A Little More Vacation Fun

A few more pics from our beach adventure.  We thought Emily might enjoy having dinner right at the pool one night.  We have never done that.  We've always either eaten in the room or gone out to eat.  So we looked at the activity calendar at the resort and found that one night they were going to have a cookout at the pool.  Perfect.  So we went.  It was fun!

We tried to make the most of the gorgeous weather and get to the beach all 5 days.  Emily is really into mermaids still so this year, Merliah (from Barbie in a Mermaid Tale) got to come too.

We also made sure to spend plenty of time in the pool.  The water is Emily's first love and it was great to see her actually swimming in the pool this year!  She was able to swim under the ropes and from the water slide to the ladder (pretty much).  She is able to put her goggles on and take them off by herself now too (thank goodness).  She really made the most of her pool time and on a couple of nights, we even went back to the pool after dinner and stayed until almost dark.  Emily made us stay until the pool lights came on.  We had a wonderful trip. AND, we're already booked for next year too! 

Annual Trip to Broadway at the Beach

Our annual Myrtle Beach trip would not be complete without a stop at Broadway at the Beach.  Emily loves to go there and, truth be told, we love it too. Last year, Daniel learned that we could buy a wrist bracelet ($25) rather than individual ride tickets and then we could let Emily ride as many rides as she wanted.  He also found that there was a whole separate area of ride that we had not found before.  So going back to see all the new rides this year was kind of exciting too!

These airplanes were in the new section of rides!

A ride in the tea cups!

We did change things up a little this year.  Rather than eat dinner at the Key West Grill like we usually do (see Emily with pirate) this year we tried out Senor Frogs.  We got a table outside and spent the first 10 minutes assuring Emily she would like her dinner.  As soon as we opened the menus and saw mini corn dogs, she was sold!  It was fun and my fish tacos were awesome.

After dinner, we took Emily over to the playground she loves to let her run off the rest of her energy.  It gave me a chance to get my annual slide picture.  When she got to the bottom, I was a little surprised to see that she is almost too big for the slide!  It seems like just yesterday that I thought the slide was too big for her!  After the playground we let her ride a few more rides and then, as the sun was going down, we finally headed home...with one tired toddler!

This is my annual slide picture.  She has really grown!

Myrtle Beach 2012

We headed out for our annual Myrtle Beach on June 26 - our 8th wedding anniversary!  Unfortunately it was not without incident.  Spirit Airlines moved our flight from Tuesday until Thursday so when we got to the airport there was no airplane!  So, we had to buy new tickets on another airline and they cost a fortune.  Of course, Spirit was not prepared to pay the difference in fares.  Nice.  Real classy.  BUT, luckily we were still able to get to the beach only a couple hours behind when we had expected to arrive.

We were especially excited for our trip this year because we finally pulled the trigger and became Marriott Vacation Club Owners!  We have been wanting to buy in for so long and we finally did it back in April.  So this was our first stay as owners.  On our way to Ocean Watch, we stopped for Mexican at Abuela's.  Love that place!  We also got groceries for the week and got Emily a couple of sand toys too. Man I miss being able to pack the car with all that stuff!

As usual on our beach trips, our first stop after check in was the beach!  But this year we couldn't wait until morning so we hit the sand just before the sun went down.  Emily went out in her shorts, which we asked her to try to keep dry...any bets on whether that happened???  Yeah, it didn't.  They were soaked.  She walked back to the room in her underwear and t-shirts.  Ahh to be 4.

The next morning we were up and at it really early....and headed back to the beach!  Emily found her favorite spot on the beach where the water came in and made a little river down part of the sand.  She played there for several hours and had a great time.  Just before lunch we headed to the pool to try out the waterslide.  Yep, she loved it just as much this year as last year.  Day 1 was definitely a success.

Scott & Karen's Wedding!

Scott and Karen got married in a beautiful ceremony on Sunday evening, May 27, 2012 at the beautiful Crestwood Resort.  Emily was the flower girl and she was absolutely perfect and super cute!  She scattered her petals all the way down the very long aisle and even managed a few smiles along the way.  I was so proud.  The weather was amazing and we had a wonderful time.  I am thrilled for them and am now anxiously awaiting a niece or nephew! 

Our precious flower girl!

We also enjoyed the chance to get some family pictures in something other than Christmas attire.  We actually cleaned up pretty well, I think.  It was a great weekend.  Lots of wonderful memories!

Family pic

Mommy and Emily

Dancing the night away...except that not too long after this picture was taken,
Emily was getting sick!  Too much cake and not enough dinner! 

Saturday Afternoon Picnic!

Saturday morning we had a lazy morning at Crestwood and we took Emily swimming in the little indoor pool.  That was a big hit!  We met up with Scott for lunch at a great little Mexican place in Blowing Rock.  Then we headed back for some rest and to get ready for the evening picnic at Valle Crucis Park. Our arrival at the picnic was delayed slightly by the Mast General Store, home to more candy than I think I have ever seen in one place before.  We all picked our favorites and $30+ later, we were off to the picnic...which conveniently was right next door!

Scott and Karen reserved a shelter for the picnic and invited their friends and family to attend. It was a fun way to meet peopleand catch up with some of Scott's old high school friends.  Joe Heaton was there along with Dan Merl, his new wife, Winter and baby, Juniper.  Adriene DeMarco Baylis was also there with her husband, Lawrence and their little boy, Joe.  Scott and Kare also brought lots of games to the picnin like corn hole, croquet and frisbee.  There was even a playground for the kids!  Much fun was had by all!

Rehearsal - May 25, 2012

After a full day at Tweetsie, we headed back to Crestwood to rest up and get ready for the wedding rehearsal and dinner.  The rehearsal went really well and Emily liked practicing.  The venue was really so amazing that it was hard to focus on the wedding for all of the amazing views.  The weather was gorgeous - low 80's and lots of sunshine.  What luck!

After the rehearsal we had dinner at The Gamekeeper.  They specialized in mostly game, as the name suggested, but I had fish and mom had ribeye.  Bob got brave and had ostrich...along with 5 other people at our table.  Emily was not brave.  We ordered her plain pasta, but of course in a fancy restaurant they can't really do plain.  So she refused to eat it.  But, she did eat her weight in bread and butter and she was very good too!

Tweetsie Railroad - Adventures During Uncle Scott's Wedding Weekend

The adventures of Uncle Scott's Wedding Weekend began on Thursday, May 24 with a road trip for Grandma and Grandpa Heintz, Emily and me from Charleston to Boone, NC.  We stopped for lunch at Tamarack in Beckley where Emily enjoyed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit followed by a GIANT lollypop and a visit to see a giant wooden train.

About 3 hours later we arrived at the beautiful Crestwood Inn.  We met up with Uncle Scott, Aunt Karen and her parents, Elsa and Steve for dinner at Scott's house.  Yum!  From there it was back to Crestwood for a good night's sleep.  Big adventures were plannned for Friday!

TWEETSIE RAILROAD!  Friday morning Scott took us to Tweetsie Railroad.  He has been talking about taking Emily there since she was born.  Finally, we had the perfect day.  Tweetsie is mostly amusement park with a little wild west thrown in too.  Emily liked the rides...she was not a fan of the fake gun fights of the wild west.

There were some rides that we all got to enjoy together, like this little coal train which rolled into a mine filled with glow in the dark mice.  A little weird, I know, but Emily love it.  Ok, ok.  The rest of us did too.

I think one of the interesting highlights of the trip was the petting zoo.  Emily fed EVERYTHING.  She fed goats, sheep, llamas and every other four-legged creature in sight.  Undoubtedly, though, her favorite animals were the baby goats!  She never flinched once. She held out her hand and fed them all.  This one even wanted to get in her lap!  You bought little ice cream cones filled with food and then the animals could eat the food and the cones too.  Everyone fed and everyone had fun.  Tweetsie was a great way to spean our first full day in Boone.





Emily also loved the carousel.  An amusement park tradition!

Uncle Scott even made waiting in line fun.

Dance Recital

Emily had her first real dance recital this weekend complete with a real costume and a real stage in a real theater!  Emily started dance this fall when our neighbor, Ashley, offered to start taking Emily to class with her daughter, Reagan.  The classes were every Tuesday from 4:30 until 5:15 meaning it would have been a challenge for me to be able to take her.  But thanks to Ashley, Emily got to dance!

The girls danced to "Good Ship Lollipop."  They had a big backdrop that looked like the side of a ship.  Then they danced in their tap shoes with big yellow lollipops!  About half way through the show a little boat and sailor came out and the kids danced around it.  It was cute.

Emily really knew the routine and danced her little heart out.  I was so proud (see below).  She was really terrific.  Emily has already said she wants to dance again next fall.  I really hope she does.  Thankfully, Ashley has already agreed to take her for another year.


Best friends backstage





My favorite lollipop!

Post recital flowers from Daddy were a BIG hit!






Visit from an "old" friend

We were lucky to get a visit from one of Emily's oldest friends last weekend - Sam!  Sam and Emily were in daycare together at Carolina Kids Academy from the time Emily was about 7 months old until she was about 3 when we moved Emily to Primrose.  We stayed in touch with Sam and his parents, Joy and Phil, having many family date nights and many play dates while we were still living in NC. 

So we were thrilled a few weeks ago when Joy dropped me a line to let me know they would be in WV.  We immediately made plans to get together.  They came and stayed with us for two days - even new baby Molly got to come for the visit!  We let Sam and Emily spend some time just playing end enjoying their time together.  Then on Sunday afternoon we all went to the Clay Center.  As is usually the case, the ball pit was the favored attraction.  At the end two fun days of play, Sam and Emily even got to have a real slumber party.  Sam got to sleep on Emily's blow up bed and Emily slept in her bed.  They had such a wonderful time and it was great for Emily and her old friend to reconnect.

What I will always remember about Sam and Emily's friendship is that when we moved from NC last summer, we had one last play date with Sam. When playtime was over, Emily hugged Sam and said "Goodbye my prince." 

Hibiscus

This past weekend, we bought 2 large planters and 2 hibiscus trees to sit between our garage doors on the driveway.  Emily picked them out because they had large, pretty, red flowers on them.  We were outside playing last night and the following was our conversation about our new trees:

Emily:  Ooo!  Mommy!  Look at that beautiful flower.  What is it called?

Me:     Hibiscus.  Can you say hibiscus?

Emily:  Hibiscus

*long pause*

Emily:  When will it grow biscuits?