First Week of School

We are having a great first week of school so far. This week consists mainly of getting the bigger boys organized and making sure they have all the supplies they need. Mark complains about going to school, but we have not had any issues with actually getting to school. 

Activities have started up again. Mark started soccer and Michael is having make-up games already because his last 2 games were cancelled due to weather. 

Matthew did so well getting organized on his own. I'm hoping this year will go more smoothly without me having to shout about grades and homework a much.

Yesterday, Mark went to welcome back event for his school at Main Event. He was stoked that he got first place on his team for laser tag! I won't lie-I was pretty proud of him. 

These kids had so much energy!

Buddies getting ready for a friendly battle of laser tag. They were so happy to be on the same team.

Ready to go!

I'm also very excited about starting p tennis. I took some lessons last Fall and really enjoyed it. This time, I think I'm going to enjoy it more because the my friends and I are taking over the whole class! I'm really looking forward to it.

First Day of School

Yesterday, we started off the school year. Mark had a great day even though he complained that going to school was like going to prison. Michael asked me why I was making such a big deal out of the first day of school. I said it is important for parents to remember moments like this because kids grow up so fast.

Three little backpacks lined up for my little monkeys and ready to go.

My biggest monkey. He didn't even fight me this year about taking pictures. He was annoyed, but cooperative.

My middle monkey. He didn't complain about pictures this year either.

And my littlest monkey of all. I can't even handle how cute he is. He wanted to be a meteorologist last year. This year? A singer. He's a terrible singer....

I love these boys so much. I hope they have the best school year ever!

I dropped Michael off at the high school first. Then we went to drop off this little guy. Matthew was with us and Daddy met us there to walk him to class. He kept asking if Daddy was going to be at school as we were driving. He really wanted Daddy to be there.

First grade, here he comes!

He ran straight to his desk and his little buddy, Ryleigh. She's the only kiddo from his class last year so he will have lots of new friends this year.

After we dropped him off, it was Matthew's turn. No pictures because I didn't want to push my luck. It's going to be an amazing year!

Meet the Teacher!

First grade, here we come. Mark had his Meet the Teacher this morning. We are looking forward to a fantastic year!

Mark and his new teacher, Mrs. Sickler.

These 3 are going to have so much fun in the same class this year!

Seacrest Beach

Our last trip of the summer was Seacrest Beach. We had such a good time in Rosemary Beach last year, we decided to come back to this area. It's so laid back and just a great road trip. The boys love exploring on their bikes and I love being able to give them a little freedom in an area I feel comfortable doing so.

Our days were pretty much the same, except for Wednesday. It was eat, beach, sleep, repeat. We had a couple of storms blow in during the evenings, but for the most part, the weather was great. The water was warm and clear most days.

By chance, we were there the same time as my good friend Kim and her family. Kim had just moved to Houston (sad face) so we decided since we were there the same time, let's just hang out together. Plus, her beach access was better than ours so we set camp next to each other everyday we were at the beach.

This worked out great because Mark loves playing with Reagan and Ryan. He had so much fun in the water. He was way more confident and braver than last year in the ocean. The last day we were there, the waves were very strong that it made me nervous for him to be in the water, but he loved it!

Since it was a pretty long drive, we stopped over in Jackson, MI Friday night. The next morning, we had breakfast at this cute little pharmacy-turned-diner.

Then we were off to the beach! This boy was a huge fan of boogie boarding. Him and Daddy loved being in the water the most.

We had pretty good storms during the evening hours which was fine by me because we were done with the beach and the storm kept it cooler for us.

Handsome boys! The older two brought a friend along. I don't think we will ever go on a road trip with our a friend ever again!

These two are such good friends.

M and I let the older boys babysit the little guy and went to George's for a date night. The restaurant was literally 2 blocks away, but M refused to walk so we drove here.

On Wednesday, we rented a pontoon boat with Kim's family and set out for Shell Island. This was our favorite part of the trip.

The crew! Michael got to drive a little bit. Ted was explaining to the kids that the captain holds a lot of power on a boat. One of them was to be able to marry a couple. Kim said perfect, Reagan and Mark can be married. To this, Mark said, "No thanks. I have other plans."

The cute couple!

When we got to Shell Island, the boys took off and went exploring. They found all sorts of great sea life - clams, scallops, crabs, and hermit crabs. They snorkeled and swam the whole time we were there.

Shell Island is a narrow strip of an island. We docked our boat at the thinnest part of the island so we were able to walk to the other side to get to the gulf. It was so pretty. The sand soft and white and the water was turquoise blue that day.

These 4 boys never stopped exploring!

After the boat trip, we stopped in Panama City Beach for dinner. I won't ever complain about a dinner with an ocean view!

By our last two days, the boys were pretty much beached out, but these two were not. I love this picture so much! This was there last day together for a while.

This was his last ice cream sundae at the beach and he was happy with his purchase.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning to head back home. So long 30A! We will see you next summer.

 But, on our stop in Monroe for the night, this little guy lost his third tooth.

California Part 2

We relaxed at home for most of the week, but the boys really wanted to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and of course, strawberry picking. These two activities have become traditions. All 3 get excited about doing these and that makes it a no brainer to get them there.

For some reason, I don't have any pictures of the Aquarium although I'm 1000 percent sure I took some. For some reason it did not show up on my computer. If I find some on my phone, I will add.

The rest of the time was just hanging out with cousins and of course, eating donuts!

One night, Benjamin slept over and they had matching jammies! We didn't even plan it, but obviously we both get jammies from Costco.

Love these two little faces!

Yee-Yee got them ice cream from the ice cream truck and the truck kept coming back the whole week.

These two loved playing with water...

and getting naked. 

 Again with the water...

It was a good trip, but I got sick from the airplane ride there and am still feeling the affects of it. It's been literally 2 and a half months I'm I'm still coughing. Yuck!