Christmas Day 2007

Photos coming soon...

Melting Christmas 2007

It is amazing how fast this past year went by. We have been in Raleigh for 1.5 years now and we'll be celebrating our second Christmas here. This morning we looked over our blog post from last year "First Christmas in Raleigh". We also looked at the photos we took last year which can be viewed by clicking here.

Last night we watched Nana & Papa and crew open gifts via web cam. It is not the same as being there but it certainly is a step in the right direction. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

We plan on opening our gifts this evening after dinner. We will post pictures later.

Von Kekel Holiday Party

This evening was the holiday party for Kristi's company Von Kekel. Kristi began working at Von Kekel as a Store Director the last week of September. She has met the challenge of re-entering the workforce with her typical fortitude and integrity. I am very proud of her and was not surprised when she received the award "Best Find of the Year". The award was presented to one employee who was viewed as the best new hire over the course of the year.

Christmas Tree

We have picked out a real tree for Christmas over the past decade. It has become a tradition where I take Nora and Hanna with me and we try find what Kristi has described to us as the ideal tree. This year Kristi and Sam came with us and helped pick out the perfect tree.

2007 Thanksgiving

This year was our second Thanksgiving since moving to Raleigh and although no one was able to visit us from back home, we did have a pleasant holiday. We decided to co-celebrate the holiday with two of our neighbors. We ended up having three families together under one roof which included eight children ages 1 to 10 with six adults. Each family contributed a few of their specialty dishes to accompany two turkeys. We really enjoyed the company of our new friends and the kids had a blast.

Boone, North Carolina

We drove to Boone, NC to spend a couple of days adventuring in the mountains. We spent most of our time at Grandfather Mountain where we walked across the Mile High Swinging Bridge, visited the Wildlife Habitats and had lunch.

The Next World's Strongest Man

Today at Nora's soccer game, Sam grabbed Nora's bag and drug it up and down the road. Each time we brought him back to watch the game, he would drag the bag right back to the road and take off. It reminded me of the sled drag event in the World's Strongest Man competition. Sam was very focused and determined to pull that bag to the end of the road.

Summer Soccer

Nora's soccer team was in "development" mode all season. Last week they played very well and Nora kicked a goal to tie the game at the end. That was her first goal this year and it was a spectacular one. She kicked it in the air above everyone's head and hit the top of the goal and it bounced in. She kicked it so hard it actually lifted the goal frame off the ground.

Today, was their last game and they won 3 to 1. It was their only win but a great way to end the season. Nora also scored a goal today that was just as impressive as last week. She kicked the ball in from the side line and it went over everyone's head and caught the corner of the goal.

Riding Lessons

Nora finished her ridding lessons today. She has improved a lot and really enjoys her time on the farm. She will begin group lessons in the Spring.

Sam's First Day of School

We enrolled Sam at Kiddie Academy in the one year old class. He has adjusted very well and enjoys being there but still gives mom a hard time when she drops him off in the mornings. One of the features offered is an online video camera that you can log into and view your child's activities live.

Cul-de-sac Baseball

My neighbor Vince and I were playing baseball with the kids in our cul-de-sac. Since our neighbor Mark was out of town with his family, his house became the "fence" that indicated a home run. When it was Vince's or my turn to bat, we were "swinging for the fence". You can view three short videos of the sporting event here.

BugFest 07

We went to downtown Raleigh for the BugFest which is held at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. A good time was had by all. We stopped at the Big Easy on the way back to our van for a cool refreshment.

Haircut for Sam

Sam had his first haircut today - he is almost 17 months old. Even though mom wanted to keep her baby's curls longer, dad wanted his little boy to get a crew cut.

Paint a Pot

Our neighbor's daughter celebrated her birthday party at Paint a Pot. Nora & Hanna were invited and given the choice of choosing an unpainted ceramic figure to decorate. Nora choose a snake and Hanna picked a gremlin.

High School Musical 2 Party

Nora & Hanna joined the 17 million viewers of High School Musical 2 by throwing a party for their friends. They played the High School Musical DVD game Nora had previously received for her birthday. Everyone watched the movie and had snacks.

Loft Buildin'

Kristi has been wanting to build a loft in our garage for storage. She architected her vision and with the help of our two neighbors, Mark and Vince, put it up in about 3.5 hours. As most of you know I am not the handyman one would expect and I serve as "neck down" support for Kristi's projects.

1st Day of School

This year Nora is in 5th grade and Hanna is in 3rd. We recently reached our one year anniversary of living in Raleigh. The kids have really adapted well and are looking forward to their second year of school here. This year they begin a "year round" program. The program is designed to accommodate more kids since the schools here are growing so fast. Basically, you sign up for one of four tracks - each having different start dates. They are in school for nine weeks then off for three and the cycle continues to repeat.

Raleigh Anniversary

It was one year ago we moved to Raleigh. Even though time flies, it has been a busy year with all of the changes. We really like our new life here and feel like we have settled in. We certainly miss our friends and family back home and welcome visitors anytime you plan to head east.

Hanna's 8th Birthday

Hanna invited her friends over from the neighborhood to celebrate her birthday. They spent the afternoon playing on the slip & slide, squirt gunning, making bubbles, drawing on the driveway with chalk and throwing water balloons. Everyone had pizza for lunch then birthday cake. Last, everyone took a turn at the pink pinata. The timing was perfect because a major storm came through that confined the adults to our garage until it passed. Check out the pictures of the sky just before the storm broke.

Big Boss

Today I visited the Big Boss Brewing Company in Raleigh, NC. There was a tour of the brewery and a free sampling of their beers. I tried their IPA (Indian Pale Ale) and Nut Brown. This was my first brewery tour and it was very cool. The two guys from Big Boss that conducted the tour certainly have the coolest jobs of anyone I know. Big Boss is currently only available in the Triangle. They have a tap room on the top floor of their brewery that is the ultimate man cave. It has a dedicated dart room, pool table, ping pong table and cold tap beer.

Texas Holdem

Tonight I played in my first Texas Holdem tournament. The buy in was $60 and the top five players earned money. First place took $1,100 and fifth place was $50. I finished 15th out of 50 players. I have played Texas Holdem before but certainly consider myself a beginner. My uncle Scott and cousin Caleb tried to teach me the game a few years ago at Thanksgiving. It is an exciting game and very challenging in the sense of strategy and reading people. As some of you know my other uncle Cactus is an excellent player. I have not played with Cactus before but as my interest in the game is growing, I may be reaching out to my old coach for some pointers.

Sam's 1st Haircut

Horse Camp

Nora completed her week of Horse Camp today. She was attending the Triangle Farms horse camp from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. all week. Today there was a show that the owner put on where each kid exhibited their newly developed talents. Nora rode Nas (short for Manassas) and demonstrated walking and trotting her horse in a circle and figure eight while using her two point and posting stances. Nora was awarded a blue ribbon and has already made plans to buy a horse. She also shared with us that instead of us buying her a car at sixteen, she wants a truck instead so she can haul her horse to shows.

How's it goin?

Posted by Nora.

Today was my first day of horse camp at Triangle Farms. The first thing that happened was a veterinarian came to check the horses. He found out that one of the horses has a sore back right leg and he will come back later this week to check on the horse. There are four other kids at camp with me and we all ate lunch together. After lunch the vet checked the horses' teeth. First he had the horse put their head and nose into a circle shaped clamp to help them hold still. Then he took a file and scrubbed it around in the horses mouth. Next, he took a vibrating drill and removed the pointed parts of the horses teeth so it wouldn't pinch their tongue or cheek when they chewed. We also played with a 38 year old horse named Stormy. Stormy is so old she can hardly move but we are all going to help her this week. We took Stormy into the big riding ring to let her walk and trot. We also took her in between to some of the pastures to mow (eat). The owner of Triangle Farms, Joan, has a puppy named Iris that we are all helping to train as a surprise. Next we rode the horses - I rode Manassis and Amber. After riding we gave the horses showers. We used the sweat scraper which is used after the shower to remove the extra sweat and water that is stuck in their fur so it doesn't hurt the horse later. At the end of the day we played a game while waiting for our parents to come pick us up. It was about horse trivia. When my mommy came to get me, I showed her Manassis and Stormy but Iris wasn't there. I had the best time of my life!!!

Club House & Pool

There is a swimming pool and club house in our neighborhood. It has a decent size pool for older kids and adults to share and a kiddie pool for seven years and younger. You are allowed to bring a cooler in with you for food and beverages so you can spend most the day there if you want to. It is convenient for us and the kids love it.

Equestrian

As some of you already know, Nora is fascinated with horses. She took riding lessons in 2005 when we lived in Moorhead, MN and fell further in love with horses. Today she began her English Riding lessons at the Triangle Farms in North Carolina. The owner of the facility commented that Nora is very good for her age and she could tell Nora had ridden prior. We stopped at Triangle Horse Sports to pick up some ridding pants, boots and a helmet. Holy cow this is going to be expensive! In case you are not aware, the cute little black helmets they wear in contests cost around $380. Needless to say, I believe it will be worth it as she is genuinely committed to this and you are only a kid once.

New York City

Kristi left for New York this morning with her mom Kim. Kim came to Raleigh on Monday, May 28 for a few days. They are meeting Josie and Emily in New York for a vacation. Kristi will be coming back on Monday, June 4. Kristi will post a blog on her travels later and has already uploaded some pictures.

Double Digits

Today Nora turned 10 years old. She did not want a high key celebration and opted for a neighborhood get together at the pool. We met there after school and swam until we were rained out. Pizza and presents followed. She was very happy with how the day turned out and especially liked her gift from mom and dad which was a mobile phone. Yes, we broke down and added a line to our family plan. Nora has filled it with the phone numbers of all her family and some of her friends that have mobile phones. She has already made several calls and you can expect to hear from her soon.

Nearly Famous

I took Nora down to the Triangle Mall this morning so she could wait in line to try out for the television show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? We arrived at 9:40 a.m. and stood in line with hundreds of kids until after 2:00 p.m. We were told that they would register kids up until 2:00 p.m. and then those that were not registered would be sent home and the auditions would continue up to 4:00 p.m. Nora was a trooper and made a new friend while standing in line. This blog does not have a happy ending as we missed the cut off to register by just three kids. If they had allowed three more to register Nora would have had a shot.

Happy Mother's Day

Durham Bulls

Tonight we all went to our first Durham Bulls baseball game. The Bulls are Triple-A and played the Norfolk Tides. We all had a great time and it was a perfect way to end Josie's last night visiting.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Wrightsville Beach is 145 miles from our house, just over a two hour drive. The water was much warmer than a month ago when we visited Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. The girls had a blast as usual and Sam really likes crawling on the sand and getting his hands into the water. We brought our dog Magnus with thinking he would really enjoy the adventure but that was stopped by the "beach police" as we learned dogs are not allowed. Regardless, Magnus enjoyed the van ride.

Duke Gardens: Durham, NC

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Kristi's sister Josie is visiting us from Minneapolis, MN. One of the events on our list is to visit the Duke Gardens. We all headed to the gardens mid-morning and spent the afternoon there. I will admit that I am not a die hard fan of plant life but I do have a greater appreciation having toured the "Crown Jewel of Duke University". There are trails you walk through with hundreds of different types of flowers and plants that are identified by signage. I recommend that anyone visiting the area for their first time schedule a visit to the gardens.

Sam's 1st Birthday

Sam Turned 1 year old on April 18, 2007. We had a party for him and invited the neighborhood families. Pictures from the party are posted, just go to the Melting Family Photos link.

Myrtle Beach, SC

This past Wednesday Kristi and I took the kids down to Myrtle Beach, SC and returned on Friday night. We stayed at the Carolinian which is located right on the beach. Our room faced the ocean and we had a great view from our balcony. Considering the water was very cold, we waded into the ocean as far as we could tolerate (up to our knees). The girls spent a considerable amount of time swimming in the indoor pool. We also spent some time at the aquarium which is very impressive.

Kristi set up the trip for us because the girls had the week off from school. It was nice to get away but Sam was sick the entire time with a fever. One of the main reasons Kristi choose Myrtle Beach was because it was part of a package she received. The cost of the hotel for both nights was a total of $59 plus tax. In exchange for this we had to sit through a presentation for possibly investing in a time share with Wyndham Resorts. Aside from Sam being sick and the girls being bored (the girls actually were angels and played with their DS'), I found the presentation very interesting (can you say Glengarry Glen Ross). Having worked in a sales capacity myself, I was more interested in observing the sales process used versus spending $50,000 on a time share. In the end we did not buy and in exchange for being entered into a drawing I provided them eight leads (referrals they can contact to offer a package deal like the one Kristi accepted) of people I know. For those of you that receive a phone call from Windham in the next 30 days, you are welcome;-)

Beaufort, North Carolina

Saturday, March 31

A family friend of ours, Phil Gates, stayed with us recently. During his visit we all took a day trip to Beaufort, just over 2.5 hours from Raleigh on the coast. We took a guided tour with Captain Bob, learned about the town's history and saw wild horses on Carrot Island. All of us visited the Maritime Museum and saw some of the recovered remains of Blackbeard's ship - Queen Anne's Revenge. We closed out the day with a stop at Atlantic Beach where the girls went swimming and Sam ate some sand and chased the waves.

R.I.P. Mr. Jiggles

Monday, March 26

Please say a prayer for Hanna because her hamster, Mr. Jiggles, died. We believe he was getting old and may have become sick. He died peacefully in his sleep. Hanna is very sad.

Here is what Hanna wrote in her not that will accompany Mr. Jiggles in his final resting place:
"R.I.P. Rest In Peace. Here lies Mr. Jiggles my hamster. He died on 3-26-2007. I hope he has a good life in pet heaven. I love him to the end of the ground to the end of space around the planets and back! I just want to say he was the best and never bit me. He bit my mom once. I hope he has a good life. XOXOXOXOXOXO. Signature of owner Hanna K. Melting."

St. Patrick's Day

Saturday, March 17

I haven't posted a blog for a while but I did just upload some pictures to my Flickr account (click on Melting Family Photos to view). Tonight we will be attending a St. Patrick's Day party at our neighbor's house. Hopefully we have some stories to share that we can post later tomorrow.

Princess Party

Saturday, February 10

Hanna and Nora were invited to a birthday party with a "Princess" theme. They wore their dresses from their auntie Emily's wedding last March. They had a great time dressing up and having their mom style their hair.

Mercury #6

Saturday, February 3

I am a volunteer assistant basketball coach at the YMCA for second and third grade girls basketball. Hanna is on the team I coach and this is her first year playing basketball. The name of our team is the Mercury. As most of you know, I come from a household of coaches. I looked at this as an opportunity to spend some quality time with my daughter and share with the second and third graders of Raleigh the "Warner" gift of telling you what to do;-) Although the athletic skills vary (significantly) with each kid, I have enjoyed coaching and observing how others learn, especially at such a young age.

Hanna may not have natural athletic ability but she does have heart and listens very well. Hanna's teammates have all played before and this has been hard for her to adjust to. I can honestly say she has made tremendous improvement over the past six weeks. If there was a most improved award she would win it.

First Snow

Thursday, January 18

Raleigh experienced its first snowfall this winter. I think a total of an inch of snow landed and the schools were closed. The kids were very happy to see snow and spent most of the day playing outside. Sam was excited and enjoyed his first time playing in the snow. The schools ran two hours late the next morning even though all the snow had melted by the end of the day Thursday.

Triangle Town Center

Saturday, January 13

Nora spent the day at her friend's house so the rest of us went to the mall. Hanna paid $7 bucks to go on the bungee jumper. Hanna had a lot of fun but the harness did pinch her "do-da-day" and she didn't like that.

Go-Karting

Friday, January 12

We took the girls and one of Nora's friends from school go-karting. This was their first time in a go-kart. Hanna was actually not tall enough to go by herself but they let it slide. Unfortunately she couldn't reach far enough to press the accelerator to maximum speed. As a result Hanna completed two laps compared to everyone else who finished over a dozen. Nora was tall enough but worried about someone hitting her so she completed one more lap than Hanna. At least my kids stand out;-) Kristi went with Hanna in a dual cart for a second session. They had a great time while Sam and I cheered everyone on.