November 9, 2020

Grandma's Birthday Beach Celebration

 We spent the last several days at the beach in Surfside Beach, South Carolina celebrating Grandma's birthday.  It was the most lovely long weekend get-away.  We rented an ocean front house that was beautifully decorated with the most amazing views.  The weather was unheard-of for November with temperatures in the mid seventies and sunny skies.  It could not have been more perfect.  The house had a heated pool, which the kids lived in.  Grandma enjoyed the pool too!  We played Christmas music, made Christmas cookies and had a wonderful time with Grandma.  We could socially distance in our private beachfront oasis with our own beach access.  We had fun walking on the beach, finding buried treasure and eating dessert after dessert.  Happy birthday Grandma!
     
We arrived just around sunset on Thursday night.  The house was even more beautiful than the pictures online!
     
     
   
We pushed the bunkbeds together for the kids to sleep in.  They did a great job of staying in their room all night!
  
Gigi and Poppy's room
   
We left our porch door open each night to hear the waves.
   
   
We could not get enough of this view.
   
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
Alex, Poppy and the kids got into the pool the first night.  It was difficult to get Harper out of this pool.
   
   
   
  
The tub in our room was perfect for bath time!
  
Good morning!
  
  
We loved having breakfast on the deck.
   
  
Dad brought a metal detector and hid treasures for Harper to find on the beach.
   
  
  
  
  
  
Ethan enjoyed digging for treasures too!
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Ethan discovered his love for clementines this trip.
  
Little Man enjoyed story time with Grandma.
  
  
   
   
  
  
  
  
Harper tried to "surf" in the ocean.  It was too chilly.
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
Harper had asked to make Christmas cookies with Grandma.  It was one of her favorite parts of the trip!
  
  
Gigi, Harper and I went on a walk to collect seashells.  
  
  
  
Our only reminder that it was actually autumn was this pretty leaf.
   
  
  
  
Harper ate the majority of these cookies.
  
  
  
We watched The Grinch to get into the Christmas spirit.
  
  
  
  
The kids enjoyed making sand cookies.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Little Man enjoyed his naps this trip.
  
Gigi made a yummy lemon cake for Grandma.
  
  
  
  
Such a fun trip!

November 1, 2020

Halloween 2020

 Of course Halloween would fall on a Saturday with a full Blue Moon in year of 2020.  The kids had a wonderful day of spooking in their costumes.  Gigi and Poppy came from Cary to celebrate with us.  Happy Halloween!
   
We started the day with a neighborhood costume parade for the kids.  We had a great turn out!  Harper was a wicked witch and Ethan was Batman.
    
     
   
   
    
  
After the parade, they gave out pumpkins and goody bags.
   
   
With COVID-19 lurking in the community, we put together a socially distanced way to distribute Halloween treats.  Alex fastened two gutter parts together and positioned them from Harper's room to the yard.  It made a perfect candy delivery system!  
  
Alex was the Peter Parker from Spider-Verse (an old Spiderman, out of shape, running out of funds) and I was a bat witch.
     
   
   
   
We loved all of our neighbor's safe candy delivery systems.
   
   
   
   
   
Harper, Ethan and I have walked by these werewolves on our nightly walks the past several weeks.
   
   
  
   
   
The tube systems were great!
   
   
   
The candy came out of Jack Skellington's arms!
   
  
Harper received a lot of candy from our house.
     
Ethan's favorite part of the night was sliding the candy down to trick-or-treaters.
  
Full moon!
  
Three generations of witches!