Summer 2014

Seriously, I blinked and summer was over.  It feels like yesterday that school was getting out for the summer and now the kids are already back in school.  I can't believe it!  We had a blast this summer and so here is our summer in a nutshell.

 The boys loved riding their bikes and their scooters all over the place.  We went on lots of walks as a family and the boys definitely made good use of their legs and their bikes.

 Some days were low key.  Others were go go go!  I love this pic of the boys when they made chalk images of themselves.

 We had many play dates at our house.  The slip n slide and water guns always came out for these.  Sebastian, Gavin, and Xavier all attacked me with the water guns before I even had a chance to put on my swimsuit.  My clothes were sopping wet, but it was fun to fight back and give them a taste of their own medicine.  Mom vs. boys.  In the end, I think I lost.

 We spent many afternoons at my friend Conni's pool or at the Bethlehem pool where we had a membership.  The boys were little fish this summer and enjoyed every second of it.  Gavin is fearless and just dives right in.  Xavier takes the safe approach, but he learned to sit at the bottom of the pool, "talk" under water, and do front and back flips in the water.  When he did these things for the first time it brought back a flood of memories when I was a little girl and did those same exact things with my friends.
Reid is definitely a fan of the water.  The pool we go to has a zero entry area for babies and this kid would just crawl his way into the water.  He would get so fast and not stop that I had to watch him like a hawk otherwise he'd keep going and be under water before you know it.  Many times Reid would  lay on my chest in the pool and fall asleep.  There was only one time he actually let me lay him down on a blanket and stayed asleep.

 Xavier even got over his fear of the deep end and swam the length of the pool!  Way to go X-man for conquering your fear!

 We also got a membership to the Crayola Factory and spent many days creating fun art projects and exploring the many fun levels of Crayola.

My most favorite times were when we'd go to a park that had a playground and also a river.  My boys love to collect rocks, throw rocks in the water, search for sticks, get their hands dirty, and seek out bugs.  This is our little heaven.

 A boy and nature are one!

Hikes galore!  Reid would much rather be crawling around alongside the big boys, but I opted for the hiking pack to keep him contained.

The best part of summer are long days spent with friends.  Penelope and Baxter are some of our favorite peeps to hang with.  We could spend all day together and it still wouldn't be long enough.  Our goodbyes usually take an hour before we finally part and we leave with smiles from ear to ear because of all the fun times we spent together.

 They are such characters!  I love to see all their personalities together!  It's a lively bunch.

Poor little Reid was a trooper on our long days.  He learned that sometimes he just had to get sleep wherever he could even if it meant in a swing.

 Sand......need I say more.

We even had to say goodbye to some of our besties....Saji and Hank left for Chicago in July.  We are so sad they aren't here with us!  But we are happy for Saji's new job opportunity.

We caught up on many doctor's appointments.  Gavin had his 4 year well visit as well as eye appointments, dermatology appointments, and dentist appointments.  Phew!  Now they are good to go for a while.

Park fun!  Poor Penelope was always picked on by the Three Stooges!  She's such a good sport through it all.

 At least she has Gavin in her corner!

 Boys will be boys.  Xavier, Cye, Gavin, and Hayden named themselves Team Hot Wheels and pretended to race other bike teams.  It was hilarious the things they would come up with.

 Here Team Hot Wheels is listening and singing the National Anthem.  Xavier sung the entire song.

 We also made time for one on one date nights with the kids.  Gavin and I went miniature golfing.

 We also took the boys to a children's theater group's rendition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Wonka Jr.)  Xavier has read the book so he definitely enjoyed seeing a live production of the book.  After the show we went to the park that was right outside the theater.  The boys loved sitting on this tire swing.  The spun around and around and around on that thing.  Keep in mind they had each had a small bucket of popcorn each during the play.  Well, on the way home Gavin said he wasn't feeling well.  We decided to pull over and let him get some fresh air.  We thought he might just be a little worn down and tired.  So we began our trek home.  He fell asleep within minutes and we enjoyed our drive home on a sunny evening......until......we were about 3 minutes from home and he woke up puking.  Yes!!! I think we have only had one instance of a child throwing up in the car.  Oh and by the way we had just bought a new car seat for Gavin and installed it the day before.  Way to break in the new car seat huh?  Yuck!  You can imagine what our night consisted of.  Plugging the nose, holding our breath, and cleaning up puke.  Poor little Gavin.  I hope he doesn't have an aversion to tire swings after this experience and as a parent I will never have him swing on a tire swing after eating a ton of popcorn.  Theater fail!

 Picnics!  We had a fabulous picnic with Gavin's teacher Margie and our friends Ashton and Justin.

 Science, science, science for my little brainiacs.  We visited the DaVinci Science Center.  They had an amazing space exhibit this summer and lots of hands on activities for the kids to enjoy including a water table, a station to act out an news anchorman, electricity station, dinosaur bone station, building station, levers, pulleys, and so on.  They even had a great toddler room that seemed to be their favorite spot.  It was perfect for Reid to get out and roam a little too.

 A summer wouldn't be summer without some Italian ice and miniature golf.  I'm pretty strict about my kids not eating sweets and treats before they turn one, but with Reid being the third I have three other people that like to sneak it to him when mommy isn't looking.

 Tim finished Gavin's Ambigram.  It only took him 4 years!  Woohoo!

In August we spent a long weekend at Ocean City, NJ to celebrate our 11 year anniversary and to have one final hurrah before school started back up.  We played at the beach during the day, ate at a tastey Hawaiian restaurant, and then hit the boardwalk in the evening.  Salt water taffy and some rides equals one happy family.  Gavin and Tim did bumper cars.  I rode the swings and Xavier's first rollercoaster with him.  I also road in a helicopter with Gavin.  Once again I was taken back to my childhood and summer memories of rides at Lagoon.  It's such a neat experience to do similar things with your own kids and experience it from the parent's perspective.  I love seeing the joy in my children's faces when they go down that rollercoaster hill full speed or ride that ride they've been dying to try.

Crabby but Cute

First Roller coaster ride.  It's been a few years since I've been on a roller coaster and I had forgotten how much fun they are.  My stomach can still handle it.  I guess that means I'm still not that old.

 The boys came up with yet another fun activity at home on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  They were "fixing" their cars.

They even made Lego tools- screwdriver, scissors, hammer , and wrench.

I sure loved having my boys at home all summer to hang out with and connect with.  I am finding myself longing for those days now that school is back in session.  I'm getting a few things accomplished around the house, but I'd much rather be playing with my boys all day.  Goodbye summer!  We had a suntastic time.