This past week....

I thought I would do a quick post on some of what we have been up to this past week. I don't want to forget these times, even as busy as they are. I don't necessarily have time to sit down each day and write a detailed blog post of that day so maybe I will try to do these types of posts every now and again. 

So this past week...

On SUNDAY, the kids and I went to church and then to my parents' house for a cookout. Bill was at work. We enjoyed perfect weather outside and the kids had a blast running around playing. 

On MONDAY, we went to the park after dinner for a stroll and had a fun time. Bill was even home to come with us. We then surprised the kids with a trip to the Round Hill Dairy for ice cream. I had their flavor of the week which was strawberry cheesecake. YUMMY!!

On TUESDAY, I spent the day tutoring.

On WEDNESDAY, I spent most of the day tutoring. Bill was off and he took the kids to Fredericktown for a library program that the Columbus Zoo was at. Ben came home excited because he got to pet a skunk. LOL We had date night at home for dinner, by ordering takeout from the local Chinese place. 

On THURSDAY, I watched our neighbors' son's girlfriend's son while our neighbor went to her radiation appointment. Jake is in between Ben and Jacob's age and gets along with my kiddos. After he left, I took the kids to the park for a walk. Unfortunately Bill was not feeling well with a stomach bug that day so he called off work. I tutored most of the afternoon.

On FRIDAY, I was up early to head to Kroger to get a couple of deals that were good Friday only (including 0.99 Chips Ahoy cookies). Then to Walmart for deodorant (as I was completely out!). Then home to get the kids. Then back out to the bank, CVS and Dollar Tree. Then home to play Ben in his Memory game. Then my sister showed up and we headed out to meet my mom for lunch. Then we went to the used book warehouse and I donated 2 huge bags full of kids' books. I came home with a grocery bag full of books for $5. 

TODAY...the temperature is supposed to be in the mid 90s with heat indexes of over 100. I am planning on staying inside in the a/c. I am planning on attacking Rebecca's room as it is a disaster. I also need to make a cake for my nephew's birthday party tomorrow. And I have laundry to do and tutoring sessions to get ready for... So I had better get off of here and hop to it. 

Have a great Saturday everyone! 

North Carolina Aquarium, 4 Corners Diner, and pool time

I am currently recapping our 2018 family summer vacation to Indian Beach, North Carolina. To see the previous days please visit: 

Day 1: We went to Indian Beach, North Carolina again.

Day 2: Beach Time, HWY 55, Sorry and a Nighttime Walk

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Monday night, before we went to bed, I checked the weather online to see what Tuesday's weather was going to be. They were calling for showers and storms all day on Tuesday. So we decided to head out to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores in the morning. We got there shortly after they were open and they were already busy. I think a lot of other people had the same idea that we did. (By the way, it didn't rain at all until much later in the day!) It was still a fun trip! 

The kids enjoyed the aquarium. They had a summer exhibit of dinosaurs out in their outside nature walk area. Jacob was not a fan of the dinosaurs but Ben and Rebecca loved them. 

I love their outside nature walk area. They have several decks with binocular viewing areas to look out over the marsh areas and toward the ocean to see the different birds that call it home. 

Inside the aquarium, I think that my favorite animals were the jellyfish and the lionfish. So pretty. The kids loved the big shark that they had. 

Then it was time for a few more photo ops as we were leaving the aquarium, including their sand sculpture for this summer. So cool. 

After the aquarium, we headed out to Atlantic Beach (on the other side of the island) for lunch. We wanted to go to 4 Corners Diner. We had a very yummy lunch including the only seafood that I would get to eat that week... Bill had their fresh trout and I had their flounder. SO GOOD!

After lunch, we made a stop at Food Lion to pick up a rotisserie chicken and some corn on the cob for dinner that night. Then we headed back to the condo to have some pool time. 

The kids loved the pool! The condo complex had 4 pools total (3 outside and 1 inside). We spent all of our pool time at the pool nearest our condo. The kids did great this year...Ben was brave enough to walk around with almost no support from us. Rebecca finally put her entire head underwater. And Jacob loved looking under water with his googles on. 

After about an hour in the pool, the skies started getting darker and we could hear thunder in the distant, so we headed in to relax for a bit while a small storm blew through....  

Beach time, HWY 55, Sorry, and a Nightime Walk

I am currently recapping our 2018 family summer vacation to Indian Beach, North Carolina. To see the previous days please visit: 
Day 1: We went to Indian Beach, North Carolina again.

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After getting a good night's rest after our travels the day before, the kids got up early and were ready to go on Monday. After breakfast in the condo, we got our swimsuits AND sunscreen on and headed down to the beach for some fun. The kids had fun playing in the sand, getting buried, and playing in the ocean. 

Rebecca got very brave and kept wanting to get deeper and deeper in the ocean. Bill and I took turns going out in deep water with her. We had to be on the lookout for riptides, as there were several days where we were under beach hazard warnings for riptides. 

After several hours on the beach, we headed back to the condo to change and get ready to head out to lunch. We decided to go to HWY 55 for lunch. It was super yummy! (On another note, this is the place where I had taken the sidebar photos of the kids for my blog 2 years ago. I took new pictures of them on this trip and have updated their pictures over to the side ⮜ ) 

After lunch, we fed the turtles again. I took some pictures of the seagulls. We also checked out some of the shops. 

We then decided to head back to the condo as we could see some storm clouds starting to form. We got back just as it was starting to rain which changed our plans of going down to the pool. Instead, the kids found some games in the condo and we sat down to play a family game of "Sorry." We taught Ben how to play and it was a lot of fun. (It was the first of several Sorry games that got played over the week.)

After dinner of hot dogs, the weather had cleared so we headed out to walk on the beach and see if we could find some shells. My favorite thing to do on the beach is to just enjoy the scenery and I was able to do a ton of that on this vacation. 

Thus ended our 2nd day of vacation. We went to bed looking forward to heading to the aquarium the next morning, as the weather forecast called for rain....