Huge Milestone

Someone finally learned how to ride a bike.
I tried to get Carter to ride a long time ago but it always ended up in him crying and me yelling at him, so I put the bike up. Today I decided to get the bike down and told him lets try to ride it, he jumped right on and took off.




Thank goodness, I thought he would never learn.

What we have been up to the past few days...

Spiderman is known as Spiderman around here but he is also known as Higherman.

Bryson asked us were chicken came from. I knew the question would eventually come and I had to chuckle when he finally asked.

We also have plum trees here on base. I have driven by them everyday and never even noticed that they were plum trees. I have even walked by them before and never realized either. Everything changed this past Thursday. Cami(She is my friend and the proud mother to Reagan, Kaila and Canon. I have written about her kids in previous posts.) and I walked to the pool. On the way there I noticed a plum on the ground and a few squashed ones. I looked up and realized all these pretty purple trees were in fact plum trees. I show Cami and we decided on the way back we would pick some. After swimming lessons and then some swimming we headed back home. We stopped by the trees, which so happen to line the whole street, and picked the plums. We picked, what felt like, hundreds. The kids were getting really tired and hot so after picking off of about 15 trees we figured we had enough.


These are just some of the plums. I had already thrown out all the split and bruised plums and Cami had her own cooler filled.

Last Day of Swimming Lessons

Today was the last day of swimming lessons. The boys had a lot of fun jumping off the diving board and going down the slide. The slide is about two stories and windes down. The slide is the highlight of the whole day for Carter's age group. During normal pools hours you can only go down the slide if you can swim. You can't wear a life jacket and nobody can be at the bottom to catch you, so during swim lessons the kids have so much fun going down it and being caught at the bottom.






Bryson's diving board pictures aren't the best. I was standing on the other side of the pool, even though they aren't the best my other camera would never have been able to take these.

Bryson learned last year how to swim so he has been able to use the slide for some time now, but the only time carter is allowed to use it besides swimming lessons is when we rent the pool out. Speaking of....I rented out the pool twice this year and our first up date is coming in July. Yeah we can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday....Garden

McAlister's McAlister's McAlister's

Originally written January 17, 2007


Alright so if you haven't got it by now this blog is about McAlister's and for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about it's a Deli.

A deli that I have not visited since February of 2002 that's right almost 5 years. You see it all started back when I lived in Tennessee well Knoxville really. It was a great restaurant that had wonderful sweet tea, awesome chicken sandwiches and the best damn nachos ever. This was a kick ass place, it sat right on Cumberland Ave or shall I say the STRIP for the University of Tennessee. It was full of great restaurants, fun bars, dance clubs and gas stations with ATMS everywhere. There was even this place called suds and duds, at least that's what i think it was called, anyways all I know is that it was a great place to wash your clothes and drink beer.

Wait a minute I am starting to get off track focus Dawn focus...so this deli is a place that I would eat at with my then roommates there in Knoxville Monkia, Liz, Sarah and my then boyfriend Matt. There was also a boy that lived a few apartments down from us named Phillip and I drug him there a lot with me also. Once I got back to LMU (Lincoln Memorial University) I told my good friend Stacey and yep she got addicted also.

So that brings me back to my last time eating there, it was with my good friend Stacey in February of 2002, I had flown back to TN to visit her and my other good friend Josh before I got married. I did a lot of my old traditions, hung out at all my favorite places because I didn't know when I would be back to do it all over again. And even though I have yet to place my foot in the state of Tennessee (besides being in the Nashville airport flying here to NC my new home), I got to touch and taste a bit of old times. Once i found out that we would be moving from Arizona to North Carolina I was thrilled. I loved living in Tennessee, loved the way people treated you, I loved the way the air smelt, and I loved how everything looked. I just couldn't wait to be back where I wanted to be....the east coast!! So, I did some research on the town that I was moving to and tried to find some good things about it. I can't remember what made me google McAlisters but I am glad I did. I found that the closest McAlister's to Fayetteville was in Raleigh and it was a short 1 hour and 30 minute drive away. So this past weekend my husband and I loaded up the kids and off we went to taste a piece of home. It felt so good to taste those Nachos and to think that I had shared so many good meals with some great friends that I haven't seen in a very long time. Even though it wasn't the exact deli it was the same food that I had eaten so many years ago.

Once I got home my neighbors asked where we had been and I explained to them my love for McAlister's and wanting to eat there. They just couldn't fathom driving all the way up to Raleigh to eat at a deli.

It's not just a deli I told them, it's so much more!


***Since this was written almost 18 months ago we have been to McAlister's several times in Raleigh and Wilmington. My love for McAlister's grows with each meal, and now my kids and husband love the place too.***

Beach time...

We went to the beach yesterday. Our friends rented a beach house for the week in Wilmington and we though we would go down and visit for the day. I have mentioned Terra and her husband Mike on here before and the other couple was Shanna and her husband Chris. Chris and Mike just got back from a four month deployment so this is their vacation.

We were so excited to get down there that I got a speeding ticket. It was a bad one with a mandatory court date. Joe is going to see if I can get a lawyer and just pay the court fees but we are not sure that will happen. I will keep you all up to date on my run in with the law.

Don't worry it didn't ruin our day. I was upset but knew that it was my fault so no need to let it ruin our fun outing. Once we got there we went straight to the beach house to say hi for a few minutes and then headed right to the beach. It was just a short walk down the street, very convient. I of course had to take lots of pictures of the kids in front of the ocean. They turned out wonderful!

After the pictures we walked back up to the beach house and changed into our swimsuits and by then the rest of the group was ready to head to the water with us. I didn't take my camera back to get pictures of all of us playing. After some great advice from my father I didn't want to get sand in my camera, so I left it safely in the car.

We had so much fun playing in the ocean and riding the waves that I flashed Terra and her son. Oops! I tightened up my suit and problem solved. Joe and the rest of the guys had fun playing on the body board and trying to boogie on it. The boys had a blast digging for little crabs in the sand, they said at one point they had over 40.

We had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants....McAlister's. I love that place. I had a grilled chicken sandwich with a fruit cup. Joe had a meatball sandwich. Carter had Mac and Cheese and Bryson had a turkey and cheese sandwich. We also had the chips and queso basket and took home four huge chocolate chip cookies. Joe even bought me a gallon of their sweet tea. My mouth waters just thinking about McAlister's. I wrote a blog about McAlister's on my myspace when I first moved here to North Carolina. I will post it tomorrow on how I fell head over hills with McAlister's. Once dinner was over we drug our bellies to the car and headed home.

When we got home Joe informed me that I didn't do a very good job lathering on the sunblock. Apparently there were finger/hand marks on his back were I had missed rubbing the sunblock in. His back looks very spotted. I am just a little red on my shoulders and the kids are nice and tanned(they were well lathered up).

We had a great time and I will share some photos soon. As you can see the very top photo is new and one I took yesterday.

If I haven't said it before I will say it again....I love my camera!!

A preview of tomorrow's post...

Police, a peep show, and spotted parents.

Can you guess what we did today?

I am the mother of Batman and Leonardo.

Carter has been hilarious lately. He says the word Actually about 50 times a day.

Mom: Carter go get your flip flops on.
Carter: Actually I want to wear my blue shoes.

Mom: Carter do you want turkey and cheese for lunch?
Carter: Actually I want shells mac and cheese.

Mom: Carter it's time for your nap.
Carter: Actually I want to go jump on the trampoline.


The list goes on and on. He even says Actually just to say it I think.

Mom: Do you want to go to Walmart?
Carter: Actually yes, Actually no, Actually I want to go to Target.

See how easy it is for him to reach 50 times in a day. To funny that Kid!!

Bryson is loving the bible school and I ACTUALLY wish it was longer than the week. Yesterday they learned about the 10 Lepers. He told me that the men were really sick and that they had leprosy. He actually remember the word leprosy. And that God made them well again and that we should always tell people thank you. I wish he would remember to tell me thank you everyday.

This week has been really busy. Bryson's bible school starts at 9 and then I pick him up at 9:50 and take him to swim lessons at 10. Right after swim lesson I take him back over to the bible school at 11 and then he is done with school about 12:45. I know he really likes this school because he doesn't fight with me when we have to leave the pool at 11, unlike his friend Reagan who stays after lessons to swim. Next week we will stay after lessons and swim like Reagan and Bryson is happy about that as is Carter.



Unlike the first day of lessons Carter is really liking his class now. He must have just been nervous with the teacher. They also went down the slide today in class and that was a lot of fun for them.

Carter and Kaila

Yesterday after swim lessons we went to a picnic the base was having. It was very nice that it was just the people living on Pope AFB and not all of Fort Bragg.
It's hard to see but Bryson is actually in the air.

It can get very frustrating attending some of Fort Bragg's events because Fort Bragg has 50,000 troops and their family members so events are never small. Yesterday it was nice, the boys got their faces painted with no lines. The played on the jumpy castles and slides with no lines, and we ate lunch...there were NO LINES!

Ouch, Aah, and Mmm

Ouch:
Carter got a huge splinter off our wood table in the backyard. A table that we had only had in the backyard for an hour. He says he will not walk on top of the table anymore.



Aah:
Nice cool water...Swimming lessons started today. Bryson was a star in his class. He has the same teacher as last year and every time the class did something new the teacher would say watch Bryson do it. Bryson also had his first day of Bible school today. This is what he learned..

There was this blind man that couldn't see. He couldn't see people, flowers, trees, friends, a pool, trampoline with water on it, tree branches, a lot of stuff mom, sticks, grass, plants, sunflowers, he couldn't see anything. Then God spit in the dirt and God put it on his eyes then God told the man to wash his eyes in the water and then he could see. Then he asks "Can I go jump on the trampoline?".

Carter at swimming today was another story. For some reason Carter is afraid of the water. I have no idea where this is coming from as he has always been a water bug. I am not sure what to do besides what we are doing now and that is to keep going to the pool. We will see what happens.





Mmm:
For those of you that haven't had a good tomato in awhile I thought I would share with you my plate for lunch today. A nice turkey sandwich on toasted bread with fresh tomatoes from my garden. And for desert two fresh strawberries from my garden. Are you a little jealous?

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband.

How do I begin to tell you how the boys and I feel about you. We love you with everything we are and for everything that you do for us. You are a wonderful father and husband and I am so thankful that God chose you for us. Thank you for teaching our boys how to live and love. We love you.
Bryson, Carter and Me

We had a fun day today. The kids woke up and wrote out their father's day cards, gave Joe his presents and then we went to lunch. Joe picked ofcourse! We then went bowling and now Joe is off playing some golf. I think he had a great day as I know the boys and I did. Happy Father's Day Babe I love you.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

I wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my dad. He has been a wonderful father and I really am happy I was blessed to be his daughter. Thanks dad for all that you do and being there for me whenever I need you. I love you.

I am having an affair....

with my camera. I love it and I have a hard time going anywhere without it.

I saw these pretty lilies on the way to walmart and decided this would be the perfect spot to pull on the side of the interstate to get a wonderful picture.

We only had one car stop and ask if we needed any help. "Nope, I said just taking pictures!" These pictures didn't come out as good as I had hoped. The reason being it was very foggy that morning at 8am. I had to keep wiping the condensation of the lens. I am going to try again another morning.

I broke down and took the camera to the pool yesterday. I had so much fun taking pictures of the boys and their friends.

These are my sunflowers in my backyard. They just opened their pretty little faces on Thursday.

I love the blur on Bryson and Kate in the back ground. It has taken a bit of practice to get the blur just the way I like it and I still can't do it every time. If practice makes perfect I should be there any day now.

What a cutie!

Kate and her family came over again today to swim. They are moving tomorrow and Carter will forever be changed and heart broken. He really does love Kate and will miss her dearly.

Their last kiss for now.

He leaves her wanting more. Typical man already huh?