The kids enjoyed Field Day at school. Morgan and I came for a little while to cheer them on.
Charlie graduated from Kindergarten. See him in the orange shirt?
Both Taylor and Charlie played spring baseball (softball) this year. Both were number 1. Very fitting if you ask me.
Finally the last day of school arrived!!
Grandpa from KY came to visit and brought Morgan a book that had a bracelet with it.
I absolutely love the library. It has the exact opposite effect on me that Walmart does. Somehow it always manages to put me in a good mood. We frequent it a lot in the summer thanks to the Summer Reading Program. The kids take that very seriously.
Three days after school let out we headed for vacation. We drove 14 hours in 2 days to Avon, North Carolina. If libraries put me in a good mood, road trips make me feel downright high on life. For some reason my children are capable of being pleasant, refraining from complaining and fighting, and enjoying the moment when we put them in a car for hours upon hours. I tell you, it's a miracle! One of my favorite moments was this impromptu stop and a scenic overlook in Virginia.
Here we are stopping at a hotel the first night. My kids love hotels.
Avon is a remote town in the Outer Banks. Before leaving civilization, we stopped at the Wright Brother's Memorial Museum.
We also finally met up with my sister, her kids and my mom for lunch.
Then we finally arrived at our huge, beautiful house.
It was located right on the sound side of the island. I took the boys there exploring the first night.
Sunsets here were breathtaking.
The kids had their own movie room in the house!
Mark had his own 'private' office.
Our house came with access to a beach club which was 5 minutes away.
There's something magical about the beach. What other place can keep six children of varying ages happy and entertained for hours and hours, day after day? And it's so simple. Just water and sand.
Oh, and shells!
This was my children's first time seeing the ocean.
We visited this lighthouse three times before the cards aligned for us to assent it.
We were brought to this remote vacation spot through our connection to dear family that was getting married. My stepfather passed away just weeks before charlie was born. (Charlie is his namesake.) We do not see his family much anymore, but the love is still strong. When his grandson, Jonathon, was getting married there was no question we'd be there. The perk was seeing them a few times throughout the week as well.
Trip two to the lighthouse.
Tuesday night there was a luau at the beach club complete with a pirate band, mermaids and fire dancers!
This little one knows how to cut a rug.
Back to the beach.
The first time Charlie experienced the ocean he kept saying "the current is awesome!" He really enjoyed the waves, but had a healthy respect for them as well.
Stopping for a sunset picture before a very late dinner.
Trip three to the light house.
this was when I started to regret my decision. However, the view up top made it worth while. Unfortunately those photos didn't seem to get uploaded here. I'm pretty sure I posted them on FB. Check it out if you want.
They invited everyone who traveled for the wedding to the rehearsal dinner so we got two big parties back to back.
On the last day, my mom and I got up before sunrise so I could take some photos of this pier that was having a photo contest.
My mom was entertained by this little guy methodically shoveling sand out of his tunnel.
Another day at the beach.
Before the wedding. See those clouds? Yep, rain. Right when the ceremony was scheduled to begin.
So we headed under the tents to wait it out.
And collect it.
Finally, the wedding.
This little guy was a huge hit when he broke out his break dancing moves at the reception!
After 8 days of traveling we were back home, and back to swim lessons.
Grace and Taylor participated in the AHG Sunset camp. They loved it! (Charlie and Jacob also did a camp called Laffalot, but I do not have photos from it)
I took a Macro workshop to feed my soul and maybe learn a bit more about the wonderful world of macro photography.
We came to cheer for Dad at his last intramural soccer game.
I actually won a contest for these macro photos of a fork!
We decided to try out a new park while I was location scouting.
Summer's not complete without ice cream.
And we finally celebrated Mark's birthday with my family!
more macro.
More baseball.
At the last game, Charlie finally earned a game ball.
Mark hit it out of the park when he turned leftover salmon into this.
A quick trip to the park.
And this little one got a pair of goggles to motivate her to go underwater.
It worked.
More photos soon. I might even post some in less than a month!! Enjoy your summer, everyone!!
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