First Day of School

It was a big day! The first day of school is here, and Lyla and Cade jumped out of bed, so excited about the day.

Things started so smoothly - Cade couldn't wait to leave, and he couldn't wait to meet his new teacher, Ms. Jennifer.


Lyla is so excited to show Cade the ropes. Here, they are distracted as the big kid bus was picking up the neighbor kids.


Lyla bounded right into her class this morning. She's so excited to have 4 girls and 3 boys in the class...a first. There are usually so many boys!!

Cade was excited to go too...until Mommy & Daddy announced that we were leaving. He wasn't too thrilled about that! In fact, he and most of his class had full fledged break downs about being left by their parents.


Three hours ticked by quickly (sort of), and here he is coming to the car with his teacher:


He was so happy to be back with Mommy & Daddy:


Lyla's teacher said that Cade saw Lyla midway through the day and announced to everyone that he would be going home now. Apparently, he did have one mid-morning break down, but he bounced back.

When he got home, here is how he spent quiet time - he made this bed himself and turned the iPad to Pearl Jam:


He needed some wind-down time later in the afternoon:


Nothing like summer days and bubbles.

Also, today he announced that he was "arting" with Lyla's sketching pencils - he then tried to put the pencil behind his ear "like Ms. Marion" (Lyla's teacher ). Apparently, school made quite an impression on him today.

It was an eventful day - these 2 are getting so big!!

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Are we there yet?

We left Myrtle Beach this morning at 5:30. We packed up, picked up the kids, carried them to the car in hopes that they would sleep the first few hours of the drive.

Ummmm....nope.

They were so excited by driving in the dark that it became a contest to see who could see what sights first:

Pointing to a radio tower:
Lyla: "Cade, I see the North Star! Do you?!"

We finally gave up, served up Pirate Booty and turned on the DVDs.

Cade has finally fallen asleep - before giving in, he started covering himself with his covie:












Finally, Miss Q. is asleep too:






Overheard:
Lyla: "Cade, we're halfway home!"
Cade: "Can we get out now?"

Lyla: "Daddy, we're half of a pizza home."

And, Daddy, by the way, is driving with a determination resembling a bat out of hell. He doesn't want to stop, and he keeps talking about making it another hour and a half before we can get out of the car.

4 more hours...

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Location:The Road

Our Last Day

The last day of vacation is always so bittersweet. The sweetness of home looms ahead, but it's sad to leave the beach behind. There will never be another time at Myrtle Beach with our 2 and 4 year olds.

And... our babies are both headed to preschool this week - Lyla 4 mornings a week and Cade 2. School mornings are officially upon us, which is hard to fathom.

The last day of vacation had it's own set of bucket list items. Lyla: the waterpark, slides, Sea Captain's House and the Beach. Cade: the Pirate Ship.

We accomplished all of these. As we were headed upstairs from our last moments on the Beach, I was overwhelmed with emotion - I have so loved taking a much needed break to be with my family.

The day could begin after Cade announced that he had pooped...exactly what we were waiting for so we didn't have another pool incident:



We made it down to the big slide and we all took a turn, except Cade.







Lyla:












Daddy:






And even me - I didn't want to, but couldn't say no to Lyla's "plleaeaeassse, Mommy!":






That slide was forever long!!!

Cade wasn't really into the Lazy River at first - he just wanted to play with his trucks:






We ultimately all had a great morning in the pool - it was so much fun being together.

After the pool, Lyla played a little mini golf:












Then we went upstairs to eat lunch and relax for awhile before a trip to the souvenir shop, Sea Captain's House, the Beach and Pirate Ship playground.

Lyla loves to draw and color:








Lyla's tie dye shirt from earlier this week :







More photos forthcoming - I switched to the big camera and haven't downloaded yet.

It didn't rain one drop on our whole trip.

Perfection.


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Location:Myrtle Beach

Today at Myrtle...

Vacation is bringing about what Lyla calls "mixed up feelings". She says one part of her brain really wants to stay at the Beach, but the other part is ready to return home.

I think this is such a testament to how happy she is at home, our sweet girl. And, as always, I'm so astonished at her ability to express her feelings...for a 4 year old, I think it's pretty amazing.

Today was a good day, but everyone is wearing down a bit. We started our day with a horrible trip to the outlet mall - huge mistake. Remind me to never set foot in any place called Tanger on a national holiday. The people there are all insane...outlet shoppers mean serious business. They're rude...kind of like people on a cruise ship with their buffets.

Suffice to say, the only things purchased today were (more)toys for the kids basically to reward them for their time. After that, all we wanted to do was retreat.

The outlet mall is no place for us on Labor Day, especially in 94 degree heat.

So, when we returned to the condo, Lance got on the huge slide he has wanted to do all week:



"That thing is FAST!"

We went back to the Lazy River, and Lyla loves practicing her jumps - she directs Daddy how far to stand back:



And, then she jumps!




Cade enjoyed the Lazy River for awhile, but then decided he wanted to go back to the Pirate Ship playground from yesterday. Here, he's happy to get his "little juice" and his dollar bill that the clerk gave him in change:







Also noteworthy about Sweet Bug today - Mommy was tearful when I discovered I left Lyla's white sundress I had hoped to have her wear for beach pics.

Cade: "Why are you crying, Mommy?"
Me: "Oh, Mommy is just sad that I left Lyla's dress at home that I wanted her to wear tomorrow."
Cade: "Well, maybe you can just bring it next year, Mommy."

Wow. He is 2 and utterly amazing.

Miss Q. was happy to get her face painted today, although we believe that the staff here could learn a thing or 2 from Uncle Kip. Lyla was initially worried about it washing away in the water, but said, "It's not good for your skin, and Nan hates face painting and tatoos anyway.."




Our day ended with Lyla insisting on a number of photos of her hair in different styles - she's really learning to love being a little girl:

Curly:




Straight:







I love having a little girl and a little boy. I'm the luckiest Mommy in the whole, wide world.


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Location:Myrtle Beach

Sanding and Crabbing Night

After eating homemade ice cream in the condo and dealing with a subsequent bellyache from Miss Q., we headed down to the Beach tonight armed with flashlights and nets for our annual sand crab hunt.





















It didn't go exactly according to plan, as we found one crab and we were unable to capture it (despite Mommy's best effort with the net), but it was a special night nonetheless.

Lyla decided she was going to dig a deep hole in the ground at first to catch a crab. "Cade, you don't understand! Crabs are serious business!"

As her digging continued, though, she began thinking of the time she dug a similar hole in our backyard to get to China to find her sister. So, in the end, this hole became about that too.

They dug and they dug...







And dug some more...







Cade helped:





And Lyla worked more and more:






Until the hole looked something like this:









As you can see from the graininess of these photos, the night ended in the dark with Cade's curiosity about a couple of people who showed up at dark with lights on their heads and metal detectors, combing the Beach.

"What are those pirates doing, Daddy?"

Well said, Cade E. Bugg...well said.



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iPhone

Location:The Beach

The Pirate Playground

This afternoon when Cade lost interest in the Lazy River, we ventured out to the Pirate Playground. We ultimately pulled Lyla out of the pool to go with us.

Cade insisted that Mommy go down this slide with him the first time, but after that, he was an old pro:







Lyla loved it too:






Here is when Lyla told Cade she just needed some "alone time", but he aggravated her anyway...typical Cade these days:







And, later, I heard Cade yelling to everyone on the playground: "Everyone! I need help! Everyone! I need help!"

So, I climbed up and got this photo:






Classic.

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Location:Myrtle Beach

A Visit to the Aquarium

We decided to visit the aquarium this morning, which was a great decision since Lyla got to see real life mermaids!

Waiting to get in...Cade needed to be near his Sis.





We saw all sorts of sharks, coral and fish:


















But the highlight of our visit was definitely the mermaid show - it was so neat how the mermaids swam with the stingrays...even though the water seemed a little dirty for swimming:

They were pretty mesmerized:











Here's why:























It was an awesome show.

Swimming this afternoon.

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