A week of Discovery

The summer in the south is H-O-T! Not much you can do outside. And this year would have been impossible to live at the swimming pool like we have done in the past.....so we got Discovery Place Passes and we have really enjoyed them! They have two museums....the Discovery Place for Kids in Huntersville and the Discovery Place Science Museum uptown. We love them both! We enjoyed the museum with Abby and Luke and had a great time. We especially love the area where you can create things using recycled materiel. A lot of fun for the older kids! Enjoy the pics!

A day at the ZOO!

Nathan's Easter Seal therapist asked our family if we wanted to go to the Zoo with her and her kids. She is allowed to take one family with her a year and she asked us. I was a little hesitant because of the heat! It was July after all! In Columbia!!! But, we decided to head out early and leave before it got too hot. We picked the perfect day! It was overcast and not too humid! And we got home before 1pm! Perfect! Nathan LOVED the zoo! We had a special pass that allowed us to do everything. The kids rode the train (you know that was a hit with Nathan) and Bailyn and Nathan got to ride a pony! I wasn't sure if Nathan would do it....but he did....and LOVED IT! Christopher was too tall....but to his disappointment. But, he and Bailyn rock climed and had a great time. They both were able to reach the top several times. The kids fed a Giraffe (which totally freaked Nathan out! The black tongue alone :)) and they were able to walk in with the kangaroos! All of the animals were out and we saw them all. Nathan's favorite animal was the giraffe and zebra. He also loved the monkeys! Bailyn did all of the photography that day and did a great job! We had a great time getting to know Gene and her kids better too! A wonderful trip to the zoo!

Christopher's trip to Charleston

My parents planned a great trip with Christopher for his 13th birthday to Austin, Texas. They were going to spend a few days with Jamie, Greg, Savannah, Kylie and McKay at the William's lake house. Christopher was looking forward to it all summer. But, as the date got closer, the weather in Austin got worse. Austin is in a severe drought which has effected the lakes out there. So, my parents decided that they would reschedule the trip to Austin for a better time when they would be able to enjoy the lake. Christopher was disappointed....but my parents planned a trip to Charleston. They headed off on Thursday and got back on Sunday. They stayed at the Embassy Suites in downtown Charleston. It used to be the Citadel. Christopher loved that! Christopher has also always wanted to tour the Yorktown....and they were able to do that. They had a great time, ate at wonderful restaurants, and went to Kiawah Island as well. Christopher really enjoyed the one on one time with Grandma and Grandpa!

Beaufort Trip 2011

Nick has to go to Beaufort, SC a lot for work. I love that over the summer, we can tag along with him. This time, my mom, Abby, and Luke, came with us. We were only gone 2 days, but we had a great time! We stayed in Bluffton, SC. It is about 20 minutes South of Beaufort and 20 minutes north of Hilton Head. Perfect place! The first night, we took the kids to Hilton Head Island. Right as we got there, Christopher found a baby shark that washed up. He picked it up and we got some great pics of it. Kinda scary considering all of the shark attacks we have had on the Carolina coast this summer. That baby shark had a mama shark somewhere! Nathan made the trip to the beach! He LOVED it! He loved the water and hated when it was time to go! Bailyn, Abby, Luke, and Christopher weren't as excited. Bailyn, Abby, and Luke had just gotten home from Myrtle Beach and Christopher had just gotten back from Charleston with my parents.....but we had a great trip. The weather was SOOOOOO hot that week. We were well into the triple digits. A little to miserable to enjoy downtown Beaufort. We did take the kids and walked around the water festival that they had that week. It was a lot of arts and crafts. The kids were totally bored, and extremely hot....so we ended the trip with some yummy ice cream and went back to the hotel. They went swimming for the rest of the day and we ended the trip with dinner at our favorite pizza place. It has become a tradition since our trip to Disney World. We stoped at Bluffton on the way down. Mom and dad had found the place on their trip to Hilton Head a few years ago. We all love it. I am so so glad that we were able to make the trip and make some fun memories with Grandma, Luke, and Abby!

Happy Birthday America

Fourth of July is one of my all time favorite holidays! I love this beautiful country that we live in. Being in the military for 7 years and living in another country, really made us appreciate this beautiful country even more. We had low key holiday weekend. Grandma Brenda came up to help me with some projects and we had a great time. Nick made the kids a fun "human car wash" that the kids are still playing with. Nathan and his friend Kent had a blast playing in the car wash for hours yesterday. We have to do something in this HEAT! WE also spent Saturday at a church 4th of July celebration. We were able to see some friends that we don't get to see very often, Christopher was able to play a game of football, and we saw just a few AMAZING fireworks. That is, until Nathan started freaking out from the noise. He hates loud noises! He loved watching them from the car though! On Monday, my parents came over for a very yummy BBQ. We were rained out for a little bit....but that didn't stop Nick and Christopher from setting off fireworks a little later in the evening. We tried to show Nathan how fun they were....but the end of the night found me and Nathan and Braden watching fireworks on TV. Gotta love it! We missed Bailyn soooo much! She has been at the beach with Shaundel and Abby and Luke. It has not been the same here without her. Can't wait for her to get back home! Happy Birthday America!!! Oh, and Brandi....thank you so much for the Buzz costume. Nathan wears it EVERYDAY....he even wants to go out in this heat in the costume!!! Hilarious! OH, and the picture of Braden sleeping is our favorite because this is how he puts himself to sleep! Love him!