A girl can dream, right?

I don't usually do the "I gotta tell you about my dream last night" thing, because it bores most people to tears, but this one was so bizarre I have to tell someone, and you all, my gentle readers, are most definitely "someone".

I dreamt that I was hired by the NASCAR Corporation (and really- is NASCAR an actual corporation?) as a freelance writer to work on a manual called "Policies and Procedures for Intra-Vehicle Interaction Events". It seems that the suits at NASCAR (surely they have to have at least one suit or two) found, after conducting many focus groups, that the term "crash" caused discomfort for NASCAR staff and drivers. Thus, the word "crash" would now be replaced by the phrase "Intra-Vehicle Interaction Events", and a manual was commissioned to document policies and procedures for the aftermath of such "events". Additionally, the NASCAR Corporation was in the process of "rebranding" and "remarketing" NASCAR in order to appeal to white collar, upper-middle class folk who might be put off by the mayhem suggested by the term "crash".

Yes, I'm a dork.

I woke up in the middle of the night and absolutely had to tell Redmond. Then I fell back asleep and had another bizarre dream.

I was reading CNN online in my dream, and read about a recently uncovered scandal. Apparently, the American Cardiovascular Disease Society (not sure there is one of those either) had hired a model to do public service spots on television to raise awareness of the dangers of Cardiovascular Disease and the avoidance of this common, too-prevalent Western epidemic. So, many of us know that Cardiovascular Disease is the number one cause of death in the United States.

Anyway, it seems that, in my dream, much like the bizarre and creepy Holocaust Denial Movement, there was also a Cardiovascular Disease Denial Movement that claimed there was no significant problem in America with Cardiovascular Disease, and that, in fact, the Cardiovascular Disease Awareness campaign was a conspiracy by the Left to convince Americans to eat "Socialist Health Food" and push Americans more towards liberalism. The American Cardiovascular Disease Society discovered that the model they hired was actually a key player in this Cardiovascular Disease Denial Movement and was acting as a "double agent".

Once again, I am not only a dork but am somewhat "not right" as well. ;-)

Carry on...

So much for immunity!

So, the word I had on Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (Enterovirus family) is that most children only get it once, and then usually have immunity from then on. Tell my child that. She's apparently on her second case of this nasty illness this summer. She had one bout when we took our mountain vacation, and then came down with another episode of it last week. I have been under the weather as well, and we're seriously hoping we all clear up by this weekend, as we are taking Sadie on her first camping trip to Grayson Highlands State Park. The weather in the mountains looks pretty good for the weekend, and it will be much cooler than the pit of fire that is the Triangle area right now. I'm nervous about how one accomplishes toddler containment in a vast state park. I used to point and gawk at children on leashes, but don't think I haven't given this some thought... ;-)

I only have a couple of pictures to share- Sadie's first bicycle ride. Redmond fixed up his bike and added a child's seat, and they both donned helmets and rode around the neighborhood. Now, I just need to get my bike tuned and we're good to go...

Beach videos...

As promised, here are the rest of our short videos from the beach trip...

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed....



Henry, Molly and Sadie all manage to fit in one bathtub. By now, you can glean a sense of the general cacophony of a house full of toddlers!



Here are some videos of Sadie walking on the beach... You can see how much work it was to keep up with her!





We pause under the Surf City Pier to watch the nesting...um.. pigeons... For some reason, Sadie was obsessed with the pigeons....



Redmond stopped to film a Kite Surfer. It was a windy day and the waves were kicking up. This guy catches some major air here...

Some assorted film clips...

As promised, I am beginning to upload some of the short videos we've taken this summer. I'll post some of the clips today, and will post some from the beach trip later this week... If you haven't checked our blog in a while, be sure to see the entry under this one for some recent pictures and a link to our Flickr photo album...

Sadie decides to share some of the animal sounds in her repertoire with Aunt Sylvia. Yes, I know... Pirates aren't animals, but children need to know that pirates say "Arrrr!"



This was taken at the Massie Gap trailhead at Grayson Highlands State Park. Sadie was running around in the grass....



And then, Sadie saw another family hiking in with a dog and decided they were more interesting than we...



On the trail, Daddy and Sadie stop for a brief giggling break...



Here's Sadie banging on all the drums at the sound garden at the NC Museum of Life and Science



We took Sadie to Elmo's Diner when my Aunt Sylvia was in town, and she displays some of her trademark silliness in the next few clips..

Here, we're trying to coax her into doing her little telephone play game. She picks up random objects all the time and pretends they are telephones. She usually says "Hello? Yeah? Blah blah blah... BYE!". Of course, like most kids, she doesn't want to perform on command.



Sadie loves running up and down the halls inside Carr Mill Mall, where Elmo's is located.



Sadie met a little boy who was about two and a half, and they ran screeching up and down the hall together.... I think she met her match, energy-level-wise...

We're back!

We returned from the beach on Saturday afternoon. It was a great trip, though we spent most of the week chasing after Sadie and making sure she didn't drown in the surf. She is pretty fearless when it comes to water. There wasn't a lot of "relaxing" to be had with her in tow, but we enjoyed watching her reactions to new situations and things. We also visited Wilmington and Ft. Fisher.

We also very much enjoyed Aunt Sylvia's visit, though I felt I didn't have nearly enough time to hang out with her.

In the interest of time, I am dropping a link to our Flickr photo album of our vacation pictures. I'll follow up later this week with some cute videos, and here are just a couple of pictures from my set... If you want to see more, and all the other adorable kids in our beach house, check out the Flickr set I linked to above...

Sadie looking thoughtful at Elmo's Diner
Lila, Molly and Sadie are all fascinated with the baby car seat...
Sadie hated her car seat when she was an infant, and now she can't resist crawling in every one she sees. She and Molly kept crawling in this seat all week...



Sadie, looking emphatic...
Checking out the alligator at the NC Aquarium at Ft Fisher...

In costume as a scientist at the Children's Museum in Wilmington...


Sifting sand...
Sadie and Aunt Sylvia...
How many babies can you fit in a bathtub? Sadie, Henry and Molly share a bath...

Random update...

Hey guys!

I just wanted to let y'all know that we haven't dropped off the face of the earth. We've been running around like decapitated chickens the past couple of weeks and haven't had the time to even take pictures, much less update the blog. Redmond is at home with Sadie right now and trying to find ways to beat the 100+ degree temperatures. Whew! Aunt Sylvia is visiting right now too, and I'm hoping we can get some pictures with everyone this week before she leaves.

We're heading to the beach on Saturday (Topsail Island) for a much needed break. Hopefully, the heatwave will subside and we'll feel comfortable outdoors.

I'm hoping to get a film of Sadie doing her new little thing... She picks up random, phone-shaped objects (or not- I've seen her pick up a frisbee for this) and has phone conversations. She starts with "Hello? Yeah? Babble babble babble babble..... Bye!" and slams down the "phone". It's adorable, and she sounds just like my Mom when she's on the phone.

Well, hope to post again soon with pictures. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer! It's almost over now...