We're on a boat. A really, really BIG boat

Saturday I drove the boys down for a short overnight visit to visit our family friends the Hunters.  The goal was two fold:

1.  Get the boys out of the house since Campy Mommy is in full effect this spring break week
2.  Pick up more teaching files from US History teacher guru Laura H.

From the last time we had all five boys all six years and under we knew that it would not be a trip of relaxation, but rather on par with wrangling cats.  By end of night we actually had SEVEN children we were responsible.  *More in a minute as neither Laura or I will never, ever be pregnant again.

We met up in Southport, NC for a spring festival.  Instead of going to the festival we hit a nearby playground.  The 3 year olds were completely entranced with the "music tars" in a store window as we wandered along.   Mom was pushing for a stop by this awesome outdoor bar that serves shrimp and cocktails.  Sadly we settled for Trolley Stop hot dogs.  I did get my with cheddar cheese, chili, and slaw and it was this side of food heaven.

We ate by the garrison looking out over the water and let the boys chase each other on the grass.  We then headed by the Maritime museum where Ian and Laura's 3 year old twins, Max and Leo managed to touch every.single.thing with a "do not touch" sign. Note that other than laughing hysterically at a pan flute playing vendor we never graced a piece of the festival.

We headed back to Laura's mom's house on Oak Island where we settled in on the porch chatting  while the kids did more chasing and running around for the afternoon.  At some point child #6 (an sweet as sugar 8 year old girl that Laura was babysitting for her mom's friend) showed up and we took her along with us to the beach.

While the weather outside was warm and sunny, the ocean was cold and wet.

Don't tell Max, Leo, Ian, Ben, or Eli.  All jumped in the ocean within the first few minutes of arriving leading to a sad, sad progression home earlier than we had planned.

The little kids went to bed while the older ones watched a movie until the entrance of child #7, a 4 year old that showed up at nearly 9 pm, whose parents were also going to a 60th birthday party Laura's mom was hosting off site on the same night.

Cue to Laura and I with WTF looks as no one knew this kid was coming and all hell broke loose once he arrived. I immediately put Ben to bed and Laura did the same with Eli.  Note kid count is now two and by 11:00 it was zero.

The next day as we were driving home I stopped at the USS North Carolina and took the boys on what has to be described as an endurance test of all feats.








We climbed from top to bottom of the battleship. The boys were in testosterone overdrive and mom was  worn slap out.  I definitely score points that as we are hardcore potty training Ian and only using diapers at night, I did the whole ship without an accident.   A fun, but exhausting short road trip.  While tiring the battleship was really, really cool.