The Big Reveal

The time has finally come for the big reveal.... pictures of the house!  I know you're all SO excited.  :)  I finally hung some pictures, although I still have some more to go, but that'll get done eventually.  And you won't see pictures of our room because A) the camera battery died so it's currently charging and B) our room is the last to get put together so our bed is still just on the floor and it has no pictures hung or anything.  But... what you've all been waiting so patiently for.... When you first enter the house you come in to the livingroom/playroom.

Unfortunately we don't have a giant playroom like we did at our old house, but we've made it work.  As you can see from the pictures half of the "living room" is playmats and toys...

While the other half is couch and tv.



Next you walk to the dining room.

And to the right of that is the kitchen, which we figured would be a perfect place for Gunner's kitchen too (notice the right hand side) seen we're short on space for toys. 

If you come in the front door (living room) and make a left before the dining room it takes you to the hallway.  I took a picture of the hall, but it's your standard, nothing exciting, just a floor and doors hallway. :)  The first door on the right is the kid's bathroom.

And the first door on the left is Grace's room.

I should note at this point, we haven't painted any of the rooms.  We just rolled with the paint that was already there, which has been nice (one less thing to worry about).  Paint was the deciding factor for the kids rooms (for the time being). 

So although Gunner's room has the bigger closet and all, the color just worked better for us.  Plus, right now his closet is more "community storage". :)  But we downsized to a house half the size of our old one, so I think we're doing pretty well considering.  Pictures of our room will come (eventually).  But I know a blog wouldn't be complete without pictures of the kids.  Little Miss Grace has learned how to pull herself to standing...

And just when you think your kid is done playing with a toy, just bring about a sibling and old toys are the best! 

Hopefully the wait for pictures didn't drive anyone too crazy.  Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you all!



Sunday Fun day

Sunday Fun day sure sums up our day today.  We started the day at this new wonderful church we found.  They have a great kids program and we even got connected to a "Life Group" for young married couples, which is really nice.  They meet Sunday mornings before service and right now they're discussing a parenting book they're reading.  After church we came home and got an email that the playset I was looking into for Gunner was still available so we headed out to pick it up. 

I took a picture of it in the back of the truck so I could show off the truck hubby got. :)  I forgot to mention Nate bought a truck once we got out here.  It's a high mileage one for now, but he'll be deploying the end of the year anyway, so we'll get something nicer later on.  So we wrangled Grace up so we could up the climber together.  But she was happy just to be outside.

Gunner was ecstatic to try out his new playset. 

Within a few minutes he was up, down, all around, even going down the slide headfirst on his belly. 

Our little dirtball.  Such a little California boy, he hates shoes!  The problem is our backyard is mostly comprised of sand, dirt, and long leaf pine needles.  Not a great combination for kids.  But he doesn't seem to mind too much.  He's getting used to being a dirtball. :) 

*I should note he is roaring at me in the picture, but I thought it was a funny action shot.  :)  Here's a better picture of his filthy feet...

While I was in the backyard I wanted to share a picture of the AMAZING patio Nate is building us.  He is so meticulous and has done a fantastic job!  I hope he doesn't mind me posting a picture of it as a work in progress, but he's done so well so far I thought I would share.

Even Grace loves it already...

Playing outside is always followed by bubble bath time, ALWAYS.  Both kids were having so much fun tonight, I even snapped a few pictures.  Grace learned how to splash and loves it!

And although it looks like she doesn't have hair, when it's wet you can see that it is infact growing, just very slowly. :)

After bubble bathtime we enjoyed a nice dinner before winding down for bed. 

All in all it was a great day!  Nate has a few more days off before he heads back to work (and crazy hours I'm sure).  So hopefully we'll have some more blogworthiness to share.  We miss you all!!

Aquarium "Pirate Night"

So Thursday we decided to take the kids to the aquarium as we were having lots of smoke in the area from the wildfire in the next county over.  By the time the kids were up from nap, fed, and ready to go, it was after 3 and aquarium closes at 5, but we were going to make the drive anyway.  It was a beautiful drive down there (that is one thing I have to admit, NC has beautiful scenery).  As we approached the aquarium we realized we were in luck, Thursday evening was their special "pirate night" and they were open late.  Woohoo!  Grace was ready to go with her cracker (a new favorite for her).

We loaded the kids up in our semi (aka sit n stand stroller) just because we didn't know how much walking Gunner would have to do.  The fish structures on the way in caught Gunner's attention (good sign!).

So we headed inside, but not before Gunner took a climb up on the turtle's back.

Turns out "Pirate Night" includes a special hunt for hidden treasure chests within the exhibits (which was fun for Nate and I) and other little activites for the kids.  First stop was the eye patch table (we couldn't resist putting one on Grace, although it was short lived).

Gunner kept his on for awhile (surprisingly). :)  Here he is making a pirate's hook with daddy.  Gunner was honestly more interested in playing with the scissors, but it was cute nonetheless. 

Here's a sad attempt at a picture with the hook. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's a popsicle stick inside the cup that you hold on to, and then the construction paper hook on the top.  Really cute idea, although Gunner had it taken apart about 30 seconds after we assembled it for him.  But it was the thought. 

Next came the pirate beard.  You got to pick your color and style (moustache, goatee, full beard, ect), but Nate and I got in on the fun by choosing for him. We restrained ourselves and didn't make Grace get any facial hair (although we both thought about it). :)



Gunner loved seeing all the fish (although pictures don't turn out very well next to the tanks).  They also had a little area outside where you can walk and see the water and little snake exhibit.  But by this point, Grace had had enough and took a nice little nap on daddy.

Gunner enjoyed the rest of the aquarium, including getting a fish tattoo (a video to coincide with that comes later in the post).  We were able to get some matching pictures of the two kids after Grace woke up from her little cat nap.

So with that we headed back home.  It was a very cute aquarium, but next time we don't need the semi.  We're spoiled by Disney and SeaWorld, this was definitely small enough for Gunner to manage walking.  But on the ride home we couldn't help but get a video of Gunner saying "fish". 

On the way home, it started downpouring!  So when we pulled into the driveway Nate headed in to turn off the alarm and get us an umbrella.  But it was just enough time for the kids to get comfy out of their seats and me to snap a really cute picture of the two of them. 

All in all it was a great trip.  Although I should add that we ended up leaving the aquarium at 5:15 so I guess we really would have been fine without the extra Pirate Night, although it did add to the fun and made for some really cute pictures. :) 



Military Appreciation Day and Some Random Funnies

Today we headed to Swansboro for their Military Appreciation Day.  It was a free event for military families and we had no idea what to expect.  It was at the State Beach Park so we figured it was worth checking out.  It was ALOT of fun!  They had so many little activities and free food and snowcones and popcorn.  Gunner got to paint a fish to make a tshirt...

There was a bounce house, inflatable slide, inflatable rock climb wall, and inflatable water slide.  Gunner went down the slide and in the bounce house, but the house was short lived.  As soon as he got inside he just kept saying "hot, hot", so he came out shortly thereafter. 

They also had a few vendors there and they had cute little games for the kids (pick a duck, ring toss, bean bag toss, ect).  Gunner got in on the action and did really well with the bean bag toss.  He won a cute little shark that he carried around the rest of the day. 

Grace got in on the action by modeling a really cute bow made by a friend of ours.  I'm not a giant head bow fan but I have to admit it's adorable.  Plus the little piece in the middle of the bow is Nate's rank, which I thought was ADORABLE! 

Next we ventured on the free ferry ride to the island.  It was about a 20 minute ferry (more like a pontoon boat) ride and then a short (maybe 1/2 mile walk) to the beach.  Gunner loved the boat ride! 

After the boat ride, Grace was zonked out!  She fell asleep on the walk to the beach and stayed asleep in the stroller for awhile Gunner and Nate ventured out for a swim. 

I captured a little video of Gunner sitting in the water.  Let's see if I can get it to upload correctly...

It's not the best quality because I only had my phone to take pictures and videos (my memory card on the camera was full.  But I figured something beats nothing. :)  So all in all we had a great time.  We ended up staying most of the day. 

Now onto the random funnies from the last few days.  As we're unpacking and organizing, it's cute what the kids get into and find interesting.  Gunner found his winter hat and mittens while we were cleaning out his dresser and of course he wants to wear them (granted it's in the 90's here).  We thought it was funny though.

In the chaos of unpacking and trying to be productive, Grace tries to be a little sneaky.  She's mastered crawling now and when she thinks no one is watching makes a beeline for the dog food/water.  I happened to catch it on video.

The other random funny from the other day was when Nate went to get Gunner a snack.  Only a dad would give a kid the whole tub of animal crackers (with a spoon mind you because Gunner wanted one).  :)  I had to chuckle. 

So all in all, things have been going really well for us.  The weather's been warm, but nothing too unbearable yet.  Nate is still off work so that has been really nice.  We can't wait to have visitors to our new house (if anyone is looking for a vacation, hint hint).  Miss you all!





First Day of the Blog: First Day at the Beach

So I've been meaning to start a blog for awhile now and since we've moved it seems like a great way to keep everyone in the know.  We've been in North Carolina for just over two weeks now and are really starting to like it.  Pictures of the house are to come (once we get all the boxes unpacked). :-)The area is beautiful, lots of trees and open areas.  The weather has been really good to us, hot but not too humid.  Today we ventured out to the beach for the first time, it was WONDERFUL!  Nothing like the beaches in California (the water was calm, sand instead of rocks, and the water was warm).  After his ear plugs and water wings, Gunner was ready to go. 

Grace loved the sand, especially trying to eat it. 

Nate and Gunner had a great time swimming and Grace and I even joined in the fun (although I don't have a picture of that). 

Gunner and Grace both enjoyed playing in the sand after a nice swim.  Gunner found the kids' next to us had dug a giant hole and he was fascinated.  So Nate dug the kids a hole of their own. 

 I actually managed to get a picture of me and Grace (one of only a few). :)

All in all the day at the beach was wonderful!  Gunner took a great nap when we got home, although I can't say the same for Grace, she's trying to boycott naps.  :) Hopefully I can get some videos of the kids and get the boxes unpacked so we can get some pictures taken of the house.