Life Lately

We have a different rhythm in the summer, and life lately has been very sweet.  The children and I find lots of fun things to do together in the summertime, and we returned to Blueberry Hill a few weeks ago to pick blueberries:

We've made blueberry donuts, blueberry pie, and eaten ripe blueberries by the handful.  "Blues" are one of our favorite fruits, and we love this little farm that is so close to us.  

In the summers, the children wake me up in the mornings (yes, they are still early risers) by coming downstairs and crawling into bed with me.  It's really such a lovely start to the day, to be enveloped by little tootsies, warm cozy bodies, pink cheeks, and lots of kisses. 

Luke has returned to his favorite morning summer camps lately.  Basketball camp and soccer camp were even more fun this year with the addition of his best friends attending.  Leah and I have used some of these free mornings to stay in our pjs, snuggle, read books, and bake.

My adorable view as we watched Clifford.

Snuggle Bug.

She calls herself my "Little Chef", and I am pretty sure that she taste tests as much as she stirs.

Cutest little baker ever.

In the summertime, we have lazy fishing afternoons...

and our attire is more "relaxed":

The kids wanted to hold their annual summer balloon sale one afternoon shortly after returning home from the pool, so hats, rash guards, and swimsuits were worn, along with optional/ridiculous footwear:

I have to admit that I personally love the rainboots.

Summer means playing with friends.  Leah's play date at our house with twins turned into an impromptu concert when Luke chose to serenade the girls with his piano music:

Summer days allow for day trips, too.  We met our buddies from Roanoke at the Danville Science Center last week, and loved revisiting this great museum:

Love was in the air, too.  These two held hands and were inseparable, whispering "You are my best friend!" to each other at the end of the day.  Avery and Leah been sweet on each other since our first play date at our house years ago, and we'd be thrilled with a wedding in about 20 years...

We often pack picnics in the summer when we take day trips.  Here we are, being creative with our dining in downtown Raleigh when we visited Marbles Kids Museum this week:

 My little chess players:

Firefighter costume at Marbles Kids Museum.  Reminds me of when he was little!

We've tried new things this summer.  Roller skating was a huge hit with the kids, and Captain Literal lived up to his nickname when he exited the skating rink, paused, and entered a moment later.  This happened each time he skated around the rink and finally I asked him why he wasn't skating in continuous circles.  

"Mommy, the signs say 'Exit' and 'Enter'," sighed Luke in an exasperated tone.  

I was momentarily speechless before I carefully gathered my composure and responded, 

"Luke, that doesn't mean that you need to exit the rink EVERY time that you go around the circle..."

Happy Little Roller Skater.

(I was apparently too busy wiping tears of laughter from my eyes to snap a picture of Luke on his skates...)

Another summer first was Leah's manicure and pedicure.  It was a "Daddy Special" and I can't explain how much Mark adores his little girl.  The pictures say it all:

The kids LOVED VBS this summer.  Our church's theme was "CaveQuest" and the entire sanctuary was transformed into a cave.  It's a fun week for our kiddos, and we were glad to be able to go for several nights before our beach vacation earlier this month:

We've also had special summer visitors.  Beanie, Mia, and Grandpa came last weekend.  The doggie cousins enjoyed playing together and poor Mia was positively smothered with love from L&L:

Because aunts are cool and take selfies.

We had fun splashing with Beanie at the pool, and the adults were able to check out a local winery one afternoon:

As you can see, we've been loving life lately, and July has been a great month full of summer fun!

Hanging Rock State Park

We took the cutest little day trip today, to Hanging Rock State Park.  Our last visit to Hanging Rock was to hike in January, and we knew that there was a lot more there that we wanted to explore.  Today we ventured to Cascade Falls within the park, and were delighted by this beautiful place:

I wish I had taken my real camera.  These pictures taken on my IPhone just don't do the Falls justice.  It's absolutely gorgeous, and in a hidden little nook in the woods.  There is a shallow, crystal clear pool of water surrounding the waterfall, and our kiddos jumped right in, ready to swim! 

Daddy went with L&L to the base of the waterfall, and they took turns sliding down the natural rock slide and landing in the water.

Next we went to the lake at Hanging Rock.  This was the children's first time swimming in a lake, and Leah was worried that it would be "mucky".  I thought her word choice was pretty cute.  However, the water was warm and clear, and the kids enjoyed splashing, swimming, and going off the diving board on the dock (not pictured): 

We also rented a row boat, and both kids enjoyed helping Daddy row.  At one point, we were all belting out "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" at the top of our lungs.  I hope the other boaters found it as amusing as we did.  Never a calm moment with our crew! 

We had such a successful day at Hanging Rock State Park, and I know we will be back again soon!

Independence Day Weekend

We're back from Topsail Island, where our beach bums soaked up lots of time in the sand and surf over the holiday weekend.  Topsail is beautiful.  The water is warm, the waves are perfect, and all three kids adore "Mimi's beach".  Sweet Winnie hasn't gone up the stairs in months at our house due to her arthritis, and we were worried that she may not be able to manage the long flight of wooden steps from the beach house down to the sand.  However, she had no problem, and spent hours sitting on the beach supervising her humans:  

 

Winnie may not swim in the ocean and fetch her balls the way she once did, but she still barked at Mark to throw her toys into the water and enjoyed watching the waves return them to her:

We love our Winnie so much, and our hearts were full seeing her so happy at the beach!

Our other two kids also love the beach, and one of Luke's favorite activities was to lie in the surf and "chillax":

Luke is also becoming skilled at finding shark's teeth, and held our family record for largest tooth this year: 

Leah's favorite beach activities were taking walks with Mimi on the beach, playing in the sand with her brother, and swimming in the ocean: 

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures this year at Topsail (sometimes the family photographer needs a vacation, too!), but these are two of my favorites, which sum up how much we enjoy the quiet rhythm of our beach vacation at Topsail Island:

And what could be better than a cool treat on a hot beach day?!

We were disappointed that we had to come home from Topsail a little early this year, as Daddy had to work on the holiday.  Luckily, the afternoon was salvaged with an invitation to our friends' home for an All-American cookout.   Here's a cute picture of our patriotic kiddos on July 4th:

 It was a festive evening complete with an Independence Day craft, s'mores by the fire pit, and fireworks (which we set off in the broad daylight due to everyone's 7:30 p.m. curfew with preschoolers!):

I wish this photo captured the delicious ooey, gooey hands and faces of these preschoolers!

We giggle that we were all asleep by the time the "real" fireworks started at night!

It turned out to be a terrific 4th of July weekend with family at the beach and celebrating America's birthday with great friends!  

Celebrations!

In the chaos that comes with the end of the school year, I didn't have a chance to post about our Memorial Day weekend celebrations in Virginia.  We visited Bean and Poppy, who took L&L to Busch Gardens for a fun-filled day at the amusement park.  This Busch Gardens trip proved to be one for the record books, as Luke insisted that he wanted to ride a "real" roller coaster.  He chose "Verbolten", in the Germany section of the park, and Poppy attempted to call Luke's bluff by agreeing to ride with him.  As they waited in line, Poppy was pretty sure that Luke would chicken out... He even told Luke that "Verbolten" means "lose your lunch" in German.  However, Luke was not to be deterred and as grandfather and grandson inched closer to the front of the line, Poppy realized that there was no turning back, and that it would be the first time that they were going to ride this roller coaster.  Both boys survived, and now we have a new roller coaster lover in the family (and I'm pretty sure there is one grandfather who will never ride one again)!  Luke was beside himself with excitement and has since bragged to anyone who will listen about how much he loved Verbolten!  

Bean and Leah (being of more sensible minds) rode Oscar's Whirly Worm with Luke, and Bean also willingly joined the kids on Apollo's Chariot (which is the same ride that nauseated Mommy and Daddy when we visited BG for Christmas Town this past winter):

The kids also splashed in the water area and had cups of nectar to feed the birds at Busch Gardens:

It was certainly a fun day, and was followed by a very special celebration on Saturday, as we traveled to Richmond for Bean and Poppy's 50th anniversary party!

Bean and Poppy's anniversary party was a wonderful celebration, with food, fun, and family.  There were games, wedding trivia, and special gifts/cards from the grandchildren:

Leah with her doggie cousin, Scout.

It was such a joy to celebrate B&P's golden anniversary with them.  Cheers to 50 years!