Part 5: Trip to the Aquarium

The trouble with writing posts 3+ months after the photos were taken is that it becomes less about what happened and more about what it looks like...

At any rate, one of our day trips was to the aquarium. Now you'd think (or at least I would) that an aquarium in the Outer Banks could have some great stuff, I mean we saw dolphins in the ocean, so the aquarium is going to be amazing right? slow down...


Morgan wrangled this alligator for a ride. There is another photo with him holding the gator's mouth open and sticking his head inside, but I'm not looking to terrorize anyone, so I won't post it. (Plus Morgan's hands became bloodied from the gator's teeth - I should have seen that coming)

We're peering into this tank as I give Morgan a pep talk on why turtles aren't to be feared.

He buys into it and decides he's going to get in there and mix it up to help give the people their money's worth. (I failed to mention to him that they were snapping turtles.)

Sidenote: I may not get parent of the year

Still riding the high from the conquering the snapping turtle exhibit, Morgan headed outside and convinced Emma to assault an innocent turtle as she tried to lay her eggs.

Thereafter, Morgan's adrenaline crashed and he needed to be carted around by Emma as we went thru the trails looking for a red wolf.

As we came upon the wolf, I helped Morgan seek higher ground. Emma! Look out! Whoops...

After the all the bodily harm the kids endured (thankfully no adults were injured), they spent the afternoon at the beach, because the best thing for an open wound is salt water!

It was a rough day at the aquarium and a rough day in the ocean. Nobody was out swimming on this day...Morgan! Get back here!

Oh, and despite what I said in my opening to this post, everything occurred exactly as I described it here.

Part 4: Dinner and Kite Flying

Welcome to a warm but rainy day in RI, so once again we'll look back to July.

If anyone wants to go for a walk, Morgan is going to take monkey for a stroll. Come along, let's see where this leads...







We went to dinner for Uncle Ed's 70th. There was a lovely outdoor deck where Emma practiced reverse chest compressions on Morgan...oh wait, she's just holding him for the picture, my mistake.







Morgan and I relaxed and listened to the band out on the deck gazebo as jet ski's passed by on the water.







The band was looking for a little crowd participation and passed out shakers to help with the song. That's right, Morgan knows how to shake it!







After dinner, we went back to the house to get our kites. There is a small standard kite which has a picture of a monkey on it and a giant kite that in theory should decimate all kites...in theory. Ed and Emma carried the kites, while Michelle carried Morgan.

Morgan took to kite flying without a hitch, I think he could to go pro, but I'm not going to glue a kite spool in his hand yet.

Up so high in the sky...it's monkey kite! Also in the lower corner of the picture, the giant kite letdown :( It appeared too big for its own good and could never acheive the great heights of the evening sky.

Until next time...

Part 3 - The Beach

The beach was great, the waves were better and the sun was hot. There were 9 adults and 2 kids on this trip...how many people got sunburned? Two. One of which was me. The pictures below will show why.

Grandma and Morgan doing some digging in the sand

Here is our base camp. (from the left) Michelle, Ed, Mickey, Daisy (Mickey's dog), Uncle Ed, Flo, Morgan (wearing blue, blending into the tent)

Morgan and Emma making sand art

Morgan and Emma watching the waves crash or perhaps the dolphins, but they were too quick for photography.

The kids watching that silly daddy rolling in the surf.
Morgan: Do you think my dad should have put sunblock on?

Emma: Seriously? He's an adult, he should know better!

Morgan stepping on his shadow. Take that!

(It's like chasing your shadow, except he's crushing his.)

The great water chase!






Hot tub time! The only new face in this picture is Scott, who's offering a stuck out tongue.
Ut-oh, Mom's waving...see you next time. :)

Part 2

I was approached about going on a wild horse tour, which I was initially hesitant to do, but thought 'Sure, I haven't riden horse back in awhile.' Turns out, it was a tour where you sit in a car and look at horses...slight difference. The tour did not disappoint though, especially when I got to ride in a Jeep with the windows off.

They had a horse in front of the office. Morgan snagged a taste of what was to come.

We stopped for a break and all walked up the dune.

At the top, Morgan had some more energy to burn...




and yet more on the way back down with Grandpa.

On the trail, there were blackberry and raspberry bushes. I don't know that Morgan ate any, but he wore a LOT.

Here's a shot of 6 wild mustangs. It was very cool to see.

And the sun sets on another post.

Outer Banks Part 1 of ??

Alright Now!! Hopefully you can all forgive me for not wanting to sit in front of the cpu during this hot summer. It's tropical storm season now, so it's much cooler and wetter.


So let's take a look back at a warmer time - our summer vacation to the outer banks of North Carolina.

Here's Morgan warming up to the day

And Morgan's friend (cousin) Emma, with her rating board, tracking the activity of the house. Morgan kicked off the vacation with a little illness and was a bit whiny which relegated him to crazy status. Although I began the trip in good standing, I ended up on the bad list.

I believe this is your typical end of the roll (exhaust the batteries) shot. Notice to the left of my head, the cabinets have a roll of paper towels on top of them...who can even reach up there? (ME!)



It rained one day while we were there and on one side of the pool the patio was graded such that the water ran in...which led to lots of dirt, etc. getting in the pool. The frogs however...well there's really no explanation.

We went to some shopping area one day, the only saving grace was this playground and some go kart loop that Morgan and I got to watch about a dozen or so races on.

We went to a lighthouse that you were able to ascend, but there was a line and Emma was in charge of keeping Morgan in it.

I don't remember how many steps there were to the top, but it was a lot and I made Morgan climb everyone of them. Who's gonna have a good nap today?? Morgan is!!

Once Morgan and I repelled off the top of the lighthouse (pictures not available), Morgan gave this tree a stern talking to by beating it with it's own limbs...you can bet that the other trees in the area took notice of this!!

Hats, Hats, Hats!!!

Hey! Look at me getting posts up in successive weeks :) But let me tell you the formatting on this blog is driving me crazy, the spacing is all screwy AAAHH!! Anyway, here's a brief one before we get to pics from our July vacation...

We'll kick it off with a shot of Mom and Morgan as we arrive at the Grog & Dog Jog - Morgan immediately fell in the parking lot and needed some consolation.

After the race, there was plenty of socializing and picking Morgan up was the only way to avoid chasing him all over the place, but then took my giant orange cowboy hat off (in his left hand).

Here is a hat that suits Morgan much better and goes pretty well with the shirt. However this is John's hat, not Morgan's. John left it at the house when he out and Morgan seized the moment.

One day, there was a peacock in our neighborhood. It was pretty funny, it kept checking out it's reflection in the bumper of this truck here. Animal control was called, but since it was after 5pm, they weren't interested, so thankfully it wasn't a bengal tiger. It was in our neighbor's garage for hours. Why go to the zoo?

See ya next time!! HAHAHA!

May Days

Sure July's closing out and here we are looking at pictures of May/June, but let's face it...there was a lot less rain then, so let's embrace the past!

I'll intro with Morgan meticulously placing all the blocks side by side...

Only to scatter them ALL over the place (action shot)!!

There was breakfast (eggs) in bed for Mother's Day

Our neighbors gave us their old swingset which will come in very handy. Grandpa Ed helped me move it to a better spot later where Nacho cannot use it like a hydrant.

***We interupt this blog for a very important snuggle break***

We now return to the blog...

Morgan is so big that we have to open the roof while we cruise around - just like Shaquille O'Neal

Morgan had a style with attitude day. We're working on "Blue Steel". Once we perfect it, we're going to send him to Derek Zoolander's School for Male Models.

We had a garage sale in June to clear out some space and Make 7...er, I mean make some green. It went really well. Morgan had fun playing with his old toys that we were getting rid of.

We close with a break from coloring with markers to lay on Elmo couch.

Right about now you're thinking "geez, there were an awful lot of pics with Morgan's dad." Hey, these posts can't all be winners folks ;)