Ketchup

OK, so we've been serious slackers when it comes to blogging. I'll try to play catch-up, but I'm sure I'll forget something.

The biggest thing that has happened in the last month (!!!) is our super-fun vacation visiting w/ Grandmas and Grandpas!

On Thursday, August 2, we drove to see Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Louis. We left after Doug got off work so got there around 9pm. Though it was a shameless "hotel" stop, we did get to visit w/ them a decent amount.

We left around 9am the next morning to head to see Doug's parents (Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dave). That evening we got to see Uncle Knocker, Aunt Laura, Aunt Sandra and her boyfriend Josh (who does not respond to "Joshie"), and 6 Gaskins cousins. Noah and Claire jumped right into the fray and had a grand time. Aunt Laura made us some yummy homemade pizza and cheesecake. And Sophie gave Claire a very pretty dress. Here is a picture of Claire wearing the dress later that night after we got back to G & G's place:



On Saturday the children and I hung around the house w/ G & G while Doug went to the House in the Horseshoe re-enactment. We came around 4pm w/ Grandpa Dave to see the actual battle. It was HOT HOT HOT. Here is Noah w/ Doug. Notice the neon orange ear plugs Noah is sporting to match his gun:



Here are some action shots of Doug. He's the one in white sitting against the well w/ the big brown hat and then the one on the left shooting his gun.





Saturday night G & G graciously offered to babysit Chloe while we took Noah and Claire to see Ratatouille. We'd been wanting to see this for a while but had to wait until we had someone to watch Chloe as we knew she would not sit still for that long. Noah said he did not want to go but we told him he would have a good time and that he was going to go. Well, let's just say we came to regret our decision to take him. From the opening previews, he was terrified. He spent the entire movie sitting on my lap in a fetal position w/ his hands and Snoopy over his ears. He even screamed during the particularly intense parts, aka parts w/ slow music or thunderstorms or sudden noises. Claire LOVED the movie. Noah is probably scarred for life.

Then on Sunday we made our way to North Myrtle Beach where Doug's parents have a condo. That night we went to the beach. I was expecting Noah and Claire to take about 30 minutes to warm up to the idea of getting in the water, but they went right for it. Chloe took to it immediately as well, which surprised me. The first time we took Noah and Claire to the beach (right around the same age as Chloe) they did not enjoy it at all. We put Chloe down on the sand in the very shallow water and she crawled all over the place, splashing, eating sand, and charging the waves. The water was the warmest I've ever felt, I think.

I used to love going to the beach as a child but got to the point where it just didn't excite me anymore because of the sandiness and saltiness you have to deal w/ afterwards. Watching our children discover the joys of the beach has renewed my enthusiasm. I really enjoyed sitting and playing w/ them in the shallow water.







When we got back to the condo we set up an assembly line to clean them up. I had all 3 of them in the tub and Doug dried and dressed them as I got each one out.

We went to the beach on Monday night and then swam in the pool on Tuesday night. We tend to do our water activities in the evening for several reasons:
1. There's hardly anyone at the pool or the beach in the evening.
2. There's very little chance of getting sunburnt.
3. It's much easier to keep an eye on my little children when there aren't millions of other little children running around.
4. It's not so hot.
5. Little to no half-naked women sunbathing in the evening.

Wednesday morning we ate at Hot Stacks where Noah ate an enormous breakfast of 3 big pancakes w/ apple topping. It took us a good 9.5 hours to get home, though that included several stops and a long leisurely "lunch" in Spartanburg. We pulled into our garage around 8:30pm and we were glad to be home.