Summer is here

We are in full summer mode around here. I mean like vbs, tball, swimming lessons, kinda crazy summer. Add in a few missed naps, late bed times, mud & a new swingset and playhouse and well it means a whole lot of no blogging, no cleaning, barely any laundry kinda days for this momma. Let along any pictures. Don't worry I will get you a few sometime soon.

Here are few from instagram and a few weeks back as I am a bit behind.

big boy loves the rollercoaster

and helping Papa

Just the start of our swing set. I will blog with pictures as it is almost done. Waiting a few pieces of barn board from my grandpa. It looks awesome though. A bit partial I realize

my sliding barn door

here is a teaser....doesn't that door look awesome! bro huge help. d props for the x factor

Sage enjoying the new swings

 M, T & little R got to come hang out again. M built these amazing shelves for our garage complete with rolling ladder. Pretty cool of course. Plus an awesome work bench for all my crazy projects.

 And the luxury of Papa building a swing set equals tickle time with Frama. Love it.

Plus the park. Big boy going down the slides all by himself. He is quite the dare devil. Climbed up our slide barefoot all the way to the top tonite. He will be the first to go to the ER mark my words.

Little Anna and Sage racing to the top. Love that they are playing already!

 Trying to get some summer smiles. Of course, silly boy.

 And kinda serious girl.

 One of our favorites is cooling off in the guest bedroom downstairs for wrestle matches and pillow fights. It is super cool (literally like air wise) and a great way to cool down after the summer sun.

T ball...

Date night with Shaddy. Ells stayed overnight with Frama & Papa so Shadd and I rented a movie and enjoyed some one on one time.

And I'm off to finish up a few VBS crafts because I make things a bit too complicated. Hope they love them!

Thankful Thursday

I love thursdays.

Why. Because of these posts. Kinda blew it off last week. Just pure craziness of summer I guess. Plus like my kiddos I just kinda crave freedom from the norm and well summer brings that. Late nights. Maybe baths when muddy. Maybe not. Just pure luxury. Well not totally. But still fun to cast all your cares and just not fold the laundry for a day or two. So well I just went to bed and worked on projects with my hubs and family and just didn't blog.

Love it.

But today...I am thankful. Hopefully everyday. But it feels good to write done the little things.

1. Friends moving closer

2. Random parks - even in the middle of no where
3. Sage's exploration - he's going down slides, up and down stairs - I should really blog about all the crazy stuff this little one gets into these days.
4. I survived the 20k
5. my ultra competitive nature - although it didn't really kick in til 1am the next morning. dreaming about my next race
6. only minor aches and pains - namely the ugliest, nastiest arm chaff burn under my arm. stinkin nike dry fit shirt.
7. fixed steps (the front of our house looks much better)
8. my hubs work around the house & matty (the garage shelves built and sliding ladder - amazing, hooks hung in front entry, dirt filled in around low spots in our yard, landscaping starting this weekend)
9. my parents and brother - start of amazing playhouse swing set in our yard.
10. recycling and repurposing old into new - barnwood from my grandpa always comes in handy around here.
11. kid conversations
12. interruptions - "no i'm talking to mom": i only pray i am always so popular
13. cool weather - most are praying for hot to go to the pool but i love the ability to be outside and not sweat. it will be here soon enough
14. vessels to fill with God's beauty. today they are full of peonies and maybe next week wildflowers
15. dry days
16. quiet cul-da-sac
17. helpful neighbors
18. living so so close to family
19. quiet devotional time
20. Shadd's love for learning
21. Ellsyn still making progress on the potty - slow steps forward and backward but she's finally getting it.

Florida Part 3

Hoping to wrap up the posts with this one...because well more and more things are happening around here. Well kinda. If it would just stop raining. We have big plans for the outside of our house and a playhouse etc. We just need it to dry up and stay dry for like 4 days. Anyways.

So wednesday - Uncle J played in the morning. We hung out around the place. Watching movies, Sager napped and we played golf across the yard. So so awesome to have a green across the street. I think it might be in the future landscape plan.

Then we got to have the team over for dinner as we waited to see if they would make the cut. They did which was awesome. Of course, Uncle J got roped into a few games.

Then thursday. They golfed early again so this time I headed to a state park - reviews said it had an awesome playscape, trails, and of course the beach. It did have a park but it only kept our attention for about twenty minutes or so. I forgot my ergo so we didn't attempt the trail through the sand. But the beach was beautiful. Overcast. Early. Not busy. Perfect!

Then later we all headed back to the beach. Still amazing. However I forgot my good camera due to a last minute run to the outlet mall - I mean this mama needed a little me time right? Oh well still fun.

D thinks I should send this one in to UnderArmor

She had help but she can write the first part of her name

This one loved wrecking sandcastles - He loved the gulf

Then came Friday. We had to be out of our place by 10. We thankfully could check into the hotel early but still I kinda felt like a single mom with no place to crash. Of course, no one napped that day until we picked up Dad at the course. They closed the playplace at McDonalds due to a preschool. We did get to walk the pier and see the biggest grouper at a whopping 96lbs at Bass Pro, however. And Cinderella was showing on Disney Jr. so that was a lifesaver. Plus we got to enjoy the heated pool and hot tub with Dad later. He did however, take his phone in with him so that was another whoops for the trip. Rice does help but not a total saver.

The team placed 12th out of 41 and Uncle J got 25th (I think). We are so so proud.

Then the real adventure started. We headed home around 6:30 am Saturday. I had stumbled across a sale going on at one of the blogs (the handmade home) I follow house's on this Saturday in Montgomery Al. Crazy. We will go right through there. So we stopped. It had rained and we missed the start. But I still scored this little picture box. I hope I can find a place for it soon. My little souvenir for the trip. Of course, my hubs was just laughing and making fun of me but if we would have had more time I would have headed over to another blogger I follow's shop. Maybe next time.

Needless to say we had a great time. D pushed through and the kids did awesome and we drove it straight through getting home at 3am. So yes. We drove from Florida to Iowa in a day. Awesome country we live in. Open roads and a whole lot of personality.

Florida Part 2

So we arrived in Florida, late Sunday. After driving around trying to locate a non existent Quiznos - thanks updated GPS, we ran to the grocery store and we were those parents whose kiddos were eating cereal straight out of the box in the checkout lane at 8pm. Off to a great start, right.

Then monday - no golf today. Just practice rounds. That means daddy for the entire day! Wahoo. So we headed to the Gulfarium - a marine adventure park. Our kiddos love animals thanks to Wild Kratts so this was right up there alley plus mommas.

The dolphin tank

The love the fish!

The penguins

The sharks - a few different varieties

the turtles - they were huge

Aligator

 Cute little story about this guy. D had been joking around with the kiddos about an alligator eating them ever since we entertained the idea of venturing to Florida. So we jokingly were teasing the kids. This guy was sunning on some rocks. Then he slides into the water - big eyes locked straight on us and then snaps his mouth. I hope no one was watching - because this momma jumped a couple inches. Wasn't expecting it.

Our crew...notice d behind us. 

What I knew we would love was the shows. We caught the dolphin show at 10 and the sea lion show at 11am. Both exceeded our expectations but the sea lions were hilarious. I kinda wish I would have recorded it. Sage was getting a bit fried so he didn't quite make the whole show but it was really fun. A must see if you are in the Destin area. 

We caught some firehouse subs on the way home. A favorite anytime we are down south. 

D and shaddy went golfing later that afternoon and the other two and I hung out with grandma.

Tuesday: the boys had golf in the afternoon so we went to this wooden park and baytown warfe area in the morning. 

The picture below kinda sums up some dramatic moments that sis seemed to have throughout the vacation. She can push all the right buttons so we kinda had our moments. Stress, unfamiliar territory, three littles and a screaming kid = a not so nice mommy sometimes. We did however love love driving this large 6 passenger golf cart around the village.

Later that day while D headed to the course, I attempted to take all three to the beach prior to nap. We were kinda on a different schedule that day. As you can imagine it was quite the sight. We went to the public beach about 3 miles away. Later found out there was one in the village, duh? Anyways the ocean view (gulf view) was better than the bay, right. Well we get there. Its sunny like 1pm sunny. Its hot. And my kids are fighting. Ellsyn is crying. Sage is taking toys away and wrecking sandcastle attempts. Then Shadd needs to potty. What? Thankfully I had chatted a bit with the couple behind us who I am sure thought we were amusing to watch. The gladly watched our stuff as we high tailed it to the local eatery on the beach about a 1/4 mile to use the restroom. We made it back finally and stayed another 15 minutes maybe. Exhausted. 

I did get one picture on my phone. Sage kept me from getting it out! 

Hole 16 - watching from the woods

Then D texts and we can catch Uncle J on hole 16. So we attempt to watch. Of course, they aren't real excited that they can't go with dad. Thankfully there were toys and movies back at the place. Definitely a life saver. All I can say is good pick on the place. People with kiddos means extras for the kids. Worth every additional penny if we spent any. 

So I survived day one on my own. Took a few notes and laid a lot lower the next day.