John was watching a movie like this. So comfortable :)
We had a concert at an outdoor amphitheater and had an absolute blast!
Everyone is growing well, it's fun to keep track of their stats.
Diana's leaf rubbing project for art class
Tile going in! We had a lot of surface area to cover and it took them a long time.
Happy John
Katy's origami from art class
We took a trip to the Outer Banks and stopped at Mongolian Grill. John had a hard time waiting for his bowl to get grilled and was staring at the cook through the doors.
We visited Island Farm, a living history site interpreting daily life on Roanoke Island in the mid-1800s.
Sack hop fun
These tree was four hundred years old. It has weathered many hurricanes.
The kids loved feeding chickens and finding eggs they laid. Now Diana is trying to convince everyone to live on a farm.
Jacob with an egg he found in the hen house
Carding wool is very hard by hand!
Had to eat at Sam and Omie's!
Off on an adventure to hike and fish in Jim's secret fishing spot. Part of the highway had just reopened from hurricane damage a few days earlier so there was traffic as everyone was trying to access their homes and businesses again. But we finally got there.
I loved seeing the wave curl on this ridge of sand.
The Outer Banks is so wild and fun to explore. Diana lost one of her shoes in these endless sand dunes. Didn't tell us until we were eating dinner that night crazy girl.
Hurricane washed up debris
I love watching the sand pipers stay just ahead of the waves as they eat.
Jim had four lines in and had fun hauling in fish.
Whiting fish
Endless tickly crabs
Such a beautiful day
Jacob is the fishing king in the family, he has the best luck too!
So many little crabs on the beach, it was fun to watch them.
Katy writing about her day for school. Since school is remote, we can do work from home (or the Outer Banks!) It did make for late nights and wasn't ideal to miss live class, but it was a lot of fun.
We celebrated Nicole’s birthday with an off-road wild horse tour in Corolla. The Corolla Wild Horses are a group of feral Spanish mustangs, believed to be descendants of shipwrecked horses from hundreds of years ago. Besides the beauty of the horses and remote location, the kids loved the off-roading and excitement of going through water and on dunes.
The recent 3-day winds from Hurricane Teddy peeled away the beach to reveal petrified forest remains.
Better than an amusement park!
Monster Jam driver Gravedigger's house. We also saw Taylor Swift's pad she parties at here.
Old lifesaving station- you can rent it now.
The second biggest sand dune on the east coast. Last year we played at Jockey Ridge, the largest one, and it was fun to see this one since it's privately owned by the horse tour company and only accessible by their jeeps.
Michael yelled "We found Charlotte", referencing National Treasure, when we saw this kayak that the hurricane had washed up. It was damaged and left there.
Random toad in the sand. Of course the kids find it!
This guy thought he could add sand tires to a bug and go off-roading. Even had stickers announcing that he gives tours. Not every idea is a good one.
At one point a truck came right over the ridge right next to him- our driver gave him a card of a tow company- hard to get in the middle of dunes! But the guy just kept digging. He was actually on private property driving there. Crazy.
Currituck Lighthouse
We earned a big lunch at Food Dudes!
Crabbing was not successful at the docks. We will try a different spot next time!
Just some little guys, nothing to eat.
Jake, of course, caught some fish!
John got to release the puffer back into the ocean!
Kite flying
Prettiest stingray ever
John playing for hours by himself in the sand. It felt so good to be outside for days!
All tuckered out mid-bite.
Our hotel had paddle boats. They sorta became bumper boats when I wasn't watching.
Also had an indoor waterpark with nobody there. So fun!
Pizza before heading home!
Nicole is 14! We had two ice cream cakes to celebrate!
The tile guys didn't put in a deck drain. Now water is in the crawl space. So they have to come back to do it and I wonder if they ever will...
Katy selfie
Tile (pretty much) done!
John loves preschool. I'm SO glad he can go and I see the progress socially and fun he has.
Sunset around the lake in our neighborhood
Jim went fishing with his sister and her family when they came to visit
She said he was like a kid in a candy shop
Snuggle time with our baby
Didn't quite work like he'd hoped
The pool was cloudy, dirt and mud everywhere, but we had a fire and put our the furniture to enjoy every second we could!
Daybreakers band shirts arrived!
Love seeing my boys playing together
Fun with Kelly. We ate a lot of good food!
And tried to walk at least a little of it off! The kids had so much fun with their cousins.
Baked Alaska was the favorite.
They treated us to Defy and the kids loved playing together, especially Dodgeball.
After months of a dirty, algae encrusted pool, I decided to just put the robot in and let it start cleaning. We couldn't even see the bottom of the pool but sent it out to clean!
When Kelly left, she left some snacks behind and John was THRILLED
Making crowns for their stuffed animals between school classes. This is a moment I loved online school. Perhaps the only moment haha
The robot got over a dozen loads of silt and junk out. It was crazy!
Buddies
Making lifesize pictures of themselves. These girls have so much fun together. And make lots of messes!
The gate finally came much to my relief!
And they took all the junk away so I could park in the garage for the first time in months. Had to get a pic of the occasion!
And they're back to school two days a week. Love it.
John helped me carry supplies for us to do drains for our backyard.
Diana's mask art
John is never quite sure what holiday it is.
We ended up doing all the drainage ourselves after they pushed it off many times and had awful ideas on shortcuts to do it. We figured we would just get it done right.
Lots of mud and crawling under the porch, but it's done right!
The pump breaker got fixed! And it was clear! After a week of care, they visited and said we could swim.
The guy left and five minutes later...
This hit a little close to home after our backyard concert.
Michael and Jim with the deacons went kayaking at Jordan Lake for a youth night.
We had the cousins over to swim! It ended up more like floating since it's still pretty chilly and the heater hasn't been hooked up yet.
That ginormous oak tree stump is still sitting on our side yard. We actually dragged it down using a tow rope with the truck so that the fence could be installed. This stump has been sitting so long stuff is growing on it. Been four months.
The school shared this pic of Diana's class. There are about 5-7 kids in a class and the rest are virtual so the teacher teaches the class on her computer and then the kids have her for questions and individualized attention. Love it.
Diana art
Nicole's group then went kayaking and paddle boarding the next week.
Beautiful sunset!
Asynchronous days mean no uniform and, apparently, lots of chilling.
We hired landscapers to sod the yard as well as plant lots of trees. They did an incredible job of grading the lawn after the pool company left it so uneven.
Even the side yard was done. We've really changed the back yard a lot this year, that's where our garden used to be! The privacy trees next door have grown so there's not much sun, so we've just put grass there now.
All the plants ready to go in. Banana trees, palm trees, and other evergreens. We will be adding more tropical things in spring but wanted the bigger and evergreen plants to get started now. Makes for much less watering when you plant in fall.
Privacy trees are in! We really had a lot of privacy thanks to the oak tree and now these trees will grow and provide that same cover.
Grass is in! I've since been able to add mulch to the pool equipment area and we will put a fence on two sides to block from view.
Marian and I were able to go to AZ for Benjamin and Sarah's sealing for a quick trip!
Jim had fun with the kids at home. The pool is still pretty cold but it doesn't stop them.
Got to meet our cardboard cutouts from the wedding this summer!
It was so enjoyable to catch up a little with everyone.
Ostler family
Meanwhile back in NC Jim took the kids and some of their besties off-roading at the beach.
It was marvelous to be back on temple grounds. I have missed the temple a lot. What a blessing to have all the siblings there for the sealing. Sarah is an absolute gem and I'm thrilled to have her as a new sister! There were lots of white doves flying around it was so fun.
Breakfast at Mom and Dad's house. They're selling it, so this was our last time seeing it before they move.
Enjoying Megan's new home and kitchen. She was a gracious host for all the family over. It's fun how all my brothers are in AZ (except Caleb ta BYU) and seeing how the cousins all know each other so well.
Last pic before we left the next morning. SO happy for Benjamin and Sarah! And in random other wonderful news, Dramamine helped me have a good flight home with no airsickness. It was wonderful, especially since there was more turbulence and the flights were longer. Such a relief.
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