BEACH!

 A nice picture of the Beach at Wilmington to brighten your day.  

So, a few weeks ago (Jan 12th) it was really warm, so we decided to drive out to Wilmington, and visit the Fort, Aquarium and hit the beach if we had time.  It was 70 here in Raleigh, but almost 80 at the beach, so Riley took off his shirt (and thankfully we talked him into keeping his pants on) and played in the surf. Brian thought we were crazy about going into the water, but Riley just wanted to run from the waves. It was a nice break from the dreary winter we have had so far, and nice to have a pretty day. 

Holidays 2012

My work had a Children's Christmas Party onsite, with crafts, lunch w/ movie, a "sleigh ride" (no snow = wagon ride) and of course Santa.

With the move from Kansas City to North Carolina, our holidays were a little weird this year.  We drove out to KC in early December to do the extended family thing, and then were able to have the family Christmas here.  Too bad we were all sick.

Halloween 2012

We had a pretty busy Halloween this year. Riley had a costume parade and party at school and our apartment complex had a scavenger hunt.  

Pumpkin Patch

The weather was so gorgeous this morning that we went to the park for a while, then to the Pumpkin Patch.

In the sun, the fleece had to come off, and you can see Riley's favorite summer shirt (which is getting too small). 

They had these huge piles of the big hay bales, and Riley climbed all over them. 

This pumpkin sits at the entrance to the pumpkin patch, and Riley thought that this one was too big to take home. He might be right. 

Superhero

Or I guess I should say, a tea-towel superhero. And as you can see by the clothes change, the fun lasted all day.

Roanoke Island

Last weekend we decided that we needed to get out of town so we drove out to Roanoke Island.

Google said it was going to be 2.5 to 3 hours.  That was incorrect.  It was closer to 4 hours.

Anyway, on the Island we visited an aquarium and a colony historical site (Festival Park). At the aquarium we got to touch sting rays, horseshoe crabs, starfish and sea urchins.  Right next to the shark viewing area, there were toys that were apparently more entertaining.

After the aquarium, we went to Festival Park, they had: a ship to explore, a colonist settlement, a native American village, and then a really neat children's history museum. 

Riley got to try on the helmet, and even got a square nail from the blacksmith.  The ship was really cool to climb around in.  

Moving

So we finally got all moved in to the apartment here in Cary, NC.  The drive from Kansas City was quite an adventure.  We decided to make it a three day trip, stopping in Mt. Vernon, IL, then to Seieverville, TN and finally to North Carolina.  We decided to take a detour through the Smokey Mountains and Riley kept asking where the mountains were. Thankfully Riley slept a good portion of the drive, and Pepper was a champ.  On to the Pictures:

Dad and Janet drove over and was here when the movers delivered all of our stuff, so Riley got to spend a few days playing with his pawpaw.

Riley also helped Brian to hang the curtains.