. At class, they usually started out with a little coloring. The first class was spent learning some basic moves: the wave, the bounce, the smile, and the kick. Then they started putting these moves to music: "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", "Getting to Know You", "It's a Small World", and "So Long, Farewell". They even got to make up their own choreography and teach it to the rest of the class. For the last class, they put on a little show for their final performance. They got to wear costumes. Here is a picture before the show. There were three other students, equally divided between boys and girls. The ages ranged from 3 to probably around 5.




Here is a video from "Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" This is a good song. I like the message.


Here is "It's a small world" This is the one where they showcases their original choreography.


Finally, we came to the curtain call. About this time, Andy had threw down his wheat thins to distract me and ran up on the stage. He was suppose to be my shy kid!

SC aquarium

We went to see Granny and Opa for Thanksgiving and while we were there, we visited the aquarium. Hey, got to burn off that turkey somehow!

Here is a picture of Andy outside. What a view!


Just a note: Andy is doing more cuter things than James. You might see more pictures of him from now on.

Andy just had a great time. He is just at that stage where he is in awe of all the "ishies!"


One good thing about this aquarium is that they have a little play area. This is great for small children.




Ok, James was cute too. He is just a little past being thrilled at seeing the fishies. He liked the shark potty though.


And of course, they were both into the video games. Sigh.


Andy climbed staits as always.


Everyone enjoyed the touch pool!

Oh no you are not!

It is time for another Top Five.

I am pretty Open Minded. I think I can deal with a lot of situations that my kids might put themselves in. Here are five of the ones that I don't think I can deal with and my response will be, "oh no you are not!"

James or Andy: "Hey Mom..."

1. I am going to major in psychology.
2. I am going to be an artist.
3. I am going to take 21 shots on my 21st birthday.
4. I am going to play a woodwind instrument.
5. I am going to a small, liberal arts college and major in Hummanities.

My apologies to any of my readers who might have done any of these, but my kids aren't going to do them. I think. ;)

A good day for roaring

Fall Foliage Tour 2009

Normally, we are pretty good about going to church. However, two times a year, we end up skipping week after week. This occurs in May and then again in October. During these time we head up to the mountains to enjoy the change of weather. Our fall tour started about a month ago.

The first stop was Whitewater Falls. I think I actually had to go to church that day, so this trip was Post-Nap. Not a good idea. We were racing the sun and cranky, hungry kids. Plus, it was really cold and windy once we got there. Mark and I were the Worst Parents Ever because our kids only had jackets and no hats or gloves. We did not stay long.

Here is James running up the side of the trail:


Andy in the backpack. Andy LOVES being in the backpack, except when it is cold and windy and has no hat or gloves.


Here are the falls. You can see it was still a little early for peak color. We pretty much ran up to the falls, saw them, James peed, and then we ran back to the car. Good times!


The next weekend was the next stop. Cesears Head State Park. This is a must stop on our tour, well, ours and everyone elses!

Here is Andy:


The view from the overlook:


James on the hike back. This picture was taken immediately before a huge temper tantrum.


Before heading home, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch. All the older people walking by commented on how we were the Worst Parents Ever because they were sure we were going to let our kids run off the side of the mountain. I say, there was a nice bush 20 ft down that would have stopped their fall.


The final stop on the tour was Jones Gap State Park. Apparently, there was a car jacking here the day before. I KNOW!


The original plan was to do a 1 mile hike to a waterfall with James walking and Andy in the backpack.


I don't know what we were thinking. James had a great time climbing over rocks


and picking up really big leaves.


And no, it wasn't raining, or even that cold. James just likes to have his hood up. That is how he rolls. We found a part of the river by where we were hiking to claim we made it to the waterfall and turned around.


After the hike, we had our picnic lunch.


Finally, got James to take his hood off, so here are a picture of the boys by the fish pond.


Most of the leaves are down now, and this signals the end of the tour. Just have to wait for May...

Halloween 2009

Man, why is so hard to take good pictures?

Anyways, the boys, especially James had a great Halloween week. Week?!?! What do you mean, week? Well, yes, the entire week was filled with activities. Each time, the costumes had to be put on, then taken off, and we received candy. I was especially nervous about all these activities because I had made James's costume and I wasn't all that sure it would survive.

Poor Andy though, he just used Charlie's/James's hand-me-down superman costume. Maybe next year I will let him have an opinion.



James was a bat.



He wanted to be a bat, well, I don't know what put the idea in his , but he said he wanted to be a bat so he could fly. Now, you can't buy a bat costume, so I had to make it. Normally, I would have tried to talk him out of it, "are you SURE you don't want to be a PIRATE?" but the funny thing was, is that I was a bat for Halloween one year as well.



I wanted to be a bat for the same reason as James. I wanted to fly. Didn't work though. Maybe next year, James will want to be a rubix cube!