Baby Wise

Congratulations go out to our friends Brian and Kelly Wise on the birth of baby girl #2, Cate Parker Wise. Sister Gracen has a playmate that will need to be shown the ropes. Brian and Kelly have jumped in to the blog arena as well to document the journey. We will be keeping an eye on them here.

Cheers Wises!

Nance/Barrett Tour '07

Last week our good friends Debbie Barrett and Chad Nance brought their kiddos up from Bluffton, South Carolina to spend a couple of nights with us. Chad & Debbie have 3 year-old Aidan and 2 year-old Abby as well as 2-year old Anmei, whom they adopted from China. The reunion in Raleigh was their first chance to connect with many of the parents who also adopted babies from China on the same trip.

Amy & I and the boys were very happy we got to see them as we don't get the chance to get together quite as much as we used to pre-kids. In fact the parents got a good chuckle reminiscing about the things we used to do when it was just the four of us together -- trips to the amusement park in Charlotte, haunted pub crawl tours in Savannah, a tour of a local brewery here in Holly Springs, watching football games on Saturdays. Now it's diaper changing, Curious George, and trips to the park. My how times change! But life changes are great.


Aidan, Debbie, Abby, Anmei & Chad ride the train on an expedition to the North Carolina Life & Science Museum in Durham.

The two year-olds pause for some PB&J at the museum park before revving it up in full gear again.

Anmei, Owen, Gus & Abby discuss gas prices, the latest Pixar movie, campaign finance reform, and Lightning McQueen over sippie cups and pizza.

Pool time gave the little ones a chance to beat the heat as Chad and I manned the inflatable pool while Debbie & Amy got away for some well-deserved time away together.

The zoo view from above.

Little Pink Houses on the OBX

I took the week off of work last week and as it turned out a week off from blogging as well. Amy & I ventured over to the Outer Banks to visit with our friends Chris LeDuc and his fiance Pam Burke at the beach in Kill Devil Hills. Our friends Scott & Christen Krynock also made it over from Apex. This was our first chance to visit with Chris in over a year since he moved from NC to Boston and our first chance to meet Pam, who was charmed enough by Chris's wit that she agreed to marry him next spring.

Our friends were troopers in that being the couples there without children, the gang got to experience the ups and downs of spending 4 days with 2 two-year olds. Although Amy & I were a bit jealous at not being able to sleep past 6 a.m. due to boys waking us up raring to go, for the most part Gus & Owen were really good. They took to everyone really quickly, even bonding so much with Scott that he became "Uncle Scott" for a few days (the boys have an Uncle Scott back in KY).

At the beach Owen is developing into quite the little water bug. He took to the beach like a duck to water, tugging us out of our chairs down to the ocean where the waves crashed at his feet. When he wasn't giggling as the water rushed over his feet, Owen had a grand time dumping sand and shells from his toy dumptruck. Gus was more of a sand fan than a water fan. I think the loud waves scared him a bit. He would run down the sand toward the water like his brother, only to turn back and run when the water got within 10 feet of him. Once he grabbed a handful of sand, ran up to the edge of the water and threw the sand at the water as if to say, "I do not like you water! Take that!" It was pretty amusing.

As for us adults, we had a great time catching up with each other. We all took turns cooking dinners. Chris and Pam brought some Napa valley vino from their trip last year to the wine country. And on Monday night after some rousing games of Sequence, Chris busted out the acoustic for some raucous singalongs (long live Mr. Mellencamp).

The highlight of the trip for me was Monday when the guys ventured out for an eagerly anticipated fishing trip. Keep in mind that neither Scott, Chris nor myself are accomplished fisherman of any sort. This was evidenced by the fact that each of us had to buy a rod & reel, fishing license, hooks, and lures prior to the trip. Another dead giveaway was the fact that it took us 30 minutes from the time we arrived at the pier to even get our lines in the water. By the end of the morning though, everyone around us was so intimidated by our expert fishing abilities that they all moved three stations away from us, giving us ample room to show off our skills. We didn't even get a nibble all day long, but it was a fantastic time anyway. We topped off Man Day 2007 with a trip to the Outer Banks Brewery where we sampled some of their finer microbrews over lunch and discussed the finer things in our lives.

So the trip was a great one and we hope to continue the event as an annual trip. Next year we're locking the boys in their rooms until 7:00am and I'm practicing up on my guitar skills in advance for the inevitable singalong.

Cheers!

Chris and Pam check out the Outer Banks lighthouses.

Bill Dance has nothing on Scott Krynock.

The site of the greatest fishing display on the East coast that people will be telling their grandkids about, the Avalon Fishing Pier (complete with web cam - check it out).

Jockey's Ridge State Park, home of the largest sand dune on the east coast. (View this pic full screen for the best perspective of how big the dunes are.)

"Pull Gus, pull!"

Scott & Christen soak up the sun.

Riley D

This weekend Amy & I got to meet young Riley Darrin Destasio, who is the new arrival for proud parents Darrin and Courtney. Riley is a champion sleeper and a future Florida Gator season ticket holder. Coupled with the news that Billy Donovan may return to coach the Gators, I think it's safe to say that Darrin D is a happy camper. ;-)

Congratulations to Darrin & Courtney for their little bundle and their dive into the wonderful world of parenthood!