Where are the Match Box Cars that I Grew Up With?

As a child, I remember playing outside in the backyard with kitchen spoons digging in dirt and playing in the basement with Matchbox cars with boy across the street.  So....how did I get such girly girls??

Addisan and Campbell love their dolls!  With all three of us being off of school, we went to the American Girl store up at Tysons for them to choose their own dolls for an early birthday gift.  At this store, they even have PERSONAL SHOPPERS for your dolls.  Who ever came up with this marketing was genius!  I think I want a summer job doing that!

If you go to the AG store, I would definitely go when it first opens.  It quickly filled with a lot of young girls, moms, and grandmas.

Campbell went straight to the doll baby strollers.  I had no idea that they had different sized AG dolls.  

The girls decided on the like-me dolls.  Addisan named her doll Kate and Campbell named her doll Little Campbell:)

Popeye and Ju-Ju came up with us.  Popeye loves dolls way more than I do and she was in heaven there.  

We had some extra time between purchasing our dolls and our lunch reservation at the AG Bistro.  So we walked around Tysons for a little bit.  It amazes me how much this mall has grown since I was a child.   I love this picture with Tommy carrying all the bags for his little girls.  It makes me realize these girls are growing up too quickly.

I would suggest if you want to eat at the AG Bistro, you make a reservation at least a month in advance...and that was for mid week.  The earliest time I could get was 1:45.  Again, marvelous marketing on their behalf...everything was pink and frilly at the Bistro.  And surprisingly, the food was pretty good.

They even had seating arrangements for the dolls!

We just placed our drink orders when an earthquake struck.  I was born and raised down the street in Falls Church... never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect that!  I first thought it was Metro construction.  Then I thought it was a terrorist attack.  I was teaching in Bailleys Crossroad area when the Pentagon was hit and we felt the impact at our school.  That feeling never leaves you.  So, my first instinct was to grab the girls and we went outside with everyone else.  Everyone was cool and collected exiting the mall and helping each other trying to figure out what just happened.  

After an hour and a half, we were allowed back in and resumed ordering.  We decided to wait it out because we knew the traffic was going to be bad with DC being evacuated.  So, our rationale was, if we were going to be stuck in traffic at rush hour, at least we will be fed.

Popeye and Ju-Ju ended up buying the girls and their dolls matching pajamas.  They have been in heaven with these dolls since they came into their arms.

Making happy memories with my daughters makes me smile.

Nanagra's Rainbow

This is our third annual OBX trip with my parents (aka Baby and Pop Pop) and our good friends, the Harrisons, from back home.  We rent my sister-in-law's mom's beach house.  It is located in Corolla and two houses away from the beach.  We return to the same house each year and it is a wonderful feeling to have our kids feel at home away from home.  

Below are just a few of our many memories from our trip.  The week was perfect down there.  Not one rainy day!  I think someone up above was making up for last year when we got evacuated due to the hurricane.

Nanagra's Rainbow

Morris's Farm Market on the way down there.  Great samples to eat and the cleanest bathrooms.

Great friends.

Our annual picture with Baby and Pop Pop.  This year the boys wanted to be in it too!

Our morning ritual, coloring on the screened in porch until breakfast was ready.

We discovered Duck Donuts this year thanks to my friend Julie!  The best donuts....even better than the apple donuts at Carter's Mountain!

My friend Julie and her girls were down in Nagshead the same week we were there.  They came to see us and hang out one day.  Mason was one of my first graders when I first moved down to Richmond and now she is going into sixth grade.  Her sister, "Big" Campbell, was our inspiration for naming our little girl Campbell.

This was the weather every day!  Can you get better than that?

We would go nightly to the beach after dinner to fly kites, walk around, let Kaylee swim, and just be together.

Some other random shots.

I LOVE this picture of all four kids!  Notice Jack and Campbell holding hands.  They did it all on their own.

These kids napped well!  I went down to check on Campbell one afternoon and this is what I found.

Addisan FINALLY learned how to petal and steer her bike (with training wheels) at the same time while at the beach.  I am thankful for even the smallest miracles.  I thought this was never going to happen.

Addisan walked up with Tommy all the way to the top of the lighthouse for the first time!  He said she was very quiet while walking and concentrating really hard.

This was taken after going to race cars on the track.  Addisan did not want to go at first, but decided at the last minute to.  I told her I would go as slow as she wanted me to.  Nicole described this experience as me driving Ms. Daisy.  On the other hand, Campbell LOVED it and wanted to go as fast as possible.

You gotta love some ribs!

I love the simple things about the Outterbanks.  Family, friends, and everything the sandy beach has to hold.

Knowing that more special memories will be made there next year makes me smile!

Sea World...Here We Come!

Here we are waiting for our shuttle bus to take us to Sea World. We were the first ones down in the hotel lobby raring to go.  I felt a little silly once we got to Sea World and realized the main entrance was literally across the street from our hotel.  We got a great deal on passes.  If you have a certain tier of Busch Gardens Season Passes (the one that includes free parking), you get 50% off your admission to Sea World and Campbell was free since she is only 2 years old.

When we first entered the park, we got a double stroller again.  The best investment at amusement parks.  They steer better than any of the double strollers I ever had.  Once we got rollin', the sting rays were first.  The girls saw others feeding them and wanted to try.  So I bought some fish to feed them.  Once they saw the food close up, they were not interested.   I fed the sting rays two of the fish and gave the other two away to some other kids who were willing to touch them.

Sting Ray food

The first show that we saw was the Dolphin Show.  It was fabulous.  It had classical musical playing and told a fairy tale kind of story...one with love verses evil.  They had gymnast on ropes and high wires, live birds flying around during parts, and of course these beautiful creatures below.

Next stop, the manatees.  We were able to go underwater observatories not only for the dolphins, but the manatees as well.

This was and will always be one of my favorite spots in Sea World.  I could watch the penguins play all day!

We then went to see the Shamu Show.  The girls enjoyed it, but did not love it like the dolphin show.  I think the element of dance and classical music in the dolphin show was more to Addisan's liking.

This was MY favorite show, Clyde and Seamore.  It was a cute little skit about pirates who get marooned on a desert island and how the sea otters and sea lions help them out.  We had a rain delay in the middle of the show, but they resumed after about 15 minutes.  

After this show, we walked back in the rain to the hotel where we took a short nap and had dinner in the hotel.  Kids ate free at the hotel restaurant!  Later on that night, we went back to see Shamu Rocks which was the whale show with fancy lights and classic rock songs. It was great!  Campbell loved just standing up and dancing to the music. 

With one day admission to Sea World, you are able to go back for another day within that week. So we woke up early the next day and went to see the Elmo Show.  It was at the same theater where we saw the Pets Galore Show the day before.  This was another great show where they take rescue animals...dogs, cats, birds, potbelly pigs, and even a skunk to perform the skit!

Due to the rain, we only went to this show.  It was the only one we did not get to the day prior.  I was hoping to go back and visit our favorite things again, but the weather was not on our side.

These girls were rock stars all day long!  Being with such great little travelers makes me smile.