4th of July

On Independence Day, we celebrated America by visiting historic Brattonsville, SC. They had individuals in period dress, as well as several exhibits to view what life in the 1700 - 1800's were like. It was the first settlement in this area by Col. William Bratton - and they have what would have been the first cabin on the land as well....pretty interesting.
They even had some animals - both Dad & Elise enjoyed feeding the ram...and you'll have to get a glimpse of the video below to appreciate the "bleat" of this thing...
John, Stacie & Elise celebrating the 4th.
A little history for you buffs out there...
Mom & Dad
At this same site in Brattonsville, approximately a third of the movie, The Patriot, was filmed. (You may remember the one with Mel Gibson). During our visit, they had several readings, including the Declaration of Independence & The Star Spangled Banner.

Musketeers


In this dining room of the house, there was a scene of the movie, The Patriot, filmed. You may remember when the young boy was hiding under the dining room table from the Loyalists - this was the room where that was played out.
Have some good southern BBQ for lunch.
Elise - deep in thought...or maybe just savoring a bite of her cookie for dessert?
We cooked out for dinner back at our patio. We sang "God Bless America" as our prayer, and Curt looked at all of us and couldn't believe we knew all the words....I guess we'll need to sing it a little more often for him. We had brats, sweet corn, fresh tomatoes & basil from our garden & of course, sweet tea. For dessert: All-American Apple pie a la mode.
I made a plate of jello jigglers - in shapes of stars to show a little Patriotism, but Elise decided the whole plate was made for her (which in essence, it was) & she cleaned it out alone...and had about 4 or 5 small ears of corn.

It was a wonderful weekend. We lit sparklers in the backyard & enjoyed watching the fireworks from about 3 different angles from the comfort of our patio chairs. Of course, the big fireworks are illegal in the state of North Carolina, but when you're as close to the South Carolina border as Charlotte - there are so many brought back over the border that we had quite a grand, festive display of fireworks. Elise was a little scared of all the loud booming, and continued to jump all evening, but after several, we had her clapping at the pretty colors. It was a late night as we all (including little E) crawled into bed around 11:30pm.

GOD BLESS AMERICA - LAND THAT I LOVE, MY HOME SWEET HOME!

Summer Fun

After spending hours swimming at the pool, we had hours of fun with chalk - as you can see from our patio! This past week, John took vacation to have some father-daughter time & we loved having him home.

We each drew our feet and hands...

Then, on Thursday night we camped out in our backyard. This, my friends, is the way to camp - there's no packing involved, or planning! We even stretched an extension cord into the tent to blow up the air mattresses as well as have a little fan on all night.
Needless to say, none of us slept well - but it was still fun.


The following morning, we relaxed with coffee, blueberry pancakes and bacon...yum!

This was the prelude to our 4th of July weekend, relaxing, yet full of things we don't do on a normal schedule.

Father's Day 2009

We celebrated Father's Day by joining the throngs of people at Carowinds. It was a beautiful day to hit some rides, and then the water park. We enjoyed soft pretzels, yummy funnel cake & some R&R.

Claire Elise turns 2!

June 11th was Elise's 2nd birthday. We had a pool party & it was a blast!


We basically had the pool to ourselves, since we were there on a Thursday morning. When Elise woke up, we told her it was her birthday & she said, "Party, 2" - and then she got to open a small present - some new pool noodles to go along to the party.

We were blessed to use the pool & sunroom at one of the apartment complexes where my dad works - it really was the perfect setting for swimming, having snacks, pizza, and then cake & ice cream.

I had been asking Elise what kind of cake she would like for her birthday - an ice cream cake or filled cake - and each time, she promptly replied, "fill cake". So, we ventured over to Costco to order it the day before her birthday, but she couldn't understand why we weren't putting it in the cart...note to self, next time, don't mention that we're going to get her birthday cake when we're only going to order it.

Sweet tarts! Lots of sugar, chocolate & fun!

Michelle & Kaylie

Chrissie & Ali

Mindi & Samuel

Make a wish! Thank you so much friends, for helping us to celebrate Elise's 2nd birthday. It was beautiful weather, and she had so much fun. We left the pool around 2pm - way past her bedtime, but once we got home there was a package at the front door & so we opened it. She didn't take a nap that whole afternoon, but played and played with her new gifts. I guess that's what birthday's are all about. It's hard to believe that she's already turned 2 - these past couple of years have flown by, but what a joy Elise has been to John and I. We love you & we're so thankful God blessed us with you. We love watching you grow & learn more each week. Happy 2nd birthday, Claire Elise!

Momentus Moments

June 8th was a big day at our house. First, Elise made it the first whole day in her life to use the potty without any accidents. We are officially diaper-free at our house as of the first weekend in June - there's no going back. Second, we converted her crib into a toddler bed, so that she can easily go to the potty when the need arises.
She got up a few times during the night - mostly because she now could - and wanted to come to our bed, but after using the potty & walking her back to her room & tucking her in, she settled in & slept well.
Momentus Moments. I'm sure there will be many more to come...this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Boating Fun!

On Saturday, we were invited to join Walker's on their boat. What a fun day! Mom, Dad & Curt joined us as well. Curt, John & Chad worked their magic on the wakeboard & Dad & I were smart to use regular skis. After pulling around the lake a few times, we headed over to the Lake Wylie sand dune to swim, relax & have some snacks.

Elise & Kaylie have the same suit in different colors - pretty cute!


The girls were very concerned that everyone who was being pulled was "OK"

Noodles!~


This is how we all felt by the end of the afternoon - pretty pooped!

Happy Birthday, John!

John celebrated his 35th birthday on May 30th! Do you remember the show, "30-Something"? My girlfriend, Chrissie & I were discussing that we can't believe we're those 30-something people now....and John has definitely reached his mid-30's. We still feel young, and I guess that's what is important.
Elise was so excited about the DQ ice cream cake and she kept telling us it is her "favit."


Can you catch the excitement for this cake?


We had a relaxing weekend celebrating John's birthday. We hung up the hammock that we bought on our honeymoon in Mexico back in 1999 - and the silk is still as soft & beautiful as ever. Elise is enjoying this new "swing". We also spent an afternoon at Carowinds amusement park & enjoyed the lazy river, wave pool & funnel cakes. There's not much better than warm sun, water & fried batter...yum!

Playing with play dough is one of Elise's favorite "toys". Of course, she needs constant supervision, because I really don't want the colors all mashed together, so we carefully chose which color to cut out and play with, and then move on to the next one. I can usually tell that she's nearing the end when we're switching colors every 30 seconds....