Camping Trip

I just realized that I never posted this blog post!  Holy cow.  We took our kids camping a few weeks after we moved in.  One night of camping with three kids under age five is our limit.  We had a great time though.  We found a beautiful spot right on a huge river.  We were the only ones there and set up our tent right at the lake.  The view was beautiful and the weather was even better.  We brought frisbees and balls and lots of yummy food.  The kids loved walking down to the dock so they could throw rocks in the river.  For a little boy, that's a dream come true.

Daniel is watermelon obsessed.  He just can't seem to get enough of it.  I love his little facial expressions in all of these pictures.  He was focused, let me tell you.

Andrew loved finding sticks for the fire.  He was Daddy's little helper.  When it came time to roast hot dogs, he was just beside himself because he was so excited.

This is Andrew trying to smile for the camera but couldn't take his eyes off of the fire for more than a second.  

We played hide-and-seek behind trees for a long time.  The kids always hid in the same spots and thought they were totally being stealthy and creative.

We put the kids to bed and then Josh and I sat by the fire talking about anything we could think of.  I love moments that are so simple but feel so good.  It's the little things in life that are great for making memories.  That night, Josh told me that when he and Anna walked down to the dock, they saw an ALLIGATOR!  I about DIED!  It was just swimming around in the lake.  I sure wish he had of waited til morning to tell me because I had dreams about alligators all night.

Look at our view!  It was so pretty....and so close to alligators.  Luckily though, we were quite a bit higher than the lake.  You can't really tell in this picture but there is a decent drop off before you get to the water.  That made me feel better about the alligators.

It was a great camp out.  We all had so much fun and made some lasting memories together.

Father's Day and a Visit

 We loved celebrating Father's Day several weeks ago.  I love special days like these where we get to honor the people that mean the most to us in our lives.  Josh has been the most amazing father to our little rascals.  I am almost always in awe at how naturally it comes to him.  We have so many wonderful examples of what a good father is.  I'm super grateful for my dad and the enormous amount of love and support he has shown our little family.  I feel so blessed for the men who set such great examples for me.

 Father's Day was wonderful.  We had a yummy breakfast of pancake waffles with buttermilk syrup, and then we had a great church service after.  Later that day, our dear friends from St. Louis came to visit us.  They were driving back from a vacation in Florida and stopped by for a night.  We loved having them here.

 The little boys played so well together.  They are only ten days apart.  It was so nice to see them reunite and play together.

 Here's the whole crew of our chillins'.  They all took turns on the rope swing and had a great time together.  That rope swing has been a hit for our family.

 Is that not the happiest face you've ever seen?

 We even threw in a fun game of t-ball.  Andrew is truly obsessed with t-ball right now so we tried to get the Gubler's on board with us.  There's nothing quite like playing sports in your back yard and relaxing with friends.

 Daniel wasn't into the whole baseball thing too much, so he spent his time on the slide.

It was a great few days with them.  We were so glad they decided to stop by on their way home.  Now, if we could only get them to move to Tallahassee.....

Making a Splash!

 Good thing I'm in love with summer because we live in Florida where the weather is always nice.  Summer just has a relaxing, laid back feel.  There is nothing better.  Josh and I really debated back in forth in our minds whether or not we wanted to buy a house with a pool.  I was most concerned for safety reasons and would never be able to live with myself if we ever found one of our children in the water.  Just the thought of it makes me cry.  However, when we saw this house, we felt much more confident that we could have a pool and stay safe.  Our pool is screened in with a locked fence.  There is also a baby fence around that.  I can hardly break through the baby fence, so I don't worry about my kids being successful with that.  I know that kids can surprise you too, so we are still mindful of it, just not terrified.

 With that being said, we have been LOVING our pool.  We take our kids swimming almost every day.  It's great exercise for them and a good energy outlet.  They almost never fight when they are swimming, so I'm a happy mama.  Anna went swimming the first day we moved in back in April.  The water was a freezing 65 degrees.  We couldn't believe she got in.  It's warmed up quite a bit since then but is still a bit cool for my liking.  Daniel must have his mama's genes because he doesn't like the cold water either.  He's our little pool man out on the sides of the pool.  He loves to play with the net and "clean" the pool for us.  It's adorable.

 My little pool guy.

 Anna is obsessed with getting pictures of herself jumping in the water.  She's our number one fish around here.

 We went up to my mom's house a few weeks back and had fun playing with water balloons.  The kids LOVE them.  I wish they didn't take forever to fill up but it was worth it for them to be so excited.

 Daniel liked to have a little hole on his so that he could slowly drain the balloon of water.  It was perfect for us because he would spend several minutes with each balloon, as opposed to 1.5 seconds per balloon with the big kids.

 Then, he discovered how to pop them and was hooked.  He climbed to the 1.5 seconds club with Anna and Andrew.

 Quality time with a little water balloon toss.

 See how Anna "caught" it before the balloon actually got to her.  Yea, she totally gets that from me.  ;-)  We're super talented like that.

 The kids love having picnics outside on Granny's picnic table.

 My little monster.

 Making cookies at Grandpa's is a must.

 I am a very poor swimmer.  I can swim, just not correctly and not very well.  I have told myself for years and years that I will put my kids in swim lessons so they will be better swimmers than I am.  Well, this year we signed them up for a two week course.  We were recommended this swim teacher by Josh's colleagues at work.  They all seemed to have the same recommendation and so we signed them up.  Then, a few days later, they told Josh to not expect this man to be nice.  They said he's not a people person and can come off very cold and hard.  Awesome!  Sure wish I had known that before.  I was super nervous and debated back and forth whether or not I would take their names off the list and find someone else.  I decided to go ahead with this guy.  I mean, how mean could he be to a three year old, right?

 We got there on the first day and immediately I loved him.  The other professors were right.  He would not take crap from anyone, no matter the age.  One little girl in the class started crying and he came right up to her and very sternly said, "Grace!  There is no crying in this class, now SHUSH!!"  There was no hint of joking in his tone.  The little girl kept crying and he told her again, "SHUSH!  We don't have time for crying!!"  I was shocked but the little girl stopped.  A few minutes later this little girl, Grace, was about to be popped in the water for her turn and she points to her neighbor and tells the instructor that the little boy next to her wants to go first.  The teacher told her, "If you volunteer someone, then YOU go in!"  He popped her in the water and that was it.  All of this was super funny to me.  I don't know why but I just laughed and laughed.  The kids in the class QUICKLY learned who was in charge and what was expected of them.  I thought that was wonderful because water is serious, and I wanted my kids to know that this is not a game.  They are there to learn....and learn they did!

 Practicing their strokes.  Darling!

 Look at Andrew's little face in this one.  I was most nervous about how he would handle everything.  Andrew is usually super, over the top extroverted and aggressive.  However, when he gets in a new situation and doesn't know anyone, he tends to shut off and get really scared.  He did awesome though.  I think it helped that Anna was in his class.  I was so proud of both of them.  They really did great.

 I know this isn't a great picture but Andrew just looks so much like Josh here that I had to post it.  Agree?

At the end of the two weeks, Anna was swimming like a little pro.  Andrew has since learned a bit more and is now doing amazingly too.  They are so fun to watch in the water.  They LOVE to be called little fishes.

Summer has been a fun, exhausting blast so far.  Yay for warm weather and pools!