July 4th and Drew's Extended Vacation

We made our way to Myrtle Beach for the long weekend over July 4th.  It was a great time.  My parents recently joined a boat club so in addition to lots of time spent on the beach, we got to go boating twice as well.  Another treat of the trip was a July 4th golf cart parade in the Long Bay Club where Day Day, CC and Me-Ma live.  They don't own a golf cart but one of the neighbors does and he was out of town.  Lucky us - he let us borrow it and he had some decorations from the prior year.  Mom got a few more and voila, we were ready to go!  The boys enjoyed the ride and us adults enjoyed the patriotic tunes we were blaring.  Happy 4th!!!  Drew was lucky and got to stay in Myrtle Beach with his grandparents for a whole extra week!  Drew was off in July since he finished up at the Children's Campus the end of June and started Kindergarten July 30th.  During his week in Myrtle Beach, he went back and forth between Me-Ma's and Day Day/CC's house, packing his little suitcase each morning.  It was very sweet that he made sure to split his time, determined to be "fair" he said.  He was spoiled of course - lots of fun outings to the beach, stores, movies, miniature golf.  He already can't wait till his first track out in October when he will return to Grandparent camp.  

Gathering with the other carts. 

A few other carts. 

Boating!

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Drew loves being Captain with Day Day.  

MagiQuest!  CC and Me-Ma took Drew to this super
special treat!  MagiQuest is an interactive fantasy game
where the kids use wands to solve mysteries and such.  It's kind
of like a massive scavenger hunt.  Me-Ma and CC said it was
overwhelming, Drew said it rocked!  

The wand was fun in itself.  

They found a splash pad after MagiQuest.

Day Day took Drew to a pirate store.  Wow - a whole store
filled with pirate stuff.  Drew didn't have any trouble finding
things he "needed" and they got a few things for David as well.

Miniature golf.  He got to go twice! Once with
Me-Ma and again with Me-Ma and CC.  

Big thanks to the Grandparents for having Drew!  He had a blast on his vacation and will proudly share every detail to anyone that will listen. 

Return from NJ - Aquarium Detour

Doesn't everyone need to stop for a break after only being on the road an hour?!?  Seriously, we made it as far as the Philly line during our return from New Jersey when I saw billboards for an aquarium and proposed that we stop.  George looked at me with the "Really?" look but agreed it would be fun.  We grabbed pretzels near the parking lot before walking to the Adventure Aquarium.  It was a great aquarium - definitely recommend popping in if you are ever in a similar situation :)  We all enjoyed it despite the fact that it appears Drew never opened his eyes long enough to see anything.  Get ready for a laugh...

It was a little early for weenies but we got pretzels.  

There must have been a delay between
the camera flash and the picture actually
being taken because Drew's eyes are
closed in every shot.  

There's his pretty blue eyes!!!  

Nice view of downtown Philadelphia from the aquarium in
Camden, NJ.

Road Trip North

In mid-June, we hit the highway and headed to New Jersey for Jillian's high school graduation party.  Jillian, George's Goddaughter, has spent a few days with us each of the past two summers and the boys love her dearly (of course George and I do too!).  We were glad to celebrate with her and see other family and friends in the area as well.  Judy met us there since she was smart and took to the skies.  The road trip was less than enjoyable but I won't harp on that here.  The kids were great, it was the traffic that drove us mad.  I-95 is brutal, period.  But, back to the trip!  We stayed two nights in George's hometown of Toms River and two nights in Hillsborough which is closer to the party.  A huge thanks to our wonderful hosts, Uncle Tommy in Toms River and Uncle Jack in Hillsborough, for opening up your homes to us!!!  It rained (stormed and flooded actually!) on our parade the first day in Toms River but we made the best of it with a museum visit and lots of stops to pick up George's favorite eats.  We had dinner at Aunt Vivian's house and saw some more family there.  Then, when the rain slacked off that evening, we ventured out to the boardwalk for amusement rides and games.  We also saw the cast of Jersey Shore working at their beach shop - hee hee.  George has laughed the last few years about that show being filmed right where he grew up.  Hopefully Snooki and the rest of the train wrecks don't take too much away from the reputation of the area because it really is nice!  The second day we spent a few gorgeous hours at the beach before packing up and driving a couple of hours to Uncle Jack's.  He greeted us with cocktails and a delicious meal.  On Sunday we found a cool park with paddle boats and a neat playground.  The boys got out some energy there and then we spent some time at the pool of Uncle Jack's neighbor.  Quick showers and then we headed to Jillian's party.  It was great to see so many folks there!  Drew and David were quite popular since it's been sometime since we've seen everyone.  They had a blast playing yard games, hanging with the big kids and drinking lots and lots of soda.  They had a huge area set up with beverages and food. There must have been a dozen beverage mixers  (sodas, juices, lemonade) and the Davis boys had some of all of it.  Vacation, right?  And, of course David had plenty to eat as well.  The way he looks forward to food really cracks me up.  Typical day for us - we had to BEG Drew to eat since he considers food last when there is anything fun going on.  And then there is David, the buffet king.  He can be having a blast playing something and then it's like all of a sudden he remembers there is food nearby and he jets over to see what's new.  He doesn't actually consume all that much but he loves to see all of the options and load up his plate.  Talk about eyes being bigger than the stomach.  The party seemed to fly by and then it was back to Uncle Jack's to pack.  We got up the next morning and drove back home.  Thanks to everyone on the trip for making us feel so welcome and loved!

Bumper cars at the boardwalk

Drew didn't mind being the only one on this ride and he
giggled non-stop.

Drew let David I bury him. 

All in!  He's brave - there is no way I would
go for that! 

We got a kick out of David taking breaks.  He would recline
his chair, get his snack and drink ready and then
lay down to eat. 

Jillian's graduation party!  The boys were SO excited to see her!

Ian, Jillan's brother, was so sweet to Drew,
including him in everything all day. 

David found plenty to do as well! 

Father's Day

We got to see my parents for Father's Day because sweet Day Day called and said all he wanted for Father's Day was to see his Grands. So, they got in the car and came our way. Another joy of living less than three hours away. We love it! It was a short visit but packed with fun. We had a nice Father's Day brunch at Prestonwood and then went to the pool. I wish I had a video of Daddy coming down the slide! Better yet, I wish we had a video of us watching Daddy come down the slide. Gosh, we laughed so hard it hurt. It's one of those twirly water slides with high sides but open at the top. Daddy moved at a snails' pace, I mean it, all the way down the slide. We kept thinking he would speed up but it never happened. All we could see was the top of his head coming around the turns and we laughed harder and harder as he slooooowly made his way down. Of course, Dad being Dad, he walked over and joked with the boys about how he was flying down the slide. Mom and I are still laughing about it. Guess the buffet slowed him down. We had such a great day celebrating two great Dad's! Love you George and Daddy!!!

Here's a couple of pictures from Father's Day and a couple of random ones from the days just after as well.



 

I tried to get a good picture of the guys before
brunch but no such luck.  David was in a
face-making mood...



David at a birthday party.

I love this picture of David and Ben.  Ben is Kristen and Jim's
son and he loves his lovey as much as David loves his.  We were at
their house for dinner and instead of playing with their older
brothers, these two snuggled up on the porch with their lovies. 

George and Jim took the boys to Durham's Life and Science
Museum one day when the Children's Campus was closed but
Kristen and I were working.  Between the two Dads, this
was the only picture taken.  I guess they had their hands
full with the four boys. 

T-ball came to an end in June.  We celebrated with an ice cream
party where each player got a trophy and certificate.  Drew
was given the "Most improved fielder" award. Hmmm.  I remember
getting a Most Improved award growing up and I wasn't really sure
whether to be proud of it or not.  Does it mean you ended up
being pretty decent or does it mean you started out so terrible that
there was only room for improvement?  Either way, Drew was proud
of it and he liked t-ball a lot. 

We're still here - sorry for the break in blogging

Just a quick note to admit my disappearance and say I'm so sorry that it has been forever since I've been on here.  Not sure how many of you readers are out there but I do apologize if you've checked here occasionally and wondered what in the heck happened to the Davis's.  In the past, if I update the blog a couple of weeks late, I'll back-date the post so it corresponds with the entry. We've had so much going on since the last time I posted that I won't even try to do that (or trick you into thinking you somehow missed my updates).  It has been a super and super busy summer.  Other than the countless hours spent on the highway, there hasn't been much spare time.  So, let me think back to our fun-filled and tiring summer and try not to miss anything...