5 things I learned at Zoo Camp

1. The zoo knew what it was doing when it took the 3-4 year olds out of regular camp, moved them to "Sprout Camp" in the Botanical Gardens, and required parental involvement. Cruel but smart.

2. In the U.S., Venus flytraps are indigenous only to North and South Carolina. Never knew that.

3. All turtles have exactly 13 scales on their shell.

4. My 3 year old was the only kid who firmly believed that finger painting should be a full body experience.

5. My 5 year old flirts with boys. I saw her. I watched helplessly from the pick-up line while it all went down in slow motion. She used the head-tilt-shoulder-shrug-look-at-one-boy-while-whacking-another-boy-on-the-head-with-a-paper-towel-tube move. Both boys giggled. Shoot me now.

Beach Week

The initial plan for this past week involved only my Mom and her sister, Betty, enjoying a nice, quiet, relaxing week at the beach. Booooooring. They don't need relaxing, they need grandchildren screaming in their face. So, we made it happen...

Eileen and Betty were joined by two of Betty's kids - Dan, his wife Ginny, and their daughter Malia, and Kristen with her sons Tyler and Johnny. I also joined the crowd, but first I made my Mom take 2/3 of her grandkids down with her and I didn't show up with the remaining 1/3 of her grandkids until 3 days later. Jay also showed up mid-week so by then we had a full house and it was a blast.

Beach, pool, beach, pool, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, then watch Spongebob or Disney channel at a volume level that makes your ears bleed. There is also a water park in Charleston that was so much fun, I highly recommend it. We had kids from age 1 to 11 with us, and it was perfect for everyone. I also recommend Wii (especially guitar hero) as it completely entertained the group of kids (and Jay) post-beach, giving the grown-ups time to relax a bit and get supper together.

Gary came down Friday to help celebrate my Mom's birthday. A day on the beach, followed by dinner outside at the Beach Club. There was a wonderful reggae band, the kids were dancing and swimming, grown-ups were drinking grown-up drinks... The evening ended back at the house with cupcakes, presents, and more grown-up drinks.

It is always sad to see the Bickell/Welch clan leave. But I think Amanda finally understands that "JohnnyTyler" is in fact TWO separate boys, one Johnny, and one Tyler. Before this trip, she referred to both boys as "JohhnyTyler" whether they were together or separate. This time, it took her about half of the week to stop referring to Johnny as "JohnnyTyler" and to Tyler as "the other one." Next time she should have it perfected and address each cousin by his real name!

All we were missing were some Averys and some Dowds...

How Cute is Malia?

So cute that when Jack and I finally got to the beach, Elizabeth said "you should have been here to meet Malia. If Jack sees Malia he will fall in love and his eyes will turn into hearts like on Spongebob."

That would have been cool.

We were too late to see Malia, but Jack did get to spend the entire week with Tyler and Johnny. Boy cousins are definitely fun, especially when they leave behind their Spiderman goggles. The girls also loved hanging out with the boys; they learned how to play guitar hero and mastered all things Spongebob.

Triple Nap - Beach Style

Baby Book Bye-Bye

I really thought it would be more difficult to give away my collection of newborn baby books. As I gathered them, neatly stacked them, photographed them, I realized... I was celebrating! Jack then joined me and we took turns knocking the books over and re-stacking them. He had no idea why Mommy was having so much fun. When I opened the front door and asked him if he wanted to help me drop kick them just to see how far they would go he was like "whoah Mom, I think you're getting a little carried away."

Actually, these books were tremendously helpful and I would highly recommend them for any first time parents. They were all read/referenced/studied when Elizabeth was born and we would have been clueless without them. I know I looked back through many of them after Amanda was born. With Jack, I only went back to read about what those mean doctors were going to do to him right after he was born.


After having three babies in five years, it does feel strange to stop saving everything "for the next one." Strange, but not difficult. In fact, after I brought the books to the car, Jack and I did a happy dance.

Tomorrow Jack gets to ride to the beach in a forward facing car seat. I can't wait!

Colored Pencil Band

Morning "Arting"

"The Great Valley" by Elizabeth

"Tinkerbell on the Disneyworld Ice"
by Amanda














"Okay, now I'm ready" by Nikki