Friday, December 27, 2013

Christmas


  Twas the night before Christmas
But we weren't on our blog.
We were waiting excitedly...
Even Prospect the dog!

And on Christmas morning
We found Santa had come,
And left lots of goodies
It was such wonderful fun!




A charm bracelet...just like Mommy's!
"Just the game I wanted!"





Tim is convinced that toys were packed with more security tags and tapes this Christmas than ever before.  At one point, the kids were standing in line waiting to get their packages open!  :)


John's favorite gift on Christmas morning had to be the Cabela's Dangerous Hunts 2013 game for PS3.  He shot deer and bears and wolves...oh my!

Our family is hopeful that your Christmas celebration was joyful and peaceful.  Our first Christmas in North Carolina was an absolute delight!  The weather was warmer than anything we had ever experienced in December. We got to find new places to hang all our decorations, and in honor of living in the South, we left Santa sweet tea with his cookies.  :D  

We even found a special new North Carolina ornament for our tree...

But in the midst of so much new for our family this Christmas, some traditions always stay the same.  No matter where our family finds ourselves, no matter in which city or state we reside, Christmas for us is always about celebrating the birth of our Savior...together.   Praise God for His indescribable gift!!!







MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

And the Winners Are...

Our family loves to drive around and look at Christmas lights.  And since we live in a new place, this year we have all new lights to discover.  The five of us voted for our favorite Christmas displays in Rocky Mount.

AND  THE  WINNERS  ARE...

The "Full Size Carousel" House

The Classic "Outline Your House" House

The "Going All Out On Melton Road" House:

The "Twenty-Foot Tall Christmas Tree" House:

The "Whose Job Is It To Light All Those Luminaries Every Night?" House:

The "Birthday Cake For Jesus" House:

The "Santa's Legs Move Every 30 Seconds, The Polar Bear Shivers, and the Tree Inside Spins" House

Smith's Red and White Store in Dortches: 





 The "Lifesize Nativity in the Front Yard" Houses:



Nice job to everyone involved for enriching the Christmas Spirit in Rocky Mount.

Friday, December 20, 2013

Carolina Beach

In His continued graciousness, the Lord gave us an unbelievably beautiful day for yet another Field Trip Friday.  This time we headed to Carolina Beach in the southeast corner of the state.  72 and sunny...5 days before Christmas!
Carolina Beach State Park is the most delightful mix of pine and sand.  It smells divine, kind of like Christmas mixed with the beach.  :D  We ambled the trails there for 3 hours, and if the sun wasn't starting to set, we could have easily stayed longer.


Of particular interest to us at Carolina Beach State Park was that it sits within a few dozen miles in North Carolina where Venus Flytraps grow wild.  We have a 9-year old who just loves a good Venus Flytrap, so we hoped to see some of these carnivorous vegetables.  Or their cousins: pitcher plants, sundews, bladderworts, and butterworts.  Granted, we Barnettes aren't big botanists.  But how can you not love a plant that eats an animal?!?!
"Be vewy, vewy quiet:  I'm hunting Venus Flytwaps!"
Well, unfortunately we didn't find many of the flytraps we sought.  Apparently a poacher has come through the state park and stolen most of them.  Wanted posters were all over the park for him. (So if your crazy uncle shows-up on Christmas Day handing-out suspicious-looking Venus Flytraps as gifts for everyone, he might be the culprit...) But we did find the occasional pitcher plant, as shown above.  And we found green anoles, such as the one camoflaged in the greenery, below.
We found GIGANTIC pine cones!
And we found lichen fields.  
When you pick them up, they feel like hard sponges.
We also found lots of deer tracks, and Spanish moss growing from trees.  And we saw pine trees actually growing right out of the sand.  Cool!




But of course, any trip to Carolina Beach State Park wouldn't be complete without... some time at Carolina Beach.  What a beautiful December Day to visit the ocean!

Had our legs not been so tired from the long walk through the park, we would have rather enjoyed a long walk on the boardwalk.  We'll do that next trip.



I am so thankful for a husband who never tires of spending his day off with me and the kids.  
#BestHusbandEver

Note: There's a GREAT article in the November 2013 issue of Our State magazine in which Michael Parker makes his comical case for why he believes the Venus Flytrap should be the state flower of North Carolina, and why the  Outer Banks mosquito should be the state bird of North Carolina.  Ha!