Fall Break

We took a trip to one of my favorite cities in the world, Charleston, SC.  October is the perfect time to head down south.  The beaches were beautiful and not crowded at all.  The city was hopping but nothing like it is in the Summer.  The weather was in the 70's with a great breeze from the ocean.  Did I mention how much I LOVE this city?  

The first thing we did was hit the beach.  Our first stop was Sullivans Island.

We hadn't been to the beach all Summer so the boys were really excited.

Myles found some great sea shells.

Our self portrait.

Grady enjoying the views on Isle of Palms.

After a day at the beach we walked around downtown Charleston.

The following day we took a trip to Patriots Point, every little boys dream.

There was a aircraft carrier with jets, battleship and submarine.

I think Josh liked it just as much as the boys.

Checking out the jets on the aircraft carrier.

Fire the guns!!

Oh poor Josh, he admired all the boats from afar.  His dream of owning a boat is still just a dream.

As I walked around the ships, I exchanged knowing smiles with the other moms.  All of us were toting little boys along.  I don't think I saw any girls. We were all bored out of our minds but walking around smiling for our sons sake.  What we do for our kids.

Beautiful Boone

Gramma and Grandpa made the long drive down to visit us for the weekend.  The boys wanted to take them to Tweetsie Railroad and they obliged.  It was a beautiful Fall day with brilliant leaf color.  We enjoyed all that Tweetsie had to offer.  Thank you, Shelley and Peter, for heading down to see us.  It means the world to the boys.

Feeding the animals with Gramma and Grandpa.

The Tweetsie Twister.  Josh was nice enough to take the boys on this one.  Gramma, Grandpa and I happily sat this one out.

Riding the sky lift

Myles the pumpkin

On our way home, we stopped off at Sugar Mountain Ski Resort for their Oktoberfest.  The German music was playing, beer was being served and folks were dancing the Polka.  It was a perfect ending to our perfect day. 

 Grandpa makes one funny looking little girl.  Love it

Tarwheels

Yup, that's right, I said Tarwheels.  Can you believe the beautiful Swannanoa Valley has it's own roller skating rink?  Well, this Tuesday night was Black Mountain Primary's Skate Night.  Josh and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  Now, I haven't been on roller skates since I was 12 or so.  Picture me trying to figure out what it means to roller skate and hold on to the boys while doing so.  Not a pretty picture.  I was sweating more on the rink than I do in the gym.

Josh went with the smarter option....he didn't wear skates.  Not only has he never roller skated but he didn't want to get hurt and not be able to work.  

The music was awful, the strobe lights were kickin' and the disco ball was in full effect.  It was quite the event.

The boys did great.  They started off slow, rolling around on the carpet.  Grady thought we were going to his school where they had a "frozen floor" and we would roll around on it.  He had no clue what roller skating was.  I'd say he did a good job considering what he thought he was going to be doing that night.

Soon, they were going a little faster.  Grady was getting frustrated and said, "this is the first time I am not good at something".

Myles was ready to hit the rink running.  Watching these kids fall all over the place made me wonder, who thought strapping wheels to your feet would be a good idea?

Grady busting a move.

Or busting his bum...

The next thing I knew, I had John Travolta on my hands.

Tarwheels.....we will see you next month.

Wild Weekend

Ok, it's not what you are thinking.... Our "wild weekends" of yesteryear are no more.  They now consist of good times with "wildlife" and good ole Mother Nature.

On Saturday, I worked for Chimney Rock at Grandfather Mountain.  They were having a Girl Scout retreat and I set up a booth to promote our programs.  Unfortunately, it rained most of the time but that didn't slow the Girl Scouts down or my boys who came with me.  Josh took them on some adventures as I worked.

Look who was manning my booth.

The boys at the Mile High Swinging Bridge.

Check out the wild turkeys crossing the road.

Grady was trying to "pull the sword from the stone".

On Sunday, the weather was much better.  We drove to Chimney Rock to return some items.

This is my "please don't drop my phone" face.  Grady was the photographer.

In true Emily fashion, she had a baby squirrel for the boys to play with.

They are still talking about Harvey.

We took a short hike

We stopped off and had Mexican for dinner.  Can you see how much Myles LOVES cheese dip?!  Good thing this method didn't work.  The cheese was much too thick. Gross.

To continue with our "wild" theme, Josh was stung by a yellow jacket.  His hand was swollen for at least 48 hours.  It was painful and looked awful.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Grady's class had their first field trip last week.  They took all 6 Kindergarten classes to an apple orchard.  I don't know how those teachers did it but it was all very organized.  I think the kids really enjoyed the outing.

Our first order of business was to take a hay ride out to the apple trees. 

The kids posed in front of the tractor that took us out in the orchard.

The boys each picked a bag of apples.  In our house, the apples only lasted a week.  We are apple lovers!

After we returned with apples in tow, the kids got to run through a corn maze.

Next was the soy bean maze.

They had a great program on apples.  The kids actually look like they are paying attention.

Enthralled by apples.

Lilyanne, loving the apple program.

Is he taking it all in or wishing he was running through the corn maze again?

Of course, Myles joined right in with Grady's class.  He followed Grady all over and I think Grady liked showing off his little bro.

Anika and Myles