Summer adventures!

   The past couple of weeks I've been bound and determined to go on a few family adventures. There's a lot that goes on around here that I either don't know about or don't pay attention to. The activities we chose were indoors (yeah!!) and geared towards kids (although kids a little older than Harrison).
 
Adventure #1: Hallmark's Kaleidoscope
   First of all this adventure was FREE! Even though I'd say kids need to be 3yrs or older we decided to try it out because it's free! Plus this is a place I went to on elementary field trips. I was super excited about going back. Alright, we are home to Hallmark... as in the card people. Right next to their visitor's center is Kaleidoscope. It's a place where kids can make cards, puzzles and other crafts. All supplies are leftovers/donated from Hallmark. It is 100% free (for kids and adults!). It is tons of fun.
   We got our tickets and walked next door to check out the Hallmark visitor's center. We learned about the beginning of Hallmark, we saw a few of the Hallmark Christmas trees and we made a bow on the bow making machine. Upon our exit, the nice ladies at the front desk gave us a Hallmark recordable book! Totally made my day.

There is so much to look at here!

   At 10:30am we hopped in line and went through the doors of the magical Kaleidoscope. Harrison's eyes were big and moving all over. There was so much going on. First stop - the noisy cave. Push the buttons, make a noise.

Inside the noisy cave. Getting ready to push the buttons.

   Harrison tried a few of the crafts, but really Adam and I did all the work. The melted crayons in the black light room have my vote for my most favorite station!

Daddy why don't you do the painting. I'd rather play with the water cups.

   Needless to say we spent most of our time chasing Harrison. He was glued to the Kaleidoscope wall and the fish mirrors. Oh well - it was free!!

Hmm... my nose is a little dirty...

   The session was the perfect amount of time at 45min. After getting all of our stuff together, we walked through Crown Center and headed to Crayon Cafe for lunch. We also visited the Crayola store (umm... amazing!) and the Candy Barrel (Adam gave me $5 for candy!). Overall it was a very successful day!

I'm trying to tell mom all about my day!

Adventure #2: Science City

   Our second adventure was not as successful as the first and it cost money. Oh well, you don't know until you try right? Our Union Station has a kid's science exhibit called Science City. This is probably more appropriate for elementary aged kids. Although Harrison was free, Adam and I were not. I did see online that they have something called KinderLab for younger kids. 

I love the train table, but I love holding the trains more.

   I hate to say this, but it was a glorified play room. It was cool, but not cool enough to pay what we did... Harrison didn't really care. He had fun running around and he was the only kid in the room.

I love walking on this floor!

   We left the KinderLab room and explored the rest of Science City. We saw birds, rabbits and snakes. We went in the "tree house" and down in the "sewer pipes."

Exploring the tree house with dad.

   And of course, we had to make music on our way out. Harrison thought this was great! First we had the trash can drums.

I can actually reach these drums!

   Then we played with the organ - when you waved your hand over the "keys" you created organ sounds.

This is really cool, but really confusing. What's making that noise?

   Finally we got down with the keyboard. If only it was a double decker 80s style keyboard....

I think I was born to be a keyboardist... Too bad I missed the 80s.

   We did have a great day but unfortunately Harrison was just too young for Science City. Our lunch was awesome though... And we did get to explore our city.

On this week's calendar of events: Monkey Bizness and Wonderscope!

~Emily

Why hello ladies!

   All summer we've been doing a good job making play dates with lots of different friends. There's Hunter that's 2 days older than Harrison. There's Cade that a few months older. We have the George boys and the McKibbin boys - 4 older and 1 younger. But most importantly there are the ladies!  

   A week ago we met up with Kenna and her mom Kristy. Kristy is my Pilates instructor and friend. Kenna is about 1.5 months older than Harrison. She should be older but she decided to stay in longer and Harrison decided to come out early:0) Kenna is a crazy, cool girl!

I'm seeing what she's up to.

   Kenna has lots of fun toys and lots of pink that we're just not used to seeing! I don't think Harrison could take it all in - he kept walking from one toy to the next! (Then I brought the poor child home...)

I'm playing with her beauty salon... so what!?

   Another friend we've been visiting this summer is Laney! This girl is incredible! She's about 6 months older than Harrison but that girl can talk/sing circles around him (and she probably will for the next 10 years...). My kid can say turtle, she can sing "You are my sunshine." Oh well, he's a boy. He's not supposed to talk, right? 

We're tight, you know. We share Cheezits. 

   Other than seeing Laney weekly - her mom Stacy and I are besties, it's kind of a big deal - we met up at a pool outing. Our mom's church group reserved our local pool for 2 hours. It was amazing! We had the shallow end of the big pool. Granted the water was a little warm since it's been in the 100s lately, but still it was nice to not have to deal with the crowds. Harrison and Laney kind of just follow each other around for a while. He tries to take her toys. She tries to eat his food. It's a great friendship in the making!

With our sea of blue, it's nice to have some pink sprinkled in there!

~Emily

Keeping (our) cool

   So we just got back from the beach and what does our weather have in store for us? Heat advisories and temperatures over 95 degrees... Some days have been over 100 degrees. Ugh. Sunday when we landed it was 103 degrees in our car at 7:10pm. I checked and Hilton Head was in the 80s with high humidity. That just doesn't seem right - how can we be hotter than the beach? We don't exactly have an ocean to cool off in. It's going to be a long end to summer. I keep reminding myself I will wish for these temperatures in the winter when there's snow, ice and freezing cold winter winds! Oh well.
   We've been coming up with new ways to keep cool. It just so happens that the first few things we've tried required "lite adult assembly." (I swear the box said something along those lines.)
   First up - the Safari Water Table.

Mom, no pictures please.
Sorry the picture is foggy - blame the heat/humidity.

   I have been on the hunt for one all summer. It's HUGE! Since Harrison loves splashing I figured this would be great for him. I was correct. We set it out on the back porch while it was still in the shade. Harrison got some great splashes in!

My whole shirt was wet by the time we finished!

   Next up we have the super cool Trike! Grandma and Grandpa M. gave this to Adam for Father's Day/birthday. The trike definitely required more assembly... An hour's worth to be exact. And for the record, it would be helpful if the instruction book had words! 

Check out my sweet ride. It has a sun shade!

   Anyway, Harrison thought the trike was pretty cool too. We did a couple of laps up and down the block!

Enough with the pictures. Let's GO!

   This next week the temperature is supposed to be 99 and over all week! I've already started investigating fun things to do inside. Hopefully we'll take a couple of field trips this week!

One hot momma!

~Emily

   

Back to the real world

   Well we just got back from our wonderful beach vacation with GJ, Pops, Uncle Matthew and Uncle Daniel! We took this trip last year as well when Harrison was 3 months old. Last year though, I was a little stressed. Traveling with a new baby, still getting our routine together, just everything. This year, a million times better! Our destination? Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I would recommend it to you but I don't want you clogging up my island :0) It was a very well-needed, relaxing time! 

Just hanging out with Daddy on the beach.

   Saturday, July 2nd Harrison met the beach for the second time. He was so cute in his swimsuit, hat and water shoes. He wasn't sure what to make of everything. It wasn't that he didn't like the sand or the waves, he just didn't quite know what to think.

Where am I?

   To prevent bringing the entire beach to the bathtub, we visited the pool after each beach time. The pool was perfect! Small enough for Harrison and it was partially in the shade too! He spent most of the time on the second step walking from one side to the other.

Someone's swim lessons paid off!!

   For the Fourth of July we spent the day playing at the house, chasing waves at the beach and ended with a southern style dinner - fried chicken, jambalya, gumbo, pulled pork, corn, and biscuits! We were so happy to share our day with our friend Miss Mary and her kids. Last year Harrison met Mary in Hilton Head and for the first time pouted when she held him. This year he was all about playing with his Miss Mary!

Miss Mary made me laugh and laugh!!

   After our dinner we walked to the beach with our chairs to watch fireworks! Harrison chased Brodie (the dog) around the beach and was covered with sand by the time the fireworks started.

I LOVED playing with Brodie!! He was so gentle with me too.

   Let's just say he took more baths on our trip than in the last month... 

I think the whole beach heard me laughing and playing. 

   Unlike Mommy as a kid, Harrison loved watching the fireworks. He sat on Daddy's lap and keep watching left and right as other beach goers set off some big boom-booms.

Happy 4th of July! (Thanks Dad for wearing patriotic colors...)

   During the rest of our week, we ate out (a lot...), went on morning walks (and about died from the humidity), Adam went with Pops and Uncle Daniel on campus visits to UNC and Elon, went shopping at the two outlet malls, I got a massage with GJ (oh yes!), went to the beach/pool and ate even more!

Playing ball with Uncle Bubs (that's Daniel to everyone else!).

   By the end of the week, Harrison was a super brave beach man! He would walk up and down the beach in and out of the water all on his own.

I kept chasing the waves and splashing in them!

   He even found a mountain of sand to climb up and down. Really, the entertainment lasted a good 20 minutes.

I'm king of the mountain - no really, I did try to stand up until Mommy stopped me.

   Needless to say Harrison also found a hole to play in too. I swear he found all kinds of "fun" things to play with on the beach. He actually found a sand dollar (which we threw back in - it's against the law to take them from the beach).

My whole family is happy with chairs. Not me - I like holes.

   Of course on the beach we had to bring drinks and snacks too. Oh and he will eat things covered in sand, no problem. Side note: Harrison learned to drink from a straw on our trip!

I figured out real fast that GJ's bag has lots of goodies inside.

   Saturday, July 9th was our last night in Hilton Head. We all went out to eat, minus Uncle Matthew who had to go back to work. Dinner was delicious! That one thing the Peaks do well - EAT! Anyway, after dinner we took a final batch of family pictures.

I look so big, don't I?! I'm a big boy!

  Now with GJ and Pops! We forgot to do their picture until we were back home and everyone was in their lounge wear.

I'm starting to get tired - I ate a TON for dinner!

   We took Harrison's picture with Uncle Daniel Sunday before we all left.

Uncle Bubs knows how to make me laugh!

   All in all, amazing trip! We look forward to this trip every year starting in February when we think we can't make it through another cold day. We're already counting down until our next Hilton Head adventure!

~Emily