July Catch Up 2017

As per annual tradition, we spent the first weekend in July in 96 for the Festival of Stars. I love a good small town festival and it did not disappoint. The boys loved playing with their friends and family and seeing the sights.

We ended the night with cousins on Pa's front porch to watch the fireworks.

After the festival, we headed to Pirate Land for a July 4th week. Oh, what fun we had! Our spot was perfect and right next to a little pond. I never thought I would love camping, let's be real. After two hotel stays with a baby under one and my germaphobic tendancies- I became a HUGE fan of camping. He he! My littles love it and it IS nice to have all of our own "stuff". We pack the whole house when we go but I always like to be prepared.

These two loved crabbing on the pond.

We had to decorate our golf cart for our first ever golf cart parade!

Festive!!

PirateLand has it's own splash pad and pool and lazy river. We visited each morning and went to the beach in the afternoons.

One gets tan like his mama and one doesn't. He's like his daddy. :) Which one is which?

These two loved the parade! Aren't they festive!?

And since we are gluttons for punishment and we clearly didn't remember how fun it was to take H putt putting in the mountains, we went again in the 97 degree heat. Oh well, at least we made some memories!

We also got a wild hair and decided we should go on a helicopter ride. Due to age and weight restrictions, we had to ride in two separate helicopters. I was NOT about to send my husband and babies in the air without me. I didn't want to be the only survivor. Morbid, right??? I didn't want to go up at all but I didn't want Holden not to be able to go. Decisions, Decisions. We decided I would go with H and Jonathan would go with B. One parent took pictures... the other forgot. :)

H looked slightly terrified the entire time but tells everyone he loved it. Go figure!

Once we were all safely on the ground, I asked the parent who shall remain nameless to let me see the pictures of Bennett in the helicopter. That's when said parent admitted to forgetting to take any. So... we took a selfie in the parking lot to commorate the event... and you know, the fact that we survived!

B wanted to pedal boat all week so Jonathan finally took him on a ride!

They loved feeding these geese. I didn't love stepping in the poop the geese left behind. This was the ONE drawback of our perfect camping spot.

We returned home after an amazing vacation and settled back into our normal routine. We went to one of our local eating places. They brought H some fudge... which he combined with his pickles and this is the face we got! He always keeps us laughing!

In July, we decided to have a little more summer fun so we bought a boat! This was our boat's maiden voyage at the lake.

H and I make a quick run to McCormick for my SLED check for my new job so we stopped by to see Grandma Jean and Grandpa.

We spent lots of time on the boat and even picked up a few cousins at their lake house!

We played card games because he learned how to play "Old Maid." :) 

We visited the library many mornings while B was on field trips with daycare.

And we continued to visit the ice cream parlor. In hindsight, all these visits contributed to my weight gain over the summer!

These chefs helped cook mini pizzas for a fun, easy, summer supper.

And had some fun playing outside in the grass catcher. That, my friends, is what you call cheap entertainment!

My littlest love fell slam out of my car onto the pavement and had his first substantial boo boo. He was pretty tough about it.

Holden had his first trip to the movies. I can't remember how this worked out. I do remember it was a free movie for his first one. It must not have gone too well as I seemed to have blocked it out.

We spent more time on the lake. One of our favorite things to do was a supper picnic on the boat!

Oh my mercy, yet another trip to the ice cream parlor!?? Seriously! I'm pretty sure it was once a week at that point. Hello third chin!

To finish up July, my big boy and I had another date. This time, we went to serve Soul Food to people in our community that needed help finding meals for themselves or their families. This was a huge eye opener for both of us. Many kids we served are now in highschool... and I taught them in second grade. A few of the kids go to Bennett's school. We had a great morning being the hands and feet of Jesus!