Aaannnnddd…the rest of June

Whew!  I kind of dropped off a blogging cliff there for a couple of weeks.  Between travel, lack of internet access, and being separated from my pictures at various times, I fell behind.  Never fear:  I’m hoping to catch up!

My last blog was about Tuesday, June 14.  On Wednesday, I packed, cleaned, and took care of sick Anna (we think she got dehydrated from our beach day), and then on Thursday, we headed to Macon with a group of Jr. Highers.  Like last year, the plan was to spend the afternoon having fun at my mom’s house, and then head to Nashville for Impact the next morning.  And like last year, we had a great time!

Needless to say, that inner tube did not survive the day.

While the big kids goofed off, the little ones had fun…

…and made some huge leaps in swimming skills:

By the end of the day, they were both jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side all by themselves!  They also swam well both under and over water!

While Luke and Anna were working on those skills, we took the older kids jetskiing and to jump off the Noe’s dock.

Bethany got to drive the boat…

…while we took the jet ski.  I told the girls, “We probably will not flip off, but just in case we do, be sure to grab your glasses.”  Annnndd…then we flipped off.  And I did not grab my glasses.  And neither did Emma.  Oops.  Farewell, sunglasses!

After returning from the Noes’ dock, we had dinner:

And after that, the kids went tubing!

Afterward, they were thoroughly worn out, yet excited about going to IMPACT the next day!

Burgers, Bible Study, and Bean Bags

Phew! This is my third post today and sixth post in three days, which is just crazy, even for me. June has been insanely busy, and yet, it has been insanely fun, also. Friday was Anna’s Show Week at gymnastics; Saturday was Luke’s birthday party; Sunday was Surprise Father’s Day; Monday was Frankie’s; and today was the beach and an evening Bible study with the college kids.

I didn’t take the camera to the beach, but I totally ended up wishing I had b/c the kids had SUCH fun in the water and because some of the teen guys found a starfish. I took a few pictures with my cell phone:

In the above picture, Greg is putting the starfish on his face to show Luke how harmless it is. Even so, Luke refused to hold it. It was inexplicable.

Starfish phobia aside, we had even more fun at the beach today than last week. Luke got some good beach gear at his birthday party, including a deluxe sand-castle building set, a lacrosse kit (or as Luke called it, “the cross”), a big shovel for humongous-hold digging, and a kickboard. Needless to say, we put all of those gifts to good use today!

When we got home, we quickly showered and got ready because Greg had organized a Bible study for the college-aged kids at our house. We realized in retrospect that we had scheduled it about an hour too early b/c most of the kids work during the day, but some did manage to get there, and we had a great time. He called it, “Burgers, Bible Study, and Beanbags,” b/c…that’s what we did. We like self-explanatory titles. And alliteration.

After we ate burgers, we read 1 Corinthians 1, and had some really good discussion…although we were interrupted once by Woody and Buzz Lightyear:

Afterward, we participated in the “bean bag” portion of the evening: a couple rounds of cornhole:

Like I mentioned in my last post, I really want to record this week, b/c I know that so much is lost when you don’t write it down. I don’t want to lose these crazy/busy/fun moments, although I also need to note, in the interest of full disclosure, that just about every moment not portrayed in these blogs has either been spent: cleaning, sleeping, eating horribly (think pizza for four days in a row), or devoting time to the children to keep them happy and stable in the midst of all the craziness.

Summer shows no signs of stopping in the next few days, but I am foreseeing a couple of “chill out” weeks at the end of June and beginning of July of which I intend to take full advantage:).

First Trip to Frankie’s

Yesterday, I had an event with our church’s Community Outreach Ministry.  To kick off our Summer Service Program, we had a Parent/Child Service Day at Lowcountry Orphan Relief.  The only problem was that you had to be in at least first grade to serve at LOR, which ruled out my own children!  Thankfully, their Daddy has a great job, and he was taking the Jr. High to Frankie’s Fun Park that day.  He agreed to let our two kiddos tag along.  This was there first trip to Frankie’s, and their first putt-putt experience, so I sent the camera along with him to capture the magic:

They both enjoyed playing video games, but they also both later cited putt-putt as their favorite part.  (Do other people call it putt-putt?  I think it is also commonly called mini-golf, but my family has always called it putt-putt.  That might be because Southerners tend to call things by brand names—like calling soda, “coke,” and tissues, “kleenex,”), and the place we played mini-golf growing up was called, “Putt-Putt Golf Course.”  Anyway, I digress…)

Clearly, they need some work on form.  Greg said that they liked it when he would wrap his arms around them to show them how to putt, but b/c it was 98 degrees that day, that closeness of proximity got very uncomfortable.

Apparently, there is also a big slide at Frankie’s:

I include this last picture to show you how red Anna’s face was by the end of the day.  That’s not sunburn; it’s just heat.  Greg said they had a great time, but that it will also be infinitely more enjoyable in September or October when it is not so sweltering hot.  Regardless, though, I wanted to capture this “first.”  It has been a crazy busy week, and I really want to remember all these fun experiences.

(Speaking of remembering things, Anna just announced that she is 50,009 years old.  They are both coloring beside me while waiting for our next fun event to start.  But more on that later…)

Surprise Father’s Day

In our household, we have come to the conclusion that dates are just numbers on a calendar.  The calendar says that this Sunday is Father’s Day.  There’s just one problem with that:  Greg won’t be with his children on Father’s Day.  While I was thinking about that sad fact, I had an epiphany:  the calendar also says that this Sunday is Luke’s birthday, and yet, we didn’t let that stop us from celebrating it together as a family.  So…why not do the same with Father’s Day? I pitched the idea to the kids, and they were super excited.  We went shopping for a few gifts and cards, and the kids suggested a pancake and egg breakfast for Greg.  So that’s what we did:

Greg had been wanting a smaller Bible for youth trips, so we got him a couple (an NIV and an NLT).  He also loooves bottled frappacinos from Starbucks.  Luke picked out the Mr. Potato Head card, and Anna insisted on a puppy card.  After church, Daddy got to choose where to eat, and he chose Ruby Tuesday’s.  Since Gaga was still in town, she treated us, which made it even better!  Then, Greg went golfing with three friends from church.  He had been invited earlier in the week, and I was so excited, as it fit perfectly into our Father’s Day plans. 

Greg is an amazing father to my children, and I am so thankful for his influence in their lives.  It was fitting that he got to celebrate that fact with his family, even though the calendar didn’t agree with us.  This might be a new family tradition!

Luke’s 5th Birthday Bash

It is hard to believe that Luke will turn five years old next Sunday. As usual, though, his birthday falls during Impact, so Greg will be in Nashville. Thus, we celebrated early, just like we did last year. This year, we wanted to try having a pool party at our neighborhood pool. We had made the reservation way in advance, and I was a little alarmed to arrive and see that another party was going to be happening at the same time. Because of the time frame we wanted the party, we knew that it would be “semi-private,” meaning they wouldn’t close the pool. But I was shocked that there was another party. No worries, though: it actually ended up being a huge blessing b/c our party was moved to the far corner of the shallow end, and we had the whole area to ourselves.

In our own little corner of the pool, we were free to swim…

…to socialize…

…to chill…

…to eat pizza….

…and to have cake!

I am so impressed with Publix for offering this cake. Luke LOVED it…as did we all!

After cake, we swam a bit more…

…and then it was time for presents!

And lastly, we swam some more:

Clearly, we all had a wonderful time. I did tell Luke, though, that now that we’ve had big parties for ages 1-5, we will probably start rotating in smaller celebrations. I’m kind of picturing having three or four boys over next year for a Lego-themed sleepover, or something like that. I have two more years for Anna, but I already have those all planned out:). In the meantime, I have been enjoying getting to celebrate these wonderful years in a big way!

Happy birthday, Luke!