Pnut's Big Adventure!

So, last week Pop and Grammy mentioned that they needed to go to West Virginia for a few days and they offered to take Pnut with them if he was interested. I am still not sure where he thought he was going when I asked but he reacted as though I had asked "Do you want to go to Disney World and eat ice cream and soda all day for four days?" Excited was an understatement! The days leading up to the trip he kept talking about his trip with Grammy and Pop and in my heart I almost expected him to cave and decide not to go at the last minute. For the record, I was a VERY supportive Mama and did NOT once put any of my worries or concerns on him (which took super human powers of control!!)  Monday arrived and sure enough he hopped in the back seat of the truck, happy as a clam, waving and smiling and they pulled away! He was off on his BIG adventure.... first stop that night was http://www.campcreekstatepark.com/ 

Pnut slept in a tent and had his first LIGHTENING BUG experience!!! The next morning it was on to Sistersville, West Virginia. He is used to driving for 6 hours (the distance between Jupiter FL and Grammy's house) but I was worried that the 11 hour drive would be rough. The campground stop helped break up the trip. He also watched the "Big Boats and Busy Harbors" DVD that we had checked out of the library on Grammy's laptop to pass the time (a HUGE treat!) The downside of watching the video is that he is now obsessed, no OBSESSED, with Coast Guard rescue swimmers and helicopters.
Anyway, here is Pnut on Riverside Drive, the street where his Daddy grew up on. He got to see the house on the Ohio river and the neighborhood and even got to DRIVE the ferry boat.

There was also a visit to Aunt Debbie's house in Fishcreek WV (the big house where Great Grammy and Great Pop used to live.) and a trip to Wheeling and Coleman's Fish House for sandwiches. He also went to Pittsburgh, PA for Amish cheese sticks (Mercers are cheese snobs and once I tasted the cheese sticks from PA I completely understood why!! A-MaZe-ING!!!! Grammy brought back 20 pounds of cheese and half of it is gone already. YUMMMY!)

By day four he was ready to come home (and G&P were ready to stop listening to rescue swimmer stories over and over again!!) I am so proud that he went on this trip and was such a brave little boy. We have to remind ourselves all the time that he is only three years old (ok, so he is two months away from being four but he is still technically a baby!!)  Since returning I keep getting the BIGGEST hugs and a sweet little Pnut telling me "I missed you."

My one and only Spud Muffin

With everyone gone I got to spend a few days with just Spud. I have never been alone with just him for longer than an afternoon so it was a real treat. A little lonely at times...we found ourselves at the big dining room table in the evenings feeling very small. As much as I would of LOVED to have gone out to eat for every meal, since it was just us, I refrained and kept to our menu and budget. We did escape to Chick-Fil-A (otherwise known as "Junkfood For Jesus") for lunch on the second day of non stop rain so Spud could play (and I could get a lemonade fix.)

I did learn that "my baby" likes bubbles in his tub. I never thought to ask before, and Pnut is so noisily anti bubble that their tubby is sans bubbles every eve. From this week forward every other night the tubby is going to have bubbles.

Spud and I read a lot of books, did a LOT of cuddling, had many conversations about brother and Daddy and the family, spent a few hours in the swing ("push me in my swing? Higher? and higher? and higher?") All in all we enjoyed our quiet time together but we both have to admit we enjoy the chaos of our usual family times. Our family, the right combination of chaos and love! (I saw that on a sign :o)

Pinckney National Wildlife Refuge...we added some wildlife!

One of the things on the agenda for Daddy's week home was a trip to Pinckney NWR to check out their trails. It is an island we pass every time we are driving over to HHI or putting the boat in the water, so I am thrilled we finally got to experience it. The trails are much better suited for running or walking since they were very gravelly (and very bouncy, as Spud kept telling me) and many of the side trails are grassy but overall it was very quiet and pretty. It will be awesome in  the fall when it is a bit cooler. Pnut made it almost 2 miles before his bum hurt... not too bad for his first real bike ride! I got a super duper workout on the ride back with both boys in the trailer... no spin class prepares you for gravel paths while towing 80 pounds of kid behind you!!

SC has the prettiest parking lots!!

Spud got a haircut!

Whenever my husband gets the clippers out I usually run and grab "my baby" in order to protect his precious curls... I don't know if it was the heat or the fact that the clippers were on an extension cord and we were all sitting under our tree in the back yard and all the Mercer men were getting clipped but my defenses were down and I allowed the curls to get shaved off!! Hopefully they will grow back since we all agreed that Spud looks better with his longer "frat boy hair" than with a buzz cut.

For some reason the video will not work until you do the following.... right click on it and choose the option "Report Playback Issue" which will open a page you then close and then all of a sudden the video works???

Another sandbar Sunday

Another lazy day on May :o) At one point my son said "Mom, can you put the camera away for 5 minutes please?" He may have had a point since I took 113 photos this day!?!

The tide was still high when we arrived so the boys entertained us and themselves with the "belly smackers" and "cannonballs."

 

Still waiting for the tides to go out...where is the sand in our "sandbar?" Finally a little bit of sand began to emerge!! Of course, we had to keep moving the boat out further and further to keep from getting beached.

Every time we went out to move the boat another round of jumps commenced... but we had to be careful since the tide was going out so fast they ended up in really shallow water really quickly. Calvin was happy he could finally stand in the water though. 

"Knee deep in the water somewhere, only worry in the world is if the tide was gonna reach my chair"

Look close.... can you see all the crabbies?

The kids playing in the PLUFF MUD... a black, thick concoction of crab and shrimp poo. YUCK!!!
Pnut was content to watch at first but eventually had to try it out. Ewwwwwwwwwww!

Escape to NC

We hopped in the truck and roadtripped to Charlotte NC to visit LoLo for a few days. It was basically a tour of pools since it was too warm to do much else. I am so proud of the boys and how well they behaved at Lo's house. Other than the excitement of ringing doorbells (neither of them have ever lived anywhere with a doorbell so it was HUGEly entertaining to ring hers...and the neighbors...and every door bell on her floor until I figured out what they were doing!!) and the general natural nosiness of 2 toddler boys they were good kids :o)  Cornelius, the little town north of Charlotte where she lives, is so green and pretty. We will certainly plan on visiting again as often as we are invited!

Joshua, Spud and LoLo at Joshua's awesome pool. 

Spud enjoying the pool...the neighborhood is called The Farms so the pool had a huge barn.

Me and my Pnut

The only other photo of Joshua and Spud...neither of them liked to sit still.

Cool playground!

The entertainment at Carolina Cones.

Sandbar Sunday

What happens when you find a perfect sandbar? You go back again the next day! This time we dragged Pop out with us and went early enough to experience low tide. Super cool!!!

New Favorite "Sandbar"

Birthday Friday rolled right into a perfect Saturday. We hit the gym in the morning (Grammie joined up too!) put the tired boys in for early naps (they needed it since neither one got a nap the day before... and yes, Pnut is STILL napping! LOVE IT!) so we could take the boat out again in the afternoon. Put in at the Bluffton Oyster Factory and found a great new "sand bar" on the May River. (With 8 foot tides there are only certain times when the tide is low enough for it to be an actual sand bar...today it was a "non pluff mud, actual sand, shallow place" that we enjoyed immensely!

Bluffton Oyster Factory

The current was so stong at first we had to tie a line on him.

Go Spud GOOOOO!

Pnut's "Belly Smacker"

Daddy's Perfect Birthday

Today was Daddy's Birthday so we did what he loves most and went out on the boat. It was a looooooong lazy day catching crabbies, cast netting shrimpies and fishing. The only things biting were sharks though :o/

"SHRIMPIES!!!"

Looking for a good crabbin' spot.

Bonding with the bait.

The first of 5 sharks...all the same size! I think it was the same shark 5 times.

I am such a good crabber I can catch TWO with only one chicken neck!

New Favorite Beach...once I FINALLY found it!

Out of the blue I decided today that we would find a nice, tourist free beach... heard that the "heel" had much nicer beaches than the "toe" of the island, and by nicer beaches I mean a beach free from 20,000 pasty Ohioans, so we went to check it out.

This was the tree lined dirt road to get there... a good sign!




This is what we were greeted with after parking in a tree filled, shady parking lot and walking along a mulched pathway. The tide was out so there was LOTS of beach to explore.

There was a summer camp group of kids, maybe twenty 7-10 year olds, that had just arrived so we sort of follwed them and listened in on their lessons. This beach is full of sharks teeth, according to their counselors. They also found horseshoe crabs, which the kids were excited to show to Pnut and Spud.

Some natives.. horseshoe crabs.

SO proud of him for holding it!!

Goodbye Muffintop!!

We joined a GYM today!! It has FREE daycare! Yippeeee!!!
Pnut asked why we were going to the gym and I told him "Because mommy has a fat belly and I need to exercise so my fat belly will go away." Fast forward to later in the day when he asked if my fat belly was gone, and when I said no and showed him it was still there he was shocked and asked "But you exercised today? I thought it was supposed to go away?" LOL! If only it were that easy! It opened up a good discussion on eating healthy food and being active every day, something I need to model for the boys.

This is our new gym http://www.benchmarkfitnesscenter.com

4th of July Bluffton Childrens Parade

The entire Mercer Clan went downtown this morning to walk in the "Parade"... it was only about 50 kids and parents led by a few bag pipers but it was FUN! The entire parade was 3 blocks but the boys only made the first block... it was HOT!!! and humid! UGH!