USS North Carolina Battleship

This last Wednesday, we took adavantage of Matt being home, and went to visit the USS North Carolina Battleship in Wilmington!!  I knew this was one of those things that I could not do alone!  The steps were incredibly steep and had some very tight spots.  Plus, the railing was not what I would of called kid friendly, so it was great to have Dad's extra set of hands!

I loved the spanish moss hanging from the trees!

 

We picked a great day!  It was warm enough to not be cold down by the water, but not so hot as to fry down inside the ship.  It gave me great respect for the men that worked and lived in the ship- I could only imagine how hot it could of been at times!

Anchors Away!

 

 

 

After we were done looking around on top deck, we went below!  I did not know how everyone would do going down into the ship, but they all really enjoyed it and had plenty of questions.  Dilon even brought his notebook and took notes of new terms and drew pictures.

Here he is in front of one of those new terms- hatch!

Here is Jodie in one of the ships many kitchens.  She loved opening the door, but it made Mamma and Daddy nervous for little fingers!

Dilon and Logan "yawning" and "sleeping" in front of a stack of beds.  Sometimes these beds would actually go 5 high!

"The Wishing Well" This used to be where ammunition was lowered into the belly of the ship, but now it is a place to drop money and see how far down the ship goes.  You could see four floors down!

Jodie and Logan in the steering room.

 

 We left feeling very proud of the military, their families, and the wonderful history of our wonderful Nation!!  I hope our children love our contry and respect it as much if not more than Matt and I do!

Azalea Festival

Since moving to North Carolina, we have been to three festivals...St. Patrick's Day, Earth Day, and the Azalea Festival, and there are plenty more to come!!  I think we have landed in festival captial of the world!!

A few weeks ago (I am a little behind in my blogging), Grandmamma was in town and we headed down to Wilmington for the Azalea Festival.  I took my camera and had planned to snap a lot of pictures, but it did not turn out that way, other than the ones I took of the kids eating and loving their cotton candy!!

This is Gavin. We have been friends with him and his family since we were stationed in California!! We love them and love having them down the street!

 I did have this one as well, a great picture of Jodie and her Grandmamma at the parade!! I love this picture!

Funny Times

Tonight at dinner, Matt was encouraging Jodie to eat.  He told her to put some food in her belly, that it was hungry, which she responded with, "It won't fit."  We assumed she meant she was getting full.  Yet, when we looked over, she was trying to stuff her bread in her belly button!!

We cracked up.  I love the things that children think and do!!

The Great Wall of China

Dilon has been learning about China and its first emperor Qin Zhenh (later Shi Huangdi) who united China and because he worried about the Mongols to the North built the Great Wall of China.  Parts of the wall are made out of rock, but sections go through areas without any rock, and they had to pack the dirt until it became hard as cement.  That is what we did today.  Dilon made a form to hold the dirt and then packed it until it was hard enough to remove the form from around it.

This was our first section.

Dilon enjoyed himself so much he added a few more!  But, comented that it would take FOREVER to do enough to make a Great Wall of China!

While Dilon was doing his "wall". Jodie and Logan played with some craft sticks.  Logan made a house and Jodie made a Dora ladder and boat!

Jodie painting her boat.  She informed me that she would not be looking at the camera, but that I could take a picture of her painting- Yes Ma'm!

Side note:  I knew tiny snipits of this, tiny.  All that I just spouted above, I learned right along with Dilon!

My Little Owl Babies!

 One of our families favorite books is Owl Babies by Martin Waddell.  Even when our family was just Mamma, Daddy, and little Dilon, when we would read this book we would replace one of the owls in the story with Dilon's name.  Then as Logan and Jodie came along, we would continue replacing the names of the owls in the story.  Now, no one knows the names the author picked for the owls- they are Dilon, Logan, and Jodie!!

This is what I was thinking as I made this (super easy) cupcake cake on Saturday. ( I got it from theFamily Fun Magazine.)

 

 And here are our owl babies themselves!

Na Na Na Na Batgirls!

Jodie has found a partner in crime...Batgirls against brothers (ha, ha- Cera has two big brothers as well!)