Saturday, June 13, 2009

Swim Lessons

J.Riley is taking swim lessons with our neighbor Avery. Our neighbors have a beautiful pool, and I hired a girl I know that lifeguards at ETSU to give them lessons. J.Riley is doing surprisingly well. She is teaching him to swim without floaties. He has been diving underwater for sticks,learning to blow bubbles while he is under. Kicking seems to be the thing he is having the most trouble with. He has a hard time keeping his legs up out of the water and wants to look over his shoulder constantly to make sure he is splashing! I am very proud of him for being so brave and taking instructions from some one other than me :)







Friday, June 12, 2009

Day out with Thomas

Thomas the train made an appearance close by. He pulled into Tweetsy Railroad in Blowing Rock, Nc and we just had to take a ride! This was my first experience going to Tweetsy, Brent had been  before when he was young. J.Riley is not super obsessed with Thomas the train..not with anything really. He does like him and loves riding on trains so we gave it a shot. I have to admit the morning started out pretty rough. The ride there was full of whining and fighting and I just knew our day was going to be a bust. So what do you do? PRAY!! It ended up being a great day. We got there at about 11:00 and ate lunch right away to beat the crowds. Rode a few rides and then boarded Thomas at 1:00. We spent the rest of the day riding rides and eating ice cream!  Tweetsy is just the right size for toddlers. Not to overwhelming but big enough to spend the day. J.Riley is our daredevil..he wants to ride every ride and on his own of course. Ava was unsure of almost every ride but if she was clinging our shirts, she did pretty well. They were happy and very well behaved. Ava even made it until 3:30 without a nap or a melt down! I would definitely recommend the trip!







A Garden?!?


Can you believe it! Yes, the picture is to prove it!! Our garden is growing! We have had so much fun watching it grow. Seriously everyday there is something different. J.Riley has enjoyed watering the plants and pulling some weeds. He helped me pick some lettuce. We have already made a few salads with it! It is such a rewarding experience to eat something that you have actually grown in your very own garden. We have spotted a few tomatoes and a few big yellow flowers on our squash plants! It won't be long! Yes Martha..move on over!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Memorial Day


We have started summer Officially! The Long family hosted our first low country boil at our house on Memorial Day weekend! For those of you who don't know what a low country boil is...here it it goes. Basically you throw, corn, kielbasa, shrimp, potatoes, onions, some spices, and whatever else you want into a turkey fryer and let it boil. Then you dump it all on a big table and everyone stand around and eats with their hands. It is so much fun! and YUMMY!! We had my family including great Grammy and Brent's family over for our first outside party of the year. We have just put a roof over out patio and we are so looking forward to doing lots of entertainment this summer. Cornhole, beer, and a low country boil..can't get much better!