Summer Fun

It seems like as fast as summer came, it left us again (except for the Louisiana heat, that is).  Joe finished Kindergarten before Memorial Day and shortly after, the kids took 2 weeks of swimming lessons at our health club.  Abi wasn't keen on the water and clung to her teacher for the majority of the 2 weeks.  But, by the end of the session, she was a little better about putting her face in the water.  Judging by where she started, I was happy with her progress... we'll work on actually swimming next year!  On the other hand, Joe did great.  He'd had a really bad swimming lesson experience when he was 4 and was very cautious of the water.  But this summer, he dove right in (literally), held his breath under water, floated on his back and did the front crawl.  Success!  Now the kids were ready for a trip to the beach.

But first... Joe turned 6!  He has grown so much over the past year and what better way to celebrate than with a birthday party complete with laser tag and mini golf at Spaceport.

Playing Ski Ball with his friends

Happy Birthday to Joseph!

Gotcha!

Very stealthy

 About a week later, we took off to sunny Florida to spend a long weekend at Fort Walton Beach.  We spent our mornings playing in the sand and the waves and then at the pool (time to practice swimming skills!).  Afternoons were for eating lunch in the condo and napping and evenings were for eating out for dinner. Pretty relaxing and perfect.  On the way home, we did hit a little children's museum where the kids were able to explore before the 4 hour drive home.

Building sand castles with Daddy

My view...

Joe & Abi

Enjoying the beach on a sunny day

The guys built sand castles and several of these huge volcanoes

Shark attack! 

Ahhhhhhh!

 After the beach, we came back home, only to turn around and prepare for our trip to Michigan and Lisa & Brett's wedding!  Our Michigan trip lasted for 3 weeks, the first week of which was nothing but wedding, wedding, wedding.  We had a great time tying up last minute details, throwing Lisa a Bachelorette Party, going to the rehearsal and dinner, visiting with out of town family and of course, attending the BIG DAY!  And what a beautiful BIG DAY it was.  The bride was radiant, her groom handsome, all the kids on their best behavior and a great party to boot.

The blushing bride

Bubble girl, Abi with Flower Girl, Raevin

The guys

Unity candle

Getting ready for my speech...

Ring Bearer, Joe

Newlyweds

Dancing with my buddy

Abi boogied with Brett's nephew, Junior

Party!

After the newlyweds were sent off on their honeymoon to Belize and Guatemala, we had many Michigan adventures:

At the hat shop at Greenfield Village

Building a wall at the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum

Chasing the Walkers at the park

The Walker-Smith mommies and kiddos

Out to lunch at Pete's Garage (eating in an old car!)

Playing with Miss Kelly and her puppy, Bruno

The kiddos and their Great-Grandparents

 Nana defeating Joe on the Wii

Then Papa wanted a turn

Three turkeys

Hanging out with our Goddaughter, Jasmine at Greenfield Village

The carousel at GFV (one of my favorite memories as a child!)

 The kids also got to enjoy a day at Domino Farms petting zoo with Nana Sue and Papa Gene (the camera was forgotten that day) as well as a trip to the Henry Ford Museum and a couple of sleepovers.  Papa Al took Joe to their favorite place, the Hudson Museum to see antique cars and we did lots of piddling around town and had lots of quality play time.

Then, time to head back across 7 states...

Going cookoo on the drive home

Marker cap finger nails

Dave needed to keep fueled, but kept ordering lattes... not what he wanted

Finally home again at the end of July, it was time to jump right into back to school shopping and doctor appointments.  Just before school started, we found out that baby #3 (or Pickle-Pants, as she is fondly called) is a girl!  We're so excited to start preparing for her arrival (right around Christmas).  So we'll be staying in LA for the holidays, but are expecting a lot of visitors (not just the stork).

Set to arrive in Santa's sack!

The last few weeks have brought about moves for a few of our close friends.  Our next door neighbors have moved to TX and our close friends have moved to CO.  Sniff, sniff.  We wish them all the best and hope they have wonderful adventures.  We'll miss them dearly.  But new things are on the horizon...

Starting with back to school for Joe... the first grade!  I can't believe the summer flew by so fast!  But, now that the first week of school is complete, it feels good to be back in a routine.  So far, we love Joe's new teacher... good things are ahead for this first-grader.

The first day of school

Can't leave the little sissy out... she starts preschool after Labor Day

Abi starts school in a few weeks (2 days per week) and then ballet/tap will start soon after.  Joe starts soccer at the end of August with Daddy as his coach for the 2nd year.  Catechism classes will start up in September and I'm busy getting ready for another year of Pray & Play events at church.  Somewhere in there, Dave and I will squeeze in time for ourselves... possibly before we become a family of 5!