Outer Banks Vacation- Henry.

We headed to the Outer Banks for our big Seibert vacation this weekend. We rented a huge house on the beach and are having a good time with 15 people under one roof.

This morning we headed to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. It was built in 1875 and you can even climb all 214 steps to stand on the top.

I wanted to climb to the top, so mama mustered all the courage she could find and took me up the iron grates and wide set rails that were called stairs. She and Grandpa took turns breaking out in cold sweats and hugging the walls on the landings.

Eventually, we made it to the top and even looked off the edge. That little white and red speck in the shadow is papa and Juner waiting for us at the bottom.

None of us kids were afraid of heights and spent our time on top scaring mama and Grandma by doing things like putting one foot up on the rail.

Here's the whole crew that made it to the top. The walk done was pretty slow and mama refused to let me go down without holding her hand.

June, Evie, Annalise and I posed in front of the big lighthouse.

Mama wanted a family shot, but guess who didn't want to stand still? This action shot is the best we got.

June is really walking everywhere, which gave me a great opportunity to assult her with a pamphlet.

The Tallers got a nice picture.

Later, we walked over to the Sound. Juner got a hand from Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma and June played on the bridge.

And we all took a minute to relax in the gazebo on the water.

I was pretty excited when papa showed me the parking lot for boats.

We stopped in at the nature center, which was featured duck decoys, a collection of outboard motors and a small aquarium. We weren't so interested in the exhibits but had a good time playing chase. Remember that this roar represents only 4/7 of the grandkids. It's twice as loud when all of us are together.

Mama suffered a very serious injury tonight when she was walking back from the beach. She and June fell down the boardwalk steps. June hit the ground, but luckily she's okay. Mama didn't fare so well. She scraped up her legs and twisted her right ankle. She's had to spend all night with her foot elevated and iced, but it's actually been pretty nice. No diaper changing, no bath giving, no food fetching. Lucky for papa, there are 6 other adults who have helped out with me and Juner and mama's constant requests. (Mama, we don't think frozen margaritas are the recommended pain treatment.)

Last day of school- Henry.

Today my school had a special picnic to celebrate the end of the year. Mama, Papa, and Juner came to join in the partying.

My buddy Liam and I get pretty goofy.

Maggie and I played hoops on the steps.

I posed for a quick pick with Brock and Preston (a little sister to one of the boys in my class).

Preston and her big brother Brock tried to break into the church with June. It was locked.

June had a great time crawling and walking to anyone with open arms. This girl is not shy at all.Can you tell papa picked out this outfit? That miniskirt is just not working with Juner's diaper bottom.

Mama tried to get a good shot of the two of us, with no luck.

Then I had the great idea of sharing June's necklace- on the stairs no less. Mama nixed that pretty soon.

Here I am with my teachers- Miss Shannon and Miss Alice. I sure am going to miss them this summer!

Here's some more artwork. I think this crab will be a keeper, because mama can't throw anything made with hand prints away. There's sand glued under there too.

This was my promotional artwork. Earlier this spring, as a fundraiser, my school sold my art on various household items. I'm proud to say this piece of art now graces mousepads, coasters, oven mitts, and pillowcases across the midwest.

Finally, here's my rendition of Jonah and the Whale. I took my scissors to it, but the 50 layers of paint proved to be quite hard to cut.

Back in Dixie again- Henry.

We got home late Tuesday night. We found out last Friday that they were going to be repaving our parking lot on Monday (not the week's notice they promised). But we overnighted our keys to our neighbor and they moved our car for us. Unfortunately, it wasn't finished when we got back so we had to park about 60 yards away from our house on the street. It made for a good time unpacking the van.

While mama unloaded our car, I stayed busy with my new kid safe scissors. I don't like coloring, but I can cut for a long time without distraction. I didn't want to cut any plain paper, so I cut up my Jonah and the whale picture I made at school.

We've been working on my bedtime habits. This is my positive reinforcement "Henry's Don't Get Out of Bed" Chart. When I filled up the three boxes, I got a new matchbox car.

While mama was unloading, Juner found the box of ginger snaps. You can't really see it, but she's got one in each hand and one in her mouth.

After the car was empty, the house was full of stuff to be put away. Instead of helping, I found this old straw and prceeded to make train sounds for the next 45 minutes. I think mama really liked it.

Monday in Mern- June.

In Henry's words "we're all out of smoke," or we ran out of steam. We were supposed to go home on Monday, but we decided instead to stay until Tuesday. The promise of grilling out the bleu cheese bacon burgers that Grandma picked up at the store helped with our decision too.

We spent most of the day in our jammers until Henry decided that he had better fit in a workout.

When the chalkboard was full, mama told him to use the paper towels to clean it off, so he did.

Eat it up Aunt Jenni, Grams has her old horse, exposed springs and all. And Henry can really make it buck. It jumped all over the floor and mama was sure a spring would break and send Buster flying into the cinder block wall.

Of course that didn't happen and Henry had a good time demanding that mama go in the other room, wait for him to call her, then come out, DON'T TALK, and just take pictures.

Monday was also papa's birthday. As a special present, Aunt Girl took Henry out for a McDonalds picnic in the park while mama, papa, Grams, and I went out to eat. Thanks Aunt Girl! We actually had a good time! We all met up at the park afterward.

Aunt Girl and I liked going down the slide.

This playground was great because it was all enclosed and there were very few places a little girl could fall off, so I got to go wherever I wanted.

After supper, we played outside. Henry and I dared each other to do tricks on the slide.

He went down the slide headfirst.

I dangled precariously.

Either mama and papa are just more relaxed or I am much more bold than Henry was at this age. He's still known to be quite cautious. But I throw caution to the wind.

Take that, slide!

And although I refused to walk at the Seiberts, I took a couple steps at the Cooper's. There's less of a chance of getting clobbered by another kid there.

A big highlight of the weekend was the birds nest next to the back door. When we left on Friday, there were just eggs inside, but when we got back, there were baby birds. We all conquered Aunt Girl's fear of getting dive bombed by the mama bird and stole a peak. Turns out that newborn birds aren't quite as cute as baby bunnies. Yuck.

Grams got an ice cream cake for papa's birthday. Henry made sure to count the candles.

And we all sang him Happy Birthday!

Back in Mern- June.

We were all pretty tired after the big party and slept a while in the car back to the Cooper's.

When we got there, we found out Grams hit up the consignment store and brought us back matching outfits. Sadie was excited to model, but I was a little embarrassed.

Henry tried to show me how to sit still and smile, but I wasn't buying it.

Don't you guys no that you're not supposed to wear white pants before Memorial Day?

Sadie knew that a temporary nuk fix wasn't going to help.

Finally, I explained there was no way they were going to get a good picture outside.

So instead, they just made us sit inside. I still was into it. Sadie was getting a little bored.

Why won't they just leave me alone?

In my defense, that big harmless arthritic dog that never moves more than 4 feet in an hour was always there menacing me.

At least there were a few cute shots of Sadie.

And one more reason to rebel against my parents when I turn 15.

Not even diaper changes are sacred anymore?

Turn that camera off, mama!

Since I wasn't going to perform for anyone, Sadie took it upon herself to ramp up the cute factor.

And she did a pretty good job.