Camping and a Carnival

Let's skip the excuses on the long overdue blog post and get right to it, shall we?  Yeah, I thought so.

We went camping in Ocracoke.  We had a great time.  It was in June but I'm just now posting.  I'm slack.  Sorry.  Oh, but I said I wasn't going to go into that.  Sweet!  Smooth sailing from here on out.

We played on the beach all day.  It was great.  Kingston didn't go to sleep either night until about 11:30.  We just let him play the iTouch until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.  Sometimes you just do what you gotta do.  We did.

Kingston was not so impressed with the Ocracoke lighthouse, having seen the Cape Hatteras up close and having climbed the Corolla.  Ah, well.  It killed some time and he fell asleep on the truck ride back to the campsite so it was worth it.

Surprisingly, we kept the mosquitoes at bay.  Worse, perhaps, were the sandspurs (which Kingston called sandbars).  He is still worried about sandbars any time he steps somewhere that is natural ground and not a man-made ground of sorts.

My 2 favorite boys on the ferry.  Well, my 2 favorite boys in the world, who happened to be on the ferry when the picture was taken.   You know what I mean.

A few days after coming home from our camping trip (or maybe it was a few weeks-it was so long ago I can't even remember) a friend of mine took this picture of Kingston and Nigel at the top of the Ferris wheel at a local carnival.  Kingston was so brave.  He wasn't scared at all, just got chilly at the top.  Nigel certainly didn't mind the extra snuggles.

We've been busy this summer.  So busy I haven't had time to blog.  Or at least that's my current excuse.  Oh, wait.  No excuses.  Enjoy this post!  Who knows when there will be another one. ;)

Happy July!

So far July has been busy and filled with fun. We went to some friends' house the day before the 4th (which would be the 3rd for you people who are good with dates) for a pot luck and fireworks. The party was so much fun! There were tons of people there and the number of kids under about the age of 10 was staggering! Kingston enjoyed playing and wandering around and getting jumped on in the bouncy house. We had a great time. Until. . .

We geared up for the fireworks. We had our chairs out, our juice (or beer, as the case may be) cups, and our flag.



Kingston marched to the patriotic music and kept asking when the big-loud fireworks would start. He was pumped!


The fireworks were a big hit. Actually the first 2 were pretty cool. After that, and after the noise got really rapid-fire and loud, the ash and cardboard started to rain from the sky, and people started running for cover, Kingston was not having any more of it. He fa-reaked. Screaming, "I wanna go hoooome!" I picked him up. "My juice cup!" I grabbed it. "Mommy juice cup!" I grabbed it. "Chaaaairs!" Nigel gathered them up. "Backpaaaaack!" Snatched it up. Headed to the car. We tried to convince him to watch them from the car but he was having none of it. He kept repeating that he wanted to go home. He has told the story over and over and over since then.

Fireworks. Maybe next year. Notsomuch this year.

On the actual 4th of July we spent the afternoon and evening at Jerm and Cole's house. They have a party every year and this year was possibly the best yet. Kingston loved swimming in the pool and even played a lot in the water without his swimmies on. He kept asking to jump off my leg and sink and then try to come to the surface. He can almost get himself back up to the top! So cute and so brave!

Nigel and our friend, Granger enjoyed a few PBR's by the pool.



Uncle Bill helped Kingston and Da-da build a "big, big choo-choo track."

Kingston enjoyed some coooold watermelon.

The 4th was great-especially since we didn't see a single firework. Kingston was happy about that.


On Tuesday we went with my friend Michelle and her 2 kids to a special showing of Sesame Street at Festival Park. It was totally lame! Well, Kingston was fairly entertained but I was not a fan. The costumes were pretty bad and the characters voices were not even close to the real thing. The only character who sounded fairly close was Grover. And Kingston got to hug him after the show.

The best part of the morning was having a picnic on the lawn with a bunch of friends.

We've been spending a lot of time at the beach, and Kingston is really starting to have a great vocabulary and appreciation of language. He is starting to pick out rhyming words and really cracks up when I say things like, "You ate a peach at the beach!"

I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings! So far so good.

And on the running front, my knee is feeling great and I actually ran 4 days in a row this week. Granted, I never did more than 2.8 miles, but at least I was out there. Tomorrow I am going to do a mock 5K and see if I can get some faster splits. I may be running a 5K race next weekend. More on that if it really goes down!

A Day at the Beach

Kingston chose his outfit to wear to the beach. Good choice, huh? We could not convince him to wear his flip flops. He wanted to wear his shoes instead. And why even bother with a bathing suit?



Nice ribs, kid. You get those from your daddy. I'm not sure anyone has ever seen a rib of mine. Ever.



We took his surfboard (or his "boom-boom" as he calls it) but he didn't want to ride it. Nor did he want Dad to ride it. . . "Mine! Mine! Miiiiiiine!"

But when Pappy arrived to play, things got better. Three generations of crazy Haynes boys loving the water-cold or not!

We spent all day Saturday at the beach. Kingston wasn't a big fan of the cold water at first and kept saying he wanted to go home, but after a little coaxing and some ignoring and a little bribing, we ended up staying for a long time! Only mildly sunburned and really tired, we went home and all took naps. Kingston slept for almost 4 hours! I love what going to the beach does for the Haynes family!!!

Now if the water will just warm up, I will get some shots of Kingston on his "boom boom"! Bring on the summer!

Beachin'

Kingston, Nigel and I spent the morning at the beach today. It rained really hard last night and was sprinkling this morning but we decided to try the beach anyway in hopes that we would get at least an hour in.

Three hours later we were on our way home with our John's Drive In take out, sleeping in our carseat. Well, Kingston was the only one sleeping in his carseat, but you know what I mean.

The beach was gorgeous. A little overcast when we got there but it ended up being the perfect beach day, and the perfect morning to take really good photographs. If only I had a really nice camera and lens I would have taken fabulous pictures. But my little old point and shoot didn't let me down. If you can peel your eyeballs away from the really cute kid, take a look at the clouds in the background. Amazing.

We have another big day tomorrow with brunch with some friends and then a beach party in the afternoon. Should be a good time.

Beach, Biting and Bad Backs

Nigel's back is slowly getting better. Thanks for asking. He went to a quackropractor chiropractor today to see if he could offer any relief and this evening Nigel was well enough to do some dishes! I DO believe! Seriously, his back is loosening up and he is feeling much better.

Kingston got in trouble at Ms. Cindy's today. He bit a little girl on the hand because she leaned against the chair he was leaning on. Ms. Cindy jokingly said this particular little girl often deserves such a reaction but this time she really didn't do anything! She gave Kingston a very strong warning and said next time it happens he will go straight to Time Out. He bit me tonight when I told him not to grab something off of the counter and I put him in Time Out. It took a few tries of firmly placing him on his Time Out chair before he took me seriously. By the time I went back to get him he sure did look sorry and sweet! All was forgiven for now. Rumor has it Kingston's dad was quite the biter when he was a wee tot. Biting just may be hereditary, I think, and Kingston surely didn't get it from me (insert angelic smile here).

Sunday (before the tragic back injury) we played at the beach with Pappy and Ms. Brandi. Kingston has gotten over his obsession with running straight for the water and now likes to play in the sand and in buckets of water. He still likes to play in the surf but will hold your hand and doesn't have to spend every minute there. Pappy decided to take Kingston out in the water on his orange raft. Kingston wore his swimmies on his arms. I was casually taking pictures and later realized I had pictures before, during and after the wipeout that took Kingston off the raft. Good times.

Kingston took the wipeout. He should have the backache. Give him 30 more years. By then everything will cause a backache!

Catching Up

Are you ready for a bunch of pictures to make up for not posting for a whole week? Will that make everything right again?

I mean, what if I show you a picture of Kingston and me at the park? Kingston's not looking at the camera but I am. Sometimes it's about me. Most of the time it's about Kingston. Just this once it is about me. Thank you very much.

What if I show you a picture of my big boy going down the slide all by himself? Are you feeling me?




Or is it going to take this picture of the cutest boy on the planet (or at least at Hayman Park one day last week) to make you forgive me?

Apparently it is going to take a few really sweet pictures of Kingston at the beach to persuade you to continue reading my blog.



Will you promise not to turn Kingston and Pappy in for playing on the dune? I'm sure it wasn't legal but they both had a ton of fun! I'm really not asking for much here.

Now you know you couldn't possibly still be mad after all of that. And if you are, please look at this cute picture of Lee and Kingston. Kingston doesn't look so great but Lee does! She and her husband Chris are in town from Brooklyn for a few days. Kingston and I had a great time at her party on Monday night.





There now. Please forgive. But please don't forget. I will post another fun one again soon. Thank you, come again.