Cannon turns five

Cannon turned five on August 18. He was very excited about all the fun gifts and cupcakes

We had a very little party with friends.

Waiting to open presents
He has a list of things that he can do and learn now that he is five. According to him, it feels much bigger.

Ants and the rest of the family

Cannon kept finding black ants all around the camp ground. He would put them on his arms and let them crawl around. He even named them. They were black ants, he named one Michael Jackson, another was his brother. He was a little upset when they disappeared. Look closely, you can see the ant on his arm. We only spent one night out there. We kayaked and hiked and roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. The boys swam in the lake and carved sticks into wands.

Wave slept better in her dad's arms than in the tent. It was not a very restful night. First of all it is really hot in North carolina in August and tents do not have air conditioning. Waverly did nto sleep well so I was dealing with her. There are a lot of noisy creatures in the woods. I actually really like the insect sounds. We had some crazy animal come crashing throught the trees right next to our tents in the middle of the night. We are pretty sure it was a deer. It stopped by our tents and we could hear it breathing. That was slightly unsettling even feeling confident that it was a deer. Then a huge bird landed in a nearby tree and it made a very loud whooshing sound as it took off.

It was another fun adventure. I honestly would rather camp for several nights than just one. It is a lot of work for such a short time. I would rather put in all the work for a little more return. I did love that once we were all packed up (it took both cars to get all of us and all the equipment) we were just minutes from home.

Camping

The last fun we had was camping at Jordan Lake. The lake is about 10 minutes away from home so it was just perfect. We were about the only peopel there. Our site was next to the lake, it had a path from the camp area down to the lake shore. There was a nice little beach area that we had all to ourselves.

We brought the kayacks with us, obviously, what else would we do at the lake? This was the first time Cannon tried a boat all by himself. In true Cannon fashion, he got mad when he could not make the boat go the way he wanted right off. So he paddled around yelling for a while and then gave up. I finally convinced him to ride with me once.

Daddy's little helper

We spent Wednesday of our vacation week at home, resting. Actually, Matt worked on the kitchen floor and I did laundry.

She really was not much help, but she sure was cute!

FYI, laminate flooring is not quite as simple to install as all the brands advertise. And as too just taking out a plank to replace it if needed, yeah, whatever. You would have to undo the entire floor to reach the damaged board and then replace it. I am done replacing floors in this house!

Waverly learned a new trick of climbing up the stairs. She sneaks away and is always found half way up. She is so proud of herself!

The hotel

The boys love staying in hotels. We do not do it all that often so it is a big treat. This was a Marriott right on the beach. Cannon was thrilled when he found a copy of the Book of Mormon in the dresser drawer. Waverly, Matt and I sat out on the patio in the evening.
I love my new short hair do.

Declan and Cannon were obedient and brought books to read.

Madsen and Sully just wanted to watch tv. We do not have cable at home so all the channels in the hotel were so exciting!

Here is Waverly at sunset. We enjoyed our stay. It was a lot more fun staying over night than our usual day trip. We also enjoyed Carolina Beach more than Wrightville where we usually go. The weather was lovely and it was not very crowded. It did rain on us as we were leaving so we took shelter at a restaurant for lunch and changing out of wet clothes.

We stopped at a Wings store just to see what was inside. These stores are all over the beach towns. Usually there are multiple stores on opposite sides of the street really close to each other. It was an adventure inside. The motto on the bags says, "Everything you need to reach the beach", they are not kidding. You can buy anything beachy at that place. So, if you ever find yourself at the beach and discovered something important you forgot, jsut head to your nearest Wings store. We bought 2 more boogie boards. They were actually cheaper there than in Target back home.

Boys in the sand

They spent a good amount of time building this structure and surrounding walls. They thought the ocean would not get through. It took one good wave and the whole thing was gone. They laughed about it.

Cannon digging like a doggie.

Sullivan

Madsen

Vacation at the Beach

Matt took the first week of August off and the first thing we did was head to the beach. We went to Carolina beach this time. We also stayed in a hotel instead of driving back home the same day. It was lovely. Waverly was tickling Cannon's toes in the above picture. He has the best giggle.

This is how Waverly spent the first day at the beach.

Declan was mad when he had to let someone else take a turn with the boogie board so he burried himself in the sand. Matt helped with the finishing touches.

Madsen and sully spent as much time as possible out in the water with the boards. They have no fear and had a good time. Then the sunburns and sand rash kicked in!

Now, since I have not yet figured out how to post a whole bunch of pictures on the same post, following will be more beach pictures.