Summer in Review

We are still binky-less!  Hurrah!  There were a couple times on our trip where I thought "this would be so much easier if I could just plug him up," but he never asked and I never wavered.  Whew!

Speaking of our trip, here is our summer in photo summary:

My Dad came up for 4th of July weekend (Mom was in Utah), and the boys had a "ball" playing baseball with him.

We also did sparklers and driveway fireworks, which the boys LOVED:

We went to the beach that Monday.  The boys loved playing in the waves and digging in the sand:

Then we drove by Dinosaur mini-golf and decided to have a round.  Daniel liked to smack his ball where-ever from the starting point, then pick it up and place it right next to the hole for an easy putt in.  He did NOT want to do this last hole, because he realized he would not get his ball back!

We went to Utah for a Nash family reunion.  My mom picked us up from the airport and we enjoyed spending the weekend with her and my sister DeeAnn's family down in Nephi.  We then joined up with the Other Nashes in Provo Sunday night.  Here's Nathan with his sisters:

We visited Thanksgiving Point in Lehi and enjoyed a mini zoo, pony rides, dinosaur museum, and a 3-D IMAX film about some oceanic dinosaur whose name I cannot remember, then went and had ice cream before heading back to our hotel.

We took family pictures with all of Nathan's family (sans Jeff, who unfortunately had an urgent work matter he needed to attend to last minute).  This is one Nathan took from the "sideline".  We'll post others when we get them.

A highlight of the Nash reunion for the boys was when we made and launched rockets.  They carried those things around for DAYS.

We learned to play a fun game called Bang!, and I confess it often led me to conflicting emotions.  You're supposed to take other players out, and I never wanted to pick on anyone.

The boys got to see all 5 of their living great grandparents on this trip.  I always think this is so remarkable, because I never knew any of my great grandparents.

Here's Four Generations of Nashes.  I wonder which of my boys will be the one to carry on the look-alike trend.  Unfortunately, we got a picture with Grandpa Nash but not Grandma (sorry!).  I was not in charge of this--don't blame me!

We stayed overnight with my Grandma Rabiger before flying up to Seattle for the next leg of our trip:

Many thanks to my Aunt Deanne for having us over for a Pioneer Day cookout and Aunt Joyce for taking us to the Salt Lake airport!  My brother Sean picked us up from the Seattle airport (the Other Nashes were still driving en route) and we enjoyed an evening with his family.  Then Nathan's Grandma and Grandpa Merrill picked us up from Sean's and took us up to Anacortes.

While we were up there, Nathan went hiking with his dad.

And discovered that his 16-year-old hiking boots are not as sturdy as he supposed they still were...

We got home late Tuesday night and David started his first day of Kindergarten on Thursday.  Here are the obligatory pictures of starting school:

I asked David to take off his sunglasses for the next one...

Okay, now take them all the way off, put your arms down, and give me a nice smile...

What a ham!  Let's try again...

Still a little dorky, but considering what it took to get THAT, I'm satisfied.  When I showed Nathan, he laughed and said it reminded him of this Calvin and Hobbes strip:

Anyway, then we took David to his first day, and the teacher invited Daniel to join them on the mat while I filled out some paperwork:

His first day was just a day of assessments with only a small part of the class.  They read a story and toured the school while "looking for a raccoon" (part of the story, I guess).  David came up to one of the signs for the tour and read it out loud, taking his teacher quite by surprise.  I guess only a couple kids in the class can read yet.  Wait until she discovers his mad math and puzzle skills...

Oh yes, in case you didn't get our announcement yet... we're expecting #3 on February 4th!

David's Travel Itinerary

"Mom, to get to Grandma Nash's house (in Washington), first we'll take a shortcut to Texas to rest, then walk to New Mexico, because it's close, to get a drink. Then after we get a drink we'll walk back to the car (in Texas??) and drive to DeeAnn's house (in Utah), and then we'll drive to Grandma Nash's house! And we can use my map puzzle for directions. Does that sound like a good plan?"

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Lack of blogging over the last 6 months = sorry. Don't even get me started on my scrapbook (can we say Jan 2008?). But, truth be told, there's not a whole lot to say, really. Here's a brief summary of what we've been up to. The lack of deviation is almost frightening:

Breakfast, preschool/gym/errands/laundry, lunch, nap, errands/playground/laundry, dinner, [evening obligation of the day], bed. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

We do have some changes on the horizon. David starts Kindergarten in August (hooray!) We also decided since he'll be in all-day Kindergarten, and since he has a long list of things he wants to do when he turns 6 (including tee-ball, tennis, soccer, and trying lots of new foods), to let Daniel have a go with The Little Gym in David's place. I am excited for Daniel to get a chance (he asks me every week if it's time to take him to Little Gym), but sad to withdraw David. But, we can only do so much, you know?

Meanwhile we're looking forward to visiting family this summer (hence David's travel itinerary)!

And some long overdue photos:

One of Nathan's favorite Little Gym images (Jan 2010):

At the NC Zoo:

The ONLY Easter picture (sorry G'ma Merrill). This is at a friend's church's family fun day.

Primary Activity at the Raleigh Temple:

David's Preschool Graduation:

My brother Sean's Ph.D Graduation from Yale. Pictured: My sister Minda, Sean, our childhood neighbor and surrogate sister Keely. Incidentally, Minda forbade me to stand on the curb with everyone else, haha. Story: The summer before I started Kindergarten, Keely had visited her Dad in Ohio and seen Starlight Express. She brought home a tape of musical highlights and we, along with another neighborhood friend, put on our own production of Starlight Express in Keely's basement. It was quite a production for 5 independent elementary schoolers, and we were immensely proud of ourselves. She got this poster for Sean to remind him to stay humble with that fancy degree of his. :)

Daniel getting fancy with his tools:

Summer Fun:

David's Final Little Gym Show Week (Jun 2010):

(Desperate measures to keep a little boy sitting down!)

Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Daniel, the little rascal, keeps getting into the cat food!

For Thanksgiving this year we went up to my brother Sean's house in Connecticut.  I thought it was very fitting to celebrate Thanksgiving in New England, in the heart of the area where the colonists experienced harsh winters and abundant blessings.

Nathan had the entire week off, so we decided to head up on Tuesday.  My parents drove up from South Carolina Monday afternoon and we caravanned up together.  Aside from needing to make a gazillion pit stops for David in the first three hours, the trip went pretty smoothly...until we got to New York City.  We hit it at 4 pm, took the upper level of the George Washington bridge which has all the commercial traffic (read: lots of big trucks), and got lost in Harlem of all places, during rush hour.  By the time we got straightened out, we'd missed our exit for the parkway to take us to Connecticut, so we ended up staying on I-95 for a long time.  Meanwhile, my parents got off on the right exit, but got on the next parkway going the wrong way, so we were both lost in different places.  Somehow we still managed to pull up in front of Sean's at the same time they did, albeit about and hour and a half later than we'd planned.

The next morning we took the kids to Stepping Stones Children's Museum.  They had a blast, especially with the water room.  That afternoon Sean and Nathan made the pumpkin pie.  Mmm.  Well done, boys!

David getting outfitted with a water apron

David and Anne Elyse

Clockwise: Daniel, Anne Elyse, random girl, David

Daniel in his water apron

Daniel and Anne Elyse

Thanksgiving itself was wonderful, of course.  Kudos to Jenny for planning and executing a beautiful spread.  Daniel and Anne Elyse napped during dinner, so we had a relatively calm meal.  That night we sat around the piano and sang songs with the kids.  David, our "sing 10 songs with me" kid, was beside himself with glee.

David and Annie hanging out on the couch...

Mom and Dad left early Friday morning to be back in SC in time for some meetings Saturday evening.  Nathan and Sean braved the Black Friday mobs so Nathan could get a Wii.  Around lunch time we went Duckpin Bowling.

I've never Duckpin bowled before.  Duckpin balls are just a little bit bigger than a grapefruit, and the pins are squattier.  It was really fun, and I must say, preferable to 10-pin bowling, a sport which Sean teases that the ball bowls me, not the other way around.  *sigh*  He's quite right, unfortunately.  lol.  

Sean and Nathan bowling

Jenny, Sean, and Nathan

Even David could manage these balls!

After one game the little kids were quite ready for lunch and naps, so we swung by Star Pizza in Hamden and got some very, very tasty pizza for lunch.  It's a good thing Star Pizza is NOT within a 15 mile radius of us, because we would patronize it far too frequently!   That evening Sean and Jenny battled Nathan on the Wii.  It was very amusing to watch petite Jenny take on Nathan in a virtual boxing match.  

We left early Saturday morning and had a very smooth and fast trip home.  I noticed on the way that Daniel's right ear was draining goop again (second infection this month. good grief!), and we all had bad colds so we decided to spare our ward and stayed home from church Sunday.  It was very nice to just hang out and recover from our long travels, as well.  

Thanks for having us, Sean and Jenny!  It was a real slice.