OBX - Golf Outing

On Tuesday morning, the rain finally stopped...so what did we do you ask?  Dad, Kristen, Brian, Carla, Eric, and I all went golfing while Grandma stayed home to watch Addie.  I must point out that this was only the 2nd time ever that I played real golf, that is if golfing at Bob's even counts as "real" golf.  Bob's is the Par 3 course that Eric and I went to on the 4th with the Castello's and it is far from your regular course.  I don't mind golfing, I just tend to lose interest after about the 3rd or 4th hole - so Kristen and I were a team and alternated every other hole.  And we only lasted until about the 5th hole at which point we became more interested in the golf carts and sand traps (see below) than actually golfing.  But, needless to say we had fun and I think I'll stick to mini-golfing on family vacations in the future!

Having fun driving the cart, Bob's doesn't even half golf carts so this was a 1st for me!

Brian swinging away...

Carla was definitely the most experienced woman golfer in our crew!

FORE!  Dad showing Brian how it's done.

Check out that form!  Hole in one maybe?

I think this was my 3rd attempt at actually hitting the ball.

Are you actually playing or just posing Krissy?

The serious golfers finished up the 9th hole...

...while Kristen found a new use for the sand traps!

OBX - Family Photo Shoot

A few of my favorites from our family photo shoot on the beach...

 

 

OBX - Rain, Rain Go Away

We went on our annual vacation with the Castello's to the OBX in the beginning of August.  This was Addie's first "official" beach vacation.  We stayed at "It's a Wonderful Life" in Nags Head and it sure was wonderful.  I've decided to dedicate a series of posts to our vacation and I figured I would start it off with an insight as to some of our favorite rainy day activities.  Yes, we had rain this year and we had a lot of it!  The first 3 days we were there were complete wash-outs, but that didn't mean we couldn't still have fun.  Here's how we spent our days in the rain...

1.  We go bowling.

Let the fun begin...

Note to self - Don't put Brian in charge of making the names once Addie can read.

Bowling and beers!

Addie even joined in on the fun.  The ball weighed (almost) as much as she does!

And of course we couldn't pass up a good opportunity to ICE Brian.

 

 

2.  We play games.

The Castello's/Harvell's love board games!  Some of our vacation favorites are Balderdash and Cards Against Humanity.

3.We play beer pong in the pool.

Everything is always more fun when you add water, right?

My dad's best impression of Air Jordan!

Brian went for a much less-graceful version of dunking the ball (almost) and soaking everyone within a 3 mile radius!

4.  We take selfies.

A positive to a rainy day/night in the OBX is a beautiful double rainbow at sunset!

Pretty skies to test out Brian and Carla's new camera.

Nothing like a family selfie at sunset....one of many taken this night.  I would love to know what our neighbors thought about us as we turned and took a selfie at every angle.

Pretty sunset with the hubby.

Red skies at night, sailors delight...we hope!

What's for Dinner?

Shortly after you turned 4 months old, your dad and I went to Babies R Us to buy you a high chair.  You were "protesting" your bouncer on the floor during dinner time and I knew that you would be much happier if you" joined the party" with us at the table.  You were getting pretty good at sitting up (with help of course) and I knew as long as you were strapped in you would love it...and you did!  Dinner time was much more enjoyable as you sat happily in your high chair with some of your favorite toys and we thought it would stay like that for a while until you were ready to start solids.

Happy girl in her big girl chair!

"Wow!  This toy is so cool, it spins and makes noises and everything...how does it do that?"

 Just sitting in your high chair at dinner time was very short lived.  A few days after we bought it, you decided that you HATED sleep.  You were awake all the time, during the day, in the middle of the night...you name it and you were up!  After a few sleepless nights (and days) I was desperate for a solution!  I thought we were doing it all right, we had a bedtime routine, we tried adjusting your bedtime, we tried letting you cry (only for a few minutes), we tried soothing you, eventually I just gave in and nursed you back to sleep.  I decided to give the pediatrician a phone call and they told me to start you on some rice cereal and then introduce solids.  They claimed that you were waking up because you were hungry and that eating solids would keep you full longer.  Although this was against my original "plan" of waiting until 6 months, I decided that you were showing some signs that you were ready.  You were loving your high chair and you appeared very interested in what we were eating.  You would stare us down as we ate.  I thought we would give it a try and if it was a total disaster than I would just hold off a few weeks and try again.  I was very hopeful that this would be the solution to our sleepless nights....WRONG!  It didn't help your sleep AT ALL (no worries, we eventually did find a solution - check back at your 6 month post for more info!)

Back to the food - we started with the rice cereal and you weren't really a fan.  You made such a mess the first time that I'm pretty sure nothing actually got in your mouth.  We stuck to it though and after a few days you were doing much better with this and we decided to give sweet potatoes a try.  You HATED them!  I mean you made a face, gagging, spitting it out...you did it all!  I felt so bad for you, but it was hilarious and your dad and I couldn't help but laugh.  We also took a video and if I figure out how to post it I will add it later!   After a few days you decided that sweet potatoes weren't that bad and you didn't happily eat them, but you didn't protest them either.  I considered this a success!  The pediatrician recommended to introduce you to a new food every 3-4 days, so that's what we did.  Next up we did apples and then pears, with a little bit of prune juice thrown it there - I'm sure you can read between the lines to figure out why.  You loved all 3 of those things and started to love eating!  Since then you've also tried green beans, avocado, squash, and bananas.  I would say right now the favorites are squash and avocado, but you will eat just about anything that I give you!  You are a happy girl who loves her food and your chubby thighs are proof of that!

What's for dinner next you ask?  I just made you some peas and I'm sure you will love them!

"Mom, what is that stuff?  It's orange and disgusting, gross!"

"Hmm...actually it's not so bad!  It would be even better with some cinnamon sugar though!"

"More please!"

My first baby food making day was a success:  avocado, sweet potatoes, squash, and apples!