More Summer

After Duck, we headed home and celebrated our anniversary.

 It was on a Sunday so we didn't do much. Dan got me pretty flowers, though.

Our garden exploded while we were gone.

 A few days after getting back from Duck, I took the kids back to my parents' house to hang out with Ryan and Teresa, as well as Candice, a little bit longer. We went to Bounce n Play, which has greatly improved since I was there last.

 I just love that view!

A new house is going up on the street so we took a walk over to check out the big machinery.

 (That's Lincoln.)

We also melted at the park.

 Can't help it!

 The kids watched movies, played, and just had lots of fun with their cousins.

 We also went to a splash pad. Eli always scratches his bottom and back. He's got dry skin issues. So usually we put him in a onesie. That couldn't happen at the splash pad so he walked around like this a lot.

 And Afton lost a tooth at Grandma and Grandpa' house! She was pretty excited about that. It came out while she was eating a strawberry.

Ryan and Teresa's family left, then we did, and then Candice and her kids drove back to Texas.

Duck! Part 2

We each had to take a turn planning an activity. Our activity was going to the Wright Brothers' Monument and museum in Kill Devil Hills. In January, I read "The Wright Brothers" by David McCullough and I loved it so I was so pumped to go. It was great!

No pictures of the museum, but lots of the monument.

When they were ready to conduct their tests, they looked for somewhere that was mostly un-populated (for secrecy), had few obstructions such as trees, and had strong steady winds. It was suggested that they head down to Kill Devil Hills.

 This rock represents how far they flew on their first flight. All the way from that monument to the rock. There are a few other rocks showing their other flights. I almost got teary being there for some reason. Pretty amazing what they accomplished.

 The rangers had these garbage-bag style kites for the kids to fly.

Later that day we had a "birthday party" with a pinata. I think the red flag was up on the beach so we couldn't swim at the beach that day, so we swam in the pool.

 It took a long time for that minion to die!

 Next up was Pie Face.

 Candice 7 months pregnant with #4!

 Ryan showed us this ingenious way to tie noodles around the smaller kids to keep them floating.

The next morning was kind of cool, so we started with a trip to Jockeys Ridge State Park. It has some big sand dunes and a nature center.

 The wind was really whipping around. The kids hated it because it hurt their legs.

 Afton's face in the next one cracks me up.

 Cracks her up, too, apparently.

 We bought two kites on the way to Jockeys Ridge. They were both totally trashed within 30 seconds of flying them. The wind was way too strong.

We went mini-golfing next, but only got through 9 holes before a storm rolled through and Afton freaked out, so we headed back to the house.

We spent the rest of the week at the beach and pool, eating and visiting.

 Dan and Craig did a few puzzles.

 Wendy and Afton took a few "selfies of themselves."

 And the last night we were graced with a beautiful sunset that we could see from the ship's watch deck at the top of the house.

We had a really awesome week! Thanks, Mom and Dad Cheney for everything.