Topsail Beach Trip - May 2011

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Memorial Day Beach Trip

When I was pregnant with Katie Matt and I took a trip to Topsail Beach, NC over Memorial Day weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and have been back every year since - this year making the 3rd trip. I'm hoping it will become a bit of a tradition for our family. I love Topsail for its absolute lack of commercialization. Its a beach lover's beach....no frills....just simple family beach fun.

Enough advertising for Topsail...on to the trip and the pictures. Last year Katie was between 9 and 10 months old and not quite walking yet. She didn't really get into the ocean and play. I wasn't sure what to expect this year....weather she'd be excited when she saw the water. Would she want to get in immediately? Or would it scare her to death? She was definitely excited when she first saw the ocean....and kept saying "Beach" and "Wawur" (her version of water). But, the ocean definitely intimidates her. Over the course of the weekend, Katie would repeatedly ask to go down to the water, but insisted on holding my hand ----- TIGHTLY! She also insisted on me holding her most of the time we were in the ocean. The sand was a big hit....though she destroyed more than helped with the sand castle building efforts.

Overall - I think she's going to be more of a pool girl than an ocean babe. Each day we would load up with our bags, umbrella, chairs, toys, towels, etc. and head down to the beach first thing in the morning. One day - Katie left our spot on the beach and just starting walking up to the pool.....totally unannounced, totally leaving me and Matt behind. I had to grab a towel and run after her to catch up. When I caught up to her and asked her where she was going (even though I was pretty sure I already knew)....she said "Pool, mama! Pool!" :-)

One things for sure....she couldn't make it at the beach or the pool without her bucket. I think she carried about 500 gallons of water into and out of the ocean and the pool. You may notice the same bucket in most of the pictures from the weekend.

To keep things in line....Katie had to throw in a medical emergency into the beach trip. She spiked a high fever one evening and - long story short - we ended up in the ER for most of the night. Turned out to be just a virus.....and I felt like and idiot for even taking her. But - with Katie - its better to be safe than sorry. I'm just praying she didn't pick up something else (germ wise) while we were there.

I'm working on a video montage from the beach....so check back for the pics (except the one at the top of course).

Berry Pickin'

I was scheduled to work this morning on our 3rd server migration (we are moving servers from New York down to Richmond). The migration finished ahead of schedule, so Matt and I decided we should use the extra time to take Katie to Chesterfield Berry Farm. May is the month for strawberry picking....and she absolutely LOVED it! Below are some pictures from the day.

We started with a little time in the Moon Bounce.


Katie was rather excited to get on the tractor, so we headed out to pick some berries in the berry patch. She liked picking the strawberries, but not many made it into her basket. She ate nearly every single berry she picked!! We eventually had to cut her off - I was getting worried she might make herself sick.

After berry picking, we took a little wagon ride around the farm, and then headed over to see the animals. They have goats, sheep, cows, chickens, bunnies, and one HUGE turkey!!!

Katie also got to watch her first pig race. Actually that was a first for mommy and daddy too, ha!!!

We saved the corn kernel pit for last. It was a toss up between the tractor ride and the corn kernel pit as to what was her favorite activity of the day.

Getting Katie out of the corn pit was tricky! I had to bribe her with a strawberry milkshake. She has a bit of a sweet tooth, so it was a successful bribe. Our little bug was asleep about 10 minutes into the car ride home.....totally worn out from a fun day at the Farm!!!!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!!

Um, yeah! Katie is starting to climb out of her crib, and I don't know what to do with her!!! Nana said she caught her doing it one day last week. Since I hadn't personally witnessed it - I didn't realize how bad it had gotten. Well, today I had the pleasure (or terror) of seeing it myself. I decided to take some photographic evidence. (FYI - Matt is directly to the left of this picture....ready to grab her).

I'm not ready to move Katie to a toddler bed - and I'm not sure she is ready either. Unfortunately I don't think we are going to have a choice. I really didn't think I'd have to retire her crib until she was at least 2 1/2. Proof once again that kids are totally unpredictable!! For now, I think we are going to put her crib mattress on the floor with a playgate around it. I know the playgate sounds strange - but if we don't contain her, she will climb up the changing table in her room as well (also not safe). FYI - I'm open to suggestions from other mommies!!!

Plus, retiring her crib makes me feel like she isn't a baby anymore. And I'm definitely not ready for that (sniff, sniff)!

"Sit" - Kind of

Thought I'd post a little something different...some videos. The first video is Katie saying her version of the word "sit." You may notice, it doesn't sound exactly like "sit".....

The second video is just us practicing all the names of our family members. We didn't get through everyone before we started on body parts.