In Sims' World

I have a few stories about Sims that I thought were funny/cute/tender, and I wanted to share.  About a week ago, Sims was riding his rocking horse, which he doesn't really rock on anymore.  He travels around the room on it instead.  I overheard him say to his teddy bear Tim, "Come on, Tim," as he was trying to get Tim to ride behind him.  A little bit later, after Sims had moved on to other toys, Tim was still sitting on the horse.  Sims walked over and said, "My turn, Tim," and he promptly moved Tim out of his way and got on the horse himself.  I just love hearing him talking to his toys and stuffed animals like they understand him.

Yesterday morning, Sims was sleeping in a bit later than normal, and I had to wake him up.  I turned on the light, then I went over to rub his back.  He pushed my hand away and said, "NO!  Come back."  I asked if he wanted me to leave and come back in a minute, to which he said, "Okay."  I guess he woke up on the wrong side of the crib, but it really tickled me.

Last night, we were reading books before bedtime.  He wanted to read I Love You Through and Through, and there is a page where the little boy is crying and his teddy bear is running away from him.  To be honest, I really don't know why the bear is running from the child, except maybe the crying is too loud for the little bear.  It's not something that Sims has ever noticed before, so I haven't really thought about it.  Last night, he definitely noticed it though.  For some reason it really upset him that the bear was running from the boy, and Sims was on the verge of tears.  I explained to him that his teddy bear Tim always wants to be with him.  It doesn't matter if Sims is happy or sad or crying.  Tim is happy to be with him.  Sims hugged Tim, and he seemed much more comforted with Tim in his arms.  When it was time to go bed, Sims wanted Tim to sleep with him.  Right before he fell asleep, he said, "I'm gonna go night-night, Tim."  Let me tell you, this whole exchange almost broke my heart into a million pieces!

Visit with Susie

Mom and her college roommate Susan came to visit this past weekend.  For many years now, Susie has joined us for our family beach week in August.  This year we have pushed the beach trip back to September, which may mean that Susie can't join us.  We couldn't go another year without seeing her!  So she took a trip up from Georgia to visit for a while.

I have to say that Susan might as well be a family member.  We all love her so much, and she is super fun!  For as long as I can remember, visits from Susie were always very exciting.  She and my mom would laugh the entire time.  When I was small, I didn't always get what was so funny, but I loved watching them have so much fun together.  Now I can join in on the fun, too!

Not only is Susie tons of fun, but she is also an incredibly talented pianist.  Here is a video of one of the pieces she played at her big Chopin concert in November. 

We had a wonderful, fun weekend hanging out at the pool, eating lots of great food, and celebrating my birthday (of course.)  We took almost no pictures this weekend.  I really wanted a picture of all of us, but in the end, everyone refused to have their picture made in the hopes that it would encourage Susie to join us at the beach in September!  It just wouldn't be the same without her!

Busy Summer

This summer started off kind of lazy - just the way you want the summer to be.  Things sped up quickly though, and we are now in the mad dash to the end of the summer.  (I always see the end of summer being in mid-August when all the students come back to campus.  It may technically be the summer until September, but it won't feel like it to me.) 
This past weekend we went to Mom and Smith's in Shelby for the first time since October.  We had a mini family reunion, and it was so much fun!  My sister Ame and her family, my Uncle Larry and Aunt Diane all came for the day.  Alex, Neely and Isla were also there.  We had so much fun getting to see family who we rarely get to see anymore.  We spent most of the afternoon on the lake, even though the weather was surprising cooler than we are used to in the summer, especially after the sweltering 101 degree temp we saw last Tuesday.

Sims was so excited about going on the boat.  Once we got out there, he said, "No fun.  House."  I don't think he liked the stop-and-go of the boat with everyone trying to ski.  Who knows?  He got over it though.  He was just much happier swimming.

For dinner, the party got even larger.  Mom and Smith invited a group of their close friends, with whom we all love to hang around.  What a wonderful Saturday!  We were so exhausted on Sunday because of it.  I have a couple of pictures from the weekend, but I will have to post them later.

Now that we are back home, we are busy, busy, busy.  I am trying to make sure we have everything we need for our trip to London, which will be here in a little over 2 weeks.  Mom and her college roommate Susan will be coming to town later in the week (PARTYTIME!), and Jason and I are trying to get back into running.  Running in the evening seems to be a major time sink, but we are enjoying it so far.  It just means that my to-do list or want-to-do list is getting longer and longer.

More Down East

I still have more photos to show you from our trip down east.  These are from our adventures outside of Edenton. On Sunday, we took a trip across the sound to Somerset Place and Phelps Lake.  We went in the morning because it was blazing hot.  Somerset Place was one of the largest plantations in the upper South at one time.  Unfortunately, it wasn't open, but we walked around the grounds and met some new friends. 

I thought this was a much nicer way to direct everyone to the restrooms.

After we explored around Somerset Place, we walked over to Phelps Lake.  This lake is pretty large at around 5 x 8 miles.  It's also really shallow.  The max depth is 9 feet.  As we watched this group put their boat in the water, we were amazed at how shallow it was even around the dock.  In this picture the boat was at least 20 feet from the dock.

We were so jealous of these people.  If we had brought our swim suits, I think we would have broken the rules and swum off of the dock.  Supposedly the water is crystal clear, when you get away from the shore.  This would definitely be a fun place to return to with a boat.

The next day, we drove to Elizabeth City to visit the Dismal Swamp State Park.  We didn't get to explore much of the park (Did I mention that it was hot?), but we did a quick tour of the visitor center and walked on a 1/4 mile loop trail.  To get to the visitor center, you have to cross the Dismap Swamp Canal.

At the visitor center, we got to touch a lot of the stuffed, wild animals that are native to the area.  We probably weren't supposed to touch them, but we felt daring and petted badgers and the like.  Sims got to get up close and personal with a bear.

They became fast friends.

Sims hugging the bear

The drive to Elizabeth City was like being in Kansas or Oklahoma.  I haven't seen farms like that, since my road trip out west.  At one point we drove by at least 5 straight miles of corn.  It was never ending!  It was so pretty, but I definitely did not feel like I was in North Carolina.  I had no idea we had a mini Mid-West around here, which goes to show that I need to explore more of my state!

Beautiful, Historic Edenton

We had so much fun exploring the town of Edenton, but let me tell you, it was HOT!  We had to do our exploring in small spurts, mixing in activities that involve air conditioning or the pool.  I took so many photos on this trip, and I believe I showed you the only one that I am in yesterday.  (You got to see the back of my head.)  I have tried to whittle down the photos to a manageable size, but I still have a lot to show.  So sit back and enjoy the Edenton part of our trip.

We found a house for sale that we immediately fell in love with.  This is the house where we are supposed to live!  Unfortunately, the house is way out of our price range.  But for the sake of dreaming, I'm going to show it to you anyway.  You can all pretend to come visit us at our new home.

It's much bigger than it looks at 3100 square feet.  It's not waterfront, but it has a view of the water.  It also overlooks the Chowan County Courthouse square, which has a monument for Joseph Hewes, who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Another view of "our" house in the middle.  See the water on the right.

View of the Joseph Hewes monument

Every Fourth of July, the Declaration of Independence is read at this monument.  So we could hear the reading from our front porch with a view of the water.  Sounds perfect to me.

It's good to dream, isn't it?

Fourth of July

Jason, Sims and I spent the long weekend in the Edenton area.  We love being down east and are constantly dreaming of moving there.  This was our first time to Edenton, and we did a lot of exploring of the surrounding area.

It seemed fitting to be in Edenton on Independence Day, where they staged their own tea party back in 1775.  To celebrate, we went to the Edenton Fourth of July festival, which was held downtown at the waterfront.  I loved the small town feel of it.  We ate eastern NC barbeque, rode a train and watched a mechanical bull riding competition.  Some lucky people even arrived by boat.

Later in the evening, we found a tent that was serving beer, wine and cheese, so we hung out there while a small storm blew through.  We even stayed to watch the fireworks, which was a first for Sims.  I'm still not sure how much he liked them, but if you ask he will say that they were pretty and loud.  Very true.  It was the perfect ending to the day!

Tomorrow I will post more about our adventures down east.  I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July!