House of Estrogen

Happy Memorial Day!

Fourth Grade Field Trip Fun

I was fortunate to get to chaperone Elise's field trip to the coast on Friday. I know the teachers sometimes feel like they are pulling teeth to get volunteers for events, but this trip is really popular. People jump at the chance to chaperone. I was fascinated that easily half of them were dads. I can't imagine ANY dad ever chaperoning a field trip when I was a kid. What a great improvement in society that is! Initially, I didn't sign up quick enough, and all the chaperone spots were full. Somebody dropped out though, so I lucked into going.

We showed up at the crack of dawn to load the bus. Some of the car-driving parents poked fun at those of us who chose to ride the bus. I still can't figure out why they felt like they made the better choice. They spent easily $50 in gas to drive themselves to the coast and back while I paid $10 to sit in a comfy bus, read a book, watch a movie, or sleep. It seems like a no-brainer to me. The kids were great. They quietly listened to iPods or watched the movie.

We arrived at the U.S.S. North Carolina battleship with weather that couldn't have been more perfect.

As we toured it, I asked Elise to think about what it might have been like to live on one of these ships during WWII. Her great-grandfather was stationed on a carrier in the Pacific, so she got a feel for what his life might have been like.

Elise must have been going for some sort of Ashton Kutcher trucker hat look.

After the battleship (and spending too much time in the gift shop), we had a nice picnic lunch on the waterfront in Wilmington.

Our next adventure was a boat ride over to Masonboro Island. The marine life educators who ran this part of the tour were fantastic. I decided that over the years, they must have figured out every trick for giving tours to fourth graders. Their presentations and organization were flawless.

While on the island, we collected shells, learned about marsh critters, and did some crabbing.

At the end of the day, we took the boat back, got on the buses with smiles on our faces, and relaxed on the way home (or those who drove had to stay awake to drive while I peacefully slept on the bus!).

It was such a nice day. I'm glad I have two more girls who will at some point be fourth graders. Hopefully I can do this trip again (or let J.C. have a chance.).

Emerald Isle 2011: And Then It Turned Cold

September can be a great time to go to the beach with off-season prices, an ocean still warm from the summer months, and low crowds. However, September also leaves you at the mercy of hurricanes and approaching fall weather. The last two days of our trip turned cold, so we donned our hastily purchased Emerald Isle sweatshirts and made the best of it.

We played putt-putt one day.

 

I don't think I ever played putt-putt as a kid. I can remember going on putt-putt dates in high school. (yes, I was that cool. I didn't drink. I wasn't a cheerleader. I wasn't invited to the parties when kids' parents were out of town. I played putt-putt and thew jelly beans out of car windows, aiming at stop signs. Whoa... I know... that's the stuff of serious teenage rebellion.)

 

As a child though, I have no recollection of putt-putt... poor deprived child that I was. I always had my fill of museums, art galleries, and the symphony, but no putt-putt. I guess my parents were going for the whole "cultured" thing. Look where that got them. I blog, play putt putt, eat Frito pie, and listen to Justin Bieber... I am the epitome of culture.

 

My kids... they will have memories of cloudy days at the beach playing putt-putt with friends, so they will grow up to be opera lovers. They can follow in my dad's footsteps and join the Wagner Society, traveling the world going to Wagner's operas (seriously... he did that. He was even president for a while). All this putt-putt is setting them up for a fabulously cultured future.

 

The next day, we went to the aquarium...

 

where we watched fish (duh)...

 

and Nina spent hours with the volunteer at the shell identification table. The girls missed two days of school for this trip, and I'm now thinking I should have gotten approval for it to be an excused absence for an educational opportunity. Nina now knows everything there is to know about shells. She used her allowance to buy a big shell identification book in the gift shop to add to her collection of rock and mineral identification books. She is my mini-me. I was a total rock and shell hound as a kid as well. Is rock collecting hereditary?

 

After the aquarium, we headed off to our usual lunch spot - Sanitary Fish Market. Yum!

 

This little guy is such a charmer!

 

Despite the decidedly unbeachy weather, we all enjoyed the end of our trip.

 

Emerald Isle 2011: Fun in the Sun

Despite lice, croup, asthma, hurricanes, swarms of locusts, blizzards, and the plague, we managed to make the most of our vacation and have a lot of fun in the sun.

For your enjoyment (or complete annoyance)... a little vacation alliteration....

 We hopped high,

 

to ride on a raft,

 

slept in the sun,

 

got pitched above the pool,

 

colored creations with chalk,

 

donned dolphins, 

 

got pushed in the pool, 

 

giggled in our goggles,

 

snacked by the surf,

 

rowed on rafts,

 

 

beamed at the baby

 

stood on shoulders,

 

played pranks in the pool,

 

gave huge, happy hugs,

 

tiptoed in the tide,

 

searched for sand crabs,

 

laughed out loud,

 

and jumped for joy!

 

It was a terrific trip, indeed.

Nina Drive, Part 8

Of course, we had to take our annual "Nina Drive" picture of Nina while at the beach. I think she really changed a lot this year. I'm not sure if it is the pose, the hair, the outfit or what, but she looks a lot more grown up to me. She's losing some of that little girl look. What do you think? 

2004

 

2005

 2006

 

2007

 

2008

 2009

 2010

2011

 

Emerald Isle 2011: Shackleford Banks

We always enjoy taking the ferry over to Shackleford Banks...

 

to spend time shelling,

 

swimming,



exploring the barrier island, and searching for the wild mustangs that live there.

 

Even though about 150 wild horses reside on the tiny island, we didn't spot more than a pair of ears. Hurricane Irene was good to us though. We've never found a starfish before or as many whole sand dollars as we found on this trip.

Shackleford Banks is absolutely primitive.... no shade, no shelter, no garbage cans, no food, no convenience stores, no electricity, no Starbuck's, and... no potties. When the urge hits... Hello Dune! (How mortified will she be one day that I took this picture?)

 

 

After the ferry ride back

 

 

(This little guy LOVED the boat ride)

 

to Beaufort,

 

we found a great little place for lunch. Who knew a place with walls lined with beer bottles would also have an excellent kids menu? Score!

 

Fun day, all around!

Emerald Isle 2011: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

To say this beach trip had its ups and downs would be putting it mildly. It was more like the Murphy's Law of beach trips. Overall, we had a great time. We truly did. We tried not to let the bad and ugly bring us down, but there were times that felt like a full time job!

First for the GOOD...

The beach house was lovely. The girls loved the pool and hot tub.

 
 

 

We had beautiful weather the first four days.

 

Hurricane Irene left us with some fantastic shelling opportunities.

 

We were vacationing with great friends.

 

The girls all got along marvelously,

 

 

and I had a sweet baby to snuggle with all week!

 

Now on to the BAD...

The waves were INSANE... HUGE... STRONG... CRAZY, in part thanks to Hurricane Irene causing some beach erosion and in part thanks to Tropical Storm Maria churning out at sea. Elise really didn't feel well enough to play out in the ocean, but Nina was dying to boogie board. That didn't go so well.

 

 

 

 Our plans to dine outside on the deck at Channel Marker for Elise's birthday were foiled by Hurricane Irene as well. It is tough to eat outside when the deck has been ripped off by a hurricane. Bummer. She had a great party regardless, just not exactly as planned.

 

Poor J.C. reinjured his wrist with this slick move on (or, uh... off) the skim board. I just happened to be in the right spot with my camera at the right time (Shhh... don't tell him that I was anticipating a fall and was set up waiting for it!).

 

This porch swing at the house was a lot of fun until the chain broke and it came crashing down while our friend M and Addie were on it. Nobody was hurt, but it just added to the Comedy of Errors theme for the week.

 

Combing through Nina's hair and doing lice treatments didn't fall into the category of a "relaxing vacation activity", so that definitely added to the bad. On the upside, I think we've conquered the lice (knock on wood).

J.C. spent our first day of vacation driving three hours back home to pick up a box we had forgotten, turning around, and driving right back. He said he didn't mind, but that didn't really qualify as quality vacation time either.

Now we get to the UGLY.

Poor Elise was suffering through the worst asthma flare in years just before we left and for the first couple days of the trip. She was getting migraines from lack of oxygen, and just generally wasn't doing well. After several days of steroids and round-the-clock nebulizer treatments, she snapped out of it, but she spent a couple days looking like this.

 

Addie developed croup our first night there. I took her to the little beach urgent care the next day. The beach doc prescribed steroids (which I knew she needed) and another med that didn't make much sense to me. I decided not to give it to her and later asked a physician friend about it who said, "You DEFINITELY made the right call NOT giving it to her. That causes shallow breathing, and I NEVER prescribe it for kids." Nice. Gotta love crappy beach docs. She sounded awful but stayed in good spirits.

 

I'll be posting more pictures in the next few days with more of the fun and less of the whining. I just couldn't describe this trip without including the bad and the ugly. I'm not sure we've ever had a vacation with quite so much of it! Despite the apparent curse, we all managed to enjoy the trip!

  

 

Father's Day Beach Weekend

For Father's Day weekend, we decided to take a quick trip to Atlantic Beach. We told the girls that we were going to pick them up early from camp to do a fun family activity in the afternoon. On the drive to camp in the morning, they asked me what we were going to do, and I told them they would find out when we got there. Then we had this conversation:

Elise: I know what we're going to do!!

Me: What?

Elise: We're going to the pool!

Me: pool, huh?  That sounds like fun. Good idea.

Nina: No, I know what we're going to do! We're going to Monkey Joe's!

Me: Monkey Joes... that's a great idea too! You guys have some really good ideas for a fun family afternoon.

Elise: Maybe we're going to the beach!

Me: The beach???  <said with a tone of "you have got to be kidding!">

Nina: Elise!!!! There's no way we're going to the beach!!!

and I left it at that. When we picked them up in a packed-full car in the afternoon, it went like this:

 

Addie was clearly much more interested in Elise's ice cream sandwich than the trip, but at least the big girls were excited!

We arrived at the small cozy condo we had rented late Friday afternoon, dropped off our stuff, and headed to our perennial favorite, Sanitary Fish Market, for dinner.

 

The girls gave me a little attitude,

 

and giggled a lot. I think we were all glad to be on vacation.

 

Then we did our part to support the economy (and Sanitary Fish Market) by buying our annual SFM t-shirts. (Elise's really is THAT bright. I'm pretty sure she could be seen from the space shuttle.)

 

 

Why did I think red was a good color for me? Must have been the peach margarita clouding my judgement. The color Nina chose is so gorgeous. Why didn't I go with that?

 

Saturday and Sunday, we soaked up the sun and played in the waves all day, making the most of our short trip.

 

Elise and Nina spent nearly every second on their boogie boards.

 

 

 

Addie loved playing in the waves too,

 

except for a few run-ins with unexpectedly large waves. (Love J.C.'s expression here... no sympathy for the poor girl, huh?)

 

J.C. taught the girls the very important skill of how to feed sea gulls.

 

Saturday night, we decided to try a new (to us) restaurant, Channel Marker in Atlantic Beach. It didn't look like much from the outside, but it ended up being so nice. There are few things I love more than outdoor dining right on the waterfront!

 

The food was delicious, and it was just so relaxing.

 

 

After another fun day on Sunday, it was time to say good-bye to the beach and head back home.

 

We'll be back though!

  

 

Top Ten Photos of 2010

 
My friend Tracy over at Sellabit Mum posted her top ten photos of 2010. I loved her post, so I decided to do the same. I am linking up with all the top ten photo posts over at You Capture. Some of these are my favorites from an emotional side... the time, person, feeling, or event captured. Others are my favorites from a technical photography point of view. It was an interesting exercise going through all my photos from the year and trying to choose ten. There were a few that jumped in my head the minute I decided to do this post. For others, I had to comb through all my photos, weighing all the contenders. I chose about eight and felt done. I wanted to do the challenge right though, so ten it is.

  

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

One Last Beach Post

Our beach trip was almost three weeks ago, and I'm finally getting around to my last picture post. Going through these pictures makes me wish we could head back to the beach tomorrow. It was such a great trip, and we couldn't ask for better travel companions than the B family!

When we weren't digging, we were... 

skim boarding,

hanging out in the water,

giving kisses,
 
 

boogie boarding,

 

 

running,

 

posing,

 

pulling friends on the boogie boards,

 

(that's our little friend L who came to play with us one day)

lying in the sand,

 

playing football

 

and simply smiling... with a love for the beach.