Wilde Family 'Stay-Cation' 2009 Recap:

Our Stay-cation itinerary in a nutshell:

Days 1-2:  Arrive in SC, cannery trip, stayed on base with Jayne and family

Day 3:  Riverbanks Zoo, home

Day 4:  Camping, swimming, movie, "G-Force", home at 10 p.m. (due to Severe Thunderstorm/Lightning/Rain and radio Advisory to "seek shelter in the lowest level of your house"... ummm... our tent only had one level...)

Day 5:  Discovery Place, Cee-Cee's pizza, Monkey Joe's

Day 6:  Concord Mills - NASCAR go-carts, play area, shopping, Big Jane, Firehouse Subs, coin collector, Mommy and Jackson movie date to, "Transformers" in the evening.  (This was supposed to be "Beach Day," but it was raining at the beach. :(  We'll attempt another beach trip in Sept.)

Day 7:  Drive to Atlanta, hotel, Hard Rock Cafe

Day 8:  Georgia Aquarium - (world's largest!) with Aunt Danielle and Uncle Chad, home

Family Picture at Jayne's house.  We started our adventure with a trip to SC for a few days of visiting and fun with Aunt Jayne, Uncle Seth and little Oliver.  

Eddie gathered quite a collection of, "pime-cones" at the park near Jayne's house. 

Norah looking cute in her "little tree-hugger" onesie. :)

The gang waiting to walk up to the park. 

Yep...another one of Norah looking cute. :)

Being on vacation meant the boys got a VERY rare treat for breakfast... DONUTS! :)  They went nuts - so we had to strip them down and move them outside while they finished inhaling their little sugar-pucks.  

Justin and I managed to visit the LDS Cannery for the first time and had a great time filling our ward's food orders.  We are not even close to having our year's supply yet, but we're getting there! :)

Sorry, Jayne - this picture was just TOO priceless to not post!  LOL!  The only thing missing is our big sister.  :(  Jules - I MISS YOU!!!

Our first night we put the kids to bed and then we played a mean game of Phase 10.  I learned that Justin is not beneath sabotaging his wife.

On Monday we took the kids to the Columbia Zoo for the day and had a wonderful time.  We hadn't been since Eddie was just a few months old so it was very entertaining to watch his and Jack's reactions to the animals this time around. :)

Norah clearly loved the zoo, too. 

Wilde boys 2009

Norah and Mommy smiling for Daddy.

And time for a quick nap with Daddy...

Eddie experiencing pure JOY when he realized what a zoo was. :)

He was mEsMeRiZeD by the Monkeys...naturally. :)

After a quick trip to the gift shop we were ready for a day at the zoo.  Don't they look so grownup in their new baseball hats? :)

After returning from the zoo and Jayne's house we packed up some supplies and headed to Morrow Mt. State Park to complete the next item on the boys' "stay-cation" list:  camping!

The boys entertained themselves for quite a while playing "rabbits" in the tall grass near our campsite.  They LOVE the outdoors.

Back at the campsite the boys kicked back while Justin got the coals started for our tin-foil dinners.  They REALLY enjoyed the mini-bottles of diet coke (caffeine-free!) Justin picked up for them as a treat.

He's only LOOKS like he's trying to share... :)

Near our campsite there was a public pool where the boys and us had a blast beating the heat in the cool water.  

Brotherly love at the pool.  After swimming we decided to find some more shade and respite from the humidity at the local cinema (it had LOVELY air-conditioning!).  We saw Disney's 'G-FORCE' - which was about special-ops trained guinea pigs.  Norah slept through the whole thing and the boys were totally entertained.  (And don't tell anyone, but Justin and I thought it was pretty flippin' funny, too. :)

After our minor camping fiasco (which deserves another post) we hit the track where Jackson just barely made the height requirement to ride as a passenger with Justin.  He had the TIME OF HIS LIFE!  Apparently living in NC and NASCAR country has rubbed off a little?

What stay-cation would have been complete without a trip to Concord Mills JUST to see Big Jane (the 60 lb. bass at the Bass Pro Shop) and the huge charity coin collectors (pictured - I have no idea what they're called).

 

Norah *may* have gotten a new dress for being so patient while the boys had their fun at the mall. :)  (Okay - so she totally did and it's adorable!  It's a little big, but she'll fit into it soon and then I'll take a picture. :)

The next morning brought a fun trip to Discovery Place (a huge museum/science center) where we ended up buying an annual family pass.  We can't wait to go back!

The mock category one Hurricane wind tunnel was the boys' favorite experiment adventure - hands down. :)

The wind was SO loud and strong!  I can't even begin to imagine how powerful category 5 hurricane winds would be!

On Friday we woke up early and drove down to Atlanta for a trip to the Word's largest aquarium.  Justin did some bidding on Priceline and managed to find us a great deal on a room a downtown hotel so we wouldn't have to fight the horrific Atlanta traffic.  The kids loved the hotel room and I loved the hotel's fitness center.  Treadmills with cable television built into them... need I say more?  We also enjoyed an entertaining (but expensive! Sheesh!) dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe where Jack AND Eddie learned how to do the YMCA thanks to a very energetic wait-staff. :)

An underwater view of the enormous whale shark in the huge tunnel aquarium.  This picture doesn't even begin to do the animal's size justice!

 

A view of the tunnel aquarium.  It was gorgeous!

Norah was a trooper and I think she just loved being with everyone and smiling at anyone. (Except the lady who asked how old HE was.  Seriously - I know she doesn't have much hair, but is there anyone who would dress their baby BOY in pink flowery clothing?! ;)

The best part of our trip to the aquarium was meeting up with Aunt Danielle and Uncle Chad!  Justin was the only one who had met Chad when he and Danielle were married this past December (I had to stay here in NC since I was just about to birth baby girl and flying was out of the question).  The boys and Norah LOVED them and we are keeping our fingers crossed and saying lots of prayers that Chad will be made a suitable offer by the company he's interning with which would move them near Atlanta once he graduates next spring. 

  

Here's Jack showin' some love to Aunt Danielle. :)

Jack is usually fearless, but it was Eddie who was adamant about touching the silky-soft sting rays and the tough, but smooth skinned sand sharks.  I loved this part, too. :)  We would LOVE to go back for another visit next summer when the aquarium will have their new dolphin and penguin exhibits completed.

What a week!  And now that we're home there are a million other things to keep us busy:

*Big order from the hospital for Hucklebaby (completed! YAY!).

*Matthews Alive! is just around the corner which means more marathon nights of sewing - but this is the FUN stuff! :)

*Jackson begins his first year of pre-school in just a few weeks!

*Eddie is potty-training (or should I say trained?!) - it's only been about six days, but so far so good!  He's had a few peep accidents (to be expected), but I haven't had to plead with tears of frustration, there has been no bribery with cars or chocolate... things have been surprisingly ('shockingly' would probably be a more appropriate term, I think) well!  He didn't even wear a diaper to nursery today!  He's still wearing a diaper for bedtime, but we've gone shopping, run other errands, etc. and he's managed to only have one accident while doing so and that was on Nellie's carpet on PTD 2 (Potty-Training Day 2).  One thing I did completely differently this time was to bypass the use of pull-ups.  We just went straight to undies.  Awesome. :)

*Jayne coerced me into agreeing to running a half-marathon with her in October - so training for this challenge is high on my priority list.  Can't wait for the big event, but wish my sister Julia (a long-time distance runner) could be there, too! 

*Norah is officially 7 months old and finally started solids a few weeks ago. We've been having fun introducing her to new foods and trying to teach her how to keep her food IN her mouth as opposed to all over her bib and whoever is feeding her :).  (This definitely needs its own post soon! :)

Where has the summer gone?!  I guess having my Christmas shopping done by July just wasn't in the cards for me this year, LOL.. :)  Maybe next year?