Let's Boogie!

Scott didn't mind salt water in his eyes this year. He's growing up! Caroline, on the other hand, would ask every day if I brought her goggles to the beach. I told her goggles are for the pool ONLY!

I had fun watching Eric have fun in the waves.

Scott & Eric are looking for some good waves to catch.

The boys humored me for a picture even though the sun was in their eyes. Aren't they sweeties?

Father-Son time: Eric and Scott sure have fun together. Having a son is a good excuse to act like a kid. Eric even got me out in the "shark infested waters" to ride the boogie board this summer. Now that the kids are older, we can actually relax at the beach together. Good times!

Family Fun

Putt-Putt: 5th, 4th and 2nd place. Despite coming in 5th place, I think Mackenzie had the most fun. She was eager to putt 1st every time and would move on without the rest of the family. She never gave up either... if it took 15 - 20 attempts to get the ball in the hole, she would keep trying, having fun the whole time. What a good sport! Scott on the other hand, if he didn't get the ball in after 5 putts, he just took his score of 5 and moved on. Hmmmm?

Caroline: Reading comic books was a source of much pleasure and contention at times. Indeed, the books were a hit, but if someone else was reading the comic book you had chosen, it was bad news. Family vacation gave us many opportunities to try to teach the kids how to get along with each other. Joy! Joy!

Did I mention that I beat Eric at a game of checkers on the beach? Well, it's TRUE! We have beach towels with a game board and big plastic checkers, so it's a fun thing to do while relaxing in the sun. My WIN doesn't officially count because I started out with an extra game piece. I didn't realize 1 checker was missing, else I'd have told Eric to pick up a shell so it'd be even. But, once the game got going good in my favor, he brought up the fact the he started with a disadvantage. So, we shall have to make time for another match. Here, Mackenzie challenged Eric to a game of checkers one morning. Fun times.

Our summer vacation was much needed and was more relaxing than most vacations. We tried to keep the pace under control so we'd have some down time as a family. We played Chinese Checkers, UNO and Rummikub. Mackenzie is probably the best 5-year old Rummikub player alive. She's learned the game and can keep up with the family. The kids would read Disney comic books while we napped. We played tennis as a family one morning. Eric gave Scott lessons while I played with the girls. Then, we switched. Eric taught the girls some basic skills while I played a game with Scott. Then, Scott and I challenged Eric to a game while the girls played together. It was a fun morning. We were able to spend some time in the courtyard: swings, slides, and bocce. I discovered my bocce skills are even better in the sand. Yea for me! We played tic-tac-toe on the beach using shells and sticks. It was too windy for frisbee, but the breeze was SO nice! We enjoyed some surf shop shopping as well as a family game of putt-putt. Both Eric & Scott beat me... maybe I should go golfing with them once in a while to brush up on my stroke. It was fun regardless of the outcome. Mackenzie enjoyed the train ride to the top of the mountain to start our putt-putt game. It's just nice to have down time together as a family. Good memories!

Atlantic Beach Trip

Scott loves riding the waves.

Caroline loves playing in the sand.

Mackenzie loves searching for seashells. She also loves to feed and especially chase seagulls!

The kids LOVE being at the beach... sun, waves and sand. What kid could ask for more? We dug in the sand, collected shells, did some surf fishing, fed seagulls and of course, did some boogie boarding. Fun times for all!

Beach Bums

Lucky Little Girls: Caroline & Mackenzie are blessed to have such a good father. Eric really enjoys his vacation from work so he can spend quality time with the family.

Kickin' it at Fort Macon: The kids LOVE climbing the walls & stairs at this historic site. It's a must see each and every summer.

Scott

Caroline

Mackenzie: Always full of fun... here she filled her sandals with sand for the pictures. I love it!

I love to take pictures of the kids on the beach when we visit Fort Macon. The beaches there are so beautiful in the evenings. It was windy the night we were there, so the kids thought they were caught in a sand storm. They really didn't like the sand whipping at their legs. Luckily, I got these pictures on the dunes before we got caught in the sand storm.

Summer Garden

Our 1st sunflower bloom & our 1st eggplant of the season.

We are getting cucumbers like wildfire lately. Luckily, the kids eat them up like crazy. Scott has even learned how to use the peeler to help peel them. Our squash is almost finished producing, but we're still getting some zucchini. The kids LOVE zucchini bread, but are burnt our on the zucchini itself. I love it though. Notice our 1st watermelon. I'm afraid the lack of rain in July may hinder our watermelon and cantaloupe production. All the rain in June may have rotted the potato crop, but we'll check on those later in the season. It's so much fun and makes for healthy eating.

This is the 1st year we've planted corn since we've put up a fence to protect our crop from the deer. Notice our green peppers in the background. We have a bumper crop this year. Last year we didn't get hardly any b/c all the plants got some disease. The girls got sweaty picking the garden today, but enjoyed helping. Our tomatoes are starting to ripen. Some are quite pretty and our cherry tomatoes are going CRAZY! I've been eating them like grapes b/c we picked that silver bucket full of them before we finished picking that day.

The rains in June were great for our garden. It's been a banner year. We're loving it! Check out the fruits of our labors. The kids enjoy it for the most part and say the funniest things when they pull weeds or pick produce. My favorite is... "We're collecting $ for the orphange. Do you have any donations?" They take payment in form of weeds when we're weeding and veggies when we're picking. It's hillarious! They definitely make it fun.

Happy Birthday AMERICA!

Mackenzie in her red-white-and-blue

The kids are loving the play area now that it's mulched

and they each have their own swing. Bye-bye baby swing.

I just hated to take it down, but seeing the kids swinging high, having fun together, it's obvious

it was time.

Mackenzie is SO proud that she has learned to pump her legs and swing all by herself.
Funny how Scott & Caroline quickly picked up pumping their legs once

their little sister could do it!

The reason for the yard hydrant: grape vines!

Yes, we're going to get green seedless and purple concord grapes this year.

After 3 years of the deer eating our new vines, we put up wire cages last year.

So, this year, the vines have grown to where we can hang them. To keep the deer

at bay, we spray Liquid Fence. So far, so good. The grapes harvest mid to late

August if I recall correctly. Pretty sure I'm right b/c the last time we had grapes

(at our old house), I was pregnant with Caroline. When I came home from the hospital

after she was born, the grapes were ripe and ready. She's about to have another b-day

so it means our grapes are well on their way to their 1st season of production. We just

LOVE gardening.

We had a GREAT July 4th weekend... time together is my favorite thing. The kids are home from school and Eric had a long weekend off from work, so life was at its best. We woke up early Friday (7/3) to do some car shopping, but after that, we had a fun time at the Farmer's market picking out NC grown peaches. The prices on the veggies made us appreciate having our own produce from our garden. We took the kids to eat lunch at the restaraunt there and they had fun playing on all the farm animals outside. We picked up pizza for dinner and took it to Lake Benson park to enjoy the carnival games & inflatables before the firework show. The kids rode a bull, climbed a rock wall, and Mackenzie even played a few games of BINGO. She LOVES playing some BINGO. The fireworks were great, the traffic was horrendous, and after the fireworks, we went to the Simpson's for homemade icecream, some crazy good roasted red pepper dip & pita chips (courtesty of Camillia) and the kids made homemade sparklers that were crazy cool and super fun (courtesy of Uncle Chuck & Aunt Camillia). Daddy was glad we didn't catch the grass on fire while having our fun and was glad we all left come midnight. Fun times!

It made for an early morning as Eric helped cook pancakes at South Garner Park for our church July 4th breakfast while I cut up watermelon for the festivities while the kids slept in to make up for lost time. The kids got to play with friends while Eric played softball and Cherre visited with friends from church. It was a great time for everyone. Afterwards, the kids did their slip N slide in the back yard while I relaxed in the hammock while Eric dug a trench to bury/install a yard hydrant in the heat of the day. He is a hard worker. He took down our baby swing (sad day) and put up a 3rd swing, so the kids were ecstatic. They had the best time, all 3 swinging high, singing and goofing off. I sat and watched from the hammock. Did I already mention that? Yes, it was a great weekend. We bathed the kids, put them to bed early and watched a movie... our version of date night. Good times. We are indeed grateful for the freedoms and opportunities that are provided to us in this great nation due to the sacrifices of so many past and present. God bless America!