JC Raulston Arboretum with Kade

Monday, November 11th (Veterans Day), Brock and Brent took a final stab at some off-shore fishing. I had the day off and opted for Kade to stay home too and have a Mommy-only outing!

What to do with a wild, rambunctious, always-moving, four year old (that won't break the bank)? We ventured over to JC Raulston Arboretum for some exploring and outdoor time. 

Kade worked out a compromise pretty quickly - if I take a picture of him, then he needed to take a picture of me in return. Okay, fine. 

Admiring the painted tree

Running off again!

Now here Kade starts with the posing. "Momma, touch the flower with your your hand...." 

"Momma, touch this flower with your hand, put your other hand out like this."

Maybe I was trying to recreate this picture....

Brock.... circa August 2014

Maybe we'll see Kade as a future director.... ;)

And.... I know you all were waiting patiently for Brock's fish pictures - I don't want to disappoint!! Brock reeled this one in all on his own!

9 pound King Mackeral

Blue fish

Video evidence of his catch!

Halloween 2019

It barely fit.... if he didn't move, it would stay ;)

 We were all ready for Halloween!! Unfortunately, not ONE of our Halloween costumes fit our big boy Moose. I thought for sure the pumpkin would fit Moose because if fit Diesel (although it was tighter in Diesel's waist than on Moose! ;) )

On one of those fishing weekends Brent and Brock went on, poor Kade stayed home sick. Another weekend I had all these "plans" for Kade and I, but his immune system thought differently!! I let him work on the Halloween haunted gingerbread house all by himself as Plan B.

Sure Kade, pick out the largest pumpkin out here when Brent isn't here to help me pick it up!

The night before Halloween, I was up late making all kinds of goodies.... to bring to work! Ha!

 All of these came with me as they are made with peanut butter....

....but some of these stayed home for the boys!

My two little trick-or-treaters!

Brock - Police Officer
Kade - Buzz Lightyear

Brent - is that a trick or treat bag for Moose or you?!?? HA!

First stop is Mr. Warren's house - he had an EXTRA special treat for just the boys - skeleton rings and TWO HEAPING handfulls of candy to give them a headstart! 

I'm so impressed by so many of our neighbors' decorations! They are so cool!

Moose REALLY liked this one hanging above the driveway! ;)

Happy Halloween 2019 y'all!! :)

Fishing for Kings with Brock

I started hearing about a week out that the fishing was going to be perfect on Friday and Saturday October 18-19. We decided Brock could miss out on one day of school to go on this "marine biology field trip" with his Dad. 

They left out about 7am Friday morning to drive to Atlantic Beach. Gorgeous sunny day - albeit a bit cooler on the water - hence the very warm Seahawks hat! 

Perfect day to try out Brent's new curtains - it blocks the spray and the wind for everyone sitting at the console.

Brock practiced his math - announcing their speed in comparison to what it was before, depth, subtracting how far down the fish were from the boat, etc. 

On Auto-Pilot....

 The first afternoon was a success - one good-sized king to bring home!

Look at all those seagulls in the background waiting for a scrap!

After a good night's sleep at the hotel, the fishermen were up before sunrise to head to the fishing grounds.

 Sunrise (and blue LED lights on Brock's face!)!!

The boys saw porpoises, sea birds, a few flying fish, and even caught an octopus! One of the poor Octopus' legs got stuck on the side of the boat.

The best part was Brock reeled in his very own fish ALL BY HIMSELF! Brock's catch clock time was 5 minutes! Brock told me his arm really hurt afterwards.

After catching the second fish that day, Brent called it quits and headed back to Apex! Three kings in one trip - not bad!!

Brock's fish is on the right

October Happenings!

We always have loads of fun at Target. Brock felt compelled to go shopping after a week of good behavior and 100% on his spelling test. I told him I would take him, but he needed to use his own money that he's been saving. After convincing him he did not need ANOTHER beyblade, he decided to use his money towards a mini-drone. He's been practicing outside, but it was a little wet the day of the video, so we were practicing on the screen porch.

The Lego catalog arrived..... which means the boys have started writing their Christmas lists! (As in copying down almost the entire catalog!) Ha!

We rode the Halloween train with some friends!

The boys were entertained by their buddies.

The following night, we had a date with Brock to see Disney's Aladdin! Poor Kade was so sad he couldn't come with us - next time Kade! It was a really late night for Brock. 

My review: I didn't like it as much as Beauty & the Beast and The Lion King. They changed the story too much and added a bunch of new songs. Also missing - Rajah and Abu (tiger and monkey). Brock loved the sword fighting, chasing, and dancing; but was definitely bored at the talking points. He did ask me about an hour in, if we could go to a different movie in the theater. Nope Brock - this is the only "movie" playing here tonight. He was a good trooper. 

It's getting close to sweater time!! Kade modeling a sweater my Grandmother Lillian made for my brothers. It has Donald Duck playing baseball on the back. :)

And our beloved big boy Moose turned TWO! Brent and Moose shared a 2.2 lb porterhouse! Moose weighs 117 pounds now and definitely calming down a bit more. He likes to steal shoes and take them to his bed - his new game to get you to come and play with them. He doesn't destroy his toys like Oscar used to do, but we're not giving him the opportunity to try with our shoes!

Author Meetup: Dav Pilkey

Dav Pilkey is the author of the Captain Underpants and Dog Man series - a favorite in our house with our reluctant reader.  (More like our reluctant sounder-outer)

I scored tickets to the Dog Man Do Good Tour in Southern Pines - about an hour southwest of Raleigh. It's called the Sandhills area because of the many golf courses - Pinehurst being the most well-known.

After about a 30 minute wait to get the SOLD OUT auditorium filled (with mostly young boys and their parents), we sat down and scoped out our swag bag!

The number one coolest item was the brand new book - SIGNED by the author himself! Other items included a red superhero cape, tattoos, stickers, bookmarks, coloring pad, and poster for the new book coming out in December. Best part we got TWO bags because I got a bag too!

We may have picked up another item and a new (to us) Captain Underpants book from the gift shop on our way out!

Dog Man - the head of a dog and the body of a police officer..... yup

Brock was thrilled to start flipping through the book!

Dav was introduced and gave a well done presentation how he discovered his love for drawing and reading - he used his cartoon animations to show how he was like a kid and the audience laughed it up! Brock really was attentive!

There was an option for a photo opportunity with Dav Pilkey after the presentation, but I didn't want to burn Brock out - it was already super late on a Friday night!

We snapped a picture with Captain Underpants instead!