Family Vacation on Edisto Island

The Five Carmonas on wheels.

Cheers to vacation!

Sweet sisters keeping one another cozy and warm.

Beautiful water, beautiful sunset.

Smiley cheeks.

Gita brought a paper bag full of her stuff to the beach and asked,
"Can I just sit down over there and write for awhile?"

Daddy and Gita walking onto the beach for more fun in the sun.

Nimmy taking a little rest on the bamboo beach mat she found.

Noah with his new surf fishing pole and his first catch.
The fish did not make it to the dinner table.

Coolness.

Weekend at the beach

Our dear friends, Dave and Sarah, invited us to spend a long weekend at the beach in the beach house they rented for their family vacation. As much as I wanted to go (beach + good friends = good times) I was hesitant because I am so busy with work and I knew that taking a weekend away would lead to a ton of work upon my return. But then Sarah sent an email that closed with the words "you only live once"....and that instantly changed my mind. So we took advantage of the amazingly short 4 1/2 hour drive to the coast of South Carolina, and enjoyed a beautiful weekend at the beach with the Eshans (Sarah, Dave, Willow and Zoe) and the Stottlemeyers (Shelley, Karl, Nadia, and Santi). The 7 kids got along amazingly well (I was stunned!) making the adults experience even sweeter. We feasted on oysters, shrimp, scallops, grouper, and tuna.....with a side of margarita and mojito. And we I was able to pick up a wireless internet signal ~ a blessing and a curse. I was able to stay on top of my email but that meant changing gears from vacation beach mama to conference coordinator, which was a bit dizzying. When we returned, I somehow managed to erase all of the beach pics I had on my camera (and I had some great ones!) but luckily David's made their way onto the computer.

The kids within a tradition David sand-art installment.

Zoe and Nim

Noah sporting a starfish

Dave, Sarah, Shelley, (and me) out for our nightly beach walk

Tiki Tuesday

While I was melting at work today (physically and mentally), David and the kids were living it up at the Tiki Bar pool. They have been joining some friends at the pool on Tuesdays and today was the last Tiki Tuesday of summer for the kids that go to "real school". Gita kept David on his toes by insisting on swimming without her floaty ~

Notice in the photo that Noah is still wearing his splint/cast thing. He went in for the 3rd set of xrays on Monday. His elbow seems to be healing up nicely but there is still a lot of swelling so the Dr wants him to keep the splint on for 10 more days and then come in for another set of xrays. It is a relief that he is healing and that it does not seem to bother him much (he can even wear the splint swimming) and also frustrating that they still can't really figure out what is going on with it. Hopefully it won't give him trouble at the beach this weekend.

Other happenings of note:
*we finished the slab for the bathroom. hooray!
*we killed and cleaned the 89 meat chickens on Saturday. Very intense but it went really well.
*we are going to the beach two times this month. Awesome because we love the beach and a vacation is definitely a must....but crazy because I am so busy with work and it is hard to imagine taking time off.
*we are expecting 2 new nieces/nephews! Sarah Joy and Tim will welcome in their new little one in December, then Kelcey and Alex are due in March!

From Lookout Mountain

This is Nim's week for Art Camp: music, dance, and visual art. Art camp brings a lot of joy for Nim and a lot of driving for David and I. It is held at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts which is a 25 minute drive down the mountain. Since camp is only 3 hours long, we have been staying in town during it to reduce the amount of driving up and down the mountain. On Tuesday, David and Gita dropped Nim off then headed to the trails for some hiking in the mountains outside of Montreat. The trails are a quick 5 minute drive from Black Mountain and offer some amazing views (rare in our rain forest) and really neat trees.

On a cool summer day

Kitties don't mind playing with the kids, especially when it means they get to ride in the stroller...

Fantasia

The kids homeschool collective wrote a new play called Fantasia. They practiced and practiced, wrote and rewrote. They preformed once one their home turf and then took the show on the road for 2 performances at the Lake Eden Arts Festival. Noah played the role of the staff fighting guard and Nimue played the hula hooping martian. From the LEAF website:

In Fantasia, science meets performance art and bravely asks the question: Can time travel help a struggling planet? A creative and colorful show of home-grown talent from the Forest Children Enrichment Program, Black Mountain, NC. Circus style skills and young creativity at it's best.

Happy 12th Birthday, Noah!

Pocket of Sunshine

A growing boy

As if I could deny the fact that Noah is turning into a young man right before my eyes. I have to remind myself that he was not born yesterday and that he, just like the rest of us, is subject to the phenomenon of aging. So I should not have been surprised when people starting commenting on his facial hair (yes, my son has facial hair!). Every time someone mentioned it, he would casually nod his head and say, "yup, I am becoming a man." Yet it took my breath away when David told me he taught Noah to shave. One step towards manhood and one step away from being my little "nobey." ~sigh~ Has it really been almost 12 years? ~sigh~~sigh~

Kids in the kitchen

Cuteness

Gita Pi "Super-Cute" Luca

Attitude