my birthday

Birthdays are my favorite!!  I had a fun morning yesterday shopping with my mom and Emmy and then we went to our favorite frozen yogurt spot for lunch!

It was a beautiful and hot day; perfect for the pool.

I enjoyed a nice dinner with friends.

Celebrations call for a little bubbly!

Me and my best girls!

Thanks to everyone who called, texted, sent Facebook messages and the like.  It was a great day and I was spoiled!

bryce goes to camp

It's not summer without camp, right?!  It's only fitting that we would send Bryce to the same camp where Jason went as a kid.  Jason's sister and another friend were the deans for the week and they recruited lots of familiar faces from church to help and there were plenty of familiar friends to put Bryce at ease for his first overnight camp experience. 

After checking in, we got him all settled into his cabin.

Chase and two other friends from church were in his cabin and that made him happy!

He'll be home this evening and I can't wait to hear all about it!

I snagged this picture from the camp Facebook page.  I've these pictures from when Jason was at camp and it's so fun to look back on after many years have passed.  Bryce will really cherish this one day!

our florida vacation

Jason and I enjoyed our kid free week at home, but we couldn't wait to hop on that plane and join them for a week of sun and fun!

Reunited in Florida and it felt so good!

After dinner we headed right out to the beach.

I'm not sure who was more excited to get out on the kayak, Jason or the kids.

First of many sunsets from the week.

Little kayak rider.

Florida has a very large baseball league with many of their teams feeding into professional teams.  We went to a Blue Jays game one evening.  

Emmy still won't get near a mascot!

She prefers the face paint and party balloons.

We hit the pool first thing most mornings before it got too crowded.

We went our for Putt-Putt one afternoon and they just happened to have some hungry gators!

They were little, but they sure look big here.

I think Bryce was trying to catch them rather than feed them.  

It was a HOT round of golf, but fun none the less.  

Emmy was a little fish all week.

Bryce was quite the explorer.  Sand dollars were found and manatee spotted!

I've taught her well.

Lots of fun was had in the sand.

A rare family picture!

Oh how I love them.

We went on an air boat ride on our last day.

We spotted quite a few gators.

Jason is already trying to figure out how he can afford his own air boat.

Big boy!

Big Kid!

We had a great week and the kids had a wonderful two weeks! 

a week without kids

Jason and I have been staying busy while the kids are having fun in Florida.  We had some friends over Friday night for a fish fry but I didn't get any pictures.  We went to the mountains for the day on Saturday and had a wonderful time.

We went to Bold Rock Cidery for a lunch and drinks and then we went to Carter Mountain for all things peach (we go there for all things apple in the fall).

We got peach wine slushies, peach ice cream and peach donuts!  YUM!

Not a bad afternoon view!

We took a little Sunday drive after church and tried out a new burger place everyone is raving about.  It was definitely worth the drive.  

I got to go out for girls night on Monday night!  I even bought a new dress and new shoes for the occasion. 

I had such a fun evening.  The girls I used to teach with wanted to do something for me after my dad died and Jason told them that a night out would be better than any gift they could give me and I SO agree!  While I don't see these girls often enough, we always pick up right where we left off!

Jason had his softball tournament tonight and I had a PTA meeting, but tomorrow is date night!!!

florida - grandkids week

Jason's parents got a condo in Florida for three weeks this summer.  The plan was for the grand kids to go for a week, then we get to join them for a week and then his parents get a week to themselves to relax from the other two weeks.  The day finally arrived and they packed up on Friday and went on their way!

They stopped about half way and finished the trip on Saturday.

Jason's sister decided she wanted to get it on grand kid week and when she got there Monday, the pictures really started coming!  Thanks Kelly!

Dinner and then back out to the beach.

They went on a nature walk this morning.

We did face time tonight and they told me about all their sightings.

Two peas in a pod!

I can't wait to be on that beach with them!

My girl still can't hang all day with the big kids.  Whenever I take sleeping pictures of her, I post them on instagram with the hashtag #whereemmysleeps.  It made my heart happy to get this picture with that hashtag from Kelly!

There's nothing better than ice cream at the beach.

I can't wait to see them on Friday!