Fun with Cousins

This summer is flying by like a marathon sprint! Hazel likes it this way, though. There's always something exciting to look forward to. We weren't home from our vacation for very long before a house-guest arrived to spend the week with us. Sarah Kate came to stay while her mom spent a long-weekend in Martha's Vineyard with Grammy. We gave Sarah Kate the luxury vacation in Indianapolis, and wore everyone out in the process!

We took a walking tour of downtown Indianapolis and explored the many parks and monuments.

Sarah Kate is so excited to be with her cousins!

On Monday night, we took SK to her first minor league baseball game. The little girls, who still had the memory of the Durham Bulls game fresh in their minds, had fun introducing SK to cracker jacks, strikes and home-runs, as well as teaching her the words to "Take me out to the Ballgame."

...Root, Root, Root for the home team....

On Tuesday, we spent all day at Conner Prairie. The girls and I had never been there, and we all thought it was a super neat place to spend the day.

Although the balloon had been damaged in the recent storms, the girls loved the balloon exhibit, nonetheless. And they loved posing for this photo opportunity!

Hazel and SK even dressed up in "old-fashioned" clothes to pose for a photo.

In the Lenape Village, Hazel and SK paddled a canoe, despite Lisey's best efforts to rock the boat.

We tried to be home in time for nap time most days, but even when we weren't able to (like on Tuesday), SK was great at keeping the girls occupied while I had a little quiet-time. We checked out some cupcake cookbooks from the library on Monday, and the girls had fun looking through them and picking out their favorites.

SK wants to be a cupcake baker when she grows up, and she did get a chance to bake us some cupcakes at the end of the week for Grammy's birthday.

On Wednesday, we spent the morning at the Children's Museum. The girls had a blast at the new "Treasures of the Earth" exhibit.

Hazel was pretty tired by this time; hence, the grumpy face.

Everybody had a pretty good time digging for terracotta warriors.

SK slept over at the Pattersons' house on Wednesday night and then everyone joined us for a trip to the zoo on Thursday.

We all wanted to see the new tiger exhibit, so we headed there first.

I think Laura was a little embarrassed to be at the zoo. She's at the age when she just wants to hang out with her friends and not her family, but she had fun, nonetheless.

SK enjoyed being a big sister for the week, and she was always happy to help me out pushing the stroller or reading bedtime stories or helping with bath-time.

The little girls rode the carousel at the zoo while the big kids rode the roller coaster. Elise was excited to find a 2-seater animal on the carousel that she could ride with Hazel.

And Hazel got some quality time with Auntie Anne and "Auggie" on the zoo train.

And of course, we had fun after Glenn got home from work too. SK brought "Just Dance" and "Just Dance 2" for the Wii, and we had some fun playing that. Glenn and Hazel are naturals. Just see for yourself....

The McCains travel to North Carolina (Part 1)

Over Memorial Day weekend, the McCains packed into the car and headed to North Carolina for the week. We had plenty of time and were not in any particular hurry, so we planned a few interesting stops along the way.

Our first stop on Saturday was for lunch at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Lexington, KY. We had a delicious picnic lunch, followed by a short hike. We then got back in the car and drove to Knoxville, TN for the night.

The girls loved playing and eating outside during our picnic lunch.

On our hike, Lisey led the way. We got used to this view during our trip!

On Sunday morning, we drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. At the park, we decided to take a short hike before lunch. We found a trail near to a picnic area that was only a 0.75 mile loop, perfect for little legs. The trail marker lied. An hour later, after scaling the side of a mountain, Megan and I emerged from the wilderness, each carrying a tired girl.

After lunch, we drove up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the park. From the parking area, we again hiked straight uphill for a "half-mile" (lies!) to the tower at the top of the peak. The view was absolutely incredible!

After some time in the park, we climbed aboard the Blue Ridge Parkway and took the scenic route to Ashville, NC. The Blue Ridge was very twisty and up-and-down-y, but the views were nothing short of breathtaking.

We are very lucky our camera has a "Kids and Pets" setting. We would probably never catch Lisey on camera without it!

The girls on the first part of our morning hike, before they got too tired.

Even Lisey's baby wanted to see the views from the top.

The girls taking a short break, admiring the hills (we don't have these in Indiana!)

A view from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Monday morning we woke up, took another little jaunt down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and arrived at Emerald Village, an old gem mine designed to give visitors a taste of the old mining days. We had great time panning for gems, and the girls found some beauties!

Lisey loved panning for gems! (Or at least playing in the water)

The girls each filled a bag with beautiful gems and...well...rocks.

A display of our haul after sorting them all by color. Megan decided to have one of the amethyst cut and put into a necklace. We will see how it turns out in a couple of weeks!

After the mining experience, we jumped back in the car and headed to Raleigh, NC. However, that story will have to wait until Part 2...

The McCains travel to North Carolina (Part 2)

Last we left you, the McCains were on their way to Raleigh. We stopped for a delicious dinner of Carolina BBQ, then made it to Grandma's house. Everyone took the tour (some of us faster and with more jumping and screaming than others), and then headed to bed so we would be well rested for our next set of adventures.

On Tuesday, we decided to check out a nearby park that Grandma Jellybean had scouted out for us. The girls loved it, and we we regular visitors during our stay. After a little playtime, we drove around and familiarized ourselves with the area. After lunch, we picked up some NC State shirts for the girls and wandered around the NC State campus. For our evening entertainment, we drove over to Durham and caught a Durham Bulls baseball game. Apparently, the girls love baseball games!

Lisey working the playground.

The Strolling Chemistry Professor at NC State. Rumor is, if you rub his head before your first chemistry exam, you will ace it. Both girls are set!

The family at the Durham Bulls game

Lisey loves baseball games!

The next day, we got up early, piled into the car, and headed to the beach. We got there around 11, set up our sun shade, and got to work filling every crack and crevice with sand. We had a picnic, played in the ocean, and built a lobster palace (a sand castle where the lobsters were King and Queen). At about 4:30, we packed up, Lisey fell asleep, and we headed home exhausted.

One of our few beach pictures (we tried to keep the sand out of the camera). Although the clouds look a little gray in picture, they were not. We had a gorgeous day!

On Thursday, after our looooong day at the beach, we decided to stay a little closer to Raleigh. Among other things, we wandered around the Dook campus and UNC campus. Our favorite part of the day was our stroll through the Duke Gardens...

Hazel in front of one of the many fountains

The girls were tired to begin with, and there was a lot of walking in the gardens

On our last day in Raleigh, we decided to check out the Marble's Children's Museum. The girls loved it! The entire museum was designed to be hands-on and was geared for the 8 and under crowd.

Megan and Lisey trying out the hula hoops

Hazel jumping from coin to coin

The girls testing their balance on the surf boards.

And, to finish up our Friday evening, we visited the ice cream window on Grandma's back porch. It was still open and still serving ice cream sandwiches!

The girls placing their orders

And enjoying the beautiful weather and delicious ice cream

We had a great time, the weather cooperated, and the new roof on the back porch was wonderful. Thank you for a great vacation, North Carolina!

Dancing with Heart

"Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another."

(Author unknown.)

5 Years - The Wood Anniversary

This past Friday, Megan and I celebrated our five-year wedding anniversary. According to Megan (and confirmed by Google), the traditional gift for surviving five years is wood. On a related note, we have two children who thought that our off-white carpet looked better with a rainbow of food and drink stains. With these two factors in hand, Megan and I decided it was time to replace the carpet and install new laminate wood floors.

About a two weeks ago, when the project had been officially sanctioned, we decided to give the hearth room and kitchen a fresh coat of paint.

I removed the baseboards (only broke one out of about 25. Not too shabby)

And Megan and Hazel worked on painting the walls.

We then went to Lowes and picked up a box or 67 of flooring.

The before picture (well, after painting but still with carpet)

No more carpet, and the carpet pad on its way out.

The girls testing out the interim concrete floors.

We had noticed that there was a fair amount of paint on the concrete when we pulled up the carpet. Hazel and Elise decided to add a little bit more.

And Megan thought it looked like too much fun to pass up.

Of course, my painting was with concrete to patch the cracks in the floor.

The hearth room with all of the underlayment down.

And so it begins...

We ran into the hardest part of the job pretty early on when trying to get the floor from either side of the half wall to match up.

The mad cutter at work with one of his many saws (I think I used no fewer than 4 different saws on this project).

Megan finishing up the closet.

Ok, if you have seen one picture of us putting down floors, you've seen them all. So, without further ado, some shots of the final product.

The closet.

The front room.

Part of the kitchen. We even put down new floors under the fridge and oven.

And the hearth room. Quite a change from the "before" picture above!

It was a long, hard weekend, but I can't think of anyone I would have rather spent it with. Happy Anniversary Megan!