Ok...so many, many weeks ago now (June 3rd thru June 6th) the Willeekus Crew (Willette, Lee and Karakus families) made the trek to Blowing Rock for our 2nd annual Thomas the Train extravaganza. Thomas comes to Tweetsie every June for a week...the kids love the train ride but tweetsie itself is like a mini Disney World in my opinion. There is a flurry of fun rides, games and food for the toddler + age group. This year we elected to rent an amazing 5 bedroom home just a mile from downtown to accommodate our expanding families. It was PERFECT with a creek running just steps from the deck, a fireplace on the porch and an extra couple rooms for the families with 2 babes in tow.
The 2 newest members of the Willeekus clan...Stelly (12 months) and Baby Eve (3 Months)
They always end up in a group bath at least once...Kate Kate didn't appreciate the splashing twins Aston and Mia...
Aston is in l.o.v.e. with Baby Eve...he can't stay away from her...
Car time fun with Mr. Mehmet
The whole crew at Tweetsie! Check out the grumpy Lee kids....
Abord Thomas...
She's fearless...
Just hangin' around...
I love this series it looks like they really know what they're doing...
Ok ladies...let's get this thing started...
Uh oh...is that a storm on the horizon?
Let's change course....
Hold on girls...I'm gonna get us out of this....
ahhh...we made it...
Hey Asty? Are we missing someone?
that's better...
Can you believe that Baby Eve will be sitting on this bench next year?
Back down the mountain...
First ever carousel ride...Mei was in heaven...Aston watched his best girls from a bench in front of them...he was feeling a little grumpy...
Mama Kathryn is soooo silly!
Aston and Mama Jeff played carnival games while the girls went on another cool airplane ride...
These next few photos are far from perfect but I love how they show my baby girl's first big kid interactions with her friends...she was loving being the center of attention! She broke free from her shell and it was so fun for me to watch...
Stelly and Mia were absolute silly monsters and Kate and Aston didn't once look away from their movie:)
an hour later...still glued to the set...
Kids in bed...party party party!
Steak Dinner ala everyone but me:) love Kathryn, Jeff and Bruce's faces here...mmmmm that's good stuff! Mehmet and Jeff are soaked due to the monsoon they dodged while attending the grill:)
early morning art project...
Asty making sure his Baby Eve looks pretty for the day...
Chalk art with Mama Jeff...
Kate Kate drawing fish just like Mama Jeff's...the finished product was very impressive...
Dance party to Sharon Pres soundtrack...
Pretending to nap like Uncle Bruce
This is how Chetola Lake swallowed up Jeff's car keys...
This is how we got the car doors open after the key fell to the bottom of the lake...called Audi and they sent a tow truck with a man named Possum...
While the men were busy paddle boating, the women got the table together at the resort restaurant in preparation for Mama Jeff's surprise birthday party...
Giggles with BFF Mia...
Love this...
Party turned out perfectly and Jeff more than appreciated it I think...plus it got his mind off the key in the lake thing
Silly Banz for table side entertainment
The "Mama Jeff" cake
Full bellies make silly bodies...
Happy birthday...Dada
When the kids went down...we rendezvoused to one of the 3 porch areas for cocktails and chit chat...Kath and Mehmet presented Jeff with his birthday gift...his very own Charmin...an inside joke that stems from the fact that we all share a common dislike for this particularly linty brand:)
It's best suited as a pillow...
We always seemed to migrate towards the fireplace area for late night fun...namely smore making...smore perfecting really:)
Everyone one has their own technique..."take it as you will"...
Anne has a Peep obsession...yes she travelled with them to Blowing Rock (inadvertently...but still)...We convinced the boys that the Peep Smore may be just the recipe to give new life to the old school smore...
So Mehmet...tried to roast the Peeps...
and tried...
and after an hour (it felt like it anyway) they finally sort-of melted. Bruce did the honors...his review was less than raving...I must say even as a Peep fan it was a bad idea...btw...the simple fact that the Peep does not have a melting point lower than the temperature of a raging fire tells me these things are trash for your body...in fact I'm pretty sure I still have Peep in my intestines as we speak...
Another early morning art project...Anne brought ceramic magnets for them to paint...brilliant...
Kate Kate got Mama Jeff a cast iron basting pan...smart choice Kate!
The kids painted on a ceramic car at "Dish it Out" and were so proud to give it to Jeff for his birthday...
A sleepy Mehmet holding 2 wide awake kiddos...
Sporting Kate Kate's boots to the creek...
This video was done by Anne. It sums it all up and then some...it's an amazing piece of work. The soundtrack is made up of all the songs they sang in school this year and they all know the words and the gestures that accompany! Aston asks to watch it daily...Thanks Anne for letting me post!
Blowing Rock 2010 from anne willette on Vimeo.
5 comments:
wow -- what a trip!! love the group shot at thomas -- its great! love that stelly is in w/ the big kids (and can't get over her outfit - right down to her shoes). love the art projects and the special car for "mama jeff". that fireplace looks awesome - can see why you hung out there...can't get over the peep roasting (or non roasting). does anne still love them? :)
another great journaling post. you're totally spoiling us with all these great photos and now i won't take anything less than this every time i visit your blog. lol. ok so i love the kiddos eating ice cream series, stelly rolling around with the older ones and really interacting now, how aston loves eve...that's so cute, stelly with her ruffled pants and bling bling purple shoes (the lee kids have great taste in shoes i must say), mama jeff bday cake is awesome! thang loves charmin too! he won't buy anything else. thang and jeff should talk. holy peeps lol, funny though.
well first things first..it's INTERPRET AS YOU WILL!! Also, I will never get over what I missed out on. Well I actually have an am so grateful yall were there to capture. But still the boats, the airplanes. I mean no one told me!? Too too cute with the 3 of them on the boat. LOVE the one of Eve smiling at Aston. Love me and the peeps. So happy that you captured so many things that I didn't. The nighttime smore fun was the best part. Can wait for more of that to come. Yes, love the stelly in the mix rollling around. I loved it but I'm sure as her mom you couldn't get enough. Love the one of Kate and Stelly-feel like it'sjust a real good one of Kate frankly. Glad you got Kate looking out. Bruce, after seeing, was like how come you didn't get a repeat of last year. I tried, I tried!! Oh and I love Kate hanging...again, who knew?? and MJ showin off. Love the mama kath is so silly-what a great Stelly smile. Love me pouring tequila (that's what I'm doing right?) and love that you got the dinner table scene (too bad you didn't get Bruce's, then Jeff's mini, soliloquy). Love the aston brushing eve's hair. That is so classic. And hate myself, don't think the "mama jeff" part of the cake hit me back then. Great dada shot. I love how you can see me wiping my tears from crying in that peep picture. Thanks for an awesome and thorough post. I'm kind of sad that I don't have some of these in the movie. oh well. can't have it all.
pss cannot believe you lost this last night. that is an ultimate tradegy
Wow, where to begin.. I have been a slacker, have to post my pictures tomorrow, promise :( Anyway, loved looking at all the photos, I felt like I just re-lived the whole weekend. Loved all the smiling faces and happy memories, loved the peeps and the late night fire talks, love the Interpret it as you will, I'm laughing right now, loved the eating ice cream photos, loved them all!!
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