Summer Recap - July

We had a July spent mostly on the water!  It was fabulous!

At the very beginning of July, we took these wild boys to Spring Valley Beach water park.  It is about an hour away from Birmingham and has the most fun water slides and pools!  They had a ball and this was the only picture I got because our phones were locked up.  Sadly, Collins didn't make the travel team and it was nice to just play with the boys.  I think she can handle it next year, but we didn't need her slowing us down!

Then, on to one of my favorite holidays, Fourth of July.  I love summer and I love this holiday because it is usually spent celebrating our country with family and friends!

 

We headed to the lake with some fun friends who took us on boat rides,

let us go fishing,

 

took Daddy skiing,

and even showed us some fireworks!

A little boys' paradise!!  God bless 'Merica:)

 A highlight of the day was watching Turner get up and ski!!

That night we got dressed in our red, white and blue (gotta love a theme!) and headed to a cookout with our Sunday School class.  

A picture perfect night full of baby pools and swings and running around and even a visit from the Ice Cream Man!

A fun and picture-perfect Fourth of July celebration!

 The next morning we headed back to the lake with friends to round out the holiday celebration.

Look at all those boys!!

July was spent playing with friends (this was at Cracker Barrel)

passing the swim test at the gym,

and more swimming and diving with friends and family.

Uncle Derek and Chloe came over to play in the "yard pool" and slip n' slide.

Uncle Derek is no fun!

 We even had a water balloon fight with cousin Ellie one night when they drove through town.

Then we headed on vacation with the Starr family!  Always an adventure with these 7 kids:)  This year Uncle Derek was able to come and Heath and Brandon were in and out with work.  Mom and Dad braved the whole trip:)

We did a LOT of playing on the beach,

and lounging by the pool.  

 

Lots of riding the waves

 and we even found starfish!! 

 Lots of quality time with Uncle Derek,

 and GiGi

 and of course Pop Pop!

This girl LOVES her daddy and even made a new best friend in cousin Kate this trip!

\

We played on playgrounds (even shut the park down this night)

and did some night swimming!

 

It was so so wonderful to be able to spend so much fun time with all of the family!

Then we ended July with a trip to Atlanta to visit Ellie and Tap and Pappy and most importantly Ellie's new baby sister, Hazel!!

 

I would say we soaked the most out of our summer that we could!  Next up, August...

Summer Recap - June

I am ready to post in real time, so I won't forget about this little blog space.  So, I am going to bullet point our wonderful summer into a couple of posts and then move on to right now!!

Having all 3 in preschool, "summer" looks different than it will in the future.  We had almost 4 months of fun and family time.  Here are some snapshots of our June:

We spent so many hours at the pool - this particular time we were at

my parents' house

 BFFs Collins and Sims

We had Beach Bash VBS at church

 Kina and her girls stayed with us a couple of nights during Vacation Bible School.  They played with us on the slip n' slide, headed to the Galleria carousel and some shopping with us and even tried Doodle's Italian Ice for the first time!  So fun!

Late night pajama run to Doodle's - Heath thought we were insane

 Sassy Bottom at the Lifetime pool.  Wow, she was a roller coaster this summer.  She became an awesome swimmer, but I never could figure out what would satisfy this opinionated 2 year old at the pool.  One trip she cried 1 hour and 15 minutes because she was too young to do the slide.  Wow.  Just keeping' it real.  Love her and a lot of times she is easy and goes with the flow, but she knows how to do me in!

 We visited friends at Smith Lake

The little 2 tried tubing with Heath and liked it!

Our friends Kendall and Maggie took the boys tubing and even taught them how to jump off the bridge

Then... dinner and s'mores

 Most of us were clothed:)

Uncle Derek got a new convertible and took the cousins for a drive (except for a doubtful Collins)

 Then at the end of June we took our annual mountain trip to Highlands, NC with friends

Blurry picture of the dads hiking with the kids

 I am surprised how much I like hiking!

 Best buddies at the top

 No words

We visited an awesome waterfall that we found last year (side note - Collins has a small obsession now with waterfalls - she seeks them out and loves to say the word.  So random)

 Gross - crawfish

 The daddies were adventurous and dove in the FREEZING cold water

 SO COLD...not that I would know:)

 The mountains are always a fabulous time of hiking, running, playing on playgrounds and in waterfalls and just watching the kids be kids!  I am amazed how much fun we have doing the simplest of things with friends in the mountains.  The boys live for it every year and are reminiscing now as they are watching me type this.

 Finally, we spent many nights all summer playing with our wonderful neighbors

 They are gracious to always entertain us and let my children run crazy around their house and yard

Collins and Mae Mae drag racing the Cozy Coupes

Now, on to July...