Merete Mathewos Van Camp-Goh

It's official, Merete is now officially a Van-Camp Goh! Today we finalized his adoption, a tad over 6 months after we brought him home. Judge Davis was very nice, and Mrs. Connrad even gave the boys some toys :-)

Afterwards we headed down to the farmer's market for snowcones, snacks, and fun times with Camille and her kiddos.

At this time I'd like to give a shout out to Camille, who has become a master on braiding hair:

After the kids got tired from all the dancing and playing, we headed off to Emilianos, our favorite celebratory restaurant.

A very exciting and full day (although we didn't have time for ice cream, so I still owe the boys that treat - because of course that's one thing they'll never forget!)

It's Getting Hot In Here

So long cool crisp air, and hello hot humid summer! Thankfully it is still bearable in the early morning, but the hot is creeping in earlier and earlier now.

I looked up more information about Bluebirds (not Blue Birds) and found out they can in fact lay eggs more than once a year. So according to the online instruction, we cleared out the first nest to make room for a new one. The male's flying into the window may well be a strange mating behavior to attract females.



Friday night the boys and I went to O2B's international night. We visited Africa, Egypt, Ireland, Italy, Cuba, and Japan. Africa by far had the best food, perhaps because most was unfamiliar and exotic. My contribution (South African Pot Bread) was uninspired but the rest was awesome. I really hope to get the recipes for the curie bites and the Japanese green tea pound cake. The boys enjoyed making crafts from the different countries, and Elijah got to catch up with some old friends.


At Westside, and apparently across the US, the USTA is begining a new kid's tennis program called Quick Start Tennis. Smaller court areas, lighter balls, fun activities...all to get kids playing at an earlier age. The boys tried it out at a free preview even and had a great time! Unfortunatly, the cost and timing of all of this means we probably won't have them join right now, but maybe next summer after we're settled in Wilmington.

Blue Bird Family

In mid-February, a couple of blue birds started making E's birdhouse their home. They both brought twigs and pine needles to the house, thought he male spent way too much time flying into the living room window. After a while things got quiet, so we took a peek and saw little eggs! Maybe a week or so ago, we saw the mommy bird fly to the house, then suddenly heard this chorus of little babies chirping, and man where those little guys loud! After the mom flew away, I went by to check out the babes. When I got closer, at least three little beaks came out, open and chirping away! I wish I had brought the camera, because as soon as they saw me, the ducked back into the house and never came out for me again (I tried not to take it personally). So for about a week or so, both parents went in and out, feeding the kids. On Tuesday, the babies started peeking their little heads out, so long as I was standing inside watching from the window. At some point on Wednesday, they must have flown away, because as of today, the nest is empty. The parents are still hanging out though, and I saw the dad bringing in some more twigs today. He's also started flying into the window again (he hadn't done that since the eggs appeared). I have no idea if maybe they are rebuilding the nest for other eggs (do they have more than one set a year??) or maybe this is some sort of actual empty nest syndrome?? Regardless, I've enjoyed the little blue bird family!

April Belt Test and Black Belt Ceremony

Today Elijah tested for his blue-white belt and I received my black belt (3 long weeks after passing the test). Elijah did very well, and I really enjoyed everything about the ceremony, especially being with the kids I've tested with all these years. In addition to our group receiving their first degree black belts, several others received their 2nd and 3rd degree black belts. These are truly a great group of people and it was fun to be here while they got promoted. Here are a couple of videos of the Van Camp related action (I've got all the whole ceremony on tape if anyone reading this wants the video of themselves or their kids).



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Easter

The boys went to Alex's annual Easter Party. Many eggs were found and a great time was had by all!

C and E's Road Trip to Charleston and Wilmington

On Wednesday E and I took off for a little road trip to our new hometown. First we went to Charleston to visit and pick up Carrie. The first day there was chilly and very windy, but we still went to the beach where E tried to fly a kite. I don't know if it was our inexperience, the dollar-tree kite, or the excessive wind, but the kite didn't fly too well. E had a great time trying though!

Thursday E and I visited Charleston on our own. We took a carriage ride through parts of the historic areas and then headed back to the beach.

Friday we drove into Wilmington, with Carrie, who was fighting a miscellaneous fever but refused to stay behind or go to a doctor. We definitely need a fun-d0-over where she can really enjoy everything! Anyway, we stopped off for lunch first at the Mellow Mushroom, which just happened to be right next to Chucky Cheese, which was near Toys R Us. I mention this because we drove past this point about 20 times over the following 24 hours. We programed the GPS to take us to the Elementary schools on my list, but somehow they kept disappearing from the route and we'd have to reprogram the schools. And, somehow, all roads lead back to Chucky Cheese, over and over again. We did see a ton of schools and neighborhoods and we now have a better idea of where we might like to live. The area really reminds me of Baton Rouge...lots of old neighborhoods, mixed in with newer neighborhoods and shops, all mixed in with not so great neighborhoods and and commercial areas. The cute part is the UNCW campus is in the middle of it all. On Saturday we visited a few more schools and then headed downtown. On Saturdays they have a farmer's market by the river. We toured a boat and walked around a bit. We also took note of the Battleship we need to visit next time.

We then headed to Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher. Fort Fisher will definitely be one of my favorite areas to visit. It's gorgeous and quiet with plenty of room to run around. There some guys kite surfing, which is now on my to-learn list. There's also the coolest little tree up the hill. Carrie began what will be a traditional visitor's picture on that tree (so be prepared to hang upside down if you come to visit....she did it with a raging fever so no excuses will be accepted). There's a ferry that goes to Southport every hour or so, but we didn't have the time to wait and honestly we had no clue where it went at the time! From what I can tell online, Southport is a cute historic fishing town that is now on our to-do list.


On our way back to Charleston we stopped at Myrtle Beach for a little shopping and tree climbing and the best crab I've had in a long time! Early Sunday morning E and I slipped out to make it home in time for the boys to go to Alex's annual Easter party, but more on that later...