Memorial Day Getaway

The kids and I hit the beach last weekend while Andy represented the Tuck family at a friend's wedding in Athens. Lots of noise and confusion and fun.
Thankfully, there is no sign of oil yet on the Florida coast. I hope I can say the same in the coming months.



Playing a little Nintendo DS during a break from the beach



Becca burying Evan in the sand



Peanut playing with her bucket



Claire, Will, and Sam



Mom and Dad toasting to how lucky they are to have so many of their children and grandchildren taking over their house!

Cho cho

Santa brought Sam this cool kit that allows you to watch caterpillars grow into butterflies. You buy the "habitat" (a two foot mesh container) and send in a code to request your caterpillars. The caterpillars come in the mail in little cups in which the eat, grow, and change into chrysalsis(es, i?). Then you transfer them into the mesh container and wait for them to become butterflies. Amazing! I loved it more than Sam did. It was so cool to see what a chrysalis looks like and watch the change from caterpillar to butterfly. If your little one loves bugs, they will love this activity.
I think Santa got it at www.insectlore.com or maybe just at Costco :)



PS. Cho cho is the Korean word for butterfly. I learned it from watching PBS Kids with Sam and Lily.




Releasing the butterflies from their habitat



Beautiful butterfly

Auntie Shanny, J.D.

Yay Shanny! She graduated from law school last Friday and we had a weekend full of celebrations in her honor. After the graduation ceremony, we went to dinner with Shannon, her family, and close friends. Good food, good company, just a wonderful night. Saturday we hosted a barbeque at our house so more friends and family could party with the happy grad. We are so proud of our Shanny and all her hard work. She is going to make a kick-ass attorney!



Shannon and her very proud papa



Aah, the scales of justice. Perfect to adorn the table at dinner Friday night.



Lily assisting Oscar with the keg at our party



Mister catching some air in the bouncy house. Yes, we had a bouncy house at a law school graduation party and, yes, the big "kids" bounced too!

Umm... seriously?!

Apparently Huggies Jeans will be available soon in the US. Ew.
Please know that if you put them on your child, I will a) feel sorry for him/her, and b) make fun of you mercilessly.



PS. How cute are those chubby legs in the first picture? Adorable :)

A-hiking we will go...

Some friends invited us to spend the weekend with them in Highlands, NC. We had so much fun! We went hiking to Glen Falls and up Whiteside Mountain. The views were so beautiful and the kids did really well walking on their own on all the trails (a little bribing with ice cream helped a lot!).
I learned a few things out in the wilderness, the first thing being that my son is the SLOWEST human being on the face of this earth. He always brought up the rear while hiking, just strolling along, singing bible school songs, stopping to lament the fact that he cannot snap his fingers, taking close up pictures of his own face, and debating with himself whether or not firefighters are strangers. As a result, I learned I am not as patient as I thought I was! You would not believe how slow he is!! Several times I had to go in front of him (wasn't hard) to take deep breaths and calm down so I wouldn't yank his little hand and drag him down the mountain. I suppose I should just be grateful that I didn't have to carry him the whole way.
Lily loved the whole hiking experience since she got to ride on Andy's back the entire time :)

What's more fun?

The actual present or the box it came in?

Helpful Hint

Don't try to clean caked-on red clay off a pair of rainboots in your bathtub. Trust me on this one.