All A Flutter

As the summer months are in full swing now Finley and I have been venturing out and doing new things with our friends. One of our friends Nicolle has organized some fun Friday field trips. When I heard about the opportunity to go to a butterfly farm I knew Finley would just love it. Two of his favorite books are The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Butterfly, Butterfly by Petr Horacek.

Our first field trip was yesterday and we went to All A Flutter a butterfly farm in High Point.

The morning started off with a presentation about the life cycle of a butterfly.

Kids were used in the demonstration, so you know it was entertaining!




Finley was a little too young to help out, but his friends did a great job!
Here they are about to break out of the chrysalis.




Once the presentation was over we went inside the butterfly garden.
Our first stop was looking at some caterpillars. Can you spot them behind the butterflies?



Then we found the chrysalises. Way cool.




Finley loved pointing at all the butterflies flying all around him.
I was very happy he could see them.
They flew around so fast sometimes it was hard to keep track of them!





Then we were given sugar pads and were able to get up close and personal with the butterflies.






Little does this butterfly know that he is about to be attacked...

BY FINLEY! Look out little fella!

(no butterflies were hurt as a result of taking this picture)

It was very fun to be surrounded by beautiful butterflies.

Finley really had a great time.

Towards the end of our tour Finley was just cruising around by himself checking everything out.

He would even run over and taunt Sarah-Jane who was stroller bound and then run away.

Finley has not learned the art of wooing quite yet.

Thanks again to Nicolle for organizing such a fun Friday!

We are looking forward to our next field trip - the creamery!

The "Babication"

A couple of months ago, I was having dinner with a couple of other attorneys who also have become parents recently. It was nearing summer, so the obvious topic of impending summer vacations came up. As we talked, we decided that as new parents, we were no longer entitled to "vacations". I told them how before Finley was born, my ideal vacation was going to the beach and doing absolutely NOTHING. I told them how shortly after Finley was born (a little over a year ago now), I was mentally prepared for my "do nothing, and relax" beach trip with the family. Oh, how naive I had been. After taking that first "doing nothing, and relax vacation (a la Finley)", I gained a much better appreciation for the work and energy that goes into Natalie's days home with Finley. I also decided that there would be no more "vacations" for a long, long, LONG time.

So, Natalie and I headed to Hilton Head this past weekend for what we are terming a "babication". No, this is not a vacation from your baby, but taking a vacation with your baby. Trying to look on the bright side of things, since there are only "babications" in our foreseeable future, we have decided to make a list of the "Top Ten Reasons to Take a Babication". Feel free to comment with your own reasons to take a "babication".

1. The drive never gets boring (trust me!)

2. You have to eat dinner at 4:30pm, so you always qualify for the "early bird special" (20% off . . . cha ching!)

3. Since you went to dinner at 4:30pm, you get back to the hotel at 5:30pm (just as everyone else is leaving for dinner), so you get "rock star" parking

4. Everyone is super nice to you because your baby is so darn cute

5. You never miss a sunrise

6. "Get Out of Jail Free" card (Don't want to do something or go somewhere? . . . Gee, I'd love to, but the baby needs his bath, lunch, nap, etc.)

7. No need to shave, put make-up on, or dress up (or even put clothes on), nobody looks at you anyway

8. Sharing your room with your baby is 100% effective birth control

9. When you order a meal for your baby, he will most likely refuse to eat it, so you get two entrees

10. You get to hang out with your little one all day!

All pictures taken with my new Droid camera phone (we forgot to bring our real camera). Needless to say...the quality of most pictures is seriously lacking!

Life at the Beach

Last week was our annual family beach week at TI (Topsail Island).

We had a full house, but Finley was the only baby there so he got a lot of attention from all his doting grandparents, Aunt Michelle, and Uncle Donovan.

This year was Finley's first time walking on the beach.

Unfortunately, he did not like to feel the sand in his toes.

He would cry, lift up his feet, and beg to be held instead of standing on his own two feet.

Luckily Mom had come prepared with some water shoes!

With these bad boys on Finley would walk on the sand and even dip his toes in the water.

He seemed to enjoy himself a lot more once he knew his toes were protected!

Here is how we spent our lazy days at the beach:

Pool Time

We brought a little wadding pool to splash around in.
Most of the time Finley would just walk around in it,
he wasn't too interested in actually sitting in his pool.
But it did help keep us nice and cool.


Bocce Time

Everyone participated in daily bocce games.
Here are the two dancers - Michelle and Mishay - tearing in up on our court.
Maybe if they had a little more meat on their bones they could throw the ball further :).



Dancing Time

It was so great to have Auntie Michelle at the beach!
Finley hardly ever gets to see her so they enjoyed a lot of quality time together.
Michelle even tap danced for Finley and he just loved it!
He even tried to join in the fun too by stomping his feet on her tap board.


Sand Time

Every day we would build little sand castles for Finley and try to get him more excited about touching the sand.

I can't say that it worked, but I am hopeful that next year Finley will be more interested in building huge sand castles with us.

Fishing Time

Ok not really fishing, but I did catch this little guy in my bucket and Finley enjoyed playing with him. He only escaped once but David was quick to put him back in the bucket.

Nani Time

Who knew baby gates weren't just to keep Finley out of trouble?

They also keep Nani's from going up and down the stairs. Ha ha ha.

Finley enjoyed spending time with Nani, and watching her beat David in Russian Bank (a card game).

Sea Shell Time

David and my mom always enjoy looking for sharks teeth while on the beach. Me, I like to find what I call angel wings. It is always so hard to find them still connected, but look how many I found this year!

Skim Boarding Time

Donovan loved showing off his skillz in front of his lovely lady Megan who also joined our family at the beach. I am always too scared to try this out. It just seems too dangerous. I know that I would totally end up on my on my butt and probably hurt.

Soccer Time

Of course we had all different size balls to play with at the beach. Finley seemed most excited about playing with Pappy's big exercise ball. This was the only time Finley would get close to Pappy - for some reason he is still a little bit scared of him.

Dropping Time

At the beach house we rented they had a landing on the top floor. Finley loved climbing up stairs and then looking down at people below. Here he is with his Abuelo spying on Grammie down below. We also threw things up and down to add to the fun.

Golf Time

David was so kind to watch Finley for me one afternoon so I could go play golf with Deez, Megan, and my dad. I only get to play once a year these days, but I still enjoy it. Then one night all the kiddos went and played mini golf. Deez won our tournament, but David came in a close second. I was having trouble keeping my ball in the putt putt area :).

Here is the whole family at the beach. We hope to have even more family with us next year! (that means you Beans and Adams).

The week went by way too fast and I miss the beach already...

Bow Wow Wow . . . Where My Dogs At?

So, ever since Finley joined the music class over at the Sherwoods, he has developed an interesting taste in music . . . What are you teaching those kids, Nicolle?