the beAcH

Cousins at the beach...the favorite memory per the boys. 

In May, our family went to the beach with the Phillips side of the family. We stayed in Seacrest Beach on 30A...I loved that we went somewhere familiar with favorites for the boys. The weather was unbelievable and the ocean was full of sea-life...big crabs, string rays and sharks. Yes sharks...like 6-7 foot hammerheads swimming on the sandbar...only one but any shark sighting is wild!

Thanks Pam and Johnny for SUPER week...we really appreciate your generosity!

The boys adored their little cousin...i think they are on "team 3rd baby" with me now!

sand angels

this boy is GOOFY

Is that Tanner standing in that crowd of BIG boys...he's too BIG!

The boys spent hours catching these jelly fish. Whatever kind of jelly fish they were they didn't sting. Sam finally started picking them up with his hands.

We ended up with buckets full by the end of the day.

A cute little girl next to us caught this fish in her net.

Reading one of our "Sundog Bookstore" books from Seaside

"Sundog Books" in Seaside

Tanner is like me...if we are reading a good book we lose our social skills...that's ok I rather him read that have his nose in a video game all day!

Playing ball with Nana and their little cousin

crabbin'

we caught a few...hard to see

yes...the "sweetest place on earth"

proof that mommy was on the trip

showing their cousin how to Bey-Blade

The amusement park-esque activities are usually done with my dad and sister...ie we get a break but 

this year Chris and I decided to take the boys to the amusement park...lots of FUN!

summer recap

IS IT REALLY OVER?

Tanner starts school Monday and Sam starts Pre-K in one more week so I guess YES Summer is over.

We had a really busy summer not everything on our TO DO LIST got done but hey we had fun! We did a lot of playing just good old fashion playing. One of my goals this year was to play more intentionally with my kiddos not just set up activities and watch them play. THis summer I got some great practice.

Tanner did Basketball camp and Baseball camp. This was our 1st year to do camps. He had a great time and it was nice for Sam and I to have some playdates.

We watched a lot of Olympics this summer and did a few Olympic "crafts" as well.

Tanner earned enough "reading" points to go to Pump It Up a few times.

When it wasn't 100 degrees, we walked or rode bikes early in the morning. I usually follow along and drink my coffee. The mug is always full of "treasures" once my coffee is gone.

A lot of porch play..especially this week with the amazing weather.

rain play

Sam needs "snuggles to sweep" so he says.

New kicks...the boys picked them out 100% by themselves. A little wilder than the gray or navy New Balance I'm used to.

And lastly, sweet Jackson went on to heaven.

We are very very sad at our house.

ridin' to the Redbirds

Yes. You read correctly we rode our bikes from our house to the Redbirds game on Saturday night. 

It was a beautiful night.

Tanner is an awesome bike rider...he amazes me every time.

The boys have gotten much easier to take to games...I think we may even splurge and get real seats next game.

My legs were sooo sore Sunday morning. I'd run 10 miles that morning and following it with a 20 mile bike ride=super sore hamstrings. 

I love that Chris pushes me to do fun things outside of my comfort zone.

I love that my 6 year old is a much better bike rider than me.

Full Moon Midnight 50K

So last Friday night, Chris decided Saturday night he was going to run a 50k and we would go camping. The race was in Arkansas at Lake Silvia, it's about 3 hours a way. We headed down Saturday mid-morning to set up camp.  Considering it was very last minute, we made it with about 90% of what we needed!

I added a few MUST on our camping list:

air mattress

picnic table cloth

string for a clothes line

pocket knife

a battery powered fan

The race started at 8:00pm. Chris got a PR for his 50k...6:05(official time).

We woke up early the next morning to let the boys fish, swim and hike. They loved camping. We can't wait to take them on a longer trip.

That's all we caught...but he was so proud!

4th finally

We celebrated a very HOT 4th of July with our normal routine...

A BIKE RIDE

PARADE

FIRETRUCK WATER PLAY

with the cutest girl ever

AFTER PARADE SNACKS AND SOME RED ROVER

BIG WATER SLIDE...didn't get a photo

SPARKLERS

AND FIREWORKS!!!