Friday, August 30, 2013

Road trip!

We took a family road trip to Wisconsin. We all piled in our SUV, Bobby and Pa included. 15 hours later we arrived at our first stop in Beloit, Wisconsin. The kids did excellent. It didn't even feel like 15 hours, thats how smooth things went. Before we left we bought Jackson a portable DVD player, which helped a ton!! After spending the night at Steve and Polly's we got in the car for the next leg of the trip to grandma and grandpa Millers, which was another 5 hours. Chris, Hannah, and Cy met us there. We spent the next few days just hanging out and celebrating September birthdays! It was great spending quality time with family. After leaving grandma and grandpas we stopped by to see Aunt Lorella for lunch before stopping at Glo and Bills for dinner. We spent another night in Beloit and then started the long journey home the next morning, The ride home did not seem to go as smoothly as the ride up. The kids did great again but I think the adults were getting antsy and anxious to get home. We ended up breaking up the trip by staying the night in Kentucky. We were all happy to arrive home the next evening.

Off we go...



Great grandma with her grand babies...


 

Playing in grandmas candy dish

Enjoying coffee on the deck

Trying out the 4 wheeler with great grandpa

Hannah and grandma
 
Emily and Cy loved playing together



On a wagon ride...



Checking out grandmas garden...



Cuties sitting on the log...
 


Working with grandpa...



Cooling off after a hard days work

Riding the ATV with daddy...



4 generations!

Celebrating September birthdays...








She still got presents even though it wasn't her birthday celebration

 Cooling off after a hard days work

Cousin bath!
 
Family photo
 
 This year we did a goofy version too

Emily checking out great grandpa

Bobby and Pa with their littlest grandchildren

Vacation is exhausting
 
 
With Brenda and Aunt Lorella

 Checking out the cows on the farm


Emily playing with baby Harlan at Glo's house

 Cousins

Jackson acting goofy with Mr. Hag and Polly the morning we headed for home
 
 

 

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Summertime fun!

The end of July proved to be fairly relaxing. We spent most days just playing at home and at the park. On Fridays throughout the summer we are doing play dates with Jacksons classmates from preschool. He always enjoys seeing his friends and its nice for me to get some quality adult time. His school offers various week long camp sessions throughout the summer. He attended a couple of these at the end of July. Emily also ended up attending camp one week in the crib class! We ran into Jacksons teacher Ms. Michelle when she mentioned that she was teaching the crib class at the end of July and that there were openings for Emily, if interested. I was hesitant at first but at the last minute I decided to go for it. I figured it would be good for both of us since she spends everyday home with me. She attended for three days in a row from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first morning she cried for a bit right after I left, but after that it was smooth sailing. Of course, I had to sneak out each morning when I dropped her off.  She was a happy camper (no pun intended) each afternoon when I arrived to pick her up.


All ready for her first day of camp!


Jackson got a little crazy with the finger paint at one of our play dates


Bowling, for the first time, at another play date






The first weekend of August we went to visit our friends Laura and Rob, who live about three hours NE of Charlotte in a town called Fuquay-Varina. We went to see them, their 6 month old son, and to enjoy some boating on a nearby lake. It was nice catching up with old friends and let the kids play together. It was Emily's first time on the boat. She seemed to enjoy it and even tolerated the life jacket a lot better than I thought she would!




Boating is a way of life for Reid

Jackson and Emily are not so sure

Swimming off the side of the boat

The babies checking each other out...



Enjoying it now

 
 
 
 
Emily was 8 months on August 5th. It is getting more and more difficult to take the monthly photo, as you can see...



 
 
 
 
 
About a week later the kids and I went to the beach with Amber and her two boys. Her parents have a beach house in Emerald Isle which is about 5 hours from here. The trip was a lot of fun but also exhausting with all of the kids. The beach was quite challenging with Emily crawling and trying to eat sand the whole time. After tackling the beach the first day we decided the waterpark would be more relaxing, so we spent the next day there. The boys had tons of fun going to the bounce house, out for ice cream, seeing an outdoor movie, and looking for deer at dusk. We definitely look forward to going back, preferably when Emily is walking!


Enjoying the music in the park the first night we arrived...


Beach day...


Catching a snooze at the waterpark

Such angels when they sleep

Our little cuties before dinner one night

Boo Boo and Anderson

Boo Boo burying Jackson

Boo Boo's turn



We loaded up the kids AND the beach gear in the bike trailers

All the kids watching Disney the morning we left


A couple days after arriving home from the beach, grandma and papa came for a visit. They had not seen our new house yet. We had a fun weekend just bumming around Charlotte and hanging out at the house. Its always nice to see them and let the kids get some quality time in.

Playing with Papa...