Pictures to hold you over...

Well, I've got my full-time job that's keeping me busy and I've got 8 clients on top of that...together they are both keeping me running. I'm just getting over the flu, and I've got a continuing legal education seminar this week taking me away from Hubby and Little Man, and so I wanted to share some more photos before I head off to Chapel Hill.

The boys waiting to "pet" stingrays.

Touching a horseshoe crab

Nasty, greedy carp at the amusement park.

I've still got some cute photos of the boys, so I hope you haven't gotten your fill yet! And I really hope to post some project photos when I get back. I've only finished one project recently, the others have taken forever what with them being more involved and me having less knitting time.

And, before I finish off this post, Patrick Swayze passed away today, let's send good thoughts to his family.

The Creative Family

I grew up in a house where paper, crayons, and watercolor paints were always plentiful and creativity was encouraged. So, I try to encourage Little Man to be creative, and I want him to be able to appreciate other people's art. There's a great book I borrowed from the library called The Creative Family, and I was happy to see that there were quite a few suggestions in there that we already do here.

This past week Little Man had a home project for school which was to make an aquarium. You could use any materials you wanted, and the project could have been as simple as a drawing, but I took the opportunity to put the power of my craft room into the project. I took a shoebox from my closet and used acrylic paint to paint the inside and a side that had a label, and luckily the paint matched exactly. Then I painted the bottom and used a glitter varnish for the "water." The next day Little Man got involved and had a lot of fun putting in stickers and telling me where he wanted me to hot glue seashells that we had picked up at the beach the previous weekend.

We had a great time making it together and Little Man loved going up to it and pointing out all of the different things he put in it. It's almost a shame he liked it sooo much, since we didn't know that the kids would be giving their aquariums AWAY! Ugh, I think I actually wound up more upset by it than Little Man, but, it would have been nice to know.

Then on Saturday we headed to the Mint Museum of Art for Family Fun Saturday. I've wanted to visit this museum for a while, and the activity was the perfect reason for us to go this weekend. This weekend the activity was to paint circles, inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, a famous abstract artist. His work is currently visiting the museum, and the activity was a lot of fun for all three of us as we traced circular household items to make circles we could then paint in.

After setting our paintings on the drying rack, we went to explore the museum. We pointed out things to Little Man, and had him keep an eye out for the circle painting (the Kandinsky). We enjoyed the temporary exhibit: Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art, and we were able to see Picasso, and Monet, and Andy Warhol's Cowboys and Indians Exhibit. There was a coloring table in the Latin American section where children could design and color a tunic and Little Man enjoyed the pit stop. I also think that stop helped keep his interest for the rest of the visit, and, while we kept it short, he behaved well and Hubby and I enjoyed the art.

Later that day, after Wal-Mart shopping for the beach, we had more art time at home. It was a fun rainy day filled with art!

Can you tell we love foam stickers in our house? (And yes, I did the grass and mud on the farm picture...but Little Man did everything else!)

So, next post I'll show you something I just finished up!

Oh, and I'm thinking of getting rid of Crafty my sidebar pet, thoughts? (Be nice everyone)

Cruise Chronicles, Part 4: Freeport, Bahamas

So on our last full day of cruising, we woke up, looked out the window and saw a very bleak looking Freeport (so bleak in fact I didn't take a photo). We got dressed, had a leisurely breakfast (which included a yummy cheese danish for me), gathered our things, and disembarked. We waited for the bus that would take us to where the glass-bottom boat was docked, and after boarding the bus we drove 30 minutes to Count Basie Square. During this time it rained, so when we arrived we ran for shelter until it stopped, and then the crew of the boat dried it up.

While we waited we saw a conch stand selling conch salad. Now I had been told conch salad is the food to try, and here was another opportunity to try it (remember the restaurant had been out the day before)...and I thought about trying it....until I watched the man cut it out of the shell...still moving... and start slicing and dicing it up for salad. I could have hurled.

Until I looked away, down at the water right behind the stand, and saw this amazingly clear water, where we could see tropical fish darting around...now THAT'S why I wanted to go to the Caribbean!

We boarded the boat, settled in, and set off for fish viewing. At first we didn't see too much (while we were moving), but when we slowed down, we saw hundreds of beautiful fish...it made me want to dive in with them! The ride was really rough though, with the boat dramatically pitching back and forth. And while Little Man was saying, "Whee," over and over there were some ladies who were laid out sick (they actually clapped when the captain said we were heading back). We stopped at two different locations, one where the water was only a few feet deeper than the boat, and one at a wreck. At the first stop we had an opportunity to feed fish slices of bread, and it was amazing to see these schools of fish jumping out of the water to get some. They ate it as quickly as we could throw it. When we moved to the wreck we saw a boat with divers, and then we saw through the bottom of the boat at least 10 sharks swimming around where the divers were going to be headed. Freaky! We threw bread out here and were in awe when a shark breached the water taking a slice of bread with him (or her). The last 2 minutes of the boat trip also proved exciting as Little Man suddenly realized he had to pee, and couldn't hold it to get to the boat's bathroom, and peed on himself right there on the bench. Luckily some fellow passengers had a towel they let us use, but Little Man was really sad when I didn't have anything to change him into and he had to walk around wet.

After we got back we had a few minutes to shop for souvenirs (I found a hand-woven bag), and then we tried to get on our return bus. But there wasn't enough room, so the bus driver hired a van for us and a few other people. We were worried we weren't going to get back to the ship in time, and so we got in and were immediately bombarded by a horrendous smell. A combination of rotten food and stinky back-side! Little Man, me and another woman (all of us lucky to get window seats) stuck our heads to the windows while one woman brought her shirt over her head. One man got in last minute, made a funny face at the smell and said something to the driver before we set off. We drove a couple of minutes back the way we had come when the lady driver veered sharply into a gas station. She told us she had to fix her tire. One of the guys closer up front said,"I thought y'all was kidding," and I looked out and we were riding on the rim of our front right tire. She pumped it full of air and tore off again to get us to the ship on time (right at the last minute). As we got out of the van, Little Man shook his head and said, "Something stinky's in there," and I tell you, truer words may never have been spoken.

That night after a low-key dinner, Little Man went to Camp Carnival one last time and Hubby and I packed and left our luggage outside of our room before going dancing. Then we went to a comedy show before picking Little Man up later in the night from Camp Carnival (which made me feel really bad since we never do that). We turned in, aided by the exaggerated movements of the now-fast-moving ship, and, I'll admit, for me by the adult beverages I had while out on the ship. The next morning we got up, Little Man and Hubby went to breakfast while I S-L-O-W-L-Y got up and dressed and finished packing. Then we waited for our turn to disembark and begin the process of reentering the U.S.

But before we said good-bye to our stateroom, I took a picture of Little Man and his favorite place to watch the water.

Mermaids at the Beach

This past weekend we made a last minute trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I had read in The Charlotte Observer that there would be a live mermaid show at the Ripley's Aquarium for the August 1st-3rd weekend only. The mermaids, from Weeki Wachee Springs, FL, performed on the road for the first time in the 61 year history of the mermaid show attraction. Well, Little Man has been very into mermaids, and was disappointed that he and his cousin had not spotted any on our beach vacation back in June. So, when I mentioned it to Hubby and some co-workers, the consensus was that, if we could, we needed to try to make it to one of the shows. So Friday evening I booked a room at Compass Cove Resort on the Grand Strand, and Saturday morning we finished packing and hit the road. We arrived late afternoon, checked in, changed and headed straight for the beach. Then we went to one of the 22 indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, kiddie pools and lazy rivers that the resort offers. First was the kiddie pool with the submarine that the kids could play in. Then the lazy river, then the hot tub (and a 5 minute sit in the sauna for me), and then after hours of playing, we headed back to the room to clean-up for dinner. We went to the Giant Crab which is an excellent buffet with great fish tanks (Little Man loves the Nemos) and out of this world food...including our required Myrtle Beach food...crab legs. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and sat on the balcony before going to bed.

The next morning Little Man woke up at 6:45 AM to go potty. Afterwards we got dressed, went downstairs for breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then headed back to the room to change into our bathing suits. We went down to the beach for an hour where the water was as fantastic as the day before and the sun was peaking from the clouds in a way that made both Hubby and I stare at it feeling like an angel was shining down on us. It made the hair stand up on my arms, the image of the clouds with the light was so hauntingly beautiful...it made me wonder if my Pop was looking down on us. Meanwhile, Little Man enjoyed digging in the sand and splashing in the water (which was great since the day before he had lost a plastic cup in the ocean and was too scared to go in the water the rest of the day for fear he would lose something else). At 9 AM the pools opened and we left the beach, taking one more good sea air breath before packing up the beach toys. Hubby took the buckets to the car and Little Man and I headed to the kiddie pool where we spent another great 45 minutes running around and getting drenched (and yes, it was warm enough already that it wasn't chilly). After that we rode the lazy river again, and sat in the hot tub, and THEN played in one of the indoor pools (where Little Man practiced jumping in and swimming), and then we headed back at 10:30 to the room to get changed. By 10:50 we were out the door and the car was packed.

From the hotel we headed to the aquarium where we bought tickets, walked in, and Little Man got right up to have his photo taken with one of the mermaids. Then we battled the crowd of people to find a spot from which to watch the mermaid show. We waited about 10 minutes, during which a pirate led sing-a-long songs, and then the show began. Little Man was mesmerized. He loved the blue mermaid because he said she looked like Ariel. As the 15-minute show progressed people left so the end was more enjoyable than the beginning...but since the show wasn't extra, I felt it was a great opportunity, especially since we love the Ripley's Aquarium to begin with. They have a great pirate exhibit right now, which is entertaining and educational...and they have a reef with a clear tunnel throughout that has a moving walkway you stand on that takes you under and to the side of hungry looking sharks and eels, amongst other sea creatures.

After the show ended we went to the beginning of the aquarium and worked our way through, with Little Man just as fascinated by what he was seeing as he was the first time he had been to an aquarium. We had a great time. Then, before hitting the road we had lunch there overlooking the sharks! We enjoyed a great last minute trip, and Little Man got to meet a mermaid!

T's Bedroom

I said I would show some better photos of T's bedroom so I thought I would just make this post focus on his room.

I love how T's room came out. I think there are some really great touches that make it unique. T loves the water, loves aquariums and looking at fish; and so I think this room is really him. We painted waves at the top of the walls...


And then I wanted a growth chart...but I couldn't find any that went with the colors and the decor so I decided I would make one. I bought 1 ft. wood boards from Michael's, along with unpainted wooden shapes, enlisted my mother's help (she painted the lighthouse, the dolphin, the whale and the anchor), and hot glued the pieces on after painting the wooden boards. The sailboat at top is actually a photo frame that now has a photo of T in it. It is stuck on with velcro so I can take the boat off to change T's photo as he grows.

He's grown since this photo was taken!

Another neat feature of T's room is that hubby and I painted magnetic areas in three large areas of his room before we painted the walls blue. Then I enlisted the help of my friend Elena to cut out fish from felt, glue on wiggly eyes, glue on magnetic strips, and use fabric paint to paint letters and numbers on the fish. It decorates the walls with lots of colorful schools of fish, and the fish are educational. Right now I use the fish to teach T his colors, and numbers, and they can also be used later to teach him the alphabet and how to spell. Oh and of course I decorated one fish to look like Nemo...which brings me to the painting I painted for T before he was born.

Since he first came home this painting has hung over him at night. These photos don't quite do the painting justice, since I used glittery paint to give the "water" a shimmer to it that isn't visible here. But you can see that Nemo, Marlin, Dory, Crush, Squirt, Gil, and some other fish from "Finding Nemo," along with Flounder and Sebastian from "The Little Mermaid," "The Rainbow Fish," and "The Incredible Mr. Limpet", are all featured in the painting. There are lots of other things that bring special meaning to T's room, like the pretend aquarium from Grandma North, the seashell collection I made from shells from my Great Aunt Frieda (one of the shells was from a creature that is now extinct), a fishie bank from his Northern grandparents, books galore, and so many other things that have been lovingly chosen for him. It really is a special place to sit and enjoy him while he plays. I should probably mention though that T's room creates a chicken and the egg type question because his room was decorated with the fishie theme long before we met him. We waited until the birth to learn whether we would have a son or daughter and as a fan of the ocean myself I thought the ocean theme would be great for a boy or a girl. I guess we'll never know if T would have loved the water and fishies as much if he hadn't been surrounded by them from the beginning. But I know I wouldn't change a thing.