Happy Father's Day (one week late)

Where did last week go??

We had a very hectic last week but we also got a little break!!

We left on Saturday after the Market to visit my parents lucky for us they are near the beach so Lee took his boat and fishing gear.

We left home about 5 pm so we got there close to 9 pm. Too late to do anything but go to bed and let Popa & Grandma spend time with the boys. Since Sunday was Father's Day me & Lee had planned to get up early (5 am) and go fishing- this was his gift from me! We had a really nice time just the 2 of us although we did not catch any fish...... We stopped by Clem's picked up shrimp and went home and had Father's Day lunch. My parents have a pool for the kids so we got in there with the boys and played awhile. Rosty is becoming a really good swimmer. He is even going under water now! After everybody napped we took the boys back to the beach and played in the water and sand for a little while.

On Monday I had an eye doctor's appointment. I got very sick afterward and was on the couch all day long with a headache. I started feeling a little better and called to see if Lee had any luck fishing....none. He came back and we took Rosty out riding the boat in the river.

On Tuesday Lee caught a Spanish Mackerel & 3 crabs (in the crab pots) YEAH!!! But was had to leave and come back home.......

It was very nice to get away for a few days but now we got the "fever" and want to go back to the beach again!!!!

Tweetsie RR 2009

This was our 4th annual trip to Tweetsie RR to see Thomas the Tank Engine.

Being this is our 4th time going we finally have a routine that works. We leave on Thursday night drive to Boone. Stay at the same hotel (with an indoor pool) and walking distance from Chic-Fil-A (indoor playground). Then on Friday we eat a continental breakfast at the hotel and we arrive at Tweetsie when the doors open at 9 am plus we have great parking! Then we have the first train ride of the day at 9:30 am.

This year we added a few extra things some pleasant some not.

The pleasant things first........

My "big brother" and his 2 kids were able to go this year. We also got to see a friend of mine & her son from my NCSU BSU (Baptist Student Union) days.

The not so pleassant things.......

My mom was sick and after the train ride went back to the van to rest. It also rained on us this year. It usually rains but it is as we are leaving this year it was rainy and cool all day long but we did not let that damper our spirits.

Here are a few pictures from our day:

C & R

Popa D & his boys

The cousins at snack time

R & C riding the airplane

Waiting for the train ride

In jail

C was so excited about riding the train!

The cousins

This was Friday morning at the hotel

Charlie got a marshmallow train- yum yum!



We usually stay Friday night so there is more pool time and a visit to Mystery Hill on Saturday morning but I needed to be back for the Market on Saturday. Plus it worked out for the better since moma wasn't feeling well.

The kids had a blast though. They especially loved having their cousins there to play with them. They got their Day Out With Thomas t-shirts along with the 2009 commemorative Day Out With Thomas train (another yearly tradition). Charlie was so excited about his t-shirt he slept in it on Friday night & wore it to the Market on Saturday morning. It was so much fun to watch Charlie "take it all in" this year. He has gone with us every year (I was pregnant the first year we went) but this year he was old enough to hopefully remember some things about Tweetsie RR. I got the photo album out before we went to show him pictures of last year. It was so cute to see him high-five Sir Topham Hatt and ride the rides this year. And of course Rosty had a blast!

Greensboro Children's Museum

Rosty's preschool class went on a field trip to the Greensboro Children's Museum.

There were a lot of neat exhibits there including a real racecar, firetruck, police car, front end of a plane and a mail truck. Some of the exhibits like the firetruck truck & police car had uniforms hanging up nearby so the kids could really use their imaginations and pretend.

There was an area that had a rock climbing wall.

There was a doctors & dentist office. A construction area complete with blocks. An arts & crafts area.

Here are Rosty's favorites:

The train table

The train

The market

The train had a whistle & a bell.

It also had "coal" that needed to be shoveled into the train. There was a water tower nearby with a hose so the train could be refilled with water. There was also a dining cart complete with a table setting. There were clothes to dress up with so the kids could pretend to be an engineer, a conductor or a passenger.

Rosty also enjoyed the Market (he likes to grocery shop with me too!). There were a variety of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, etc. to shop for and they also had a real cash register to ring up the purchases.

At lunch we ate Mellow Mushroom with a few of Rosty's classmates and 3 of the teachers. It was a lot of fun to interact with the other parents because usually we just pass each other in the hallway and say hey!

Rosty had a great time on his field trip and says he wants to go back to the Museum again someday.

What's been going on with the Menius Family....

It has been awhile since I have had time to post but here is a quick rundown of what we have been up to the past few weeks.

As always we have been busy at the farm and going to the Farmer's Market.

We are getting about 80 dozen eggs a week. The garden has onions, leeks, kale, collards, Swiss chard, bok choy, kohlrabi, turnips & we have also been getting tomatoes (from the greenhouse). I also got a few patty pan squash this week.

I canned another round of collards.

We have had stir fry a lot lately using fresh vegetables from our garden plus cauliflower from Correll Farms and mushrooms from Landis Mushrooms (both can be found at the Salisbury Farmer's Market).

My Popa had some surgery and gave us all a scare (congestive heart failure) but seems to be recuperating now. Please remember to pray for him.

My parents came down and we took the boys to Tweetsie Railroad to see Thomas the Tank Engine (pictures will be posted soon).

Charlie had a follow-up eye doctor appointment.

About 6 weeks ago he got some metal in his eye and had to have it removed this appointment was to make sure there was no problems and there wasn't. Another answered prayer!!

Tomorrow night is a big night for Rosty- preschool graduation. I know I'll have pictures from that to post too!

As you can tell there is never a dull moment at the Menius house.