May and June 2018 Bring Summer Weather and Swimming!

May and June brought warmer (but not too warm) days and the excitement of beach trips and the start to pool season. We have certainly received a huge return on investment related to our Homeowner's Association (HOA) dues. Our dues are among the lowest in the area, and while we don't have a fancy pool with a splash pad, slide, or kiddie pool, we do have a swim team, long pool season, snack bar, wifi, pavilion, ping pong table, and super nice lifeguards. We've been regulars at the pool since moving in June 2011, and this summer was no exception. If I had to guess at the frequency of our pool days, we've probably averaged 3-4 times per week for the entire May-September pool season per year. 

This year we were super excited that Rose would have a chance to join the swim team - the Swampfoxxes! Swimmers have to be 4 years old by the start of summer to join. They had three weeks of daily (M-F) practice starting May 14 until an event called time trials. For the 6 and under age group, swimmers had to be able to swim 15 yards on their own at time trials to join the swim team. If they couldn't, they'd go on the practice squad, the Swamp Pups. 

First ever swim practice

I worried about the daily practices that were required to be on the swim team and thought we might want Rose to be on the Pups. But, sure enough, Rose was the standout 4-year-old who made it the 15 yards on her own on June 5! Watching was among the most stressful 51 seconds of my parenting life. Within a week, she had shaved 10 seconds off her time, and she reached a personal best of 24 seconds at the end of the season. 

First Swim Meet - a 41 second finish

Our small, but mighty swimmer

I was so glad she made the team. The daily practice really did drastically improve her abilities. In addition to becoming a faster freestyle swimmer, she also managed to compete in the backstroke and breaststroke by the final meet in mid July. Her accolades will be saved for the next post!

First backstroke event

Unfortunately, Zoe couldn't be on the team, but she enjoyed doing the warmups before practices and meets. We are disappointed she has a September birthday. It means she won't get to swim next year yet either. This year she was still okay hanging out in the shallow end with her floaties (or eating) while her sister practiced. But, meets were a little more challenging for her.

Rose and Zoe doing swim team warm-ups

The only other downside to so much pool time was that it seemed to wreck havoc on Rose's skin. We went through a rough patch for about a month where she seemed to get prickly heat rashes and bug bites all over her back, legs, and even her head. We made several visits to the doctor, which ruled out the more serious possibilities like shingles. Some visits the new rashes or bites looked like poison ivy and other times we thought they might be spider or other insect bites. Rose's scratching was so bad, it became infected and we had to give her the first course of antibiotics this year. The medicine helped clear up the rashes and bites, and we managed to prevent a relapse with a trip to New York (and no pool time for two weeks). I was so worried about the bites and rash I brought in a bed bug exterminator to be sure we didn't have bed bugs. Thankfully, we didn't. But, we never figured out the source of the problem. Poor Rose has been left with some scars this summer, but I'm glad the symptoms resolved.

Finishing a great soccer season

We had a nice transition to swim team from soccer this spring. Rose had her last soccer game on May 12 and started swim team on May 14. It really was good timing. We want to be very careful not to over-schedule the girls. They already go to school full time and have pretty exhausting days of playing and learning. Soccer was on Saturday mornings and the nice thing about swim team was that all the meets and practices were weekdays. It was somewhat stressful to get them to practice every day, but we had the option of a 4:45 or a 5:45p practice, so that was more manageable. It was nice having completely free weekends to do whatever we wanted.

This year was also the World Cup. While we didn't get the result we wanted for any of our teams, we had fun cheering on our favorites - Portugal and Brazil. The girls loved getting to wear their Portugal gear to school when the team was playing. Their teachers, all Latinas and mostly from South or Central America, also were in the spirit wearing their team colors.

Go Portugal!!

One of the events I look forward to in the spring is going on the annual Piedmont Farm Tour. Carolina Farm Stewardship Association puts together the event in partnership with many farmers in the region. There is a minimal cost to visit the farms, and many offer self-guided or guided tours. At one of the farms, we were able to pet baby goats and baby chicks. At another farm, we harvested our own eggs from the mobiles. I want the girls to know where their food comes from. While they don't quite fully understand it yet, each of these visits provides us with some teachable moments.

Playing on the tractor at the farm

What girls doesn't wear a princess dress to a farm

 Collecting eggs on the farm

Rose is much less into her princess and fairy dresses these days, but sometimes she wants to do what Zoe does, and Zoe is in the prime of her princess dress days!

Our princess at the playground

The girls have been really into doing puzzles since late spring. Rose, in her typical smarty-pants fashion mastered puzzles I bought her within a day or two and moved on to more complex puzzles quickly. Zoe, at only 2 and half, has done really well putting them together. She usually gets the puzzle 50-70% finished and then Rose likes to jump in and help complete them. We've noticed them working together as a team much more lately. I hope that pattern continues.

Showing off our "ram sam sam" skills at the beach house Memorial Day weekend

A non-princess dress day still requires a dress.
Surprisingly she also managed to let someone put her hair up!

One of the many trips to the pool for swim practice.
Here, with a tiara made at school

With our event-free weekends, we alternated between trips to the pool and trips to the beach. We started the month with a trip to the beach in Wilmington. It was May 4th and the girls had no problem playing in the shallow pools of water. It was still too cold for me!

Fort Fisher, NC May 4, 2018

Our Memorial Day weekend trip to Myrtle Beach was a little more my style. Nice, beachfront hotel with pools, and ocean temperatures that were quite nice. We had a beautiful weekend with warm days and comfortable nights. It was nice spending time with the Clemente family.

Nice beachfront hotel Memorial Day weekend in Myrtle Beach

Zoe is a good beach napper (and eater!)

Colin's newest toy - the mighty max can carry up to 450 lbs
Guess how many times I've heard that?!!

Fall Activities and Start to the Holidays in November 2017

November was filled with lots of varied adventures. The weather is usually still nice but the days are fairly short. It feels like we cram a lot into the day. Coming off our October travel to New York, it felt like we were back on the road again in November. We took a quick trip to the beach and spent Thanksgiving with my parents in South Carolina.

This was the first year it didn't feel like we visited many farms in the area during the fall season. We visited one during our trip to New York and two in the Raleigh/Cary area. While the month of November was relatively nice, it seemed like we had colder weather during the weekends. On our farm trip, it was a bit damp. We all enjoyed ourselves, just with some warm layers and raincoats on.

Taking a family tractor ride at Phillips Farm in Cary

Hello Kitty face paint at the farm

Zoe displaying her arm painting

Since we usually have a 3-day weekend for Veteran's Day, we made plans to visit Myrtle Beach. While the sun was shining all weekend, the weekend temperatures were the coldest days of the month. I had found a hotel with an indoor water park. The area was enclosed, had heaters and the water was warm, but I thought you could still feel the cold air when you weren't directly under the heater or in the water. There were large water slides where the entrances were partially exposed to the outdoor air. I made one run and that was it for me. I spent most of my time with the girls in the smaller water features and we all enjoyed the outdoor heated pools and hot tubs. There were few people at the beach, which is how we like it. Even though we had to bundle up a bit, we still enjoyed playing in the sand.

Zoe enjoying Myrtle Beach

Rose enjoying Myrtle Beach

Towards the middle of the month we started engaging in holiday festivities. One of the local shopping plazas had a holiday train, Christmas music display on the movie theatre, and visits with Santa. We missed the vist with the big guy, but did ride the train, watch the light/music show, and sip some hot chocolate. With both girls entering into the ages where they understand and enjoy what's happening, it was a fun start to the holiday season.

Riding the holiday train in Morrisville, NC

I've probably mentioned some of the amazing features of the girls' school before. They are fed amazing meals daily, with a lunch prepared daily and two snacks. The menu rotates, but every holiday they have a traditional holiday meal. Their Thanksgiving lunch sounded just as good, if not better, than our own Thanksgiving day meal. Both girls let me help them dress up for their Thanksgiving Day meal day.

Rose and Zoe before school the day before Thanksgiving

Girls are ready for school in their Thanksgiving outfits

For Thanksgiving this year, we made the driving trip west to spend it with my parents in their new house near Greenville, South Carolina. Colin had a bachelor party to go to in New York and found a decent flight deal out of Atlanta, so we did a fair amount of driving that weekend. We basically drove 4-6 hours every other day for 5 days, from Raleigh to Greenville on Wednesday, roundtrip from Greenville to Atlanta on Friday, and back to Raleigh on Sunday. The drive back to Raleigh Sunday evening was the difficult one for me because it was just me, Darwin, and the girls. We picked Colin up at the Raleigh airport around midnight. I had to be careful not to drink too much so I wouldn't have to stop to use the bathroom! The girls slept most of the way, and the last hour of the trip was a struggle for me.

Our Thanksgiving was lovely, with amazing food and weather. The girls enjoyed playing at my parent's house and my mom's cooking is always so delicious.

Zoe enjoying my parent's yard

Rose loves running at my parent's house

To break up the driving to and from Atlanta, we decided to go to the Atlanta Zoo after dropping Colin off for his morning flight. We spent a few hours seeing the animals, having lunch, and playing on the playground. Both girls took a good afternoon nap during our drive back to my parent's house.

Zoe at the Atlanta Zoo.
Our day adventure to split up the driving to the Atlanta airport

Rose at the Atlanta Zoo

Rose and Zoe enjoying the playground before leaving the Atlanta Zoo

During our non-driving and non-holiday day, we explored the area where my parents live. Campbell's Covered Bridge is a tourist attraction as it is South Carolina's only remaining covered bridge. We got there before the crowds (ie- family and/or engagement photographers) took over, and decided to hike/walk around once the bridge filled with the photoshoots. We managed a few cute photos of our own, but my favorites were not of or near the covered bridge.

Rose and Zoe posing at Campbell's Covered Bridge

On Saturday afternoon, we helped my parents cut down their Christmas tree. It was a first for all of us and fun to find the perfect tree. Rose really enjoyed getting to decorate it once it was set up.

We found my parents the perfect Christmas tree at Christmas Hill Tree Farm

Stay tuned for December adventures!

May Adventures

Perhaps doing a monthly post of pictures will get me closer to catching up. May can be categorized by grant writing for me and several weekend and day trips for us all.

Thankfully, the girls are mostly agreeable during car rides.

Not to mention they are stylish

May started out like a lion and ended like a lamb for me. The first two weeks I did a lot of travel for work and my "volunteerism" as new President of the Raleigh Dietetic Association. These trips also fell in the last two weeks of writing a fairly large federal grant.

I did my usual Monday-Thursday trip to Asheville the first week of the month, and had about 24 hours to unpack, work a full day, and pack for the family to head back west. Saturday was a transition meeting of the Dietetics board in Charlotte, and we decided to bring the girls so they could see my parent's new place about 1.5 hours west of Charlotte. While Colin drove the 4 hours west (past Charlotte), I worked on writing a grant. When I drove the 1.5 hours back east to Charlotte myself Saturday morning, I used speech-to-text to continue putting ideas on paper for the grant. I couldn't muster any more energy on the grant driving back to my parent's Saturday night, but did get up early Sunday to work while the girls slept in. I used the 4 hour drive back to work once again. It turned out to be a productive weekend, and I was grateful my family was willing to all help me multi-task. We also did spend a nice Sunday together between breakfast and traveling back home after dinner.

Rose running at the Carl Sandburg Home Historic Site, Flat Rock, NC

A typical sight of Zoe chewing her left middle finger

Rose and Zoe playing in the water at Dupont State Forest, NC

Since the grant was due mid-May, we just did a quick day-trip to the beach for Mother's Day.

That final week of grant writing meant very little sleep, and once everything was turned in, it meant catching up on rest and neglected work and home life, and cleaning/organizing my home and home office. Our neighborhood pool took a long time to open due to new permitting requirements put in place by the county, so we enjoyed our hikes to the playground and listening to live music that was available often. Once I was able to pay attention, I noticed how much Zoe grew during the month. She has completely transformed to a toddler and has developed her vocabulary in both English and Spanish. We dealt with some food allergy issues at school in April and May and had to go for testing in June (more about that later). She had done so well without major reactions from October to April.

Zoe has completely transformed from a baby to a toddler

Zoe singing the alphabet

Zoe talking and counting. Video was cut off before fighting began.

I think we were all very grateful for a long weekend of rest and relaxation for the Memorial Day holiday. We were able to join my parents and brother for a trip to Myrtle Beach and stayed in a resort that had a shuttle to the beach and nice outdoor pools, a lazy river, and a splash pad. The weather was amazing all weekend and we couldn't have asked for a better trip.

Daddy has a lot of patience with Rose playing paddleball

Zoe works on her soccer skills at the beach with her uncle

All in all, we had an enjoyable month (mostly the second half for me) with two trips to the beach, one to the mountains, and many trips to the parks and outdoor music venues all month. Stay tuned for a recap of June, which offered some nice weather for going to the beach and the opening of the pool!

April 2017 Fun

Wow, the girls are growing so fast and I can't keep up with documenting it all. April came and went, and writing a federal grant meant mommy didn't have much of a work-life balance for most of April and May. We did manage quite a few outings in April during the early part of grant writing. Zoe's now a talking machine, and it seemed like both girls grew a lot physically and developmentally in the past few weeks.

During our weekends in April, we visited a farm, went to the local parks and museums, had some Easter fun, and managed a couple of beach trips.

I'll let photos and videos share many of our adventures.

Hiking from home to the Bond Park Playground in early April

Enjoying a school picnic and display of art projects

Zoe yelling to the ducks at Pullen Park in Raleigh

Zoe at 19.5 Months

Zoe brushing her teeth before heading off to school

Rose at 3 years, 2.5 months

One of Rose's favorite dresses to wear to school

Playing in the water at the Durham Museum of Life and Sciences

Zoe yelling to the pigs ("piggies!") at Reverence Farms in Saxapahaw, NC
our 2017 Piedmont Farm Tour highlight

Hayride through Reverence Farms on the Piedmont Farm Tour

Taking a break from farm tour activities to swing

Our friends and neighbors hosted an Easter egg hunt in their yard, and it was so nice to walk up the street and have the neighborhood kids find Easter eggs. Some eggs had chocolate, which was very exciting for Rose. Zoe enjoyed opening the eggs and finding out what was inside each one.

Easter weekend we rented a condo in Myrtle Beach with my parents. It was nice to spend the weekend at the pool and the beach. The weather was mid-upper 70s, but the ocean was still a little cool. The girls enjoyed floating in the lazy river, and playing in the shallow pool in the condo complex. We had another egg hunt in the condo. Zoe was more interested in seeing what was in each egg rather than collecting a bunch of eggs.

Rose enjoying the beach part 1

Rose enjoying the beach part 2

Floating in the lazy river in Myrtle Beach, SC

Easter egg hunt in Myrtle Beach, SC

Zoe opening her Easter eggs

Fun in the rain after school

Fun at home, dressing up and singing "Let it Go"

First Fort Fisher beach trip of the year

Taking the Ft. Fisher ferry to get some ice cream

Stay tuned for our May update with more pictures and videos. I'm particularly fond of one with Zoe singing the alphabet.