Check out the size of that thing!

The first sunflower has now opened! I have two giant sunflowers in my garden which I am astounded by. I've never grown a giant sunflower before, and I am just amazed by the size of it. We measured it today and it's 9 ft tall. Evidently it's not the tallest ever recorded. Did you know that the world's tallest sunflower was 25 ft 5.5 in. tall? Daddy wanted to show just how tall it was, so he got the kids involved. Mind you, this was after he made mud in the garden for the kids to dig around in.

Payton's first swimming lesson

Payton had her first swim lesson today. She (and I) were a little leery about the whole situation at first. There were about 10 kids waiting by the side of the pool with their parents. Most of them were much bigger and older than Payton. Payton looked at everyone and felt out of place and said, Mommy, 'I'm just a little girl.' I understood her feelings because I was a little worried for her too. The instructors broke the kids up into 2 groups. Payton went with the smaller, younger crowd and didn't seem as out of place. Then she saw her instructor - a young man. She said, 'I don't like boy teachers.' I reminded her that Daddy was a boy. And she said that she only liked Daddy and Ian; she didn't like other boys. I told her it would be fine. As soon as she got in the pool and swam around with the instructor, she got a huge smile on her face. She waved to me several times during the class and gave me thumbs up. Afterwards, she said her instructor was 'cool'. Whew.

We're going on a berry hunt...

Blueberries, that is. Blueberries are just coming into season. The kids were super excited about picking blueberries. So we headed out to Hall's blueberry farm with our good friends Jill, Samuel and Sarah. Hall's is in Advance, NC (emphasize the first syllable). Advance is only about a 20 minute drive from our house. Jill and I pull up to the gravel driveway of Hall's Blueberry Farm and the sign said, 'Sorry we're closed' I yelled out, 'NOOOOOOO!' Payton got all worried, of course. We went ahead and pulled into the long winding driveway and Jill called their number. Evidently the grandma who usually runs the show wasn't there this morning, but yes we could come pick berries. After teenage girl on the phone huffily took our money, we grabbed our gallon buckets and descended on the blueberry bushes. This is when the kids decided to fight over who got to carry the buckets. After much tugging and crying, Jill and I just grabbed another bucket so each child had one. Sharing is very difficult when it comes to picking berries. Then Ian was just never the same. His excitement had seem to waned quickly and then he was just tired. It wasn't a bad day to pick berries - overcast and 75, but it seemed to get warm after we were out there for an hour. The kids were finally done after a little over an hour of picking. There just weren't very many berries at their level. They were getting bored and Jill and I were getting hot. For some reason, berry picking just seemed like it would be a whole lot more romantic than it actually was.

But, I got about 12 cups of blueberries. I'm so excited about the blueberry muffins, blueberry pie and a blueberry cake I'm planning on making :)

Sleeping with monsters

We've been having issues with Ian's sleeping for quite some time now. We usually have to tuck him in several times before he finally goes to sleep. Then he has a habit of waking up a couple of times a night. Scott and I usually crawl in bed with him till he falls asleep. It's just easier that way.

Periodically we try to break ourselves of the habit of just crawling in bed with him. We tell him every thing's OK and try to leave. At which point he starts screaming. We threaten him by saying that if he doesn't settle down and go to sleep, we'll close his door. Well, last night we again to not crawl in bed with him. Scott finally asked if he wanted his moon on (a moon shaped light from IKEA that casts a muted yellow glow over the whole room). Ian answered, 'uh,huh'. And Ian went right back to sleep.

Today I asked Ian if he wanted to keep a night light on at night. And his reply, 'that'd be cool.....so I can see the monsters.'

Pool little guy. Scott and I feel horrible about threatening to close the door to his room, so that he'd be locked up with all his 'monsters' :(

Pass the fried chicken

For lunch today, I decided to fry up some squash out of the garden. I've made sauteed squash, grilled squash, and squash fritters before, but Payton and Ian have turned their noses up at all of them. So today, I stuck the plate of fried squash at the opposite end of the table from Payton and didn't serve her any. Then she says, 'I want some of that fried chicken!' - while pointing to the squash. Scott and I looked at each other and grinned. Payton at 3 pieces of that fried chicken. Ian at at least that many as well. Guess I'll be frying up more chicken soon :)

We love Daddy.

It's so nice to have Daddy home. The last 3 days between Beech mountain and when Daddy arrived seemed like the longest days out of all of them in June. They just dragged on. We got to hang out with Daddy for one whole day before we left for Atlanta. The kids spent most of the day with him just playing. They spent the whole afternoon hanging out in our backyard in the pool. When I saw what they were doing in the pool, I just kept thinking, this could end up on America's funniest videos. Daddy always seems to think up funny things to do. I don't think I would ever suggest to the kids - hey, why don't we jump off of a couple of chairs, over the water hose and into and overfilled kiddie pool. The kids (and Daddy) had a great time.

O Atlanta

We did it! Jill and I finished the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta on the fourth of July. It was a sight to see. 50,000 runners crowding the streets of downtown Atlanta. I was impressed with how easy it was to get down there (on Marta, the train) and how the organizers managed to get 50,000 runners from point A to point B with relative ease. It was a great morning for it - not too hot or sticky, surprisingly. We ran the whole race without stopping to walk, but there were times when I wish I could have. Jill and I took turns having stomach cramps. We took turns cheering each other on, 'Go Jill! Go Laura!' (People looked at us a little funny when we did that). And we took turns trying to take each other's picture during the race on a little disposable camera (don't think those will turn out too well). But we did it! My time was 1:02:44. I finished 15201. Jill finished 1 second behind me and was 15220!

Our little race was part of a larger road trip with Payton, Ian, Jill, and her two children, Samuel and Sarah. We rented a mini-van and headed down to Atlanta on Thursday. We stayed at Jill's parent's home which is about a 5 hour trip from our house and about 45 minutes from downtown Atlanta. The kids were super excited to go on a road trip with their friends. Naps were utterly non-existent. Emotions were running high, and no one wanted to look at the camera at the same time. But, they all behaved pretty well considering all the excitement and change of scenery and situation. As soon as we got to Jill's parents house, Samuel was ready to play in the kiddie pool. His grandma readily obliged and the kids had a great time expending some energy.

On Friday, we went to the Georgia State Aquarium, which was a really nice aquarium. The kids were in awe of all the fish - especially the ocean exhibit. When you walk into the ocean exhibit you go through a tunnel in the middle of this massive aquarium with tons of fish. There were sand tiger sharks (Payton's favorite), manta rays, whale sharks, giant groupers, sawtooth sharks - just to name a few of the more impressive ones. As soon as they stepped into the tunnel, the kids eyes got huge and their jaws dropped. OK, the adults did the same thing, but it was sooooo cool! Ian's favorite thing was the crabs in the cold water part of the aquarium. The kids lasted about 2 hours and then we had a picnic lunch outside. Jill's parents and mother-in-law went with us and helped which made the trip so much more pleasant. Each kid had an adult to hang on to and I didn't have to worry so much about losing a child. It was a very nice trip. The kids were tired, so we were hoping that everyone would take a nap on the way back to the house.... um, no such luck. Only Ian gave up the ghost - sleep was very difficult for most of the children on this trip.

Jill and I had to get up at 5 am on Saturday morning to get down to the race. Again, Jill's parents and mother-in-law took care of the kids. The kids had so much fun with them, They took a walk around the block, they made signs for the mommy's saying, 'Yea Mommy! Love, child's name here', they ran their own little race in honor of our race. When Jill and I got back, the kids had eaten their lunch and were playing outside in the little pool again having a grand ole time. It was so nice.

Jill and I were worn out from the race, but I asked if Jill wouldn't mind coming back on Saturday because the kids still haven't seen Daddy much since he's gotten back from Phoenix. She was very obliging, so we made the trek home yesterday afternoon. It was a very long day, but it was so nice to be home.