Surprises!

I love a good surprise.  Well, let me rephrase that.  I love planning a good surprise for someone else.  I think it is fun to see someone else's reaction when something happens that they are totally not expecting. 

This past weekend was full of surprises.  Kevin had to go to work in Chapel Hill on Wednesday and was going to be there through Friday.  The boys know he has to be out of town periodically for his job, but they just don't like it when he's away.  I asked Fletcher if he thought it would be fun to drive to Chapel Hill on Friday and surprise Daddy.  Fletcher loved the idea.  He said we could wait until 10 pm and sneak into his hotel and knock on the door and yell, "Surprise!"  I tried to steer him in a bit of a different direction while trying to maintain his enthusiasm (I am sure the other hotel guests were glad we didn't go with his initial plan).  We opted to surprise him at work. 

Now in order to pull this off, I had to get Kevin involved.  Otherwise, he would be driving home as we were driving to Chapel Hill.  Fletcher didn't want to tell Luke because he was afraid Luke would spill the beans if we talked to Kevin on the phone.  He finally told Luke and Luke thought it sounded really fun. 

Kevin was in a meeting and played along perfectly when Luke yelled, "Surprise!"  Fletcher was so excited and flustered that he couldn't do anything but giggle.  We left work and headed to Kevin's hotel.  I asked if Kevin knew how to get to the Raleigh Convention Center....for another surprise.  I told the boys that there was a conference going on there.  Fletcher wanted to know what a conference was. I told him about the math conferences I used to go to when I was a teacher.  He was not impressed.  And a little less than thrilled at the thought of going to a "boring conference." 

He saw the Lego logo when we drove up and his attitude changed.  He had no idea what awaited him inside the Convention Center.  Lego Kids Fest goes to five cities each year.  There's so much to do and so much to see.  We had a blast! 

All of these structures were built out of legos.  Notice Fletcher's Lego Star Wars shirt.  I suggested he put that on in the morning because I knew what was coming later that night.

 C3PO and R2D2

Captain Jack Sparrow

 Lightning McQueen from Cars.  It must have taken forever to build this one.

 Darth Vader

 Boba Fett (?)

Storm Trooper or Captain Rex or some other Star Wars character.  You would think I would be better at naming these. 

 Droid?  Clone fighter?  Star Wars thingy.

 Indiana Jones

Buzz and Woody (and proof that I was actually there with them since I am usually the one taking all the pictures)

 Mystery Mural.  Each person gets a small tile with colors on the front and a number on the back. Here in this picture they are making their tiles based on the colors they need. 

Then they get to put it on the big mural wall according to its number.  By the end of the weekend, the huge mural will be complete and we will get to go to a website and see what the surprise mural is.  My guess is that it will be the city skyline of Raleigh. 

 Luke felt like such a big kid putting his into place.

 Just a giant pile of legos to sit in, sift through, build, etc. 

 We buried Fletcher and Luke. 

 This was the Duplo area.  Duplo blocks are the lego brick that are for smaller children. 

They built a tower taller than Kevin.  Kevin got reprimanded by the Lego Staff guy.  He told him we had to take it down after our picture.  Since this area is for smaller children, they didn't want anything to fall on them.  We had to laugh because Kevin deals with building codes and Homeowners Associations all the time for work.  Who knew Lego had a building committee. 

 This was an outline of the United States.  Each person could build a scene with anything they wanted on it and then tell the worker what part of the country to put it in.  We'll get to go to the www.legokidsfest.com website this week and see the completed US. 

 Here's what Fletcher built.  He chose to put it by a tall tower near Georgia so we could (hopefully) find it in the completed picture online.

 Build A Story.  This might have been Fletcher's favorite area because he especially likes creating different characters.  There was a little town built with football field, soccer field, movie theater, sidewalks, lighthouse, etc.  Kids could come and make their own minifigures to be part of the story.  There seemed to be lots of skeletons and zombies in this town.

 Luke liked the lighthouse.

 These were bins of heads and hats and accessories. 

I took this video as we were leaving.  Notice all the bins and crates and boxes behind the curtains.  I can only imagine how many legos they have to bring to each city to pull off this event. 

As we were leaving, Fletcher said, "This was so awesome!!! This was a great memory!!!" 

But there were more surprises to come.....stay tuned for the next surprise (besides getting to sleep at Daddy's hotel which they also thought was very cool and fun). 

Every 8 Weeks

After several months (years?) of having blond highlights, I decided to go back to my natural color for several reasons.  I thought I would like it, but it never really grew on me.  It was either too blond, too orange, too red or too something.  I started feeling like a calico cat.  But the main reason is because if I keep spending this much money on hair maintenance every 8 to 10 weeks, Kevin will never be able to retire and our boys won't be able to go to college. 

Luke didn't even notice a difference when I picked him up from preschool today.  I asked if he liked my hair and all he said was, "Yes, it is brown."

Fletcher?  Different story. 

Fletcher:  Mom?  It looks like your hair is blown or something.
Me:  Yes, I got my hair cut today.
Fletcher: It looks different.
Me:  Do you like it?
Fletcher:  Mmmmm.  No, not really.  It kinda looks like you've been through a fire.  Like your hair is burnt. You know, like on the cartoons. 
Me: Oh
Fletcher:  Well, you know what I'm saying.  I'm not trying to effind you (I think he meant "offend").

None taken.  (My hairdresser has two boys the exact same age as mine.  She warned me that they wouldn't like it).  It is pretty dark and a pretty drastic change.  I might get brave and post a picture soon. 

Current votes:
Luke - yes
Fletcher - no
Kevin - yes
Sadie - I'm guessing yes since she didn't bark at me like I was a stranger when I came home. 

Let Freedom Ring

(This post has lots of pictures so you may want to give it a minute to load all the pictures before you start.)

We spent part of Fourth of July in the mountains and part of it at a lake.  Before you start thinking that we've won the lottery or something because of all these fabulous, fun vacations, let me explain.  We have friends from our single days in Houston who got married and moved to South Carolina.  They've had a lake house in their family for years (over 50 to be exact) and the family gets together every year for a huge party on the 4th.  Our friends also just built a cabin in the mountains and they wanted us and another family to give it a "test run".  So we happily obliged. 

Jones Gap State Park.  The water was a little chilly.  Fletcher got in, but Luke was happy to throw rocks in the water and watch them splash.

 Yep!  It was cold.

The Army Corp of Engineers would be proud.  Kevin rearranged rocks all day so that this stagnant, murky water would become part of the flowing stream again.  Have I mentioned that he has a hard time sitting still when we are on vacation?

 Lake Jocassee.  This is the same lake we went to last October.  The kids had a blast on the pontoon boat.

Steven and Robyn (our hosts) and Jerusha. 

 Warren (Jerusha's husband) brought Kevin a fly fishing rod.  He taught Kevin the basics.  Kevin, Warren and Stephen were all in a men's small group Bible study back in our single days at Second Baptist in Houston.

 Fletcher fished too.  He is the only one who caught something.

 Yes, that's Kevin at the top of those rocks.  Yes, he jumped. 

 This is Stephen and Robyn's cabin in the moutain.  It is very unique and the pictures just don't do it justice.  The lower level (which you can't see in this pic) has a bedroom, small living area, full bath and kitchenette (microwave, small fridge, sink) with washer/dryer.  It is airconditioned.  The upstairs has four huge glass garage doors that open up to reveal screens.  So it is like a giant screened in porch if the doors are up.  The upstairs has a full kitchen, half bath, living area, woodburning stove, and deck.  Steven wanted something very rustic, but they have two little girls (who will grow up to be teenaged girls) so Robyn said they needed the downstairs too so they wouldn't be "roughing it" too much. 

 Here the doors are up.  The views were amazing!  So amazing that I forgot to take pictures.  This place is up on the side of a mountain overlooking a state park gorge area.  I bet it is gorgeous in the fall when the leaves change.

 The kitchen with the extra long table.  We gave this kitchen a workout!  Thirteen people for three days and almost every meal. 

Another view of the living area and kitchen.  They did such a great job with the finishes and the fixtures.  See the rocking chairs near the back?  I spent lots of time there just enjoying the view.

 Warren has a little boy who is just a few months older than Luke.  They played well together.  Fletcher was surrounded by four (!) little girls ranging in age from 6 to 9.  He wasn't too sure about being the only boy with all those girls.  But he really had fun.   I'm sure in about 10 years he won't mind that at all!

 Buying the fireworks for the 4th. 

 Robyn and Steven's girls - Caroline and Ellie.  Look at Fletcher's smile. 

 Lakehouse!  Fletcher and the girls all went out on the big tube thingy on the ski boat.  Luke had no desire to do that. 

 The whole crew (minus me).  It is so fun to see Kevin, Warren and Stephen together again.  I know these guys were critical in Kevin's spiritual growth when he was in Houston.  I'm glad they have continued to keep in touch.  Warren and Jerusha get the award!  They drove all the way from Texas with three kids and a dog to come join us. 

 All the kiddos. 

Litchfield 2011

It has been a wee bit chilly here (39 degrees Sunday morning with a high of 65).  I've mentioned on here before that I am not a huge fan of cold weather (but I am very thankful that God gives us four seasons to enjoy).  I feel like I need more time to get mentally prepared to go from a really hot summer to 39 degrees in October. 

Anyway, enough about that.  Thought I would post some pictures from our beach trip back in June with our friends.  Kevin isn't in any of the pictures because he didn't get to go.  As he puts it, "Someone around here has to work to keep you in the lifestyle to which you've grown accustomed." 

And to that I say, "Who else is going to take these cutie patooties to the beach?"

 Do not zoom in on the picture below because I'm pretty sure Fletcher needed a tissue and I did not have one in the beach bag.

The kids loved this place almost as much as the beach.  It was a little seafood restaurant with a pirate ship play area outside.

 And a shark.  Love their facial expressions. 

 Luke didn't want to stop and take a picture with mom.  Can you tell?

 Buddies.

 Prisoners?

They also received pirate hats from the owner.  I have to say this is a cute bunch of pirates.

 Our trip to Pawleys Island.  We have a  "Pawleys 2010" picture from last year.  It would be fun to try to get one every year to see how they've grown.

 The whole group (minus Kevin and Grant).