What Happened?

If I leave Marlee unattended for more than 5 minutes this is what I will find. Long silences only mean one thing when dealing with this little lady: TROUBLE!!!

I don't even know how she was able to get all of these clothes from her room to the stairs. There's no wonder why I'm so tired all the time.

NC #2

Here are some more pictures from our wonderful trip to the Outer Banks...Marlee and Norah became really great friends right from the start. Their portable booster/highchair seats were a big hit especially when they were sitting on the floor.

This year we really took advantage of the pool which is in walking distance from our house. The beach was windy almost everyday so with little kids having sand blowing in their faces wasn't ideal. The pool was great. There is a baby pool which is where Norah and Rheagan liked to play.

We had "Family Night" on Thursday. The Nobles went out to dinner as a family and the Cupps did the same thing. We went to the Dolphin Den and had some wonderful food.

Marlee was entertained during dinner with treats from Grandma's purse and Papa's utensils. Whatever it takes to keep that little one quiet I am completely on board with.

We spent one of our days over at the sound. The water was seriously the same temperature as bath water. It actually wasn't even refreshing to get into. We had a good time though.

We rented two kayaks which were a huge hit.

The girls with their Auntie Krista.

There was one thing on this trip which caused a little discomfort: Mosquitoes! Rhaegan was their favorite treat.

NC Highlights

This year North Carolina was again a complete blast. I don't know how you could really go wrong with the Outer Banks. I of course took a lot of pictures so I am still trying to choose the ones I really like and want to share with my faithful blog followers. Here are a few to get you started.

Popcorn was a big hit with my girls. Marlee calls it pop so whenever she's asking for it we just assume she wants a Coke or something.

It was so much fun getting to know Kester a little bit better. Him and Suzi are adorable and he is the nicest guy you could ever meet. I'm sure all of my questions to Suzi about Kester and his culture were a lot to take but I sure loved learning about him.

Who goes to the beach to just lay out? Well as you can see my little munchkins do.

Our traditional trip to "Top Dog" was of course delicious. I was dreading it a little because of the "no air conditioning" issue. But it wasn't too bad. There was a slight breeze.

Uncle Josh and Rhaegan. Aren't they cute?

More photos to come....

The 4th

Our 4th of July was a very hot and humid one this year. That didn't stop our girls from thoroughly enjoying though. To start off the day my parent's neighborhood had a bicycle/scooter/wagon parade which Rhaegan was beyond excited about. We found some leftover balloons and some blue and red ribbon and spent Saturday morning decorating her bike. She was very particular about which color of balloon went where. We then decorated the wagon for Marlee and headed out the door. Marlee unfortunately got sunscreen in her eyes so every picture of her she looks to be in pain. We were patiently waiting for the rest of the kids to arrive so the parade could start.
Keep in mind it was 10:30 am and already 90 degrees!!

We of course had to get a patriotic photo of our family since we were all dress for the occasion.

Shae thought it would be fun to put cans trailing behind Rhaegan's bike as seen on "Dennis the Menace." That idea was quickly removed.

We hope you all had a great 4th!!

Chicago

Shae and I were able to take a much needed vacation/over-nighter up to the windy city of Chicago. My mom and dad were so great to watch our girls so we could enjoy the trip even more. My sister and her husband live in Chicago and had been down in Cincinnati visiting us. Krista needed a ride back so we jumped at the opportunity (well jumped might be stretching it. I was a little nervous because I hate leaving my kids for any amount of time). After we had been driving for a couple of hours we decided to stop and the best chicken joint known to man, Chick-Fil-A. We of course had to take a quick picture by the huge cow. Unfortunately the utter was being blocked so we had to improvise.There were two places we had to see once we got to Chicago. Shae was dying to see the United Center which features a life size statue of Michael Jordan. He was like a kid on Christmas morning standing in front of it. So Cute!!
We were then off to Harpo Studios where the Oprah Winfrey Show is taped. I had to see it! I was myself a little gitty.

Then once we had seen everything we wanted to see we had some famous deep dish pizza and headed back to their apartment (which is the cutest apartment ever). We relaxed and then got some ice cream and walked the 7 or so blocks to see President Obama's house. It was really cool to see all the security and barricades to protect it.

Thanks Krista and Josh for a nice little trip. Now that I've left the girls over night I can do it again so get ready for another, hopefully longer, trip.

What we've been up to...

Since arriving in Ohio our day-to-day lives have pretty much remained the same. Of course we have added a few things to make it through each day:

*A new bike for Rhaegan

*Season passes to King's Island (which we've been to 6 times now)

*A nice, big pool right across the street from the house

*A wonderful visit from Uncle Josh, Aunt Krista and their dogs

*Uncle Nick living only 15 minutes away

*Never ending time with Grandma and Papa

*A fridge in the basement with all the pop you could drink

...so really nothing big:)

Uncle Josh, Snarky, Rowdy and Rhaegan enjoying their little pool. It was so hot that day I was about to jump in.
Marlee and Rhaegan and "Peanut 500" at King's Island.

Aunt Krista and Rhaegan getting ready to ride the Pumpkin Patch roller coaster.

This ride is definitely a favorite o Rhaegan's. Marlee wasn't the biggest fan however.

Rhaegan's new bike and helmet are one of the biggest hits. She always wants to go out and ride. We have mapped out a little route for her which makes it a lot easier for me to watch her.

If it hasn't already been blatantly obvious we are having a great time here. The only thing I would change would be making the weather a little cooler. 95 degrees with 99% humidity really doesn't put one in the best of moods.

Update

So as most of you probably already know we decided to move back to Ohio with my parents in order to save some money while Shae's work is taking off. Our drive (yes, we drove) was actually not too bad. Marlee is normally a TERRIBLE traveler, even if we are only going to be in the car for 10 minutes. I was very worried about the 24 hour trip with her. We decided to leave on Wednesday and drive to Laramie, WY to stay with my grandparent's. It was an easy 6 hour drive and it was great to see Oma and Opa Cupps. We hate not seeing them more often. Then on Thursday morning we headed out for an extremely long day on the road. We made it to Des Moine, IA which took about 11 hours. Marlee and Rhaegan both did great (and marlee only slept for a total of 25 minutes). We stayed in a hotel that night and then continued on to Cincinnati on Friday. We arrived at 7pm, stopped for a quick bite at LaRosa's and then headed to the house. We are glad to be here and Rhaegan and Marlee couldn't be happier. This is going to be an eventful summer. Hopefully my mom and dad have enough energy to make it through the whole thing. Now that you have my update I will post some picture in my next blog