A Girl on the Run...

Regan has developed a new interest this summer. Regan came to watch Tony and I run the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th and ever since she has been running. She only likes to run with her daddy though. So, they run together every other day. Regan started out doing a mile and is now up to almost 2 miles. Here is a few shots of them finishing a run up our huge hill. Regan does not let the hill stop her from sprinting and beating her daddy. We are so proud of her and she is hoping to run a 5K sometime this fall.

Miss Fashion???

Reece is our little priss and entertainer. She loves to dress up, pick out her own outfits, dance like a ballerina, and sing. She usually does a great job matching and is usually very particular about what she wears but on this rare occasion matching was not her priority. She had been playing in her room and came down in this latest fashion....

giving me a silly pose...

Doing a little dance. I know this photo is blurry but I still love it.

NC Zoo

On July 28, my friend, Mary Carlson, and I decided to take all our kids to the NC Zoo. Both of our husbands were out of town so we thought this would be a fun thing to do together. The kids had a lot of fun and we wore them out as well as ourselves.

There was a bunch of statues that looked like eggs and the kids had so much fun playing on them. We finally had to drag them away and say we came to see animals not statues of their eggs. :)

The kids pretending they are polar bears

How do we measure up to the Polar Bear??

The kids enjoyed cooling off at this geyser fountain.

All the kids crowding around to see the Tarantula.

Reece and Amy playing on a bee statue.

Drew and Riley taking a break from all the walking. It was a very hot day and the zoo is very spread out so they were pretty tired. Mary and I were joking that it is impossible to wear these two out but I think we may actually have this day.

This was Reece's favorite part of the zoo - the Giraffes.

Reece was very excited to see the elephants and to sit on this elephant statue. Reece LOVES elephants and giraffes.

Drew and Riley having fun climbing on the cobweb at the zoo playground. Neither of them seem to have a fear of heights.

There was a kidzone area and Reece found this stuffed animal giraffe. To say she was happy was an understatement. She pretended to be a vet and took care of the giraffe.

A Nice Getaway...

This summer Tony and I were able to get away for a weekend without the kids. We have some dear friends, the Carlson's, that we trade off babysitting with. We usually do overnight date nights each month but this summer we decided to try something different. We each picked a month and went on a three day getaway. Tony found a wonderful bed and breakfast in New Bern, NC which was about 2 hours away. It is a small town but reminded us of Charleston. The town sits on two rivers with a riverwalk, has great restaurants and shops, a lot of historical homes, and you can walk to everything. Our bed and breakfast was in a perfect location and we literally walked everywhere. Thursday we at lunch at a great little place called, Pollock Street Deli, met the B&B hosts and got unpacked, took a trolley tour of the town, toured the Tryon Palace, enjoyed a social hour at the inn and met many guests, and then had a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant called, Chelsea Restaurant. On Friday, we enjoyed a 6 mile run throughout New Bern, had a fabulous breakfast at our B&B, toured the rest of Tryon Palace and the gardens there, toured the historic John Wright Stanly house, had lunch at a quaint little place, toured some antique shops and then came back to the B&B for a nap before the social hour. We had a great dinner friday night at a place called, Morgan's Tavern and Grill. Saturday, we had another amazing breakfast and had to say goodbye to the wonderful innkeepers, Mike and Marty. They were so hospitable, friendly and so fun to talk with. We spent our last day down at Atlantic Beach. We toured Ft. Macon and got to see a civil war re-enactment that was taking place. Then, we went down to the beach and relaxed and read a lot. We had a late lunch/dinner and then headed home Saturday night to pick up our kids. It was such a wonderful getaway. The kids were great while we were gone and are still talking about their fun time at "Camp Carlson." The kids all chose camp names for themselves and named their rooms (cabins) where they stayed, made all kinds of signs for the camp and did all kinds of fun science experiments and craft activities. Mary Carlson was quite the "Camp Counselor." :) Thank you Carlson's for taking such good care of our kiddos and for giving Tony and I the opportunity to getaway. We cherish your friendship! The Aerie Bed and Breakfast where we stayed.

Our room at Aerie Bed and Breakfast.

A view of the bathroom

The birthplace of Pepsi Cola.

New Bern Academy. We got to go into this schoolhouse while on our trolley tour.

First Episcopal Church in New Bern. We toured this church while on our trolley tour.

The entrance of Tryon Palace. Tryon Palace was the first Govenor's Mansion in NC. We took this photo to show the girls how tall sunflowers can get.

A neat walkway through the gardens at Tryon Palace.

Gardens at Tryon PalaceMore gardens at Tryon Palace

We toured this house which is the John Wright Stanly House.

New Bern has bear statues all through their town. Each bear has a name and theme. I had to have my photo taken with the "tooth beary" bear that was outside a dental office.

We got a kick out of this little boat causing the drawbridge to go up. We could not believe they did not make this drawbridge higher so that they did not have to open for boats this size.

The riverwalk at Union Park in New Bern. We enjoyed strolling, running and sitting along this river relaxing. It reminded us of a smaller version of Charleston.

The entrance to Ft. Macon.

The flag at Ft. Macon. Tony was trying to get artistic with his photography.

Ft. Macon was having a re-enactment the day we were there. It was really neat.

These kids were so cute. The little boy was so adorable with his toy gun. At one point he went behind a wall and then jumped out and yelled, "bang, bang, bang" as he pointed his gun at all the soldiers. Everyone in the audience started laughing and the man that was talking to the audience looked over and said, "someone needs to get control of that boy" in a joking way. I think the soldiers were doing there best not to laugh as well.

The canons with the ocean in the background.

A view from the fort looking out at the ocean. The soldiers were explaining to the audience about their uniforms and guns.

Getting ready to shoot...

Tony loved this!

Here the soldiers are pretending to charge at the audience with their bayonets.