A Few Days at the Beach

Last week we took a short and sweet visit to the beach. My parents were there for the week so we crashed their vacation for the last half...thanks Mom and Dad! We actually didn't spend much time at the beach. The place where my parents were was so crowded it was uncomfortable to be on the beach. There were just too many people. We spent the majority of our time at the pool. We took the kids down to the ocean one day and Hayes did not like it at all. The water was pretty rough so I took him back to the pool. The big kids stayed in the ocean with Lance and Gran a while longer. The last day we were there they all went back again to play in the water one last time. I left my phone in our room most of the time so I don't have too many pictures. I did get a few pictures each day though. The first night we were there we got to watch the sunset across the bay and it was beautiful. I don't think any of our kids had ever seen a sunset before and they enjoyed watching the sun get smaller and smaller.

The next night we all went out to dinner in Baytowne Wharf. We have many pictures from there over the years. This time we stayed close enough that we could drive the golf cart over. I am pretty sure riding around in the golf cart was the kids favorite part of our trip. We ate a pretty early dinner and then went out to take some pictures on the boardwalk. We could see a storm coming and hear the thunder rolling in. I was rushing us around. Reese wanted to shop but I was being that mom pushing everyone to the car/golf cart. Luckily I was being pushy about it because the thunder got louder and louder on our drive back and the second we parked our car in the parking space it started pouring down rain. The last picture in this series is Sam and Hayes side-by-side at the same age, in the same clothes, in the same spot.

There were many late nights in the golf cart. After the storm passed, Lance, Hayes, and I ran to the grocery store in the golf cart and our last night there the five of us and Leah ran back over to Baytowne Wharf for a late night of ice cream.

We all had a great time and were so grateful for the quick get away.

Reese is EIGHT

And EIGHT is great!

I can't believe that this little girl who made me a mommy is eight years old today!

At eight Reese is:
-A great big sister! She is more of a little mommy to her brothers but I try to get her to stick to her big sister role instead. She loves to tell them what to do and organize things for them. She is always giving them directions and rules. She is a great encourager to them and loves to cheer them on.

-She is so brave! She will try pretty much anything. She loves roller coasters, big slides, and any other thrill seeking ride. We went to White Water last week and she rode on the Dragons Tail. She was a little timid at first but did it anyways and jumped off of there with a smile on her face. She even said she wanted to do it again but when we got back around to it, the line was super long.

-She is a super sweet friend. I told Lance the other day that I can't wait to see how her friendships grow. Once she makes a friend in someone, they are forever her friend. One of her best friends she met when she was three years old. They go to different schools, do different activities, but when they finally have time to spend together they want to spend days together. They play so well together. We have recently run in to another friend she had in two and three year old preschool at church. They picked right back up with each other and are so cute together. We ran in to them at CFA the other day and they gave each other a huge hug. She is really patient and kind with her friends and even people that she isn't necessarily friends with. Her teachers always tell me how kind she is to other students in class.

-She is a girly-girl. She loves to be pampered. She loves to have her hair done at the salon and loves manicures and pedicures. Her favorite part of having her hair cut is the hair wash. I recently took her to a new place and they gave her a hand massage after washing her hair and she loved it! She loves make-up and looking at herself in the mirror. She loves earrings and other jewelry.

-She does well in all sports that she tries. Her favorite is soccer right now and after watching the World Cup she is totally on board for soccer. However, this fall she is taking a break from fall soccer and trying out cheerleading. She got her uniform the other day and I have to say she looks SO cute in it. She has been asking for years to cheer but then will change her mind at the last minute to play soccer instead. This year she stuck with cheering and we are excited to see her give it a try. She is excited to get back in to soccer in the spring though. Who knows what we will do after that!?!

-She is so smart and has mixed emotions about school starting back soon. She loves summer but she loves school too. She is excited to see who her teacher is going to be and what friends she will have in her class. I know she is going to do great in third grade.

-She is a big help around the house when it is her idea. She loves to earn money for helping out.

-She absolutely has a strong personality. She is loud and loves to talk. She is very outgoing and is comfortable around adults. She seems to have pretty good manners with other adults too. Some times I think that she thinks my friends are her friends too. I love that she has other women in her life that she can look up to and hopefully trust them enough when she is older to use them as a sounding board when she doesn't want to talk to me.

Happy EIGHTH birthday, Reese! We love you so much and are so proud of you!

Our Atlanta FUN DAY

Because our summer had been controlled so much by swim team thus far, my friend Kristin and I decided to have a FUN DAY with our kids. I woke my kids up Monday morning by singing that we were going to have a fun day and that it was time to get up for our fun day. They didn't know what to think. Kristin and I decided that we would take our kids in to Atlanta to play in the water fountains at Centennial Olympic Park (where I also found my brick...I had never seen it before), ride the ferris wheel, and eat lunch at the Sundial. One added bonus we hadn't thought about was that the new street car was free so we go to ride that too. We had so much fun and I am so glad we did this. I think it will be great memories for our kids and us.

More Summer Happenings

We have spent a lot of time in the pool this summer. Usually by July I am burned out but I feel like we are still loving every minute of it. I can't believe we are already in July!

More swim team! On the night of the swim team party they had a money dive. They threw money all over the bottom of the pool and the kids got to collect as much as they could. It was a little stressful because it was hard to keep up with where my kids were with so many kids in the pool. They did great though and thought it was the best thing ever. 

This summer the women in our small group decided to get together each Tuesday and make lunches for MUST Ministries. We thought it would be a great learning experience for the kids. The first several weeks it was super chaotic but I think we finally have it figured out now and we are all enjoying it.

One morning after church we decided to take the kids to the mountain for a hike. Five miles later we were all nice and tired. During our hike we crossed over a creek and let the kids play in it. Hayes fell in and was soaked head to toe! He wasn't too happy about this but the kids loved getting that little break in our hike.

July 3rd we did our annual fireworks fun! There were tons of bounce houses, bouncy slides, a zip line, and a mechanical bull. Reese rode the mechanical bull and did the zip line. She had a blast! Both boys did the tall slide. They had a blast playing with their friends and watching the fireworks. That night they went home with Gigi and Gran for the rest of the weekend. They went to play at their pool and then went to a G'Braves game with them the night of the 4th where they got to see fireworks once again. 

We did a lot of cheering for the women's USA soccer team! What a fun championship game it was!! Reese particularly enjoyed watching these games. She said it was her lucky earrings that helped them win!

I have one more post coming of our Atlanta FUN DAY!