The Mac Kinnon Family

We had the best time in Myrtle Beach. Neither of us had been there before and there was something for everyone to do. Our campsite was smack on the beach and the weather was great for the most part. We spent alot of time at the beach and pool. Mac and John watched the sun rise one morning, and spent an afternoon playing games at the pool. They even won the father and son water balloon throwing contest! We visited the aquarium and alligator park which also was alot of fun. We ran on the beach and biked around the area which was alot of fun and Mac hung in there for both (he rode his bike when we ran)! We even attended a church service on the beach yesterday! Emily enjoyed the beach and sand alot. She was starting to get sick with a runny nose and cough so initially I wasn't going to let her get wet, but she was too darn cute I couldn't resist. Her favorite thing to do was to try to chase the birds and she loved the feeling of her feet sinking in the sand as the waves went back o...

We arrived to Myrtle Beach yesterday. Our drive was good overall, we had a blown out tire on the trailer, John was able to change it in about a half hour, then we had to find another tire so that delayed us for a little while in North Carolina. The campground is wonderful and we are about 20 feet from the entrance to the beach. It is very warm and humid, John and I ran on the beach pushing Emily in the jogging stroller this morning while Mac rode his bike along side us. Then we headed to Alligator Adventure which was an awesome place. It was full of alligators, crocodiles and an assortment of reptiles. We saw an alligator feeding and a reptile show. Mac and Emily got to touch two snakes and a baby crocodile, about 3 years old. We then hit the pool, dinner and off to bed. Mac was exhausted but Emily still isn't ready to sleep. Thunderstorms are rolling in, they sound so much neater when your on the beach! Our internet connection isn't the fastest so I cannot upload any p...

We are off for a trip to Myrtle Beach tomorrow and we are super excited. I spent the day cleaning and loading up the trailer. Poor John went into work for a little while then came home still feeling awful. Last camping trip I was upchucking in a bucket on the way, guess were fortunate he's not throwing up. He was asleep before the kids and I hope he feels better tomorrow. He didn't want to cancel the trip, he's determined to go! I don't know what our internet will be like so we may not be able to post again until Monday night when we get home! Have a great weekend everyone!

Mac is picking lots of things up these days and you have to be careful what you say. Last night when we were brushing his teeth he said he saw the "shadow" which is what the dentist referred to when he saw the cavity, the dentist said this twice and Mac picked right up on it. Tonight John said something to Mac and Mac said "duh". This is something neither John or I say and when we asked Mac where he heard it he says "I don't know I just know it". We explained that this isn't nice, it's like saying someone isn't smart. He seemed to understand but I'm afraid we'll have many more of these words coming our way as he gets older and picks things up in school....hopefully they won't get too bad!

The kids had their dental check up today. It was Emily's first visit and of course she was freaked out. She did ok until they wanted to look into her mouth then flipped out, Mac did the same at her age so it was expected. The staff is great with kids. Mac did so wonderful, he got his teeth cleaned, fluoride treatment and check by the dentist without being nervous, I was so proud of him. It turns out he has a very small cavity. He brushes twice a day, gets very little candy and we limit juice to one cup a day! We thought we were doing good but guess we need to buckle down more, I don't like my 4 year old having a cavity already! Dentist says limit juice to once a week and no more fruit snacks. Mac and Emily both love fruit snacks and it didn't even cross my mind these would be bad for their teeth. So juice and fruit snacks will be leaving our house. Mac will go in October to have the cavity fixed, he'll get some laughing gas and we aren't gong to make a big ...

John made it home safe and sound today, he was supposed to be home yesterday but one of his flights was cancelled. The kids were overjoyed to see daddy and of course were stuck to him like glue. Poor John was so tired, he was up for over 24 hours, as I was tucking the kids into bed, he was fast asleep with his laptop on his lap.....hopefully with some rest he'll feel better tomorrow!

This morning we didn't have to be anywhere at any time, which was a nice change. After breakfast the kids were just hanging and playing, as I was watching them I had to chuckle. Mac is soaring his airplane through the air on a string attached to a baseball bat in his own world, Emily is sitting on the floor with her "little people" giving them all a drink of milk from her sippy cup making sure everyone got a drink. Most often they play together but occasionally they are in their own little worlds, it neat to see........ and interesting to watch the difference between boys and girls!

We are counting the days until John gets home.....and we all miss him. Emily is fixated every time I open up the laptop or the phone rings she immediately says "dada, dada, dada", and she loves to say hi to dada, it's too cute. Mac told John on the phone today that when he see's him he's going to give him a big hug and tell him how much he missed him..... the kids sure love and miss their daddy and I love and miss my hubby and best friend!

I tried to get a few pics of Mac playing soccer, it was tough trying to shoot through the plexiglass (sorry for the quality). I hung around for about an hour after they started but they played a games and stretched out so I never got a picture of them actually playing soccer. He has had so much fun this week, they have played soccer, t-ball, basketball and a bunch of games. Every day he comes home and tells me what new game they played. He's also got 2 buddies that he talks about, they are so funny together, total boys playing around! I'm so thrilled he loves it and glad we have the ability for Mac to be involved in these things.

Almost every day Mac says something that you just have to chuckle, today there were a few! 1. I picked him up from soccer and the bottom of his shirt was wet and a bit filthy. I asked him why it was wet he says "I had it in my mouth alot today", of course I asked why he had it in his mouth, his answer "I was just a little nervous". I did ask what he was nervous about but he couldn't tell me. 2. As he was opening the baby gate on the way to the bathroom Willie walked through with him. I hear him say to Willie "Do you need to go poopoo too?, your potty is in there (pointing to the laundry room), I'm going in here". 3. We were eating dinner and out of the blue Mac said "Mommy do you remember the tortoise and the hare story", I said yes. He said "I think I'm like the tortoise". I laughed, Mac can be very slow and when he eats he takes forever, I found this amusing that he relates with the tortoise! Oh the Mac-isms. I th...

Mac started a week long soccer camp today. As I was getting his stuff together today, he needed his sneakers. Poor boy goes to put them on and can't get his foot in them. He had soccer cleats so I figured they would be fine and hopefully he could get by without sneakers since stores weren't open before he started camp. He had a great day. I was nervous about him being there so long (9-3), not sure how he would do, he had no problems. Not only did they do soccer but he got to do some t-ball too which just thrilled him. Needless to say I had on very tired boy tonight. After I picked him up we headed to the shoe store to get sneakers. Both kids feet have grown alot this summer, you kind of forget about there feet since they are in crocs and sandals over the summer. Anyhow Mac went up a full size and Emily a size and a half, whew growing kids. Emily was in heaven in the shoe store. She kept walking around saying "shoes", "shoes".... and wouldn't st...

Emily's vocabulary is growing every day, although most people can't understand alot of what she says until you hang around her for a while, she is putting two words together too which is cute. Yesterday after Emily's nap we were playing and I asked her if she had pooped, she looks at me and says nnnnooo! Just like that, she winds up the N and lets it out. Early this week I thought she had said no, but blew it off because it's not a word I want to hear yet! It's bad enough she shakes her head no. She certainly knows what she does and doesn't want! She said it for John to when we talked last night, he heard it loud and clear where he is too! Oh boy........

Last Sunday Mac and Holly went to check out the Go-Cart place. It had all kinds of stuff to do from mini golf, arcade, bumper cars and go-carts of course! They had a blast, Mac wasn't big enough for alot of the go-carts but they found lots of other fun stuff to do. Mac loves to have "dates"!

Yesterday Holly and Mac had their second date day. They were supposed to go to the Tides baseball game but mother nature had other ideas. We've been hit with some really heavy rainfall, so they went to plan B. The day started with a stop at Dunkin Donuts, Mac loved the munchkins, Holly said he ate 7 of them (after a full breakfast). Then they ran a few errand, stopped at a BBQ joint for lunch then went to the Living Museum which was Mac's choice. He loves that place, we keep an annual membership because we visit often! They had a great day!

The kids had cherry push up pops after dinner tonight, boy they were messy but the kids loved them (can you tell?)!

Regal Cinemas does a free movie thing over the summer for kids on Tues. and Wed. mornings and it ends next week here. We hadn't been able to make it all summer with other stuff going on and Mac's in soccer camp next week so I decided we had to take advantage of it today! Mac, Emily and I went, I wasn't sure how Emily would do sitting through a whole movie. I figured the up side was everyone was there with kids and the worst is that we would have to leave. We saw Charlotte's Web, it was a very cute movie and Emily did surprisingly well. She was freaked out in the beginning, I think having flashbacks from the 3D Imax that freaked her out, but after the movie got going she did great. The kids filled up on popcorn and a slushie, life was good! Mac as usual loved being at the movies! After the movie we hit the book store, had lunch and home for a nap, which Emily needed since she decided getting up at 5 am today was a good idea! A great day!

When we were in NY a few weeks ago we had dinner with some really neat friends of ours Chuck and Jen. We went out for drinks after dinner and shot a quick photo, Jen posted the pictures today on FB, we don't put many pictures of John and I on the blog so thought I'd share!

Aunt Rae was visiting this weekend and we loved having her here. She is 82 years old and still is a mover and shaker! As soon as she arrived Mac wanted to show her all his stuff, have her read books, show her how he rides his bike, looked for bugs with her, played on the swing set and hit the badminton around, that was just after she arrived on Friday. I told Mac we need to give Aunt Rae a break so she can rest, Rae tells me "what do I need rest for?". She's an amazing woman and we all enjoyed her visit.

Aunt Rae is visiting us this weekend and we decided to go to the Air and Space Museum today. It was a whole lot of fun for everyone. We started with a "flight simulator" which I had to do with Mac. It went a full 360 degrees, boy it was very unsettling to the stomach and I love roller coasters. Mac of course thought it was the best thing ever, also since we got to shoot down bad guys in addition to twirling all around. Then off to see some of the exhibits, all kinds of fun activities and a variety of chances to simulate flying a plane, like a video game. They also had a "bed of nails" which I tried, Mac initially wanted to do it, but then freaked out so I decided to be the brave one, boy it did hurt a tad bit, I'm glad Mac didn't do it! There were costumes to try on, and IMAX that Mac loved and Emily thought was pretty freaky, topped off by dinner on the way home at Jungle Jim's! Mac picked a soccer ball whistle toy that both he and Rae got a kick...

Emily has a great interest these days in trying to do a somersault. She gets into position to roll, but can't get her body over yet, Mac is always trying to help her out. The other morning this went on for a few minutes until I thought to get he camera, it was much cutier when they started, but Emily's "tada" is cool!

Mac tries to out smart us from time to time, sometimes he almost gets away with it and other times it's so obvious you have to laugh. Today while eating lunch he says "I'm so full" with about 1/2 of his lunch still there. Then he says "Mommy can I have a piece of candy". I said "If you have room for candy, you have room to finish your lunch". He proceeds to tell me "Mommy I'm full of lunch but I still have room for candy"..... oh we learn it early don't we!

While John was home between deployments, for some crazy reason we decided to tack on one more project for him to work on before he left again.....we always fill our plate too full and we never learn. Anyway John worked VERY hard to get this done and it's beautiful. The kids love being outdoors and John and I love chilling out with a glass of wine and chatting after the kids go to bed, so we thought expanding our concrete patio with some pavers would be a good idea. It's so nice to have and adds some comfort to the back yard. I can't wait for the weather to cool off a bit and for my husband to be home longer than a few days to get to enjoy it more!

Pappy and Karen are visiting this weekend, along with Holly. The kids love having everyone here! Pappy has gotten lots of lovin and the kids have kept him busy reading, wrestling and Mac doesn't let him sit still for more then a few minutes at a time!

Holly brought Mac this "lovely" book called Walter the Farting Dog. I don't know that it's appropriate for a 4 year old but Mac loved it and Holly about peed herself reading it to Mac. She swears it was in the kids section at the book store. Enjoy the two video's below!

Today was Coast Guard Day and we all had a great time. Everyone ate some great food and the kids played and played. Both were fast asleep by 7 pm! Mac danced with Dora, hula hooped, played a clothes pin game with Karen, a water balloon game with me, played in the jumpy house, rode a bull, played in the playground and his favorite was throwing a ball to sink someone in a dunk tank which he did successfully, he's got a great arm. He also climbed a rock wall, he made it about 3/4 the way up, then he looked down and freaked out, if he hadn't looked down he would have made it to the top!