We love it here!!

At the grandparents' in Durham, that is... Dad and Mom, I love you! And the boys love you SO much! And we love living close enough that we can drive over and stay with you for a week! (Jim came for two days too but then left to go back to work, and we stayed through the full week.)

Best of all we got to meet our newest niece and cousin, Caitlin Mina Hawkins. And we introduced Hawk to her. They were born only five days apart. I was the last in the family (except Craig - oh, sorry!) to meet her. [I think that's a family record that everyone in the Hawkins family has met both new babies already this year.] She is so sweet and easy-going during the day, and getting stronger - it was amazing to see her chewing her toes and rolling around and reaching for toys.

It must be fall - because now the garden is a pine needle construction site.

Daddy Pete and his Caitlin

Hawk loved the swing on the deck

Mommy Rita and Caitlin, who is an amazing mix of the features of her parents

Lunchtime on the deck - and watching the neighbor's house being built

Thank you for sharing your toys all week, Caitlin

 One morning we explored a new park in Durham that has a "pump track" and an obstacle course for bikes in the forest. It was awesome!! The boys had a blast learning how to ride the 'rolls' and 'berms', and racing along the forest trail. Technically a pump track is supposed to be ridden without pedaling and instead by 'pumping' the bike up and down the rolls to create momentum. But since they had the course to themselves, they were able to ride and get used to it as they wanted. So Cool! Thank you Auntie Rachel for the recommendation.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the week was riding the Duke bus from east campus to west campus (I think this becoming a tradition for every visit!), and meeting up with Grandpa in front of the chapel. But alas I didn't get any photos.

Another morning I took Timo and Mattias downtown for a quick playtime at Durham Central Park. Every time we come I am amazed to see how the skyline continues to change, with so much new construction and renovation going up. I even spotted a new vegan food truck/restaurant that I want to try out next time.

Say "cheese" for Daddy! ...oh well.

Thank you for a great week! It was just what we needed to be away from our normal routines and enjoy the time together.

Gieser family time over July 4th holiday

We had a wonderful, fun and relaxing (yes, it was actually relaxing!!) week up in Wheaton with the extended Gieser family. Eight cousins under 7 years old this year and eight adults. The last time we had been together was two years ago, and we were all gratified this time to see how well the kids played together - which meant we adults had a bit more time to talk with each other, in between crazy, loud meals that is.

On our first full day the majority of the family headed to downtown Chicago to the Aquarium, which was a first for most of the kids (I stayed behind with Mattias and Hawk, and Nonna). They had a blast and saw some amazing fish and ocean mammals.

L to R: Elsie, Avery, Bella, David, Timo, Millie

Noah & Katie, Tiff & Steve

Brothers!

Nonna found a deal on a blow-up pool (from Aldi) and the kids spent many, many hours out in the backyard splashing and playing water games. It was perfect. Timo and David in particular seemed to enjoy it and had a blast splashing each other and rough-housing.

Meanwhile, I spent a lot of my time with this little one!

 Typical scene for the week  - the Lego table (with boys in swimsuits) and the food table (with the 2 youngest - not counting Hawk - still eating).

On the 2nd morning we woke up to this parade of penguins and sign that had been placed on the front lawn. Naturally, Nonna also had matching outfits for all the kids.

The best time is just sitting on the steps at the house, chatting and relaxing while the kids play.

In the playhouse, which doubled as the art house this year, filled with supplies

More coming in the next post...

And don't forget - the FIRST TIME EVER!!

At the ocean, that is! (I forgot to post these photos last week after we got back from Durham.)

Jaja and I were able to take the boys to the beach for a day, for their first time ever (yes, it was even Timo's first time at age 4) to see the sand and ocean. Even though it was early March, the day we were there was sunny and clear and about 70 degrees. And, thankfully, Wrightsville Beach (outside of Wilmington) is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Durham, so even though we only stayed for one night it was "worth it".

Seeing the excitement and sheer joyful energy on the boys' faces was amazing. I tried to capture a few photos with my phone, but mostly we just enjoyed ourselves and didn't try to overthink it. Timo spent almost the entire afternoon running up and down, squealing and yelling, "This is so fun!" Once he got his swimsuit on, he was jumping in the waves (even though it was too cold for me!) almost up to his waist. And yes, I had to chase down the sand to get him to come inside at dinnertime.

Mattias took his time a little more to get into the water, but it didn't take long before he was running after Timo and squealing with delight and digging his feet into the sand. I never saw him look fearful about the waves and the open space, even when he slipped and went face first into the edge of the water.

Swimsuits on now!

Mattias would run away from the waves and yell, "Hang on!"

Washing off before heading into the hotel

We had hoped to spend the next morning down on the sand, but the weather turned very chilly and very windy so instead we played in the hotel swimming pool and then went to a really cool local playground before we drove back home in the early afternoon. It was fun to play at the park since it is the same place where we Hawkins kids spent countless hours playing basketball over the years during our family trips to Wrightsville.

We were sorry to miss having Jim with us on this trip ... but we are resolved to go again together as a family. I definitely realized how fun and 'do-able' it would be now to take the boys to the beach for a family vacation. They loved it and were very content, and would be to play in the water and dig in the sand and look for shells and ride their bikes the whole day. And of course we were all completely exhausted and ready for bed by the end of the day!

crossing the channel and heading home...

Spring Break in Durham

While Jim travelled to the UK for ten days to visit partner campuses (on behalf of Western Carolina), we three stayed in Durham for a nice visit. It's been a mostly quiet week, with some warmish days but mostly chilly and some rain. We've stayed close to home - but of course made time for daily bike rides and a few treats, like riding the Duke campus bus and getting gougeres from a favorite bakery downtown.

Sorry, all, these photos were with my camera and don't feature Grandpa or JaJa or even myself! I will try to remedy that before we leave in two days!

Bike ride and bus ride on campus, plus a snack while waiting to meet Grandpa

"It's so beautiful!" Says Timo as they race into Duke Gardens

Playing hide and go seek with Grandpa in the new branch sculpture

Near-daily bike rides in the woods along Ellerbee Creek

And don't forget time to build roads!!

Final Charleston post

Whoops - I had these photos ready to share and forgot to publish the post! So here, you go - our last day in Charleston was a sunny, windy Saturday. First thing in the morning we drove over the river (out of the downtown) and to the closest beach area, Sullivan's Island. It was AMAZING to see the open expanse of water and sand and smell the salty air. "Jim!" I exclaimed. "We have got to live near the beach someday!" (Afterwards I realized that four of our six combined siblings do indeed live very close to a coast.) I wish we had brought our jackets because it was still very windy; also it would have been nice to have some beach chairs so we could have sat and read our books into the afternoon... Instead we just enjoyed a slow stroll and watched all the dogs running around and a huge cargo ship slowly approaching the port.

took this picture of a stranded jellyfish to show Timo

Afterwards we visited Fort Moultrie on the end of the island (with a view toward Fort Sumter, which you can see over my shoulder in the photo). This fort was in use for the defense of Charleston from the Revolutionary War through World War II, and is now property of the national park system. We didn't even realize what we were getting into when we pulled in to the parking lot - we were just looking for a place to eat our picnic! But in fact it was really interesting to walk around and read & see the history of the fort during each of the wars. And then we sat and looked out to the canal while we happily ate our lunch. Oh, and Ft Moultrie flies a 15 stripe, 15 star flag (used 1795-1818)! Isn't that cool!

Our last evening we took another meandering walk around parts of the historic downtown and along White Point Gardens. We were 'joined' by quite a crowd of tourists, but I suppose that is normal in Charleston, even in February.

A little bit more baby belly to see on my in this photo below... and now, these legs are tired, let's go home for supper, and tomorrow back to Sylva to our boys!

More getaway (what can we say, it's picturesque!)

Scenes from walking around all afternoon in Charleston, and down to the water's edge of the Battery and White Point Gardens, and then back up - stopping finally for dinner of pad see ew and sushi (because we can't get Thai food or Japanese food in Sylva!).

Four Corners of Meeting (representing city law, state law, federal law and religion)

Yes, I can't button my coat all the way down anymore!

cannons and flagpoles line the park, harking back to when Charleston was under siege during the Civil War

Oh, to smell the salty air and see the water!!

this cemetary at Circular Congregation Church is the oldest in the city, with graves dating back to early 1700s!