Garden Tour

I'm still amazed every spring that I can manage to get a few things to grow...

Freakishly large broccoli leaves with teeny tiny florets...

Beach Pictures

Evening at the beach = perfect time for a quick photo shoot. James and I have been trying for months to snap a really great picture of the boys for our computer desktops. I think we finally have one!

Fashion Statement

Saturday night, we had a picnic on the beach after the kids had been playing in the sand for a while. Rudy didn't manage to stay dry, so we spent the rest of the evening at the beach without shorts on. We tied Brady's jacket around Rudy's middle to try to give him a least a little dignity...

Night Hike

We went on a night hike in the Nags Head Woods on Friday evening. It was the perfect night for an evening walk; the boys were a little scared to be walking through the woods in the dark but they also thought it was pretty cool. Our amazing guide also helped keep things interesting!

First, the fashion statement (totally worth it to reduce ticks!):

We were the first ones on this new path.

Amazing double rainbow

Crazy bright colors!

Looking over the marsh toward the sound:

Way past dusk into dark. We hiked back from here with red-lensed flashlights.

More tee-ball...

Brady's baseball game

Brady is playing in a machine-pitch league this year, and it's a whole new ball game (HA!). The games and practices are 2 hours long, rather than 1, which is pretty taxing at this age level.

His first game was pretty miserable: they lost about 15 to 1. Brady did get a few hits and got someone out, but it was a slow game. He was quite grumpy afterward, both because he didn't get to do very much and because he didn't get a snack after the game. (Which is really what it's all about, apparently....)

The second game was better. He hit two balls, one over the pitcher's head, and made it home twice. The score was tied, 7-7, going into the bottom of the last inning. The other team scored a couple runs, but no one bothered to put them on the scoreboard. Brady left thinking the game was a tie and I didn't see any reason to correct him!

Fishing

The boys went fishing in the neighborhood on Friday night and were thrilled with their catches!

Mountain Hike

It was supposed to be beautiful yesterday, so we planned to go for a hike in the mountains. We failed to check the weather yesterday morning, so it wasn't an ideal day...a bit drizzly and very foggy/cloudy. We still had a great hike though. Brady made it the entire 3.4 miles without a single complaint. In fact, he claimed he'd only used 5% of his energy going up AND he had stored energy in different places on the way up so he could pick it up on the way down!

We stopped at mile 1.2 for a break; the top of the falls was mile 1.7. Rudy said he was ready to turn around, and we all agreed, but after our snack he continued uphill. We all followed, waiting to see how long he'd go. At 1.5, he decided he was tired. I made a deal with him that I'd carry him to the top if he'd hike all they way down. He agreed, and he really did - without complaint!