So Long Summer

Summer is almost over and it's time for school to begin.  We had a great summer full of great memories.

We are continuing to home school for Nate's 2nd grade year.  This was taken on his first day of co-op: Thursday, August 6th. His co-op subjects are Bible Heroes (writing class), PE, and Science (aquatic animals).  We will study those subjects at home too along with reading, literature, handwriting, math, history, and spelling.

These two...

I could post a million pictures of them. :)

Cora is wearing one of Ashlyn's old bubbles.  It's about 20 years old.

Weekend Getaway

My sweetie and I got to have a weekend getaway at The Grand Hotel in Point Clear.  Darren had a work conference for the weekend and we decided to leave Nate and Cora with my parents!  This was our first time to leave Cora overnight and I was really nervous about it, but I relaxed once we got to the hotel.

I love the beach and The Grand is on the bay.  It was more like being on the lake instead of the ocean.  My favorite thing about The Grand is all of the inclusive activities.  You can kayak, sail a sail boat, paddle board, ride bikes, and more.  I loved bike riding while Darren was in meetings.  He and I went for a ride together also and we kayaked around the bay.  

It was mid-July and HOT! These hit the spot one afternoon when we were relaxing by the water.  It was cool to sit in the shade of a mossy, water oak tree and look out at the bay.  I did miss those sugar white beaches and clear water though. 

I'm so thankful for our weekend together.  It was just a week before our 16th anniversary so it was kind of an anniversary trip as well.  I'm thankful for my parents and their willingness to keep our children! :)

Happy 8th Birthday, Nate!

We had a great time celebrating Nate's birthday with our families.  Nate and Darren provided us with some sword fighting entertainment.  

If it was up to Nate, he and Darren would fight or wrestle all day, every day.  It's his absolute favorite.

Nate's favorite present from this birthday was an Xbox One.  

I love this picture of Ashlyn and Chris. :)

We always have nachos for Nate's birthday dinner since it's his favorite.  For the past two years, he's requested brownies instead of cake.  Can you see the 8 on his brownies?  M&Ms are also one of his favorites. 

Gosh, we love this kid.  He is smart, funny, tenderhearted, kind, generous, loving, thoughtful, and the very best big brother.  He loves Cora so much and is so sweet and patient with her.  There are no words to adequately express how much we love this kid.  We are so thankful God gave us Nate.  

Rocket City Weekend

We visited Huntsville for Nate's 8th birthday.  It was a surprise trip for him.  He knew we were going somewhere, but not the exact destination.  Our first stop was the Space and Rocket Center.

I think Darren was having more fun  than the kids. 

This is one of my favorites from the weekend.

Day one was a success!  The space and rocket center was a first for me and Nate.  There is so much to do and see there and we didn't see everything.  We did squeeze in an IMAX movie about telescopes that see WAY out in space.  Funny moment after the movie...I was changing Cora's diaper while sitting on a bench.  She was in my lap and it was a quick wet diaper change.  She started peeing while I was changing her!  Pee shot up and got on me and the bench.  She hadn't done that in months and it was totally unexpected.  It was hilarious.  Thankfully the bench was plastic and easy for me to clean really well.   

That night we enjoyed some pizza and gelato at Sam and Greg's in downtown Huntsville.  A friend recommended it and I'm glad she did.  It was delicious.  

We started day two at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens.  They had a cool traveling Lego display that we knew Nate would enjoy.  

I've only been to Birmingham Botanical Gardens and there's not much to see and do there, except flowers.  I was expecting this to be the same.  I thought we would zip in and see the Legos and be out of there in an hour or so.  I was wrong.  Along the Lego exhibit route there were all kinds of stops for kids to play. 

I think the buffalo was my favorite. 

This girl was so sweet and easy, except at night. Nate always slept in a pack n play easily, but not this girl.  Once she went to sleep, she slept well thankfully. 

This was another cool stop along the way.  They have a water play area that I knew nothing about.  Thankfully, I had extra clothes for Nate so he just got wet in his clothes.  He could have stayed there for hours.  Nate played and we tried to cool off on this bench in the shade.  It was HOT.  

We left Botanical Gardens and headed to Huntsville's science center.  It is very small compared to McWane. They make good use of the small space because we ended up being there several hours.  It wasn't crowded and Nate got to do everything he wanted, including petting a snake.  

This was such a fun, quick trip.  Most importantly, Nate loved it and thought it was a great way to celebrate his birthday.