Hurricane Isaac

As a kid, I can remember running to our sun room at the first crack of thunder to watch it storm outside. In September 1989, I remember standing with my dad in the driveway watching the eye of Hurricane Hugo pass over our house in Hickory. That is when my fascination with hurricanes began.

A couple months ago, Isaac and I were flipping through his National Geographic for Kids when we came across the list of names for this year’s hurricane season and realized his name was on it. I told him then that when Hurricane Isaac came along we’d have a hurricane party. I mean, seriously, how often is a hurricane named after you right?!

Fast forward to this week, with Tropical Storm Isaac headed to the Gulf of Mexico with a good chance of becoming a hurricane. Yesterday we spent learning time making hurricane warning flags, paper hurricanes, and plans for our big party. Isaac learned the ins and outs of how a hurricane works, how they send planes in to track them, and even watched some video of the wind and waves that come with them. He seems to be as fascinated with it as I am, which totally thrills me!

Tonight, just as Hurricane Isaac was making landfall in Louisiana, our hurricane party (complete with some of our favorite neighbors) went in to full swing.

The boys and I with our decorations. Yes, I went all out and “boarded” the kitchen windows with cardboard. I mean it has to be realistic right?

And yes, those are my very own rain coveralls. I told you I’m nuts about weather!

I laughed when the neighbor kids came over and said “I didn’t even know today was a holiday to celebrate.” To which his mother, Lynn, responded “It’s not a holiday, you know Rachel will come up with any excuse to have a party and make a cake!”

Isaac with his hurricane Isaac cake.

The kids after enjoying their dinner by hurricane lamp!

It’s clear and dry outside in Wake Forest right now, and Isaac doesn’t quite understand that his hurricane isn’t coming this way, but we sure did have fun evening with our friends! One day when the kids look back at these pictures, they’ll say one of two things: 1) My mom was a complete whack job but boy did we have fun. Or 2) My mom sure could come up with some fun stuff and went all out to make it perfect! Either statement will be fine with me!!

Catching Up

I’ve fallen a little behind on blogging over the past couple of weeks. We’ve all been battling a lovely end of summer cold that I am so over and ready to be completely rid of !! But that hasn’t stopped us from having fun.

Wripley has taught Lucas how to lay on the couch.

We found a science workbook at Target, and the boys have really enjoyed trying out the experiments.

Cornstarch Goo (in hindsight this should be an outdoor activity)

Chromatography Butterflies (these doubled as décor for cousin Madeline’s birthday party)

Lava or Wave Bottles with the cousins

Baking Soda/Vinegar to blow up a balloon (doesn’t Aunta look nervous?)

For more cousin fun, check out Aunta’s blog.

On the artistic side, Isaac drew his first family picture!

And last, but certainly not least, we taught Lucas how to dunk his Oreos!

He evidently needs lessons on how to get them in his mouth!

Wake County schools started today, so the pool is closed for the summer and our new fall scheduled started this morning. We’re back to bus stop walks and trips to the library, church and the store. We’ve even got a few trips planned for the fall. One thing is for sure, we always find a way to have fun!

Meet the Pack 2012

Today we visited Carter Finley Stadium for Meet the Pack Day. The Ward’s (Brian, Amanda (Daddy’s Cousin), Gage & Lorelei) are in town this weekend and what better place for three rambunctious little boys than the football stadium?

Gage & Isaac enjoying some wolfpack ice cream

Isaac holding up the wolf statue. He and Gage spent a good half hour trying to climb up high enough to touch the wolf.

Unfortunately, today's activities were just getting autographs from the players. Isaac could have cared less. He was there ready for some football. I mean, he was ready….ready to take the field! How would you like this guy staring you down Mike Glennon? Scared aren’t you?

Lucas didn’t know what was going on, and he really wasn’t so sure about these guys writing on his back. It evidently tickled!! He gave each receiver a high five and said thank you after each autograph.

A little difficult to see, but he did get quite a few autographs on that tiny little back!

Isaac and Gage enjoying a second round of refreshments. This time snow cones!

Daddy got to practice his on camera skills when Channel 14 news interviewed him. He tried to act all shy, but we all know Captain Politics loves to be in front of a camera!

Now that we’ve met the Pack, it’s time to see them play.  Ahh football season…one of the most wonderful times of the year!!

Happy Endings

On the ride home we stopped off at Clingman’s Dome to do some exploring. The boys were immediately drawn to climbing on the huge rocks.

Mr. Hide & Go Seek

Anything brother can do, Lucas can do too!

After prying them off the rocks we started our walk to the top of Clingman’s Dome. A quick half mile walk. About 100 feet into the walk, there was a HUGE crack of thunder. Brian and I, in unison, turned and started leading the boys back to the car. Brian said “I really don’t want to get wet”…I told him “well that’s good, but I don’t really want to die getting struck by lightning on top of a mountain!” Either way, Isaac was just happy we weren’t going to walk anymore and Lucas was just ready for a snack.

We continued our ride over and down the mountain into Cherokee where we met a nice Cherokee Indian (not sure that’s the politically correct term, but if you know me at all you know I’m not all that great at politically correct.) Lucas was curious and allowed for a picture…his face seems to say “just don’t let him touch me”!

Isaac on the other hand, just wasn’t having it. He stood back with me while I took Lucas’ picture and immediately buried his head when Brian took him for his picture. In Isaac’s defense, this was his first experience and the guy was a little daunting for a little kid.

But while he wasn’t all that big on talking to the Indian, he and Lucas were both all about BEING little indians! These two played drums, tomahawks and spears the whole way down the mountain.

We stopped in Hickory to pick up Wripley and get some play time in before heading home. The boys played at the new Zahra Baker Memorial Park in Hickory. And of course the daredevils all had to go as high as they could.

Tonight we’re home, safe and sound. The boys were tucked into bed at a more normal bedtime and the last load of laundry is currently spinning. Isaac is still talking about the week’s adventures, and it warms my heart to know he had such a wonderful time. I know I enjoyed all the adventures and look forward to hitting the road again in the future!

WONDERful Day

Thursday we ventured over to Pigeon Forge to see what kind of adventures we could find there. We ended up at WonderWorks…the kind of museum that even Aunta would like. It had all kinds of hands on activities, rides, and exhibits. I mean who wouldn’t want to go into an upside down building!?

My two little astronauts….

The boys playing puzzle. Isaac really didn’t appreciate Lucas’ help all that much.

Isaac showing off his bubble skills that Boppa taught him!

Brian and I tried out the bed of nails. Very odd feeling and not something I think I could get a good night’s sleep on regularly.

After we finished up at WonderWorks we grabbed a quick bite to eat on the way back to the hotel. As soon as we got in the room, Isaac was tearing off his clothes and putting on his swimsuit. He and Brian went swimming while Lucas and I took a nap and watched some of the Olympics.

Lucas found that if you stand on the air conditioner you can see big brother swimming from the room.

For dinner we decided on Hungry Bear BBQ. It was somewhat of a hole in the wall kind of place on the outskirts of Gatlinburg. It was hands down the best BBQ and fixin's I have EVER had. The boys enjoyed it too.

Mommy made the mistake of only ordering one ear of corn, but the boys did manage to share quite well.

On the way home, we stopped at Kilwin’s for ice cream. Then it was back to the pool for a late night swim.

This picture was taken at 10:45 pm, way past bedtime. Don’t they look tired??

We have had a great time together in Gatlinburg. Today we’re heading back towards Cherokee to camp another night or two before heading back to the sweltering hot of the big city.

Ober Gatlinburg

We spent all day Wednesday at Ober Gatlinburg. Kids 4 and under get to do everything with their parents for free, so this worked out well for us. We purchased adult wrist bands that gave us unlimited access to pretty much everything we consider fun and proceeded to get our money’s worth a few times over!

Isaac’s first stop was the giant water slide, and he chose daddy to go with him. He walked all the way to the top of the 5 story slide all by himself (quite an accomplishment for a boy who’s legs were too tired to walk across the lobby of the hotel on the way to the park. funny how motivated he suddenly became!).

Next stop, train rides. I think the boys rode this train four different times throughout the day. Lucas yelled “all aboard” pretty much the entire time he rode.

Next, it was on to the cars. After 3 rides, we took Lucas off this ride kicking and screaming. He really liked the cars a lot.

As it turns out, he liked the motorcycle just as well! I am not kidding at all when I say these boys rode the cars and the motorcycles a minimum of 15 times (Like I said, we got our money’s worth out of this trip!)

And there’s still more to do. Isaac took Mommy on the yellow water slide. Later he would ride the green slide on the left with his Daddy. These were 4 stories high…this kid knows no fear!

To slow things down a bit, we did the maze. Isaac enjoyed this for the first 5 minutes and then he was kind of done with it…but honestly so was I. It was hot in the maze.

We met the River Otter during our quick lunch break. Lucas gave him a high five, but said no pictures!

The off to mini golf…Lucas made a hole in one on every hole. Brian would help him putt the first time and then Lucas would chase it down and put it in the hole before it could stop rolling. Isaac played a little more by the rules and did a pretty good job all on his own!

Finally, the big adventure of the day…the chair lift to the alpine slide. We weren’t sure Lucas could go the first time around, so Isaac chose Mommy to go with him this time.

The alpine slide was awesome!! It runs along side a ski slope and goes pretty fast. Isaac really enjoyed this and had to take his Daddy back right away even though there was a line!

On this trip, we got permission to take Lucas up the chair lift and on the alpine slide too. He was exhausted and almost fell asleep on the way up, but the slide woke him up for a few more minutes of fun!

Brian and Isaac waiting for their turn on the slide.

And he’s out…

When we picked out today’s activity, we thought “well they might enjoy this”. This turned out to be well above our expectations and we had a great day. To top it off on our ride on the aerial car back down the mountain we saw a mama bear and 2 cubs right outside someone’s house! I was too busy making sure Isaac saw them to get a picture but it sure was a cool way to end our day! Now how are we going to top this tomorrow?