These pictures include the actual clues and evidence used in "The Case of the Missing Snacks" mystery the guests had to solve. They were all great detectives and recovered the snacks before the end of the party.
Be sure to read the picture descriptions for a bit more about the clues.
We recently visited the NC Zoo in Asheboro and had a great day.
Besides admiring the animals, they probably spent the most time in a outdoor maze they had setup. Delaney quickly found her way out on the first try, but the object was really to find six different animal stamp stations within the maze. Then you had to use the clues to determine which area of your card to stamp. This took a bit longer as she and Tori had to explore every dead end in the maze.
When I was growing up, we used to vacation a lot in the Atlantic Beach/Salter Path/Emerald Isle area on the North Carolina coast. It was only a few hours away. I vaguely remember camping when I was younger and later staying at different beach houses and condos. Some years I'd go two, three, or four times, staying with grandparents, aunts and uncles, church youth groups, or other friends.
We'd always find somewhere to eat seafood and always find somewhere to play miniature golf. There was always a walk on one or more fishing piers to see what people were catching. Sometimes stopping to fish ourselves. We rode waves to shore in the ocean and played card games in the room.
And you always, always, always made at least one stop at Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston. You just had to, and it was at about the halfway point of the trip.
Sure it was typically hot, but there was always a firm breeze and water nearby. Good summer fun. Good memories.
This past week, we took a trip back to Atlantic Beach after not going for a few years. Delaney remembered the last trip, but Tori certainly did not. The drive is a bit longer from Wake Forest, there were no walks on the fishing piers, as most of them are either washed away or closed, but there was a stop at Neuse Sport Shop and it's at least three times the size it used to be. If you can't find a fishing rod in there, it doesn't exist.
Despite Melissa's sunburn induced by residual antibiotics (I bet we remember that next time), we had a great time! Lots of wave jumping in the ocean, building sandcastles, burying each other in the sand, and finding crabs and shells on the beach. A trip to local shops netted a Webkinz among other things (imagine that!), a meal out included making Smores at the table over open flame, and a chance stop on the way home resulted in a geocache find.
Last night, Delaney lost her first tooth. She was so excited that she didn't want to put it under her pillow. Today she took it to school to show friends and tonight it awaits a visit from the Tooth Fairy.
Tori and I went geocaching at Falls Lake Sunday afternoon and she found this Syndrome and Omnidroid in the cache. I think the best part to her was getting to use her hiking stick while walking on the trails through the woods and collecting leaves that interested her.
The cache was Old Quarry (GCPF3J) and it was at a cool rock wall that used to be part of a rock quarry. It's a great one for kids as it was only a little more than a half mile roundtrip from parking.
Today in Serbia (well, our day - it's now their night), Samantha turned one. We're still trying to convince Tori to come up with something else to call her other than "Baby Samantha." That will be hard.
Delaney and Tori wanted to send her a video, but, well, you can guess how that goes. In fact, it went so "well" that we decided to upload all six attempts to YouTube. Don't worry, the longest one is only 70 seconds.
Samantha is again sitting on my lap watching the girls sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She keeps pointing at the computer and "talking" to her sweet cousins. Delaney & Tori, thank you for your wonderful birthday songs. Samantha wants to listen to them every day!
Not So Spooky Halloween
Delaney knew all along she would be Princess Jasmine, but Tori had a hard time choosing. After dressing as Stephanie from Lazy Town, a ghost, and Ariel The Little Mermaid earlier in the week, she decided to go as Snow White.
My brother Tim and his family left on Monday for Serbia. They arrived safe and sound after the three-legged flight, and amazingly all of their checked luggage arrived as well. And there was a lot of checked luggage. I think the total count was 14 crates right at the weight limit of 50 pounds each, plus their four carry-ons, a stroller, and a carseat.
Why all the luggage? Well, they'll be staying in Cacak, Serbia for two years as Christian workers. They're not settled in yet (they're staying with another missionary family until they can get their own housing), but once they do you'll be able to follow along at their first blog, Sharpes in Serbia.
Say a prayer for them as Tim, Jennifer, Caleb, and Samantha settle in to a completely different lifestyle. Send them an email of encouragement.
We look forward to seeing them on Skype once they've got a Net connection.
We found time on Sunday to go geocaching with the girls. They love to find the cache and trade for treasure.
Delaney first thought the rusty old soup can hiding in the grass couldn't be the treasure, but once we pulled it out, she had obviously found Soup Can Man. They traded a butterfly keychain and a card game for a pressed four leaf clover and an earth keychain.
Tori found this one herself after traipsing through spider webs in the woods. And now they've both got the mosquito bites to prove it. They left two dinosaur puzzles and took a Dora car and mini padlock.
I'm up to 119 finds so far! Only a couple thousand more to go in this area.
Delaney started kindergarten today and was proud to wear her new school uniform of navy and white. Getting up an hour earlier than last year didn't seem to phase her nearly as much as it did mom and dad.
I tried really hard to write a blog about this child for the last couple of days, but mostly it just becomes an incoherent weepy mess about growing up and how isn't she just the most beautiful and brilliant and sparkly and abrillious* and creative and well, just the best five year old ever. We are blessed to be her parents and love her more than one would think possible.
*just to show how creative she is, abrillious is her word that means super silly and it fits her to perfection some days
We are so proud of Delaney; she looks so beautiful. Please tell her that we are so proud of her, and we can't wait to hear about her week at school. We miss her and love her so much.
Great Granite Geocaching!
Tori loves rocks. She collects all kinds of rocks. Pretty rocks, smooth rocks, shiny rocks, and your average parking lot gravel rocks that seem to hold a special place in her heart.
So I stumbled upon a geocache that was just perfect for her and I knew the whole family would enjoy. We went to Paleo Pavement Earthcache and we must have explored the area for well over an hour.
This hidden area just a few hundred feet off Hwy 96 is one of the largest exposed areas of granite in NC. All the ground you see in the photo is one solid rock, and that's just part of it. It stretches well beyond the photo. The rock Delaney and Tori are on is over 298 million years old. So they looked for dinosaur footprints.
They had fun playing around the small waterfalls, exploring the rock, finding cactus, and following a giant beetle looking for supper.
This is certainly one of my most memorable caches thus far and a really fun place to spend a little time outdoors. Be sure to click the photo and see a few more shots of the area and the fun we had.
An evening at Kanki to celebrate Tim's graduation. The tableside flames scared Delaney and Tori at first, but they warmed up to the cook's antics and Tori ate tons of shrimp.
Seven days, several hundred miles, four geocaches, three toll booths, two trips to urgent care, and we're back!
We saw Disney World (again) and survived.
Jasmine was Delaney's favorite princess of the week and she managed to get several photo ops, two dolls, a shirt, and an autograph. Tori loved the teacups most.
Green shirt, green pants, green necklaces, green socks, green shoes, green coat, green hat (inside and decoration), green ankle bracelet, green nail polish, green Irish bear, green hair bow, and several other green things I'm forgetting.
Today I took the girls geocaching for a little while. Melissa needed some time to rest while recovering from her tonsillectomy (Tori said, "Mommy, I think when they took out your tonsils, they put a frog in your throat.") and it was 60 degrees in January. What other reason do you need?
They were really into doing some "treasure hunting" and we walked about a mile to find these two caches. This picture is of them standing by the "Trails End Cache" which was the second find of the day. Tori is wearing the sunglasses she got from "Durant Kiddie Cache", our first find.
Today we went to visit our newborn niece, Samantha.
She's adorable and she slept the entire time we were there. Caleb is very proud of his new baby sister. And Victoria wanted to ride her bike to go see her again because "it is too far to walk."
Well, it's too far to ride her bike as well, especially since Victoria can't ride a bike yet, but we'll be sure to visit often.
Congratulations Tim, Jennifer, and Caleb! Samantha has a wonderful family!
This year Delaney's birthday falls on Thanksgiving day. Since many people have other plans on that day, we had her birthday party last weekend instead.
It was an Alice in Wonderland theme and Happy Dan the Magic Man provided the magic. The kids were amazed and laughed and screamed at every trick. Follow that with some cake, a balloon hat, and face painting and you've got a party to remember...at least until the next one!
If you weren't there (well, you know, you can't invite *everybody*) you can commit the pictures to memory.
Just isn't a family reunion without a cupcake and a face full of icing. Why bother peeling off the paper, when you can go straight for the good stuff, right?
Notice the "cookie on a stick" waiting patiently on Victoria's plate.
She had such a good time and she looks so cute with orange on her face.
Happy Birthday Melissa!
Today is my wonderful wife Melissa's birthday!
The girls made her several art projects and we've made a cake which we'll ice this afternoon.
Yesterday we took a family trip over to The Sarah P. Duke Gardens to celebrate. Even though it's only half an hour away, we had never been. Hopefully I'll post some pictures later in the week.
So study up on how to say "Happy Birthday" in 161 different languages so you'll be ready the next time you see her.
Hope you had a great birthday, Melissa. See you next week.
Look at Me! I'm an Airplane!
We went to the RDU Observation Park today. I had never been but it was pretty cool.
There's a covered observation deck that overlooks a runway and we saw several planes of various sizes take off. You also get to hear the radio chatter between pilot and air traffic control. It's still amazing to watch a huge 747 plane suddenly lift off the ground and start climbing quickly out of sight.
There's a nice flat paved area and mini-runway that the girls loved riding their bikes and scooters on. And we even had snacks at the picnic tables there.
Truly a fun place. Spent many an evening there with family and friends. The last big plane to take off daily was the UPS cargo plane at 10pm. That was our cue to leave.
That's interesting. The web site says "7am to dusk" and the sign on the gate said it opens at 9am. Perhaps good communication isn't the airport's strength.
I wouldn't mind seeing them takeoff at night myself.
Looks like everyone had a great time. Your girls are growing up fast. I'm sure next time I talk to them they will have a lot to tell me about the airport.
Victoria's First Face
Aquadoodle drawings fade fast, but blog postings are permanent.
This morning Victoria drew her first face with eyes and a mouth. We thought she was done but she said, "No. He needs a nose."
She wasn't too happy when it soon started to fade away, though.
Delaney's just completed a week of Cheerleading Camp and she's just as excited about the upcoming NCSU football season as the rest of us! Here's a video(5MB MPEG) of one of her cheers.
Luckily, everyone is ok and the Jeep is even drivable, though the roof may leak.
Now begins the fun of rentals, estimates, more estimates, insurance, car repair, etc, etc, etc. Maybe I should change the post title to "A Few Days Are Better Than Others"?
Most days are better than others...it just depends on how you mearsure them.
Mini Marshmallow Shooter is Mega Fun!
Last night, Delaney and I made two marshmallow shooters. These things are so simple to make and the parts cost less than $3. It's another great idea from Make magazine in their Howtoons column. All you need to know is in one cell of this cartoon. For maximum effect, be sure to load the marshmallow into the mouthpiece. It won't have any trouble at all making the 90 degree turn to exit the muzzle.
Delaney got to shop for the supplies and then measure, mark, and hold the PVC pipe while I cut it. After cleaning the pieces, we put them together. It was a great quick project that gives immediate results. She can shoot them a little bit, but I had no trouble hitting a wall thirty feet away. She had no trouble running thirty feet to eat the marshmallow.
That's how Delaney referred to this afternoon's venture to the park with Victoria for Madison's 4th birthday. They had a great time! They loved digging for dinosaur fossils and riding the rides at the amusement park.
We'd never seen this, but apparently it was a limited edition release some time ago. This unit would light up and make sounds just like in the movie. He would respond to voice commands and move around the room, navigating around obstacles.
We saw R2 dance to the "Star Wars Cantina" and play Princess Leia's "you're our only hope" message. I'm sure it did much more, but just like in the movie, R2 would sometimes get an attitude and just shake his head and beep at you, refusing to cooperate.
We just got back from a great party at Brandon and Megan's -- that's Megan enjoying some dessert with Tori in the photo. The kids had a parade, water balloons, lots of food, watermelon, lollipops, made visors, Alka-Seltzer rockets, snow cones, and even sparklers for the big kids (which scared Melissa). Thanks to Becky and Michael for the invite!
After getting home, we shot off some fireworks and watched some others and the kids are just now getting to bed. Sleep sounds pretty good to me, too.
On the way home from the beach, Victoria finished off all but one piece of her candy. Showing no prior interest in baseball at all, she then proceeded to insert her left hand in the small candy wrapper "glove" and hold the blue ball of candy in her right hand. Like a pitcher waiting for the ump to call for the first pitch, she repeatedly brought the piece of candy over to the glove, chanting happily "Baseball! Baseball!" I've actually got a few seconds of video of it that I might try to blog later just to play with video blogging.
Our beach vacation was fun, but it was the first time in a long time that the girls were without Tivo. They had to sit through commercials if they watched a show, and it was difficult to understand that we couldn't just watch what we wanted whenever we wanted. In the end, they took comfort in the assurance that the TiVos at home would have all their favorite shows waiting for them when we got back home.
Happy Father's Day to my Daddy! He is the most best daddy I ever liked. He puts me to bed really good because he does really good stories. I love you! - from Delaney
Hap Fader's Day DaDa. He plays Dora and Swip de Fox wi me. - from Tori Grace Sharpe
A few minutes after I took this picture, they got out, we reset the "tents" and they went and hid behind a chair. Then I called Melissa in to find them.
It was a pretty good idea, I thought, but the giggles gave them away.
They were really funny hiding *behind* the chair instead of under the blankets the second time. Delaney really stuck with it and hid back there, but after a few, "I wonder where they could be?" comments, Tori had to pop out and say, "Here Mommy, here 'hind dis chair."
The funniest part was all of the Star Wars guys hiding under the blankets when I went to fold them up later. They were having a little party under there.
Operation Declutterize a Success
The yard sale is over, and it was a success. I really don't see how anyone found a park as most of the morning there were cars parked on both sides of the street for as far as I could see. We had lots of people buying stuff and then saying, "Now if I could just find my car..." I guess there's good and bad to big neighborhood yard sales.
We did better than last year and made about $412 and Delaney and Victoria made enough money selling drinks to buy the Robots they wanted, Fender and Rodney Copperbottom.
I had a life-sized cardboard standup of Michael Jordan for sale. It's one of those Gatorade promotional displays. Several people were interested in it, but it didn't sell. The funniest thing was to hear people refer to him as "Michael Jackson" and "Shaq". The woman who called him Shaq just kept saying it over and over and I couldn't bring myself to correct her.
Then, just minutes after we had boxed up the stuff that didn't sell, a dump truck arrived with twelve yards of mulch for us. The mulch mountain.
It's time for the annual neighborhood yard sale. We'll be selling off some more of the pile of stuff we've accumulated over the years at ridiculously low prices. Most things are $2 or less.
Stop on by. You might find some treasure in our trash. So to speak.
My brother Tim and his family left on Monday for Serbia. They arrived safe and sound after the three-legged flight, and amazingly all of their checked luggage arrived as well. And there was a lot of checked luggage. I think the total count was 14 crates right at the weight limit of 50 pounds each, plus their four carry-ons, a stroller, and a carseat.
Today we went to visit our newborn niece, 
Today is my wonderful wife 
We went to the 
Today a garbage truck failed to yield.
Last night, Delaney and I made two marshmallow shooters. These things are so simple to make and the parts cost less than $3. It's another great idea from 
That's how Delaney referred to this afternoon's venture to the park with Victoria for 
The 
It's time for the annual 
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