Beach House Progress

Here is a pictorial update of our progress at our Surf City Beach Shack.

Before Pylons

After 12 pylons were installed

Jake getting the ledger board up for the deck.

Cutting pylons to correct height and tying the deck in.

Engineering plans

Dad's helpers this past Saturday

More progress this weekend

We came up on Sunday, after L's nap, to see the progress.

We can't wait to sit on this deck, overlooking the marsh, and soak in that view.

Picking strawberries

This morning Wren, L and I met a bunch of our friends at Lewis Farms to pick strawberries. We look forward to going to Lewis Farms all year.  It is only open seasonally, so basically end of March until early June. They have beautiful plants, amazing ice cream, and you pick strawberries, blueberries and blackberries once they are ripe and ready.

spring break 2021

We are finishing up our TWO weeks of spring break. I did a reading incentive with the kids over the 2 weeks of spring break. Benny had come home from school with a calendar full of fun ideas for reading - on a blanket, in a tent, with a friend, to a stuffed animal, etc... They needed to do the activity and read for 20 minutes in order for Jake or I to sign the box.  If 10 boxes were full, they earned a donut date on Saturday morning, April 10. Everyone participated, earned it and enjoyed the donut date this morning.

Week ONE - Grandpa and Grandma Flaming were here visiting.

Week TWO consisted of a few trips to the beach, a lot of trips to local parks and the skate park, kids camp at Burn Boot Camp both Wednesday's, play dates with friends, a couple of training runs for our 5k, and ALL the sunshine.

Kids Camp week 1

Benny had a lot of time for LEGOs

A training run 

Kids Camp week 2

Twinning - and they renamed themselves "ditto"

Playing at Blockade Runner

KID dates

The other weekend, while it was rather loud and crazy at our house, one of my big kids asked if i could take them on a date the following weekend. YES and great idea! I told the kids that Mom would take each of them on an individual date before the end of spring break. They could each pick what they wanted to do and a treat to buy while on our date.

Jake & I have done one on one dates with the kids occasionally and sporadically, but we need to do it more regularly for sure. The one on one time with each kids was so special. I loved seeing them better and being able to focus on ONE, not FIVE! We talked about their friends, school, and all the silly stuff.  It was THE BEST.

WREN had her date on Thursday, March 25 while the big kids were still in school and L was at her weekly visit with her Mom. We had a picnic lunch at Long Leaf Park. She loves the "slide that goes really fast." Afterwards we stopped by Zola, which also shares a space with a bookstore. We played tic tac toe and grabbed some coffee to brew at home. Then we ran a quick errand to Lowe's to pick out flowers for our beds and pots. Afterwards, Wren requested a chocolate frosty for her treat.

BENNY had his date on Saturday, March 27. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to snap a photo. He has some Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket.  We are trying to encourage buying experiences or something would last for years. We are currently looking for a kayak or paddle board. We stopped at our local ReStore to see if they had any, we've seen them there before. No luck. Then Benny requested a chocolate frosty for his treat. We strolled through the pet store and then ran a quick errand to pick up our Walmart grocery order.

ELLA had her date on Sunday, March 28. She asked if we could go to Starbucks for a java chip frappuccino and then walk around Mayfaire. Of course we ended up at the shoe store and she begged to try on heels. After the shoe store we stopped at Claire's, Altered State, William Sonoma, Bath & Body Works and Gap. I let her pick what stores she wanted to look in. On our way home, we ran a quick errand to grab some things at Costco.

LILY had her date on Saturday, April 3. She asked if we could go and walk around Mayfaire. We ended up walking through Michael's - she loves to draw, paint, create, etc... As we walked by David's Bridal she asked if we could go look at the fancy dresses - of course! Our next stop was Breadsmith, for a special treat of a double chocolate cookie. We then spent the rest of our date at Barnes and Nobles.