Summer Fun!

Luke and Jack in their Sunday best

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. There are only a little more than 2 weeks until school starts so we've been trying to make the most of summer. We've spent our days at the beach, playing with friends, splashing in the sprinkler pool, seeing movies, eating ice cream, reading books, and a lot of unscheduled play. We've had so much fun on our various outings but I seem to never have my camera around, so not too many photos to tell the story. Here's one of Mer at the beachIn fact the last trip to the beach, the water was so calm that kids actually ventures out into the ocean a bit and experience the real fun of boogie boarding. (didn't have the camera that time). This one shows mornings at our house. Usually Jack gets me out of bed asking me to get cereal for him. All the kids play until Luke wakes up and then they fight over who gets to play with him. Liz do you recognize the picture on the big shirt Mer's wearing?

Naked Luke

Max and Jack playing basket ball

Family swim time

Today we are going to check out our local art museum and hit the library if we can ever get out of the house. We are waiting for Luke to wake up from a really long nap. He is becoming a good day sleeper again which will hopefully lead to good night sleep again too.

Jack in Max's clothes

For the second day in a row Jack started out the day begging to wear Max's new clothes. Max finally gave in and let him wear the dirty ones from yesterday. Jack and I went on a walk this morning. Passing by a house with a barking dog at the window, Jack wondering asked me when he could get to be a dog and told me that when he's a dog he wants to live with that dog in his house. Keep dreaming Jack. We actually took the kids to a real sit down restaurant today, Sonny's BBQ, to redeem a gift certificate we had. We realized that it had been over a year and a half since we'd done that and were quickly reminded why we've avoided such things. It didn't go too badly but it definitely wasn't a nice relaxing meal...I guess it never is with 4 kids. We came home and had movie night and watched the new TMNT movie. Max of course loved every second of it.
Luke learned how to roll over from his back to his tummy today. He has been able roll onto his back once and a while but it seems to usually happen by accident. Tonight, though we was really purposefully rolling back and forth.

Max Turns 6

Happy Birthday Max! He had his birthday and party yesterday and what fun it was. Here he is posing with his ice cream cake made into the shape of his very own rocket design. He wanted a water/spy party and Doug really delivered with lots of fun activities as you can see below. All the kids came in goggles and got their very own super soaker to use. Doug made them go through a little spy training which included how to load your gun, target practice, army crawling, sniper shots, shooting as you slide down a slide, and an obstacle course.

Mer was even the target for some of the training.They had a little meeting in the pool to discuss the last main battle (capture the flag). Doug and Mer guarded the fort while they boys attacked with water balloons and guns and had to retrieve the four flags.

The kids had a ball. We finished the formal activities outside just as the thunder and rain hit hard. The kids came in for food, presents and cake. And here is Max with his Bionicle that he has just put together.

...and a Little Bit More!

Here are a few more pictures from our vacation.

Saying goodbye to the Grandparents

Grandpa posing with the kids

Jack helping Luke participate in bubble blowing

Grandpa's puppy pancakes

My view of the back seat.

We finally made it home Tuesday night only stopping a couple of times for gas and potty breaks.. Luke did a little better this time and we are all glad to be sleeping in our own beds again. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for such a fun week.

The Rest of the Story

Well we had a great 4th of July weekend with Doug's family. I'll fill you in on the highlights. On the Fourth, Doug and I ran the Peachtree Road Race 10K along with another 55,000 people. It was an adventure and fun for people watching. We were in the last wave and didn't cross the starting line until 9:00 even though the race started at 7:30. Grandma and grandpa made t-shirts with the kids. We spent the afternoon swimming at uncle Mike's place where Jack actually learned how to really swim with his life jacket. The kids were so worn out that they went to bed and missed the fireworks.

Saturday we celebrated birthdays...We all sang Happy Birthday to Liz, and had dinner with Mike and Sher to for Mike's birthday which was a couple of days earlier.

We also did sparklers and poppers since we didn't get to them the day before.

Also Saturday morning, we went to a great park and the kids played while Doug skated at the skateboard park next door.

Snack time and a break from the sun

We Made It!!

We're in Georgia! We drove up Wednesday and decided to take a detour and explore a bit of St. Augustine, Florida. It's the oldest city in the nation. We checked out some historical sites and walked through the downtown, making sure to enter every candy and chocolate shop on the strip.

Sitting on a cannon outside of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument at St. Augustine.

After our 3 hour detour we drove to Atlanta. This was our first attempt at a long car ride the old fashioned way, with no video player. The kids did surprisingly well for not being able to watch shows. They played, read, and even slept a little. Luke, however, being our happiest baby yet, did not like the car ride. He fussed most of the way and hardly slept. We got in around 7pm and the kids stretched their legs out on their favorite part of Grandma and Grandpa's house...the STAIRS! Anyway. Today Doug and I went to the temple and Grandma and Grandpa tested out their babysitting skills on the 4 kids. They are going to watch them again for us in the morning when we run the Peachtree Road Race (a 10k in downtown Atlanta). Hopefully all will go well. I'm sure we will wear them out during our stay here. We all went swimming this afternoon and took a few really cute pictures. I'll add them to the blog another time as we got a new camera and still have to iron out a few things to easily upload pictures.