Greenbelt Hiking

A couple of weekend ago, we went to the Greenbelt. We have had so much rain lately, so the water was beautiful. It was so clear you could see the bottom everywhere. Everyone had a lot of fun!

It's hard to believe all this was completely dry a few summers ago. It got deep enough for us all to swim, and even too deep for Jon or I to touch in some places. 

We took this picture, to recreate one we took a good 8 years ago...

It is definitely Hiro's happy place!

-Lauren-

VBS and Swimming Lessons!

So I shattered my phone screen in the gym parking lot. Shattered to the point where when I unlocked it to call Jon and tell him, I cut my finger on the glass. Sigh. Luckily it is insured, you know for when the kids drop it or something. :) I got a new one a few days later, but I hadn't set it up to sync my pictures with our computer. Its all synced now, so back to blogging!

We have had a busy summer so far!

The Monday after coming home from vacation, Aedan started VBS. This was his second time to participate and I know he had a great time.

On the last day, the church (where the kids also go to school), had a little dinner and party for all the families. All the VBS kids got up on stage and sang a few songs from the week. They called the kids up by ages, so the bigger kids were in the back. When they called Aedan's group, he got up and headed to the stage. Adelaide immediately hopped off Jon's lap and headed up with him. She ended up staying up there for most of the songs and just acted like she belonged. Ha!

The week after VBS, we did a week of swimming lessons. Aedan did great. This his his third summer and he is swimming really well. He can swim all around the pool on his own and swim down to the bottom of the deep end. He started working more on his strokes this summer.

This was Adelaide's first summer. She cried the whole lesson for days 1-3. Fun times, let me tell you. Day 4, was some crying mixed with a few smiles. Day 5, she was all smiles and asking for her turn.

It's hard to believe we are about half way through the summer all ready!

-Lauren-

More Vacation Pictures

We pretty much rotated between the beach and the pool everyday. We would get breakfast or dinner at the resort or at a restaurant nearby and then have lunch brought to use at the pool. It was nice!

Adelaide, enjoying her favorite activity...snacking by the pool. 

We all had a really great time, but I think getting back home and back into our normal routine has been nice too! :)

-Lauren-

Vacation!

Last week, we took our first family vacation with the kids! We left Tuesday morning for Clearwater Florida and came back Saturday evening.

It was the first plane ride and hotel stay for both kids. They did really well and we had a great time. Of course, I will be honest and say it was not as relaxing as a vacation without kids would have been. There were a few meltdowns just from being over tired from both kids, but overall, we all had a lot of fun!

I'll split our pictures up into two posts...

At the airport

The flight was just over two hours. The kids had fun looking out the window during take off and landing. The rest of the time, they both looked like this. Jon took a nap and I even got to read.

The view from our room.

First time in  the sand.

More playing in the sand at sunset. The sand was so nice, both kids love it. Adelaide probably still has sand in her hair. She was always covered in it!

  

Up next, more playing at the beach and pool!

-Lauren-

Summer Favorites

It's been a while since I have done a post other than pictures of what the kids are up to. I thought it would be fun to list off a few of my favorites for summer.

I've been using this night moisturizer for a few months now. I got a facial and they used this whole line on me. It was really nice. They tried to sell me the moisturizer then, but I knew I could find it on Amazon for cheaper. And I did (for about half the price). :)

I ordered the kids these shoes for the pool. They are super cute and both kids really like wearing them so I think they are comfortable.

I really like this brand of shampoo/conditioner. I think this is a new scent and I love it! It is perfect for summer. 

Recently a neighbor of mine had a little Mary Kay girl's night. We tried a lot of different makeup and I ended up getting some mascara. I'm not a huge make-up person but I always wear mascara since my eye lashes are pretty light. This mascara is great. It adds a good amount of volume and is not clumpy at all. 

A couple of my favorite bands have just come out with a new album. Mumford and Sons has a new one out and I really like it. 

Of Monsters and Men has a new album out this week. We have been listening to a few of the singles for the past few weeks. We are all big fans.

-Lauren-

Summer Time!

Last week was the first nice week of weather we've had in a long time. I heard somewhere that we had something like 27 consecutive days of rainfall in our area. That kind of rain here is very rare. 27 days of temperature over 100, sure. But rain, not so much. 27 days is a long long time for us! We were going a little crazy.

We made up for all the rainy weather by spending time every single day last week at the pool. Despite lots of sunscreen both kids have some pretty good tan lines already. Jon and I were joking that Adelaide looks a lot like the Coppertone girl. :)

We were also able to use our patio again and enjoy some dinners outside. It is so nice to eat out there. When the kids are done, they just hop down and go play, while Jon and I get some time to talk.

-Lauren-

Beginning of Summer

Are you tired about hearing about the last week of school? Last few pictures, I promise! Last week we celebrated the start of summer with dinner at P'Terry's. We usually just get it to go, and the kids always ask to eat inside, so we did!

Aedan is all about taking pictures these days. He is always taking my phone and taking pictures of everything. Here is one he took of Adelaide and I (I love the little thumb in the frame and the face on the girl behind us. Ha!) 

Then of course, Adelaide wants a turn at the picture taking. This is what she took, with a little help. 

It was a fun night out!

Aedan took a few pictures over last weekend too. We are still working on holding the phone so his finger is out of the way. :)

Our summer is off to a good start!

-Lauren-