Fort "Bacon"?

Friday afternoon, we took the kids to Fort Macon but the kids could not stop laughing that it sounded like bacon so for the rest of the trip it became "Fort Bacon". Fort Macon was built and used during the civil war. The kids loved running around the place playing war.




Yes the fort is definitely not kid friendly.


Keean loved the cannon balls!


Ireland posing in front of the visitor center.




Monique resting after chasing the kids through the fort.




The draw bridge!

Hammock Island

Friday we took the kids to Hammock Island beach near the southern part of the Outer Banks. The only way to get to the beach is to take a ferry ride and then walk .5 miles across the island to the beach. The kids loved the ferry ride and made the hike without too much complaints. We played in the water for about three hours.




View from the boat!


The kids tried to make a castle but the tide kept coming in and tearing down the walls. It became a family task that lasted for thirty minutes.


The kids enjoying the ferry ride.


The kids after walking across the island.

Boring Beaufort!

After work today, we took the kids out of the hotel and headed south to Beaufort. We walked up and down the boardwalk. The kids were upset and thought it was boring and a waste of time because we did not ride a boat or buy a toy. We did get them ice cream but that was just not good enough.










Eating ice cream!


My next Big purchase!

New Beds

We promised the kids when we moved that we would get them new beds. There old beds were old and falling apart or too big for their small rooms. Unfortunately there are not many good furniture stores near us. After weeks if looking we finally found a bed that everyone could agree on including the kids and Mom & Dad. It was painful but here are the kids the first night after delivery!




Ireland!


Keean


Harrison


Aedan
"Just let me sleep dad!"

Emerald Isle Beach (N.C)

Today we traveled to Havelock, North Carolina for my work. I have a work meeting tomorrow here so the family came down to play while I am busy. We checked in to the hotel and headed to the beach. We went to the lower Outer Banks. We picked The Emerald Isle beach for Ireland! The kids loved the water and did not want to leave.


Group picture! Say "Salt water"


There is just something about being at the beach and wanting to bury everyone in the sand!


Aedan


Harrison


Keean


Ireland



Even Monique took her turn!



Keean trying to build a sand castle. Sand castles just did not last due to the high tide water!


Ireland finds a hole in the sand!


My two swimming fish!

We Have A House!

We finally closed on the house last week so we have been very busy settling into the home. Our house hold goods were delivered from storage on Friday. All 14,000 pounds of goods took six guys almost eight hours to unload. It will take me nearly 10 times that to unpack! Only a few things were damaged so far. Monique & the kids only got to sleep in their beds one night before heading to Nauvoo for an Elzinga Reunion. I spent all day Saturday & yes Sunday after church unpacking the boxes. I have currently unpacked 78 boxes and am nearly a third of the way. I also spent most if this week installing 17 set of blinds for the windows and five ceiling fans to help keep the house comfortable. I also painted the floor in my garage. I am enjoying the new house but there seems to be a lot of little things to do. Buying a Spec home was great but we did not get to pick things or upgrade anything. Now we will take a few weeks to make this house our perfect home.




New home on Whimsical Court! :)


After ten hours I finally got the kitchen put back together to look like this. I love the look but life without a pantry is going to be very difficult.


One of the "Five-Minute Fans" that took me nearly an hour to install. After installing five I was able to get the time down to 25 minutes but not five as the box promised.



My newly painted garage floor. The man of the house has to have some perks! My next big adventure is getting a shed installed into my back yard. The garage is very narrow and really only has room for two cars.

Washington DC (Trip 2)

Today we passed the time away waiting for our new house by visiting Washington DC again and getting the kids their stamps for their National Parks Passport Book. This was our second trip to the Mall with the kids but the first with the passports. Who knows how many we will make while we are living here. We were able to get Nineteen stamps for most of the Nation Capital locations. This was Aedan's favorite part of the day. He has really enjoyed collecting the stamps. After the stamps, we spent the rest of of the afternoon visiting the National History Museum.







The four kids with their passports. The kids "hit the jack pot" by going on this trip. They got 19 stamps added to their collection. They now have a total of 25. We got 6 on our trip to Utah last summer.





The kids on the steps of the National History Museum with their new pets.





Jaw Part V: The kids Attack!






The four kids and Dad on the Mall. The start of a really long & LOUD day for the family.





Our first stop on the trip was to the National Air & Space Museum. (So Harrison could use the bathroom again) :)






Keean loved the Dinosaur exhibit the most. He really loves studying about Dinosaurs and one day wants to be a Paleontologist.






Ireland's favorite part was definitely the Gems & Jewelry section. Diamonds will certainly be her best friend!






Harrison's favorite part of the day was taking pictures of everything with his new camera he got from his Birthday money. He took well over 200 pictures in the Gem section. His love for taking pictures must be a family thing. :)