Busch Gardens

We got to go to Busch Gardens today for Dominion Family Fun Day!  We had passes to the park last year, but opted for Kings Dominion passes this year so it was nice to still get to go.  Jason's company gave us four free tickets, a parking pass, four meal tickets and four snack tickets.  It was quite a nice treat and we had lots of fun!

Bryce is tall enough to ride a few of the bigger rides and roller coasters now and he seems to be a thrill seeker and enjoys partaking in them!  Here are the boys on their way up the Mach Tower.

Emmy probably would have ridden it, but she's too small so she watched from the ground as they got higher and higher!

Here is a little video so you can experience the fun with the boys!

It was a hot day so the kids cooled off with Dippin' Dots!

It was a fun day had by all!

peach picking

We drove up to the mountains on Saturday morning to pick peaches at our favorite orchard.

We love coming here to pick apples in the fall and peaches in the summer.  They also have pumpkins and strawberries, but we have a other favorite places to pick when they're in season. 

I just love this little family of ours and all the fun memories we make!

There were tons of peaches for picking.  We timed our visit just right this year!

Bryce found the perfect peach to go ahead and enjoy. 

It's no secret, but we go just as much for the donuts than anything else!

I'm personally a fan of the cider there too.  They had a pancake breakfast while we were there so I enjoyed a cider mimosa!  

I can't say enough good things about Chile's Peach Orchard.  It's a hidden gem we found when our go-to orchard got overly commercialized!  

celebrating summer

Jason had a conference all last week that ended just in time for us to take the kids to a baseball game on the last day of school to celebrate the start of summer!

There's nothing better than ice cream out of a mini helmet!

I looked over at one point and saw this special moment between my sweet boys and had to capture it!

When your team leads the whole game and then falls behind in the last inning you put on your rally caps!

They had fireworks after the game so we hung around for them and they did not disappoint!

It was a perfect start to summer!

officially a third grader

I love a good first day/last day comparison.

Bryce had a great second grade year.  I can't believe he starts his second half of elementary school next year!  I'm ready for time to slow down!  

field day

Bryce's field day was scheduled for April, but the original date got rained out.  Luckily, they were able to have a condensed version the day before school was out.

They did a few class relays.

Bryce enjoyed racing his friends in the inflatable obstacle course.

Even Emmy go to enjoy in a little of the fun on the inflatable slide.

Bryce and Thomas are hoping to finally be in class together again next year.

Emmy is basically an honorary student since she's at school with me all the time.  She can't wait to be a kindergartner next year!

The kids enjoyed the Kona Ice truck since it was such a hot day.

She'll fit right in at school!

Next year I'll have go split my time between their field days!

good citizen

Bryce received a special award a few weeks back!  His school recognizes students who exhibit certain virtues throughout the school year.  I believe there are 6 of them.  Bryce received the citizenship award which encompasses all of the virtues!  To say we are proud of Bryce and the example he sets for others is an understatement!

After the kids shook the principal's hand and got their award, they just continued walking across the stage and then stood on the bleachers.  I told Bryce it would be nice if he would look out at the crowd so people could see his face and so I could get a picture!  The principal loved it.  She commented that I had him trained well.

One student was chosen from each class!

His classmates and teacher had very positive things to say about him!

Keep up the good work Bryceman!

random happenings

Jason plays softball for our church on Tuesday nights and the kids love to go to his games.  On this particular night, they found a lizard to help entertain them! 

Bryce finally lost a tooth at school.  He was so excited to finally get a tooth necklace to wear his tooth home.  However, the school just switched from necklaces to treasure boxes, ha!  Luckily he got a necklace at his last dentist visit so he wore it around the house!

Emmy has enjoyed her first season of t-ball and she played really well.

We were excited to find that a new family at our church had a son playing on Emmy's team.  It's been fun getting to know them better.  And Easton and Emmy adore each other!

Jason's sister joked that we should save this picture for a wedding slide show!

She's so proud of that trophy!

 Bryce is her biggest fan.  He even made himself a hat to wear to her games.  Bless him!

Emmy is enjoying her summer vacation!  We went to the library the other day and I just happened to pull out this book while browsing.  It just had to come home with us!

We're working on learning to read this summer!

I have been out of the classroom for 5 years, but my girls continue to include me in special occasions!  The two ladies in the middle are retiring this year so we celebrated them at dinner on Thursday night.  I was lucky enough to celebrate the two ladies on the left when they retired 11 and 4 years ago!  The original 6 of us who taught 4th grade when I started have all moved on now (4 have retired, I'm staying home, and the other switched schools).    

Bryce has 4 more days of school and then I hope life will slow down and we can enjoy lazy days/evening at home!!