Settling in

We're settling in alright, even though it's been sooo hot!

We had just one day in the last week that it was under 95 degrees. It was still hot, but not 100-hot! So we went to the zoo!
We have to go back soon, because it was so much fun!

Getting a splash!

Since it's been too hot to go to the zoo more than once, we have developed a little routine close to home. In the mornings, we usually go to the pool. In the afternoons, we run Mom's errands and have library time, so we can keep cool! Sometimes, we just stick to the porch, which keeps us very close to the air conditioning.

Usually after dinner, we go to one of the three awesome parks near our house! Three!

This here's our greenway trail, which lets me get to the park on my bike.

We can also take the greenway to the Y and the library, although sometimes when it's daytime, we just drive, on account of the burning middle-Tennessee sunshine.

This is the park at my new school, which I can't even believe starts next week!

This park is the park I call the "Do everything Park" because it has everything! We can get here by greenway too, but it's a big long 2 mile bike ride that I'm not quite ready for yet! So we drive the car. It's worth the trip!

So far, so good! We also discovered that Nashville is a little bit closer to Atlanta, where Mom has some old friends. And so Mom packed us big girls up and took us to her friend's house in Atlanta!

We also had to go to Ikea, since we only got the top of our kitchen table on our last trip!

Before:

After:

Good work Dad!

Goodbye Hello

So, we got behind again. But we've got all kinds of reasons for that. Mostly, it's been all about moving!
Here's a few goodbye playdates and some pictures of the house we loved so well in Raleigh:
With some preschool friends:


With our cousins, first and second:

And at the house. We'll miss our Magnolia!


And we'll miss our monkeybars!

Luckily, we have some Magnolias at our new house. And our neighborhood school has monkeybars. And we can walk there.

We tried to move on Sunday, but then found out there wouldn't be furniture in our house until Tuesday, so we stayed in a hotel near Gatlinburg on Sunday, and one near our new house on Monday. We had a library card before we had our furniture!

And then, we got our stuff and Mom and Dad were very busy, and so we played with our boxes of clothes and Mom's iPhone!

Here's the first room we de-boxed!

Since Tuesday, we've been settling in little by little. We picked up our YMCA membership in TN on Wednesday, and immediately checked out the pool! The YMCA is connected to our neighborhood by way of a greenway trail, so we ride out bikes there!

On the weekend, Mom took her big test and got the score that the folks at Vanderbilt told her she needed to get in. So she was very happy and we went out to relax and explore and not talk anymore about math! Boo geometry! Yay Bluegrass!


This here is a Canjo (made with a Spam can) via Intagram!

The BIG post

We went to the beach this week! Grandma Q told us to pack our bags and head to Atlantic Beach!
Also, Mom got a new iPhone for her birthday, which lets her have fun with pictures, so you might think I'm getting artsy, but really, it is my Mom and her free apps.



The end of the week brought the end of the sunshine, which is ok with Mom, on account of the pretty pictures.

Since the rainy weather didn't roll in until the end of our trip-- we had lots of until time to enjoy sunshiny fun.
We got to the beach in time for the 4th of July fireworks. Our Raleigh neighbor Ms. Em has a house and lots of family and had a BIG July 4th party down the road from us at the beach, so we went over there for some fun!


Fireworks!

We also went to the NC Auarium for Shark day (Tuesday) and Pirate Night (Thursday).
Here some Shark Day pictures!

And here's some from Pirate Night.

Jessa touched a snake!

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We also played lots around Peppertree. See saw!

And we took a ferry ride over to a Barrier Island. This year we did not see horses or sand dollars. We did see lots and lots of fish and other sorts of shells, though. And Dad spotted dolphins!

We looked for shells on Atlantic Beach, too.

And when we'd had enough sun and fun, we spent time together, mostly getting crafty, compliments of Aunt Ann, who gave us all sorts of AWESOME crafts right before the trip! Thanks Aunt Ann!

Little Mermaids

We've been out of touch! We went on vacation to the beach last week, and so we couldn't update on our normal schedule, although we did have a lot to share! So, here you go, a week late:
BIG news. BIG! Our little Mina has gone from non-swimmer to MEET winner in just three and a half weeks! Mina blew the competition away in the backstroke!

Mina, I said, MINA! WOW!

I also had a good night, I was a first-heater for the very first time, which means my times counted for the Amberjacks! I also won my heat for breaststroke. We love the water!

Big times in Quail Hollow!