our collective digital self
This was from back in late March when the old Pittsboro Courthouse burned down. We were goofing off and Hayley decided to be Annabelle’s voice in this running joke we have about a dog talkshow that our dogs host (don’t ask, we aren’t normal I know).
I didn’t take many photos at Halloween or Thanksgiving. Between having a party for Halloween with Jen for the street and having the usual gang for Thanksgiving, I just didn’t pick up the camera much. A neighbor has more Halloween ones of the kids and I’ll those when I get them.
Hayley went as Nancy Drew:
Grubbing
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We went to Locopops with the dogs to get popsicles for everyone and Hayley took some funny photos of the dogs trying to eat their beef doggie popsicles. For the record, the humans had fantastic Cherry-Lime and Choco-Brownie ones.
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Some cute pix of Buster and Annabelle. I love the last one of Buster crammed in the bed and all of Annabelle looking her needy little self.
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Evening silliness with the kiddo and puppies.
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We decided to pull out all our dog Halloween costumes and dress up the dogs for a few moments the evening before Halloween. I knew they wouldn’t stay in them long so we did it just to be silly for awhile.
We dressed them up in matching polo shirts from Old Navy and then went to the more daring selections of Pirate, Zorro, grass skirt and others.
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We are still down at the beach. Our eight days here come to an end in the morning. I am not looking forward to packing up this place and heading home but at least we have Jeff here to help – but of course we have three dogs to get home too now.
I’ll post photos from the past few days tonight if I can and then some more from Hayley’s camera after we get home. Hayley and Jeff went to the Wright Brothers monument and have had fun walking on the beach with the dogs down to the pier.
Hayley has decided crab isn’t so bad after all and willingly ate hot crab dip, which I could live on of course. I suppose she held out as long as she could on the anti-seaford since Jeff and I ate it every night. OMG she is eating up a storm again. Gone is the bird eater and ravenous child has returned. It isn’t such desserts, she’s starving about every 2-3 hours it seems. Must be growing again. She got a henna tattoo of two dolphins and she’s insanely happy about it. It should wear off in a week or so but she’s just hoping it is still there on Monday when she goes back to school.
The weather has turned stormy Friday night and today – it has been amazing to watch the power of the ocean. Seeing wide variances in the tides has been fascinating. Hayley has gotten to see a very small version of what weather-related ocean episodes (hurricanes, flooding, etc) can do.
We have a blustery night here for our last evening. Thank goodness pizza delivery was available!
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Wednesday was a low key day. I had to get some work done so we hung out at the house (which is like a pleasure in itself! I worked outside on the deck and listened to the ocean. Hayley colored and played video games. We went out that afternoon to eat and shop.
Thursday was a great day!
First we had a special morning at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island in Manteo (about 15 mins away). We got to come in before everyone else for ‘breakfast with the manta rays’ where just Hayley and I that day got to help feed the manta rays and eat breakfast there. For the price it was a steal b/c it included getting into the Aquarium and breakfast – well little did we know it meant a private guided tour, behind the scenes access and so much interesting info from their amazing educator Ann Marie.
One of the coolest things was seeing what the animals ate in the prep kitchens that the staff uses. We laughed so hard that the alligators love to eat marshmallows as snacks! The fridge had a lot of snacks we would eat (peas & strawberries) and stuff we wouldn’t (crickets, dead rats and dead chicks for the snacks – gross!).
After the tour around, we went to the manta ray tank. We got to touch them and help feed them cut up fish. A few times with gross dead fish pieces was enough for me but Hayley had a ball. I finally got her to touch one – she’s resisted at every aquarium we go to. The rays’ mouths are on the underside so they’d just hover over the food and eat it up.
We saw a few more things and then went to breakfast in a classroom where we got to see all sorts of cool rays and shark stuff. We got to feel shark skin, see rays’ jawbone and more while we ate. It was just an unbelievable couple of hours.
With just a bit of work and a reasonable amount of money, we’ve had some experiences of a lifetime this trip.
Thursday evening Jeff arrived with the pups in tow. So we now have three wiggly dogs and Daddy to help keep a lid on the madness here!
As many of you know, Hayley had her friends give her donations for the SPCA instead of gifts for her 10th birthday party. They all had great fun getting gifts and we didn’t feel guilty about throwing a huge party again.
We got in touch with the volunteer education coordinator at our local SPCA in Raleigh and she gave us a personal tour of the facility when we dropped off our donations.
Lots of photos and notes from things she learned and wanted to share:
The new lovely SPCA center in Raleigh:
Hayley loved that the cats live in an open room with other cats and their own little cubbies:
A staff member’s husband made PVC pipe additions for the cats to have places to perch and roam:
Our SPCA doesn’t allow people to adopt animals they don’t intend of keeping outside all the time. They have an indoor/outdoor room to show the pets enjoying both:
Kitties:
The SPCA also has bunnies:
Microchip investigation:
Happy dogs with space to play:
Puppies:
We have lots of donations:
Oooo a certificate for Hayley!:
Other neat things she learned and remembered:
-Our SPCA loves to have people to come visit the animals because it helps them get ready to move to new homes.
-Our SPCA is a no-kill shelter, so the animals aren’t put to sleep.
-Our SPCA has a neat volunteer program for kids and parents.
-Our SPCA tries to keep most animals in group rooms because most people adopting from the SPCA have more than one pet.
-Our SPCA keeps kittens and puppies in more open cages because they are often young and new arrivals.
I’m so proud of her!
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