Where's Alexey?

Here are a few more from the beach that I meant to include in the last post. One afternoon we headed over to an amusement area with go-karts and games. Alexey just wanted "to go in fast car." But Bob was driving, so it wasn't too fast. Alexey was so small that you could barely see him. When they first started to go, Gabriella said, "Where's Alexey?" You can see why she would wonder about that.


There's Alexey!


Livia didn't care too much about the fast cars, but she did enjoy playing skeeball. She could actually roll the ball almost entirely up the ramp.

Outer Banks with Gabriella and Alexey

A couple of weeks ago we had a wonderful beach vacation with Gabriella, Alexey, Michelle, and Bob. We rented a condo in Corolla and Cassidy got to come along as well. Livia LOVED being with her cousins and was so excited to see them each morning -- she would run into the living room screaming, "Gabrella! Alessey!" Unfortunately, this was usually at 5:30 or 6:00 am, and everyone else was either still sleeping or wishing they were still sleeping. Cassidy seemed to enjoy the extra attention and excitement as well, along with some early morning and late night strolls on the beach. We spent most of our days on the beach and in the pool, but there are a couple of other highlights posted below as well.

There were so many sand crabs on the beach!

One day we went to the sand dunes at Kitty Hawk.

We stopped at a mini golf course after the sand dunes. First we took a choo-choo to get to the beginning of the course.

Livia thought the point of this game was to grab the ball after someone hit it. She would retrieve the ball and hand it to Alexey. The only thing that could have possibly made our game more disfunctional was if Cassidy were there too.

Here are some photos of the kids hanging out in the condo. This collapsable chair was a favorite for all the kids.

On our last day, we went to see the Currituck lighthouse.

Asheville with Nona and Papa

During the last weekend in May, we spent a great weekend in Asheville with Nona and Papa. We went to Chimney Rock Park, which we hadn't been to since our first visit to Asheville with Cassidy back in 2002. It was a beautiful day and the views were amazing.

Livia enjoyed giving Nona high fives

We went on a hike to see some waterfalls. Since we forgot the Ergo, Dan rented a backpack to carry Livia. It was pretty uneven and rocky in places, and Livia didn't love being carried.

On the way back, I decided to let Livia walk for a little while, planning to carry her when she got tired. She walked the whole way down, over a mile!

The next morning we enjoyed an early dip in the pool

On the way home, we stopped at the Western NC Nature Center, just east of downtown. It was a wonderful place! They even had a petting zoo.

Sheep! Baa!

There was a peacock walking around there

A weekend at home

Memorial Day weekend was the only time during the past 2 months that we were at home and didn't have anyone staying with us. We had a fun-filled staycation, which included Dan and I going out to dinner 2 nights while Beth babysat for Livia.

One morning we had breakfast with Livia's friend Callie

We spent one afternoon at the Museum of Life and Science. Livia enjoyed painting with water (Daddy dressed her that day, which is why she is wearing pajamas).

We also ventured out to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh. Livia especially loved playing in the dirt garden.

A trip to Atlanta

We are finally catching up on some old posts. In the middle of May, we headed to Atlanta for Sarah and Kevin's wedding. Grandma Mari came in from NJ to spend the weekend with us and watch Livia while we were at the wedding festivities. We had a great time hanging out with Grandma Mari during the day and seeing old friends at night.

Livia amused herself on the long car trip by stacking books on her head


We didn't see much of Atlanta itself, but we did see the outside of the Underground.

We checked out the indoor pool at our hotel

Livia had a great time playing with Grandma Mari, who she decided to call "Beba". She especially liked it when Grandma Mari had Elmo eat puzzle shapes and gag. Grandma Mari was so much fun that Livia didn't even care when we left her to go to the wedding-- she just watched us walk out the door and shouted, "Bye-bye!"

We had a great time at the rehearsal dinner with old friends from NYC and Brown.