Myrtle Beach

On November 18th we went down to Myrtle Beach for the annual SEDUG conference. The weather was nicer this year and we were able to enjoy the beach more.

Myrtle Beach Hotel

The girls spent one morning on the beach and later on in the day, when it got warmer, they got in the water. It was quite cold, but enjoyed it anyway.

Walking on the Beach

Friday afternoon, once the the conference was over, we went over to another hotel, the Dunes, where we had a reservation for the night. This hotel has an indoor water park, and when we found out they were running winter specials we decided to jump on the chance. Everyone had a lot of fun going down water slides or just floating along in the lazy river.

Water Slide

MD and her cousin spent the most time on the slides. Zuni went down one with CE, but they both got soaked at the bottom, so CE decided she would stay in the lazy river. I went down the big twisty slide.

Corn Maze at the Jones’ Farm

This past Saturday we went out to a farm owned by some friends to participate in their fall activities, especially to go through their corn maze. This is the first time they’ve done something like this on the farm, but they did a great job.

Welcome to the Jones’ Farm

Since the tractor was getting ready to leave when we got there, we went on the hay ride first. It was basically a tour of the farm. We got to see what they were growing and harvesting. We stopped at the first pig field (not a pen, a field), and fed them some corn. Then we moved on past the hen house where they keep almost 500 chickens. Then on past another field with pigs, and a cow on the other side, to the barn where they have goats and a baby calf. One of the daughters brought the calf out to show everyone — lured out with a big bottle of milk! CE wants to go back some time and help “milk” the baby cow.

Just outside the corn maze is a small pumpkin yard. We didn’t get a pumpkin, but took advantage of the decorations to take a family picture.

Fall Family Picture

After that the girls led us through the maze…

The Corn Maze

Swimming at the Lake

This past week I was on vacation. Our plan was to stay home, and every day I would take Mo to a nearby lake for swim lessons. The weather didn’t want to cooperate and it was colder than I liked, but we persisted and made it every day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Clo came with us. On Tuesday Zuni was supposed to go to the beach with Clo, but plans fell through and we all went to the lake and made it family outing. Wednesday Clo was just looking so disappointed about not going that I decided to take her. We didn’t get as much swimming practice in that day, but they had fun playing.

Friday was supposed to be the day Mo showed how much she had learned, but we didn’t quite make it to where she is able to swim, but she is much more comfortable in the water and can hold her breath under water for two or three seconds now. So Friday we spent more time playing around. Zuni and I swam out to the raft in the middle of the lake and dove back off into the water. Then I went and tried to dive from the diving board (and failed) at the tower. I finally made somewhat of a dive off the side, but I’m better when I’m close to the water. Zuni showed me how it should be done from the diving board!

More Talk

The other night I was getting my hair cut and MD was talking. The conversation was about sleeping.

“Let me tell you. When I sleep my ears plug up!” she said.

“What? You must not like going to sleep then.”

“I don’t mind it. I never hear CE when she cries. She doesn’t bother me.”

The lady must have realized at that point that MD mean she doesn’t hear things when she sleeps. She is a sound sleeper — like her mother — which has been convenient when CE has a bad night, but not so much when I need to wake her for some reason.

Snow Day

Snow Day

Originally uploaded by jmodule

Another snow storm has passed our way, the second one this year after six years of no snow. It’s not as cold as last month, so we probably won’t get two inches again.

January Snow

It actually snowed today. The forecast was predicting snow for our area, but we almost never get snow this far south. I was already at work when the temperature got cold enough for the rain to turn to snow. It started out as big, soft flakes, but now it has slaked off. The temperature is still dropping though, so we may see more.

I walked to the bank, as I normally do at the beginning of the week, and had fun going through the flurries. At home, the girls got bundled up and went out to play.

We’re supposed to get around 2 inches of snow in our area, but I don’t expect we’ll get much more than we already have. The biggest thing to look out for will be the ice when the temperature starts to fall again tonight.

Update:

Apparently for those of us in North Carolina, snow is getting almost as much attention as the President’s inauguration. The local newspaper noted that our area has not seen snow since 2003! Others were busy blogging with pictures and comments.

Christmas 2008

We had a Christmas party at my brother’s house on the 23rd. Then went up to my parents house for Christmas Eve. Then came back to town on Christmas to spend time with Zuni’s family and have a Christmas dinner.

Once the Christmas decorations were done at our house — around December 1st — we started taking pictures around the tree, hoping to get one we could send out in the Christmas cards.

Then the weekend before Christmas we went up to Jacksonville to bake cookies and help decorate my Grandfather’s house. The two girls got to help with hanging ornaments. CE enjoyed it a lot — though she tended to hang a bunch of ornaments on a single branch, which is a lot like my siblings and I did when we were young.

Christmas Eve was celebrated at my Grandfather’s house as is the tradition. We got there around midday so I would have time to play a World War 2 game with my Dad and brothers, and also give the girls time to visit with their Aunts who were in town for Christmas.

That evening we enjoyed the usual fare of Christmas treats. My little nephew was also enthused about eating the cookies — though it looks like his Dad was eating more than sharing!

Christmas 2008

dsc_7127.jpg

Originally uploaded by jmodule

Last weekend we set up the Christmas tree, and that means it was time for the annual family Christmas picture. On the technical side, I set up things differently this year. To start with I was using off-camera flash, and while I like the lighting, it could use a lot of improvement in brightness and less red-eye. Also I got a remote shutter control for the camera so we no longer have to set the 10-second timer and then rush to get into position.

So the remote is great, the lighting was decent, and once CE had taken a good nap, we got a good picture for this year.

Fell Off the Bed

For a number of weeks MD has been sleeping without the guard rail attached to the bed (the kind that slips between the mattress and box spring). She has done really well and has not rolled off, at least until last night. Ironically she was just talking about falling off her bed a night or two ago. So sometime in the middle of the night I heard a thump and when I walked into her room she was standing up beside her bed, wondering what had happened. She doesn’t remember much of it this morning — probably a good thing.

Antics

The little one has been busy while here sister away (or around for that matter). The first picture was from breakfast one Saturday when I was keeping the girls at home.

Eating Yogurt

Later on that day she was worn out and took a nap on the way home.

Sleeping in the Car