Lots and lots of updating

I have not been able to download my pictures from my camera to my computer so I have not posted anything for almost the entire summer. Slacker I know. I finally went to walmart and had my pictures put on a CD so I am updating the best I can. Enjoy!

Uh Oh

The waterslide is currently out of commission. The good news is I think I can fix it pretty easily with the patches that came with it. The even better news is while I was looking at the instructions to see what it said about applying the patches, I noticed that it had a 90 day factory warranty. I contacted the company and they are sending me a complete refund. I think that turned out to be a story with a very happy ending.

Funny story

The other night I told the boys to go brush their teeth so off they ran and Natalie was left standing there so I told her to go brush her teeth too. Too my surprise she ran off too. I figured she would just follow the boys which is what she normally does. I could hear them playing in their room after a minute or two so I wasn't concerned about where she was. After about 5 minutes I went to put the boys to bed and found Natalie in the bathroom on the stool with her tooth brush brushing her teeth. I guess she had been in there the whole time. I had no idea she had understood what I told her to do but I guess she did. I hope she continues to be such a good listener.

Gone fishing

Bart works with a guy who has a catfishing guide service. He was nice enough to take Bart and the boys fishing one Saturday morning. They had a great time and had lots of stories to tell when they got home. Their favorite story was that their daddy caught a bird. Scroll down to read the rest of that story.

So the story goes the boys had been playing in the bait tank catching the little bait fish with the nets. Occasionally they would come across a poor little fish that had been caught too many times and was no longer moving so Bart told them to throw those back in the lake. An osprey saw this and thought he had found lunch but to his surprise got caught up in the fishing line. They had to pull the bird to the boat and free him of the line. Thankfully the bird was ok and everyone was able to carry on with their fishing after that. Now that's quite a fishing tale. Thanks Capt. Al for giving my boys a great experience.

Week's Waterpark

Our playgroup turned Anna Margaret's yard into a waterpark. We had water slides, pools, sprinklers and all kinds of fun things. We ate hot dogs and watermelon and other goodies. Fun, fun, fun!Austin with his 1st bite of watermelon.LadsonLowndes sand box has blue sand. I didn't even know there was such a thing. MadilynAndrew and our new playgroup buddy Kate. She is 2 days younger than Natalie.Natalie tried to eat her entire watermelon. I realized this when she started gagging and saw that she had eaten the dark green part of the rind. I think she ate 3 pieces. What a little piglet.

Thanks AMW for a great play date.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy 29th birthday. We love you.

Sharie, Ryan, Cale, and Natalie

Ice Cream anyone?

Mom and I took the kids to McDonald's for lunch and the playground afterwards. It was almost too hot to play though. The slides were too hot and the kids were getting a little cranky until they heard the wonderful music of the ice cream truck. We used to have an ice cream truck come through our neighborhood at Rock Hill so the boys new exactly what the music was. Well, since it was 100 degrees it was impossible for them to eat their ice cream before it melted so this is what happened.

What a mess! The worst part was we couldn't even find any water to wash them off. We had to use lots and lots of wipes which still didn't do a great job. But, look at the smiles on their faces.

Congrats Meg and Will!

Bart and I ended a great vacation by letting Nina and Daddy Daddy take the kids home while we went to Asheville for Meghan and Will's wedding. It was so nice to have a night to ourselves and we had a great time at the wedding. It was so good to see some friends from high school and college. We really need to try to get together more often. Congrats Meg and Will!

Vacation at Lake Lure

Usually our family goes to the beach for summer vacation but this year we decided to do things a little different and went to a golf resort at Lake Lure, NC. We had a beautiful house with a huge game room with pool table and foosball and a huge TV with every movie channel there is. (which was Bart's favorite place to be - with his own thermostat so he could keep the AC as low as possible). It had a hot tub and a huge deck that the kids loved to play on, beautiful kitchen and bedrooms. We slept in the most comfortable king size bed that I have ever slept in. The closet in our bedroom was so big we turned that into Natalie's bedroom. Everything was perfect. It was pretty hard to come home after this week of luxury. The resort had 3 pools, a lazy river, a beach on the lake, playground, restaurants, putt putt, tennis courts, horseshoes, a spa and salon and many other things that I can't remember. We had a great week. The kids loved the swimming area on the beach. It never really got that deep so they could go out pretty far without being over their heads. And it was never very crowded and they liked that too.

Our poor deprived children have to make sand angels instead of snow angels.

Cale loved jumping off the side of the pool. At the end of the week he was jumping off with no swimmies. EEK! I love this picture. Look out little ladies, here they come!

Walking in the stream - of course right after I took this picture both boys "fell" in and got soaking wet - isn't that what vacation is all about.

Making cookies or eating cookie dough I'm not sure which.

The kids loved taking a bath in the big bathtub. That is until we turned on the jets and it squirted them all in the face. I guess next time we should make sure we have enough water to actually cover the jets so that it doesn't shoot out everywhere with quite a lot of force I might add.

Happy Birthday America!

Elloree had a picnic and program at the park for the 4th of July. They had 50 children to represent the 50 states and Ryan and Cale were asked to be part of it. They were not too crazy about having to do this and the practice did not go so well so I had no idea if they were going to cooperate or not. During the practice they both refused to do anything unless I was right there with them and Cale wouldn't hold his star and they were miserable the entire time. Although the program was a little long I thought they did a great job and I was very proud of them.

Getting ready for the parade of states. I forgot what states they had and I can't read the stars. Don't they look excited?

Notice there is no one in front of Cale. They were supposed to follow the person in front of them but Cale must have thought he was in a wedding or something because he walked VERY SLOWLY. The little boy behind them was trying to hurry them up but Cale was moving at his own pace. I was just glad he was doing it without me having to hold his hand.

You're a grand ol flag!

The night ended with a fireworks show which they got in just before a storm. It was a pretty good 4th. I even got to see my best friend from elementary school Kim Wiles. Her husband is in the military and they were in the process of moving from California to Florida. It was great to see her and her adorable little girl. I got no picture of course but I think my mom did. I'll have to get it from her and post it.

Beach Trip

My family (grandmama, aunts, uncles, and cousins) were at the beach the week July 4th so we went and stayed a couple of days too. It was great to see everyone and we had a great time although it went by way too fast. Mini-vacations just aren't long enough.

Building sandcastles with cousin Jacob (one of my boys heroes).

Dexter, Nolan, Thomas, Amy, and Nina

Little (or not so little) beach bum. OK actually at 1st Natalie wanted nothing to do with the water. She was not sure about the waves coming toward her and with every wave her grip got a little tighter on my arm. But, it didn't take her long to get used to it.

Look! Thomas has his feet in the water. Last year he didn't even want to take his shoes off because he didn't want his feet to get wet or sandy but this year he played in the water and built sandcastles and had a great time.

Ryan working hard at filling up his bucket with water.