Whoooa! Catching a wave!!

The first couple of photos in this section of Wilmington Beach pics are of Ayden and Daddy riding the waves. They literally were saying, "Whoaa!" in the first photo. :) On Sunday that weekend, we went to visit the memorial for the USS North Carolina Battleship. We thought that it was just a top deck tour, but we actually got to go down under the deck and see the whole ship! The tour was very interesting and Ayden enjoyed the old missles, control panels and sitting in the captain's chair! We had a great weekend!

A Trip to Wilmington Beach!

We managed to fit in a trip to the beach even though Pancho's work schedule has been crazy! He was scheduled to train in Wilmington and so he took advantage and planned to work on a Thursday, Friday and Monday so that we could come with him for an extended weekend! Ayden and I hung out at the beach and the park while Pancho worked on Thursday and Friday and then on Saturday we all went to the local Aquarium and then to the beach. The weather was perfect! What a great time together, we had missed Daddy being around!

A Trip to Hill Ridge Farm!

We visited this fun farm east of Raleigh the Saturday that Daddy went to Paul's wedding, Oct. 6th. Ayden loved this place! We went down the big tunnel slide several times, had a pony ride, a hay ride and picked out pumpkins. We even got to eat bubble gum ice cream at the end! It was a fun day!

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary!

Pancho and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on Friday, October 5th. Pancho was in town for one day and he managed for it to be that day. He had been gone all week and then had to leave for Paul Sowell's wedding in LA that weekend. Thank God we were together at least on that day! Cousins Frank and Soma (as Ayden like to call Sonja) came over to babysit Ayden while we went out to a nice dinner in Chapel Hill. We went to a great little place and had a feast: 2 appetizers, 2 dinners and 2 yummy desserts! We were stuffed. We must be getting old (and pregnant) cause we came home by 9:15 pm!

Having Fun with the Cousins Back Home!

The Cousins had all kinds of fun together at this park! It was so great to spend time with everyone!

A Visit to See Baby Garrett!

At the end of September, Ayden and I went to the bay area to visit family and friends. We couldn't last until Thanksgiving, we had to come see them between Summer and the Holidays. First we arrived at the Lukacs and I went down by myself to the south bay while my sister and family took care of Ayden over night. I went to visit my good friend Lindsay and her new baby boy, Garrett! Isn't he such a cutie! We had so much fun chatting and catching up. Holding and getting to know Garrett was so great, what a precious little guy!

The Water Park across the street!

In mid August, our new development finished the Resident's Club complete with pool, waterslides, playgrounds and gym. We moved in on August 31st and took advantage of the pool that night! In September, we went to the pool a lot and one day we finally got the above photos of the fun!

Bug Fest!

I think it was in mid to late September when we hung out with Cousins Frank and Sonja all day one Saturday. They showed us the big flea market in Raleigh and we saw some interesting things and some great distressed, antique looking furniture. Then we made it over to a great Greek restaurant near by and had a variety of yummy things for lunch. After a nap at the McKay's, we went over to an event in downtown Raleigh called "Bug Fest." This was the perfect event for Ayden because it was everything about bugs! Ayden has been a fan for quite some time. :) They had one of those inflatable contraptions you can crawl into that was in the shape of a worm. You entered through its mouth and climbed through its body all the was to the exit out its rear end! Ayden participated in the bug olympics. You had to complete three events and you would receive a medal. There was a worm race, a bee pollen collection and a one other we didn't get a photo of. They even had real edible bug treats at this event, it was a lot of fun!

The cute things they say!

Things are getting easier here in NC...Ayden doesn't complain as much when I take him to preschool, which is so much better, because then I don't go away almost crying (must be those pregnancy hormones!).
The other day I picked him up from preschool and he was having an afternoon snack and sitting next to this girl, Madison. His teacher told me that she thinks Ayden likes Madison, he seems to pay a bit of attention to her. I thought that was cute, he seems to mostly enjoy playing with boys and so when we got into the car and were driving, I said, "Ayden, do you have a friend named Madison?" He said, "Yes, she is my friend girl!"
...oh the cute things they say...

A trip to Planet Child!

This outing to "Planet Child" back in August was a lot of fun. It is a children's

discovery play place where they can pretend to be shopping at Whole Foods

or a pirate sailing a ship. Ayden loved dressing up like a pirate!

First photos of Baby #2!

Last Friday, Sept. 7th, Pancho and I went to the first ultrasound for this baby. It was just as amazing seeing a little human move around on that screen as I remembered it with Ayden. Even at only about an couple of inches in length, this baby was moving around, waving its fingers and looking right at us (it seemed!) We got to hear the fast and strong heartbeat, which is always reassuring and could make out all of the body parts. When it was over, the ultrasound tech said, "now wave bye to Mom and Dad for now." The baby actually had his/her hand up and looked like his/her fingers were waving! It was quite a coincidence! We also found out that as she took measurements of the baby, it is measuring at 11 weeks along instead of 8 weeks like we thought. So, I am nearly out of the first trimester and things are great so far, except for all this morning, noon and night sickness! :)

The Big News!!

A few weeks ago we found out that we are going to have a little brother or sister for Ayden next year!! That week Ayden had been asking to have a cake because he loves birthday celebrations mainly because you get to eat cake and also because you can sing the Happy Birthday song. He loves it so much lately that he has been making birthday cakes with candles out of his bristle blocks. :) So, we decided when we knew I was pregnant, we would make Ayden's cake a baby celebration cake!

Ayden's love of trash!

Of course Ayden has been in love with the trash truck since we can remember, watching it drive down the road and pick up the trash from the dumpster outside the Stanford apartment. He is still enthralled with anything trash! These shots were taken in mid August when we had accumulated a lot of recycling. Our Cary apartment didn't have recycling pick up and so we drove down the road and Ayden was excited to help Momma put all the recycling in the correct dumpsters!

Ayden's First Day of Preschool!

Ayden went to his first day at Primrose School yesterday! He loved it so much that when I came to pick him up at 12:30 pm, he looked at me and said "Go away." Ahhh, makes a mom feel good. :( What happened to the days of running over to Mommy with such excitement? :) The teachers said that he had a good first day. He was a great helper at clean up time they said and was happy, cooperative and friendly. He also was so excited that all the other kids go on the potty, he even tried himself. We'll get there. :)

Recent new house photos! Check out the stain on the floors!

If you can't tell what this is, there are two people near the parked cars...Pancho and Ayden went exploring amongst all the construction, I mean neighborhood! It sure will take a while for this neighborhood to shape up. Oh well, at least we'll have a new house. :)

Ayden in his element!

For those of you that know Ayden, you know he has lots and lots of energy! For the last few weeks since we got here, Ayden and I have been attending a Parks and Community of Cary class called "Stretch and Grow." Each thursday morning for and hour, we get to pretend to be animals, sing songs, collect, kick and throw balls, play with hula hoops and oh the favorite game of all...run from one end of the gym to the other. :) If Ayden had it his way, he would start the class playing this game. The teacher says, "Ready, Set, Go!" They all run. What could be better for Ayden? I think I need to sign him up for more of these classes for the fall!