Goodbye...

My Uncle Charlie passed away last night from cancer.  He was a great family man... always up for telling a story, a round of golf, a chance to be outside, a glass of Chardonnay, or a cruise with his lovely wife.  He will be greatly missed.

I like to think of him and my Dad together again-- now in heaven and sharing 40+ years of stories of life in our big family.  It gives me peace to think they've found each other.

Rest in peace, Uncle Charlie.
We love you.

Blueberry picking!

On Saturday Chris and I took Henry and Peter to Carter Blueberry Farm.  It was only about 15 minutes away from the house.

None of us had ever picked blueberries before.  It was fun!

But what was funny (inject sarcasm here) was when we realized Chris accidentally forgot his wallet at home which he never, ever does.  And I never, ever (ever) have cash on me.  We were just about to leave our bucket of blueberries and drive to the nearest ATM when we asked the lady to weigh our loot.  Three pounds of blueberries cost a "whopping" $2.46.  (Crazy, right?  That would cost about $10 in the grocery store.)

It then became Chris and my mission to find that sum within the depths of our van.  We searched.  We scoured.  We dumped my purse completely out.  Twice.  We moved seats.  We cursed ourselves for just removing Henry's piggy bank the day prior.  We shifted Peter's butt cheeks in hope of hidden coins.  We searched the glove compartment box.  Under the mats.  The middle console.  The obvious-but-empty change drawer.

Know what we came up with?

$2.44!!

She went ahead and let those 2 cents slide.  But I felt defeated.  Crushed.  We were sooooclose to our $2.46 goal.

Lucky for me, I'll probably be in this predicament sooner rather than later so I can challenge myself again.

Switcheroo!

Last Monday, Peter, James and I drove up to Maryland to "swap out" the boys.  Henry and Gigi were back from their special trip to Baltimore and it was almost time for James and Gigi to fly out to San Francisco.  (Any one else think Gigi is a saint for taking these crazy boys all over this summer?  I think she's going to need a nice long NAP before she starts school again in August!)

James and Henry were so cute together when we first arrived.  Without really doing it on purpose, they sat and played rightnexttoeachother for the first several hours.  (Then they went back to normal bickering!)

We spent four days in MD hopping from pool to pool to pool to (try to) escape the intense heat.  First we took the boys to the Germantown Water Park.  It's an indoor splash and pool similar to Great Wolf Lodge but smaller in size and 1/10th of the price.  I wish I'd gotten pictures of James and Henry jumping off the 12 foot high dive but there is literally no place to hide your camera when you're playing in the water so I'm too afraid to bring it.  The boys were fearless and Mom and I were amazed at how willing Henry was to walk up the steep steps of the high dive and jump off, just like James!

I did get a few pics of the boys being silly in the neighbor's pool the following afternoon though...

We also got to celebrate Ita's birthday at Buca di Beppa while we were in town!  It was such a fun evening and I've never seen so much food!

Happy Birthday, Marta!!

I think there was enough food
to feed another 10 families!

We spent the next few days visiting with Lauren and her sons and also my cousin, Laura, and her little ones.  Peter continues to impress us with his super-fast potty training success (James was 3 on the dot before he potty-trained and then REFUSED to step foot in another diaper or pull-up after his birthday and while we thought surely Henry would be a quick learner, he was anything but when it came to potty training.  So, at just under 2 1/2 years old, Peter is the earliest to train and quite possibly, the easiest.  Another example of how every child is their own little person.)

"Ta-da!  No more diapers!"

We dropped my mom and James off at the airport super early on Friday morning and continued back home to NC to unpack and unwind from the last few whirlwind weeks!

James was super excited to visit Aunt Megan and Uncle T in San Fran and is clearly enjoying himself already...

Living the good life!

******************************************************************************
I would be completely remiss to not mention the terrible loss of Chris's boss at West Point, COL Eric Kail.  COL Kail passed away Wednesday afternoon of transitional cell carcinoma, a cancer he had been fighting for the last year and a half.  He was such a dynamic, charismatic, and funny man.  To say he will be missed is an enormous understatement.  He leaves behind a wife, Gigi, and two teenage children, Jake and Emma.

Rest in peace, COL Kail.

I really don't want to jinx us BUT...

today was the 3rd day in a row that Peter wore "big boy underwear" ALL DAY LONG!  I haven't put an actual diaper on him in several days (he obviously still wears pull-ups at bedtime).  Today we ran errands and Peter insisted on keeping his underwear on.  When we were out shopping, he told me he had to pee so we went to the public bathroom and, sure enough, he peed!  He has yet to go #2 on the potty (saving it for when I finally put a pull-up on him or, like this afternoon, went in his underwear-- yuck!) but I'm proud of the big step forward he's made!

His can-do attitude has also trickled down to getting dressed... and re-dressed... and re-dressed at least 5 times a day.  His new mantra: "I do it ALL BY MYSELF!!!" is said repeatedly.  Underwear, shorts, even shirts make their way on backwards but since he is the 3rd child I have gained considerable perspective and my mantra is: I DON'T CARE!

So we go out in public like this... with size 8 red pajama bottoms of James', a too-small plaid Osh Kosh shirt (which threatened to break me with all of those buttons), and bright orange Crocs on the wrong feet.

But I tell him he looks goooood!  Because he does.  And he's happy.  And he's 3rd.  And did I mention that I haven't put a diaper on him in 3 days??  Sweet!


(We are headed up to MD in the morning to drop James off for his San Francisco trip with Gigi and pick Henry up after his fun time with Gigi and Grandpa and Ita too.  I'll be back next weekend with pics and an update!)

Golden times...

Here are a few more pictures of our week with the Goldens!  We all had such a great time together.

On Wednesday we took the rugrats to the pool...

We each took turns hosting dinner.  It felt like we were all on vacation, going from house to house, playing all day and staying up late...

Summer's turn to host!

Summer, Rebecca, Cort, me!

Hmm...

After dinner at Cortney's, we all played Guitar Hero...

We have lots of talented singers and musicians!  ;)

We were all sad to see the Goldens leave although my new boyfriend Gregory promised me they would be back "in a short, short time."  I'm going to hold him to it!

Busy Week!

Our good friends from West Point, the Goldens, arrived on Monday!  They are currently stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah and Mike, Rebecca's husband, is deployed until September.  Rebecca and 3 of her 4 kids are staying with us until Saturday.

We've had a great few days together already...

Peter and Gregory eating breakfast...

Funny boys

Greg, Gabby, Addy, and Pete taking a bath together!

Silly faces!

Today we took all of the kids to The Climbing Spot in Fayetteville...

Peter, Nico, James, Abby, Gabby, Greg, Molly

 The place was super big and cool!

It was ridiculously hot inside though (no A/C and it was at least 95 degrees outside).  The kids seemed to enjoy it all the same...

Cortney, Rebecca and kids

We stopped for lunch afterwards...

Nico is making "ketchup earrings" in case you're wondering ;)

While we're having a fun "girls & kids week," Chris and his dad are hiking part of the Appalachian Trail together!  So far, so good for the guys.  Chris just texted that they made it to their first camping location for the evening.

And while all of us are doing our thing, my mom and Henry are hanging out together in Baltimore!  Mom wanted to take both of the big boys to do something together (just the two of them) and this is Henry's special summer trip.

This is the view from their 5-star hotel room... pretty snazzy!

Mom said they're having a great time together.  They've already been to the Baltimore Aquarium and took a dive in the hotel pool...

Dinner on the Inner Harbor...

What a lucky boy, getting such a cool getaway with Gigi!

Not sure what is on the agenda over here tomorrow... but with 11 kids total in tow, we are quite the loud, intimidating, festive bunch!  :)

St. James Beach Club...

We had the amazing opportunity to spend a weekend at St. James (next to Oak Island, NC) for FREE!  Several months ago, Chris saw an ad in their Fort Bragg newspaper encouraging soldiers to apply for a free beach getaway.  (Apparently folks donate their condos on weekends from March-October for service members.)  But not only was the actual place free of cost, they paid for the ENTIRE weekend.  The fridge was completely stocked with homemade ziti and meatballs, juices, milk, fruit, and cheeses.  There were buckets of new sand and beach toys for the boys as well as free passes to the aquarium, vouchers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner both days, and $75 in gas money!!  Incredible, isn't it?

The "breakfast basket" they left...

Henry going through the toy basket...

The boys room.  They were so excited because they had their own bathroom and small kitchenette!

The condo sat right on the golf course so the view was beautiful...

Check out all the food they gave us for 2 days.  We didn't even use one of the lunch vouchers because we just couldn't eat it all.

Getting ready to hit the pool!

The boys loved our visit to the aquarium...

Here they are petting sharks!

After watching "Jaws" several times,
James is very cautious (i.e. scared crazy) of sharks!

We all had a wonderful getaway and were completely humbled by their amazing generosity.