Sports and snakes!

We're getting settled in now that it's almost fall. We even managed to start our fall sports!

For Mina, fall sports means Soccer.

Mommy signed me up for soccer too, but then she stumbled across a local fall swim team for younger kids.  I love to swim the best, so I told Mom that is what I really wanted and Mom took me off the soccer team and moved me on over to swim.  I then discovered that fall swim team is a little tougher than summer swim team at the neighborhood pool, and then I had some second thoughts, but like Mom says, it's paid for until December, and I'm going.

 

Jess mostly plays around in the baby pool when I swim and on the grass when Mina has soccer.  She's too little for either!  Sure is cute though!



 

Mommy got settled in too, but then she missed our old friends in Raleigh and she left for the weekend to go visit them in the mountains.  That's a deer that Mrs. Nicole is feeding!

Apparently though, it was not all fun and games! Mrs. Leslie got bit by a copperhead in Friday night, so she had to go right to the hospital, where she stayed the whole weekend long.  Mrs. Leslie's fine now (after a course of morphine and anti-venom), but since we're going camping with our friends from Northern Virginia soon, Mom will be sure to pack sneakers and lots of jeans!

Anyway, all's well that ends well, and everyone is home safe and sound now.  Mom got home Sunday, just in time to get Mina ready for her first day of Pre-K (well, second day, technically, since she already had a first year of Pre-K last year).  Also, Mina is telling everyone her name is Marina.  She's right of course, but I'm not sure it will stick after being Mina for so long.  We'll see!



OBX with my friends from NoVA!

Beach Week with our buddies! (hair by Ms Jen!)

Of course, we had the best time ever at the beach last week.  We went down the ocean every day except Wednesday, and stayed for hours and hours. 
Here are some of the highlights:

Ready for fun in the sun!

Dad looks ready for a beer!

Jessa!



in the swing



Mina pulled around Marissa for about an hour one day.



Sand Fiddler?



Sand Fiddlers!

I really, really got into the Boogie Board on this trip.  I am glad my friends had one that I could borrow!

When we weren't at the beach, we were usually yucking it up in the house.  And when we were weren't doing that, we were foraging for treats in Corolla!

Putting on a "play"

Hanging out on the upper patio

In Corolla Village:

Duck Donuts!

We had a great week with our super great friends! It was sad to leave, but of course we had to, on account of school and work and all that.  On Saturday morning, we started our trip back to Nashville-- but we only made it as far as the Triangle! We had to see our realtor in Raleigh (our house is under contract!) so Mom trucked us on over to the Skinny Dip of Raleigh while Dad talked turkey with Wilson at the house.  And who did we see at the 'Dip?  The Howard kids!

We stayed over at Grandma Q's Saturday night.  What a way to break up a roadtrip!

Have you ever seen so many smiles in one picture?!

Jessa hearts Ben. 

Post 1: the last day of Summer Vacation and the First Day of School!

So we got behind again!  So you get two posts this week, instead of just one.  The first one marks the last day of Summer Vacation, which we celebrated at the Nashville Zoo. Jess had a mouthful of animal crackers (which she ate all at once in honor of all the zoo animals), so she looks a little strange.   

 

As you can see, she's still our beautiful baby faced Jessa.  Here she is in the bounce house.

And with the Lorakeets, which we fed too, but Mina did not like at all.  Mina, it turns out, does not like the birds to eat off her hands.  Mommy had guide Mina through her mini-panic attack, and so she didn't save a picture.  Mina was fine, just so you know. 

She recovered just in time to catch the awesome giraffes!

And we had to go back to the New World, which is where they keep the Python that I like so well.

And then it was Thursday, and the first day of school! First Grade!

The first day was only a half day, and then on Friday we went all day.  Mina and Jess waited for me at the water fountain both afternoons, which was very nice.  And then I went to the beach for a week while all my new friends sat in their desks and worked, worked, worked. Lucky for me!

The last days of summer vacation

Urgh! School starts early in Tennessee! Really Early! Thursday early!
SO I'm fitting in all I can in the last few days of summer vacation. And also, I understand that Mom and Dad are taking me on vacation during week two of school, so it's what we call a pump fake school start.
They booked the vacation before we knew we were moving. And Jess and Mina don't have preschool until September, which is too bad for Mina. Mina always has a happier time when she can go to school every day.

Anyway, it is still our last days of summer in Tennessee, and while we're here,we are enjoying it.
We love the pool. We use lots and lots of sunscreen.

So Jessa's skin stays just as pretty as it is now.

We're also starting to enjoy our backyard!
Jessa's learning how to swing the bat and we're getting ready for soccer season, which starts the end of August at the YMCA.

And we take in the festivals around town. This one is from the Irish Roots Festival. Jessa loves to jig!

She also likes to pull the wagon on the greenway trail (even though she can't always get what she wants).

Next week, we'll tell you all about my first days as a first grader. I met my teacher tonight at a before school social, and she's super sweet! She's also super educated which Mom digs. (a doctor-teacher!). And there's just 18 kids in my class, which is an improvement over last year's 26.

So, I'm ready to learn!

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!