Amelia Island

Last weekend, Matt had a conference in Amelia Island, FL. He was brave enough to bring myself and the kiddos along for the ride!

For weeks, the littles were so excited to go to the beach! While Matt was in his morning meetings, though, we put the pool to good use!

Nothing like a little pool fun to wear you out!

There was even a playground right by the children's pool!  Lots of fun for the kids, but lots of sand in the pool:)

Once Matt wrapped up with meetings, we dined poolside and headed for the beach!  Atlantic Coast beaches are so different from our Gulf beaches.  The kids loved the uniqueness!

Not sure what hungry sea creature was devouring all of the horseshoe crabs, but there were literally dozens of these dotting the coast!

Each day, we also had the privilege of visiting with Amelia, the resident parrot...

And watching the staff feed the fish (there was an aggressive and non aggressive tank).  All of this "education" made me not feel so bad about that day of school we missed;)

Walker had love at first sight when this little gopher tortoise made his debut!

Matt worked hard to scan all of the shells for sharks teeth.  Thankfully, he came up with three!  The hotel has a service that will turn them into necklaces (for free:)!!

The kiddos sporting their new jewelry!

Just in case you were wondering...

we did start school this year! I'm just a little late posting any pictures! It didn't help that sweet Walker came down with a horrible stomach bug the first week of school!

Everyone was up bright and early for a yummy back to school breakfast!

First day of first grade!

It wasn't quite Frances' first day, but she didn't want to be left out;)

Kathryn in her new classroom...

Walker with his new teacher...

 

A little welcome home party to celebrate a successful first day!

 



 

 

Skipped Trip

Way back in July, when we still had lots of hot summer left, we took a road trip to Birmingham!

First stop was an awesome overnight stay with the Dillon cousins. Aunt Cori kept us well fed and very well entertained! My favorite combination:) The kids enjoyed two local pools and lots of cousin time, and the mommies enjoyed catching up! Of course, when it came time for pictures, only silly faces would do!

The following evening, we of course had to get our La Paz fix!  We walked over the new Mt. Brook Municipal Center to see Uncle Brad's most recent building project. Because Uncle Brad is well known in these parts, the firemen were more than happy to let us explore the fire trucks.  Just another little bonus to our fun-filled trip!

The next morning the girls enjoyed breakfast in bed.  They absolutely love all of the "pampering" you get with a hotel stay.  Lotions and shampoos in the bathroom, hot chocolate and cookies in the lobby, and a full on breakfast bar. And this was just the Hampton Inn! Thanks to Pops, breakfast was delivered to our room, and the girls really thought they were something!

 

Of course, one of our main reasons for the trip was to celebrate this special boy's first birthday!! Is he a doll, or what!

Aunt Mak, as always, executed an awesome birthday party with so much attention to detail.  Don't you just love the bunting and the Aunt Mak original? Such a great backdrop for the food display. 

 

I only wish I had taken more pictures! 

 

 

 

To round out the trip, we had an awesome time visiting with Val and her boys and Carrie and her girls!  Don't think back in our college days that we could have imagined having 9 kids amongst us!  Val was kind enough to squeeze in a photo shoot too!  Am I lucky to have such a talented friend or what?

 

Val and the boys introduced us to AirWalk.  The kids were sold immediately.  Especially this little chickadee!



I love living in Mob-town.  It is most certainly home to me.  But I have to admit, I small part of my heart still belongs to the 'Ham. I'm so glad we've got family and friends there that make visiting even more special!

Summer, where did you go?

We've been trying to soak up every last bit of summer.  So hard to believe three months have almost come and gone.  Here's a little of what we've been up to...

Blowing bubbles after church...

Playing in the sprinkler...

Dreaming of Disney World (why else would anyone where a turtleneck in the hot summer:)

Practicing our cartwheels...

And our "splits";)...

Playing dress up...

Playing legos...

Posing for the camera...

And the most favorite of all summer activities--SWIMMING...

 

We've got one more full week of summer left, and I am so thankful!

Daddy's Newest Toy

Matt's newest "toy" is an underwater camera! Needless to say, we've had lots of fun at the pool this summer snapping pictures and recording diving board jumps and all sorts of silly things:) Here are just a few favs....