Katrina, 5 Years Later

We should have known it was too good to be true: no screams, blood, or tattling from upstairs for a solid hour while the grown-ups drank wine and enjoyed some fine dinner downstairs. The next morning, however, we began to understood why. After discovering the ping pong table in the hallway, the destruction throughout the second floor slowly but surely declared itself.

It was evident early-on that no room was spared: not Leigh's room...

...nor Hunter's room...

...nor the playroom.

The most puzzling finding was this: the dresser in Leigh's room, outfitted with 6 completely empty drawers.

Minutes later, however, I was particularly overcome with joy at finding Leigh's entire wardrobe crammed into the blue tote in the corner of Hunter's closet.

SO, the offenders very relucantly chipped in this morning to clean the place up.

Rather than attributing this to 5 stinky children recklessly trashing our house, we like to think that this was their way of honoring the 5-year anniversary of Katrina.

The First

Today was the first day of first grade for our firstborn. And to quote Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that."

Tee to Green

Ever since Mr. Dave introduced Hunter to the driving range, he has been all about the pursuit of golf. So we decided to take the Dynamic Duo this afternoon to the driving range, aptly named Tee to Green.

Although Hunter is an old pro by now, this was Leigh's first exposure to the green. As you can see, she mistook our destiny for ballet class, rather than the driving range.

Leigh's natural flair for the sport was obvious.

But despite her intense focus, we thought it best to take a break from the muggy weather. Once inside the Pro Shop, she got busy pumping iron, LeighO-style.

NC Aquarium

On our return trip from the beach last week, we stopped by the NC Aquarium for a quickie visit with the fish, jellies, alligators, and sharks of NC.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

And More Birthdays

We rounded out this week with two more very important summer birthdays: Miss Serpil and Daddy! We celebrated Miss Serpil's birthday with kabobs and TCBY...

...while Daddy was treated to his favorites, cornflake-encrusted halibut and fruit tacos, which unfortunately crumbled to bits before they ever hit the dessert plates. I'm thinking the humidity was at fault, as this could in no way be related to the pastry chef's skills, or lack thereof.

The encore for Daddy's birthday was this beautiful rainbow, which I took as God's sign to me that He would never again let me work so hard for fruit tacos to disintegrate before my very eyes.

In Motion

Imagine the luck of having an amusement park right in your back yard?!? It just doesn't get any better than having a ferris wheel and Tilt-A-Whirl within walking distance of your hotel...

Marriott Madness

Although we all love being on the beach, there is plenty to love about being in a hotel on the beach. For example, it's always a blast to perch on the air conditioner/heating unit.

Or watch Lucy make faces through her Pack-&-Play mesh.

Better yet, you can try to pick Lucy's nose through the mesh on her Pack-&-Play.

Talking to the Tom Cat on Miss Julie's iPad is worth hours of laughs.

Miss Allie & I cringed everytime we had to get on the elevator, as we knew that a fight over who got to push the button was inevitable EVERY TIME.

I'm sure the hotel staff appreciated our sprinting and screaming down the hall of the lobby.

The Flatulence Patrol worked overtime in the hotel room. 

We felt extremely safe with Leigh and Camo guarding our balcony with their inflatable rifles.

Of course, it's always a great idea to swing from the luggage rack, naked.

And finally, we all settled down to watch Diary of A Wimpy Kid before drifting off at 10:30 pm. WHAT A DAY.