Our Weekend of Fun

Saturday we went to Jackson (1st) and Mitchell’s (4th) joint birthday party.   I really wish I had snapped a picture of Reese and Mitchell together but the kids were wild so it didn’t happen.  Mitchell was Reese’s first ever play date.

While at the party the kids played and had a great time inside and outside (where it was super hot).  Sam and Lance spent a lot of time at this train table.  We have now officially decided to ask Santa for a train table for Christmas.

Outside Sam found a baseball tee, ball, and bat. He was in heaven.  No more silly cup and feather duster for this little guy. Another birthday or Christmas gift idea! That is what you get when you go to a house with two boys.  Tons of ideas!

They had a piñata that they tried to  bust open but in the end had to use the pull strings.

Later they examined their goodies they found from the piñata.

These three looked so grown up sitting outside alone eating their cake and ice cream.  It was so weird to just see them interacting like little people.

Today we met Lance’s family at the Cumming Aquatic Center. It is a new facility that has a splash pad kind of area, a lazy river, and a huge slide.  It was so much fun!

Reese spent most of the day like this…Brody was so sweet with her all day!  I don’t know many ten year old boys that would let a four year old monkey hang on their backs all day floating around the lazy river but he did.  I bet he sleeps well tonight.  At one point I had taken Reese in to the bathroom and then she was going back out to find Brody on the lazy river.  She told me that I could not come with her.  Of course I did because I wasn’t about to let her swim through the lazy river alone.  When I got in with her she said, “Mommy! I told you not to come with me!”. 

Silly little Dalton!

Sam loved floating in the lazy river.

Lance and I went down the slide a couple of times. It was huge and a lot of fun! I was trying to snap a picture of Lance coming down the slide but this was the best I could get. Ha!

There was a huge bucket on top of the play structure that would fill up with water and then spill out everywhere.  All of the kids would set themselves in the splash area to get soaked by the water…all of them except for Reese.  If you look really close you can see her tu-tu crawling away from the crash.

After a few fun hours at the park we all went to Dairy Queen for a special treat.  We also used this time to celebrate Reese and Dalton’s birthdays.  Dalton’s birthday is two days after Reese’s so since we were at the beach we didn’t get to celebrate his birthday.

They both opened their presents and both were thrilled with them all!

Dalton LOVES Legos so we gave him a Lego airplane.  After he opened it he said, “There is one problem.” We thought maybe he already had it or didn’t like it.  He said, “I don’t think I can build this.”  Ha!  There were probably a million pieces to that thing.  A mom’s worst nightmare…sorry Kathy!

Reese got lots of fun things! A teacher Barbie and a scooter were the top on her list of favorite things!

We had a long fun day and it tuckered the little man out.  He took a nice nap on the way home and then we put the kids to bed early tonight.

We will definitely have to check out that water park again!  It was so much fun!

Monday, Monday

I realize it is Thursday but I wanted to update from our Monday adventures. 

Monday we headed out to my parents pool to meet some friends of ours.  My parents house is half way for both of us to meet so it is perfect.  And my parents pool is perfect so it makes for a perfect day! ha!

The weather was so nice and the kids had a great time playing together.  When we sat down for lunch the sky started turning gray and we told the kids it looked like it was about to rain.  All of them said they wanted to play in the rain so when it started that is what we let them do.  They had a blast while the mommies stood under the umbrella.  Right as the rain was letting up it started thundering (weird, I know) but it was perfect timing to get the kids together to leave.  We really had a great time visiting. I am sad school is about to start back and all of our fun summer adventures will be put on hold.

The kids both took great naps when we got home and as soon as they woke up it was time for me to start making dinner.  On nights when I know Lance is going to work late I just make breakfast for dinner.  Reese wanted to help with the muffins (with her apron on) and we asked Sam if he wanted to help.  He will do anything we ask him to!

He wore one of Reese’s aprons that says “mommy’s little helper”.  It was too cute and he did not want to take it off.

We had a great day trying to get back in to the swing of things after vacation.  While still at the beach I washed all of our clothes the night before we left so when we got home I was free to do as I pleased.  It was so nice not to have a pile of laundry waiting on me. I will definitely do that every trip we make from now on.

Four Year Well Visit

Today we had Reese’s four year well visit and a vaccination scheduled for Sam. Last year I swore I would not take both kids to the doctor together again.  But I did.  It is just so much easier to do it all at once even though it is twice the drama.  They each got two shots, each got a finger prick, and shed a ton of tears.  But we all survived.

Reese weighs 43 pounds (92%) and is 41 1/4” tall (41%). Sam weighs 28 pounds.  Reese also had her blood pressure checked, eyes and ears tested, and all the normal checks done.  She did great with all of that but once the nurse walked in with the needles she lost it.  Reese is full of drama and screams like she is being mauled by a dog when she is in a situation she doesn’t want to be in. 

Today’s deal was that if she didn’t scream we would go get yogurt and for every shot that she had to get she could put one topping on her yogurt.  Well, she did scream but it wasn’t as loud as normal because I kept reminding her of our deal.  And of course Sam was crying because she was out of control. Ha!  So we got to go get yogurt. 

Sam got cookies n cream yogurt with sprinkles.  He didn’t really know the deal so I didn’t get him three toppings. He loved it and was a huge mess when he was done.

 

Reese, as usual, got chocolate yogurt with sprinkles, m&m’s, and marshmallows. She was so excited and can’t wait to go back again.

When we were driving home Reese said, “I didn’t scream at all!”.  I giggled and said “Yes, you did but it wasn’t too loud!”.  And then she said, “Shots hurt so bad I just have to scream.”  She is so silly.  I really don’t know how I got such a dramatic daughter but I love her none the less!

Reese Swims

Because we spent hours and hours in the water while at the beach, Reese got a lot of swimming time in.  Very rarely did she wear her swimmies in the pool. By the end of the week she was putting her face in the water and swimming.  We were so proud of her.  Sam was actually swimming too (with out his swimmies) but I obviously didn’t get a video of that because I was in the water with him.  We took his swimmies off of him, he would put his face in the water, and kick his little legs between me and Lance.  When we tried to put his swimmies back on he was not happy about that. My little fish loved the water this week!

Family Reunion

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early in Jacksonville for our two and a half hour drive to Bulloch, GA.  We were headed there for the Fordham Family Reunion.  This year was the 100th consecutive year that this reunion was held.  There were just about 100 people there too. It is fun to hear old stories, see old pictures, and meet family members that you have never met before.

I remember going to these when we were little and having a blast with my cousins. This year Reese and my cousin’s daughter, Ava (ten months younger than Reese), had fun coloring and playing together. They were so sweet together and I am glad Reese had a little friend there.

Sam enjoyed all of the extra attention and just getting to run around.

I wish I had gotten more pictures with everyone but it was just so busy and it didn’t happen.  I did get pictures of the kids with my grandparents.  Here they are with Peggy (aka Grammie).

And here they are with Papa.  Reese was telling Sam to make a silly face.

I feel so blessed to have family that love my husband and that my husband loves my family.  Papa and Lance (along with my Uncle Hawk) are the only Tech fans in the family so they have to stick together.

Three of my favorite guys!

And my favorite picture of the day…this is me and my cousin Tricia who is 16 days older than me.  We grew up playing together and getting all the same Christmas presents.  She has a son who is a few months younger than Sam and I can’t wait to see them play together one day the way Reese and Ava played together today!

It was such a very special day and I am glad we were able to catch up with everyone.  Our three and a half hour drive home was pretty uneventful and we were all so happy to be home and sleep in our own beds.

We had a great week and feel so blessed to have been able to do all of this in one week!!

Jacksonville

Friday morning we woke up to rain, took our time getting ready, packed the cars, and started our journey to Jacksonville (about a five-six hour drive). About a half mile down the road my parents got rear ended.  Not a great way to start the trip.  While they dealt with that (which ended with the driver of the other car getting arrested) we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  Then we were on our way.

We arrived in Jax around 5:00 and Lance’s cousin, Claire, had a bag of presents there for Reese because she wasn’t able to be there. We stayed with Lance’s uncle, Charles, and he had a birthday cake there for Reese.  It was like her birthday all over again.  It was so sweet!

For dinner we headed down to the beach at Salt Life.  It was yummy and had a great setting!!

Lance and Charles did Oyster Shooters. 

It was a shot of beer with a raw oyster and some other stuff in it.  It made me gag just reading the description but they both enjoyed it.

We had a great time at dinner.

After dinner we went back to Charles’ house for some birthday cake, bed time for the kids, visiting for the adults and then bed time for the adults because we had an early wake-up the next morning.

The Beach

Six hours to the beach is perfect when you have kids.  Things that keep them entertained…

Snacks

Naps

Movies

And remembering that you are about to be at the beach for a week!  Reese wanted her and Sam to wear something “beachy” for our ride down so they wore these sweet little matching clothes my parents bought for them in Jamaica.

The condo that we have stayed in for the last three years is only a two bedroom so it is a tight squeeze (but totally worth it because we get it at a great discount ). My parents slept in the master and we slept in the room with twin beds.  I was a little concerned about the kids sleeping next to each other but it actually worked out perfectly! Having Reese next to Sam helped him be comfortable being in a new place.  They would play for a couple of minutes at naptime/bedtime and then fall to sleep with in minutes.  They played so hard during the day that they slept well.

It rained our entire drive down Saturday and then was raining when we woke up Sunday morning.  That didn’t stop us though. The kids woke up around 6:00 each morning since we were an hour behind.  Sunday morning we went straight out to the beach (in the rain) and played for a little while. 

Monday we woke up to temperatures in the 70’s and windy.  While Lance and my dad were playing golf we took the kids out but it was cold! Last year Reese refused to go in the ocean but we got her to go out this year and she had a blast!!  Sam, of course, loved every minute too.  He was so laid back all week. Every day someone would ask how old he was because he was so comfortable in the water.

Tuesday was Reese’s fourth birthday.  She was SO excited to be celebrating her birthday at the beach.  We decorated the condo with balloons, streamers, and presents.  When she came out that morning she was so happy to see all of it.

Reese wasn’t feeling 100% that day so it was a little rough going at times.  However, the weather was PERFECT!  We spent all morning in the ocean and in the pool.

After nap time we had birthday cake before we headed down to Baytowne Wharf.

We took a bunch of pictures with the birthday girl who was not too interested in taking pictures.

We ate at a seafood place but Reese wanted pizza so we brought her some pizza along.  Can’t deny the birthday girl the dinner she wants!!

After dinner we took a walk down a boardwalk that we had never seen before.  The sun was setting and it was beautiful!

We had to do pictures again so that we could try and capture the setting.

I had to promise Reese a ride on the merry-go-round to get this pictures.  She was still not feeling well and was just being a little bit of a stinker.

Finally a sweet smile!

Sam loves to play peek-a-boo when it is picture time.  He is so silly.

While waiting for the fireworks to start there is a DJ playing music and the kids get on stage to dance.  Reese remembered this from last year (when she wouldn’t go dancing).  This year she said she wanted to dance with all the kids so her and Sam got on stage and cracked us up.  Sam had some great moves and had some people around us giggling at him.

After some fun dancing on stage we watched the fireworks.  That was fun and a great way to end Reese’s birthday.

Reese finally started feeling a little better the next day and had a blast in the ocean.  She even played in the waves by herself for a little while.  We were so proud of her adventuring out a bit.

After the first few days the camera didn’t come out much anymore but the weather was perfectly beach like for the next two days. 

During down times Reese did a lot of coloring. 

On our last day there we had run out of bread and didn’t want to spend money on going to get more so we had Chick-fil-a for lunch on the balcony.

I was SO grateful to Lance who let me go lay out and relax during nap times while he hung back with the kids. It was so nice to get some reading done or napping done while laying in front of the rolling waves.

The view from the balcony.

We were so impressed with Sam this week!  He was so easy going and chill.  He just went with the flow, never complaining, and had a blast. He slept great and was a perfect travel companion.  Not that we didn’t know already but it made us certain that we have one cool little man on our hands!

More to come…