Atlanta Trip

Last weekend we went to Atlanta so that Wes and I could run the ING Georgia Half Marathon and we could visit Bebe. The race was good - you can read a detailed account by clicking on the link to my running blog - and we even improved our time over last year. Noah could really have cared less about that though. He was totally into playing at Bebe's house!

She had all sorts of fun toys (mostly trains) waiting for him and he got to sleep in a big boy bed, which he loved. In fact he will be getting his own at our house this weekend. Basically he spent the weekend getting spoiled and enjoying the heck out of himself. It is a good thing Bebe comes down to Charleston this weekend - Noah will be missing all that undivided attention!

Bebe and Noah spent most of their time putting together elaborate train tracks for all of Noah's toy trains to ride on.

The Usual Suspects

Just another day of fun in the sun with our buddies!

Rice cake and sand, mmm!

And by the way, this is what you look like after thirty minutes of diving headfirst off of sand dunes....

Edisto Trip

This past weekend Wes, Noah and I drove down to Edisto with some friends. We stayed in a beach house a block away from the beach - thanks Paige and Yates! - and even though it was cloudy we still had a great time running around on the beach and hanging out with friends.

Lisa, Paige and I relax on the beach with a refreshing beverage!

There were four families there, with four children under the age of 4 but despite that, the chaos was kept to a minimum. Noah and his buddies Hannah and Clayton play so well together and sweet Baby Abigail is such a good baby you almost forget she is there! Noah loved getting to take his bath with his friends and then wake up in the morning and eat breakfast with them too.

Noah, Clayton and Hannah enjoy breakfast and games in their pajamas.

We took several trips to the beach and the kids were not phased at all by the lack of sunshine. They could have cared less that it was only 50 something degrees out and cloudy - we were still at the beach and that always makes for good times! The adults had a great time too - although we had the good sense to keep our feet out of the freezing cold ocean!

Walking to the beach. (fyi - A few days ago Noah decided that he wanted purple Crocs like the ones Clayton has. I explained that boys didn't wear purple but he could pick out a different color. Well, as you can see he picked lime green. That is what I get for letting him pick I guess.)

See, we had a blast in the sand.....

......and the surf!

Meet The Penguins

Yesterday Noah and I joined some friends at the South Carolina Aquarium to get a sneak peak at the new penguin exhibit. Our friend Clint works there and offered to let us look at them even though the exhibit is not officially open yet. (By the way, Noah was in awe that he gets to do that for his job!) Even more exciting was that Noah got to meet up with his friends to have an afternoon at the aquarium.

Kennedy and Noah playing at the start of our outing - double trouble!

Ellison, wondering why in the world you would run around like a crazy person when you could be relaxing with a delicious apple.

William, Ellison, Kennedy, and Noah waiting to see the penguins.

After going through the entire aquarium we finally made it back to see the penguins. Noah was very excited about seeing them but it quickly turned into frustration because he wanted them to be swimming and they weren't.

Finally one of the penguins must have gotten tired of his whining because he humored him and took a dive into the water to splash around.

Thanks little buddy!

As a bonus, Clint also let the kids pet one of the owls. Now, since I don't want to pass on my irrational fears to my children I got close enough to the bird to hold Noah's hand while he touched it. For having a completely out of control bird phobia I think I did pretty well.

After that we were very tired and it was time to head home. Bonus - we got stuck at the railroad crossing downtown and got to watch the train go by for like 10 minutes. I think it was Noah's perfect day!

Crazy Things Kids Say

Today I put Noah down for a nap, knowing that I had about 45 minutes before he would bang on the door and scream that he was "all done". I made myself a snack - Oreos and milk thank you very much! There is nothing like dipping an Oreo into some ice cold milk. Yum! Anyway I read for a little bit and sure enough, after 40 or so minutes Noah was all done.

I went and got him out of his room and we went into the bonus room to play with his cars. He saw my glass of milk sitting on the table and asked, "Is that yours Mama?"

I told him that it was. He kept looking at the half filled glass with bits of Oreo floating around in it. Then he peered a little closer, turned and looked at me in disgust and said, "Mama, why you drinkin milk with stinky poop in it?!"

Noah's Fun Weekend

All the fun began on Friday afternoon when Noah and I kept Clayton's little sister Abigail for the afternoon. Noah was very excited that she came to our house and all he wanted to do was hold her and play with her. He calls her "Baby Abigail" and uses this really high pitched soft voice to say things like, "Hey Baby Abigail, how are you? Wanna sit in my lap Baby Abigail?" It's really cute.

Needless to say, he was not happy when she had to take a nap but he did bring her his beloved Thomas blanket to sleep with because, "it is soft".

Friday my sister came to town and Noah's weekend got even more exciting. He loves to see Aunt J!

We spent Saturday morning playing with J and being crazy. Then of course, since Noah seems to have given up on nap time completely (ahhh!), we put in a movie for some quiet time.

The no nap thing is throwing me for a loop, but at least he will sit quietly in front of a movie for a solid hour or so. All he needs is Little Duck, the Thomas blanket, and a snack.

Saturday night was the best part of Noah's weekend by far. Wes took him to see Playhouse Disney Live!

He was so excited to see Mickey and the rest of the Disney characters but Noah was also pumped because he and Wes got to ride there with his buddy Clayton and her Dad. He watched out the window for them to come and when they drove up he went screaming around the house, "They're here, they're here! We're going to see Mickey!" Wes said he had a great time and sat through the whole show totally mesmerized. When Jessie and I got home from going out to dinner Noah was waiting to show us his souvenir from the show.

In case you don't know, that is Rocket from the Little Einsteins. He is still talking about going to see the show by the way.

On Sunday Jessie left to go home and I crossed my fingers hoping that we might get some snow down here for Noah to see but, alas, only rain and then freezing cold wind. Noah was a little disappointed but it did not dampen his spirits after such a fun weekend.

A little freezing wind never stops you from wearing your shopping cart around the house and having a good time!