Cutie Patuties

I am trying to take pictures of the munchkins every weekend while the Hubs is gone so that I can put them in an album and share them with him when he gets back. This is no easy task as my two seems to get a long as well as fire and ice right now but the last two weekends did result in some really cute pictures, so I thought I'd share.

Gross Anatomy

"Cats and Dogs"

By Sprout

"Parts of a Dog"

Poty ears (Pointy ears), eyes, nose, teth (teeth), body, bely (belly), legs, wenr (weiner), butt, tal (tail), neck, hed (head).

Yup, you read that correctly...

My son included wenr (weiner) in his parts of a dog- and even drew a picture!!

This is now featured in the school library for all to see!

That's my boy!

Wild Horses of Carova Beach

We visited the northern most part of the Outer Banks, only accessible by four-wheel drive, during our trip in hopes of seeing some of the wild horses that still roam Carova Beach. The wild horses, or Spanish Mustangs, descended from spanish stock which arrived over 400 years ago and have lived on the barrier islands since the earliest explorers and shipwrecks. We saw quite a few on our trek through the dunes and I was able to get surprisingly close to some of them.

I could have stayed, capturing pictures of these beautiful creatures, all day! Hope you enjoy them!

NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island

During our trip to the Outer Banks we stopped at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. It was a small aquarium in comparison to others we have visited but perfect for the kids. Sprite loved the turtles and Sprout loved the shark tank. The highlight of this trip other than seeing the otters poop on a rock was the shark attack in the large tank. We were watching a show in the large tank- there were divers in the tank talking about the fish and answering questions under water. Immediatly after ther divers got out of the water, one of the large sharks, who must have been aggitated, attacked a large fish, biting it right in half. This caused quite a frenzy as all the kids screamed and the tank filled with blood, agitating the other sharks. The divers quickly scooped the remaining half of the fish out of the water in hopes of preventing further frenzy. The best shows are always the ones created by mother nature! I, of course, don't have any pictures of this because I was walking back into the room with Sprite at the tail end of this and heard all about it from Sprout and the Hubs!

After the aquarium, we ate at this restuarant called Big Al's. It was an old fashioned soda shop with black and white checkered floors, red booths and coca-cola memorabilia everywhere. The Hubs ordered a real cherry coke from the soda shop and I had the best clamboat I have ever tasted! On our way out the kids danced on the dance floor complete with disco ball for everyone to enjoy!

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Our first day in the Outer Banks was a little cloudy and cool so we decided to visit the Bodie Island Lighthouse located on the Roanoke Sound side of the first island that is part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It was not open for climbing but we walked around the grounds and on the trails through the surrounding marsh.

Next up, the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

"Cabbage by the Sea"

We spent last week in the Outer Banks (OBX) and had a wonderful time. One of our best vacations to date! We stayed in an oceanfront cottage which Sprout called the "cabbage," hence the title of this post. The name stuck and we referred to it as the "cabbage" all week! The "cabbage" was in Kitty Hawk and could not have been any closer to the water without being in the water. It was originally built in 1938 and was recently restored. There was a hot tub on the back porch overlooking the ocean and we spent every evening soaking in the hot tub listening to the sounds of the waves- it was heaven!

During the day, we spent a lot of time on the beach digging in the sand, climbing the dunes, collecting shells and watching the dolphins.

We spent a little time exploring too. We visited Bodie Island Light House, went to the Manteo Aquarium and went out onto the northern Outer Banks, which is only accessible by 4-wheel drive, where the wild horses roam and saw a few herds up close. I'll share pictures of each of these adventures separately.

We already can't wait to go back!

Happity Hop Hop!

Happy Easter!

The munchkins had a fun time searching for their baskets this year. Sprout is getting older so the Easter Bunny made finding his a little more challenging this year; but it was worth it! Sprite found hers, with a little help, and dug right in to her chocolate eggs.

And no Easter is complete without an easter egg hunt around here.

We could not have asked for a better day- it was warm and sunny outside and we spent the entire morning playing and then we all climbed into the hammock for a lazy afternoon.

Pictures from our vacation to the Outer Banks (OBX) are coming soon, stay-tuned!

He's Not the Only One Who Looks Good in a Stetson

Stetson Break In

The Hubs had his Steston break-in "ceremony", if you will, last week. This is a long-standing army cav tradition. I was fortunate enough to be able to witness this infamous break-in and it was quite a scene. Basically, the Stetson break-in involves the new troops standing in a line holding their Stetson upside down in their hands while the other members of the unit fill them with every kind of alcohol/food they can come up with.

On this particular night, I witnessed warm beer, various liquors to include vodka, tequila and rum, clam juice, chopped lettuce and who knows what else. Once the hats are filled and running over, the new troops are instructed to drink the contents of their hat until it is flipped over onto their heads. Once the Stetsons were flipped onto their heads and their eyes were burning, the troops ran across the street and jumped in the pond behind the lodge while others looked on.

It was all in good fun and a good time was had by all!

"The tradition of the "Cav Hat" began in the early days before the Vietnam War. The 11th Air Assault Division cavalry scout pilots were looking to distinguish themselves from other troops when they adopted the Model 1876 campaign hat for wear. They felt a need to return to the traditions of the Cavalry so long forgotten. LTC John B. Stockton, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 17th Cavalry Regiment, is given credit for establishing the tradition of wearing the Cavalry Stetson." (http://www.1cda.org/cavhat.htm)

"Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway." ~John Wayne

An Eye Sore

My beloved dog Aspen managed to scratch his cornea and what started out as a minor scratch developed into an ulcer. We traveled back and forth to the vet for a good week and a half trying various ointments and creams but nothing seemed to work and his eye was increasingly bothering him. We ended up going with the last resort option which was surgery.

Dogs have a third eyelid that slides up over the surface of the eye for protection. The third eyelid can sweep across the transparent cornea of the eye and clean it like a windshield wiper so Aspen had his third eyelid pulled over his cornea and stitched to his upperlid (for 2 weeks)creating a constant cover over the damaged eye.

The poor guy had a heck of time adjusting to being able to see out of only one eye and to make it worse he had to wear one of those cones for the 2 full weeks so he did not scratch his eye, pull his stiches out and further damage his eye. He was bumping into everything and frequently got stuck in akward places because of the mamoth Elizabethan collar around his neck.

He had stiches taken out earlier this week and the good news is that the ulcer is gone and the scratch has healed. The bad news is that his third eyelid is still partially covering his eye because it is still inflamed from the trauma. We are not sure how long it will take to fully retract but he seems to be doing much better and is still the most handsome dog in the world if you ask me!

Now I Know Why They Call it a Throne

Pinewood Derby

Sprout's first Pinewood Derby as part of Cubscouts was this past Saturday. He did a great job of picking out his design and colors and had fun building his car with hid Dad! It was male bonding at its best!

While he did not make it to district, we learned a lot of tricks of the trade for next year and had fun in the process!