Aunt Becca and Uncle Becky's Visit

My sister Becca and her husband Preston flew out to NC to visit last week.  When family visits, there are a few things on the "Must Do List" that we never skip.

1. Go to the lake.  Swim.  Eat yumminess.  Kayak.  Try not to scare people as we try to remove the sand from our swimsuits.
2. Eat too much NC BBQ (I won't mention how sick I got or how much weight I gained).
3. Go to Busch Gardens if it's summer time.  Eat German food for lunch and Canadian smokehouse food for dinner.  Go on as many roller coasters as possible. 
4. Talk way too much.  Lose sleep because we talked too much.  Talk some more because we're too tired to do anything else.
5. Eat more BBQ.

 Here are just a few pics that summarize the trip:

 At the lake Lily and Skyler were typical: she had to be on the sand and Skyler had to be in the water.  They never cease to amaze me by how opposite they always have to be. 

 A fabulous photo taken by either Becca or Preston.  I love this picture, though, because you can see how beautiful her eyes are.  They are this really unique bluish green color that is rarely captured well in photos.  I imagine that this is the face she'll pull one day when we introduce the topic of the birds and the bees. *As a sidenote, cover half of her face with your hand at a time.  Her left side looks sad and her right side looks happy.  Weird, huh?!

 Everybody adores Auntie Becca.

Captain Handsome Pants enjoying the water...... and throwing it on people..... OK.... just throwing it on me.

 I don't really know anyone else who grew up kayaking so I think it's kind of funny that Ben did it too. 

Watching Lily and Skyler golf was hilarious and frustrating at the same time.  When we didn't get our ball in on our first try, one of them would run up and get our ball and throw it in the hole and clap.  They were so happy with themselves that they were "helping" us.  :)

Busch Gardens is full of impressive rides, but this lame little bug ride was Lily's favorite.  The lady who ran this ride was so sweet and let Lily ride it 3 times in a row before Ben and I forced her to get off for dinner.

"Can I ride the bugs again, Mommy?"

As I just said, Skyler and Lily are opposites.  Lily loves rides, Skyler hates them.  Lily hates the waterpark, Skyler loves it.  *sigh*  So the boat ride was something in between for Skyler.

When we got to ride the carousel Lily was laughing her head off enjoying the ride. I stood next to Skyler because he was freaking out as his horse went up and down.  He was close to tears yelling, "THE COWS!  THE COWS!"  Poor kid always calls horses "cows."

Lily also turned 3 while Becca and Preston were here.  She was spoiled by family and this picture shows the one present I requested for her birthday: UNO Moo!  It's a preschool version of UNO and it is so much fun.  Lily played it with her speech therapist and I could not get over how perfect this game was for her age.  She also got a Singamajig (thanks Grandmum and Pop Pop!), a Rapunzel Doll (thanks Becca and Preston!), more art supplies, and (as is the tradition in our family) another special book. 

Ben and I decided early on that we wanted to give the kids a special book on their birthday each year.  So far they've been given The Giving Tree, My Goodnight Book (courtesy of my parents), a collection of other stories, and this year we're doing Dr. Seuss.  Lily got Oh, The Places You'll Go! and in a month Skyler will be getting Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? 

One of the most entertaining parts of the visit was that Lily and Skyler had a hard time naming Becca and Preston.  Lily thought that Becca was Preston and vice versa.  It took a long time for her to realize that Preston is a boy and Becca is a girl.  On the flipside, Skyler called Becca "Becca," but Preston was too hard to pronounce so he called him "Uncle Becky."  Ah, Becca and Becky?  I think it has a nice ring to it.  I may possibly let my kids call them that for the rest of their lives.... ;)