Sharing our life - all our adventures and bumpy rides. Family of four with two young boys - moved back home to allow them the similar experiences and opportunities we had living in North Carolina. Come explore with us!
Cookie decorating to start off our Easter celebrations! A unicorn bunny cookie??
Concentrating hard!!
No matter how you decorate it, the cookie still tastes great!
I love that I can be more hands off during the coloring of eggs! They know what to do!
Easter is here!
The Easter bunny visited our home, bringing all things STEM! :) Thank you Science Safari for putting together more awesome baskets!
Grammy and Grandpa sent an Easter basket too! What fun - very cool for my outdoorsy boys! Two sets of binoculars, a compass, bug catchers and other things to explore the backyard!
After breakfast, the boys were ready to hunt for those plastic Easter eggs!!
On your mark, get set, go!!!
Kade being a sweet brother and handing Brock an egg he dropped.
Someone found the golden egg! Look at that smile!!
And the second picture shows a bit more to the story - the one who did not find the golden egg. Sad face Kade.
Fingers crossed next year we can do an Easter egg hunt with lots more people!! Happy Easter everyone!
Brent and Brock planned a nice Spring Break trip this year. Their vacation began Sunday with a stopover in Charlotte to visit with the Rosenfeld family. The above picture looks familiar, but with a different cousin! Maddox and Brock played so nicely together. I heard that Maddox refused his nap that day so he could play more with Brock!
The two left out early Monday morning as they had a long trip ahead of them. Charlotte to New Orleans, Louisiana maps out at 10.5 hours and 750 miles.
Driving along the Gulf.... Bay St. Louis, MS
After arriving at the hotel late, the two crashed into their beds pretty soon after arriving. (This would be Brock's #1 hotel - he ranked them at the end of the trip as they stayed in three total!)
The next morning, they met up with another fisherman! Uncle Brian flew in Tuesday morning (he was the smart one and flew one way) to join the fishing adventure! The best way to start a day in New Orleans - enjoy some beignets!!
After a nice healthy breakfast, the trio walked over to explore Bourbon Street. I think Brock's "long drive hangover" was hitting him at this point.
The guys decided to move along as they had a big fishing day ahead of them... and if you can imagine, they had another 90 minutes south to travel to the fishing spot - Venice, Louisiana: "The Yellowfin Tuna Fishing Capitol of the World."
I think Brent really liked this pre-game fishing experience. They got to watch the boats unloading their haul - weighing up some monsters and displaying them on the racks.
Finally, fishing day! They departed Venice Marina at 7am, traveling 15 miles down the very end of the Mississippi River, then another 25 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
It was cold and foggy and choppy on the way out. The boys hunkered down on bean bags in the back of the boat.
It didn't take too long for them to catch some good ones.... but then a REALLY good one hit Brian's reel!
Video of Brian's catch: (Part 1 and 2)
Brian's jumbo yellowfin weighed 90 pounds!!
Brock caught some fish of his own!
That Bonita was a good 25 pounds and was used to catch the bigger yellow fin. They are not good eating fish - too oily - but they make great bait!!
Along with a few yellowfin, Brent caught a big one too!!
It was just the wrong species!! That's an 9-10 foot hammerhead shark!
Alas, time to head in!
The fisherman with their haul!
After a long day fishing, they drove as far as Gulfport, Mississippi to stop for the night. The next day was another long day in the car, but at least he had Brian to help drive part of the way. After stopping in Charlotte and dropping off a good portion of yellowfin and blacken tuna, we still had plenty of fish for us! Vacuum sealed bags for the win!
Kade and I got to hang out for a few days while Brent and Brock took a Spring Break trip (blog to follow). After a visit to the library, we stopped for Chick-Fil-A and tailgated in the Target parking lot. Chick-Fil-A chocolate milkshakes for the win!
Since it was warming up, I treated him to a day at Pullen Park - the Carousel and train are back!
Pretty white tulips in bloom!
$1.50 per ticket for a ride. Three rows of horses/animals to ride on the carousel - they weren't allowing anyone to sit in the middle row due to COVID, so I opted to sit across from Kade. After each ride, workers come by and sanitize every single pole where someone was sitting. The new normal.
We added a new member to the family! Introducing Chip, the Beta fish. The highlight (and fight) every night is whose turn it is to feed him!
This is so fun! They are both reading reading now! And I love that Brock helps Kade with a little harder words along the way (and of course there's some sillies in there!).
A St. Patrick's Day craft on an Asynchronous Day!
Kade wished for M&M's, video games, $10,000,000! Brock wished for a birthday [party] every day, video game time, and a big truck!
Nothing but rainbows for Kade! :)
Kade had his very first Taekwondo tournament at the end of March 2021. That morning he shared he was "excited and a little bit nervous."
He performed wonderfully! He practices his moves all day, every day - he knows the routine so well! His instructor calls on him often to do demonstrations.
That's a huge medal Kade! He also received an award for "Best Punches." Such a proud boy! And a proud big brother!
