Kiddie Cars and El Vaquero!

Last night we had a cookout with the whole family and a few family friends.  Afterwards, the girls were surprised with the arrival of a belated birthday gift (which had to be picked up from the store): a child-sized motorized Jeep.  I was impressed by their driving skills (especially Macy) and their mad cackling (especially Sadie).  I'll try and post a video, which is actually fairly long, but cute!

A local Mexican favorite, El Vaquero, was the destination tonight.  Macy had requested the novel experience of walking to the restaurant, which is actually pretty close to my brother's house.  Still, it was quite a jaunt (in the heat) for two four-year-olds (and some adults), and we were all very proud of ourselves.  After dinner, the girls "fed" tortilla chips to the ducks out back and got some lessons on skipping stones.  KC did more than his share of the work on the walk home, acting as entertainment and vehicle.  The nieces LOVE Uncle KC.

On the walk home, Macy told me that she was very close to skipping stones.  "I almost got it!"

Clearly, my skills are not up to par.  I did not obey commands like "carry me on your head!" or "RUN!!!!"

Hocking Hills

KC and I had planned to take a trip to Hocking Hills to canoe or kayak or something, but the forecast was bad.  Also, I'd agreed to try out riding as a passenger on his new bike, so he drove me to the local breakfast place and then down the road near our old house.  He's a good driver, but I was still worried that I'd be flying off the back of the bike at some point.

KC with the new bike

Old house -- when a new family bought it years ago, they took down a lot of trees and whatnot.
Now it looks really different...

Brian's old tree-fort tree is still around.  (Some of the climbing planks are still there.)

The house seems much smaller than I remember, but the cherry tree is huge!  I am jealous.

As we were driving around, we realized that the weather was actually great, so went ahead down to Hocking Hills to kayak and hike.  It was really pretty.  Also, we were told that the area is the second most biodiverse place in the world, with the Amazon being #1.  Interesting...KC says it's because of the variety of ecosystems created by the underground caves, river, sandstone hills, forests, etc.  We saw...a turtle and a spider.  And KC confirmed the presence of catfish in the river.  AND we managed to miss the storms, though they created a pretty sunset for our drive home.

KC, looking forward to the trip.

Hocking River

The Upper Falls near Old Man's Cave

                         

Devil's Bathtub

(from the other side of the "drain")

Looking out from under Old Man's Cave

The view from 270 North

Visiting Ohio

Arrived home this morning and was quickly shuttled off to the brunch with the fam at the Worthington Inn.  We met everyone there, including my Grandma and Uncle Greg, who are visiting from Minneapolis.  Other than some relaxing and visiting, not too much going on during the day.  KC and I had planned on a canoeing/kayaking trip tomorrow, but the forecast is dreary all week (scattered thunderstorms everyday).  On the bright side, we saw a double rainbow!

Muriel's wedding!

Turns out the real deal is WAY better than the movie.  Arizona is beautiful, warm, and sunny.  Here are a few pics from our hike to the top of Camelback Mountain:

Bouldering with the bride (a well-known wedding tradition)

We made it to the top alive

Here's Muriel pondering vajazzling...

The trail was basically a vertical boulder scramble at some points

We saw this lizard!

Shopping! and dinner at Owen's

So, Nags Head has some awesome outlets.  Including Coach and my surprising new favorite, Eddie Bauer.  (I got myself a folding shovel and a giant thermos and some convertible finger-less gloves in BROWN, so Eddie Bauer has earned my eternal love.)

Speaking of awesome, we had dinner at Owen's, and everyone was stuffed and fairly happy.  Check out KC's cinemagram here, showing the effect a brownie sundae can have on a little kid :)

We did it!

An assortment of Savages successfully made it to S. Nags Head, NC in the Outer Banks.  This was our first morning, and everyone seems happy.  Unfortunately, it's not only chilly, but crazy windy and sort of raining.  A small contingent checked out the beach this morning, met a friendly dog, and saw some seagulls.

Auntie Aubrey helping the girls finish their eggs

Braving the wind and some pretty big waves

Getting a quick snuggle (helping to heal a stubbed toe)

Not much excitement yet, but we have plans to do some deep sea fishing on Tuesday, assuming the weather calms down and the water is calm enough to look for fish.  Also, of course, getting excited to make pumpkin pie (with help from the girls).

Coming soon: an exclusive interview with two 3-year-olds...feel free to suggest interview questions/topics.

NC Aquarium!

Yesterday we went over to Manteo to check out the local aquarium, which we heard had stingrays...

The rumors were true.  Some of us pet the stingrays.  I didn't, but I did pet a sea urchin (or something).  Also, the aquarium had a hurricane simulator, a live alligator show (where they girls got to pet a baby alligator), a sea turtle rescue center, a bunch of fish and sharks, and something the girls called a "crocodile zoo" (which did have some alligators, but also snapping turtles, regular painted turtles, and some otters).

Sand tiger shark (aka snaggle tooth)

Otherwise, the day was just hanging out.  Made delicious Caesar salad to go with spaghetti for dinner.  The girls helped...

We were hoping to go down to the beach at dusk to do some crabbing (chasing sand crabs with a flashlight and scooping them into buckets), but our crabbing scouts reported no crabs :(