haircut

When you get your hair trimmed, does your hairdresser wear a jet-pack to blow dry you?

Sam's does.

Matthew gave Sam a buzz cut and then used the leaf blower to get all of the pesky stray hairs. Sam thought it was pretty cool and wanted me to take a picture. Wish I captured his giggles.

the 4th of July

Our tradition on the 4th of July is to boat and cookout with Matt's family and then do driveway fireworks with mine. The kids love it and so do we.

2015-2106 School Year

Here we come!

4th grade and 2nd grade...get ready!

Stingrays 2015

We had another amazing year on the Stonebridge Stingrays Swim team. On the last meet of the season we meet to decorate our cars and caravan over. M and Doc came to watch. Such a wonderful experience!

July 2015

OH Good Gravy! 

These pictures are from JULY! 

That's three months ago. I found them on the camera card and can't get over how tan, blond, and fancy free we looked. We had a great summer and although I am loving the coziness of fall, I love my summers with the kids.

Life with kids has always been busy but the older they get, the more on the go we are....which explains why my blog can go for three months without updates!

In July, we always go visit the family at the beach and we are still beyond lucky that both Matthew and I have parents there. The kids get spoiled and get some good old fashioned rule-breaking done (sodas with meals, snacks all day long, late bedtimes, playing with the sprinklers with your clothes on).

The kids got into playing bocci this summer. We played at the beach all day and then came back to shower for dinner, but it wasn't long before the bocci balls were back out and so were we. 

al fresco

We really had a laid back summer. Swim team, library, more swim, reading, and snacking on the patio pretty much sums it up! 

After I sent this kids outside with a healthy snack (ok, and a soda to share), I caught a glimpse of how  cute it is when they are enjoying each other and getting along.

More Bald Head Island

Our first morning waking up on Bald Head Island and the kids were chomping at the bit to get back out on the sand.

They did some shelling...

granted me a bit of posing...

got their feet wet...

did a few cartwheels

(BHI makes me feel this way too)

and some swimming...all before breakfast

The kids were so wonderful on this trip. The five were enjoying lots of games and time together.

We rode the golf carts around the island and found a natural area that read, "don't fee the alligators". Of course we were excited that we might actually see some, but we didn't.

Huge fish and a few turtles though.

Ice cream was a nightly dessert. Sandpipers ice cream parlor was a favorite spot.

You can schedule a ghost walk, pirate tour, or turtle walk. Though we didn't sign up for these, the pirate in the bushes engaging the audience was humorous to our kids.

There is NOTHING like sunset on the beach.

THIS beach.

What trip would be complete without visiting Old Baldy?

After a few nights of eating in by grilling out and we were ready for some Mexican food out.

Did I mention that we ate quite a bit of ice cream?

Well, we did!

This was a luggage tram that carts you from your dream house back to the ferry (and to reality). 

Note the look on Emma Kate's face. 

That's how I felt leaving such a charming, magical place. It was wonderful week spent with amazing people.