Visit to the Beach and Granny Graduates

Granny graduated over the summer with her PhD. Super important and exiting! That meant we loaded up and headed to the beach and graduation.

This pic looks so sweet. However, what it doesn't show is right before this Avery got major car sick. Like we threw the car seat away car sick. Luckily we were close to a Wal-Mart so I ran inside and bought her a new dress and booster.

We had some fun on the beach and in the water. Kevin and Don attempted some boogie boarding.

Poppy and Granny were beach troopers.

The next day Kevin, Poppy, and I we went to Granny's graduation. 

After graduation we started catching jelly fish for 2 reasons. 1) there we so many you couldn't get in the ocean so you might as well catch them. 2) You bury them for the crab to eat and you can better go crab hunting.

I couldn't get enough of catching jelly fish!

The next day a smaller crew went go-cart and bumper boat riding. This smile was pre-bumper boating.

Post pumper boating. You can't see in this picture how soaked I am. Ross never let up.

Dad and Daughter chatting while we waited for dinner.

A trip isn't complete without shopping for souvenirs. She picked out a backpack mermaid for her and Annalise.

The very happy graduate and kiddos.

This just needs documenting. We got dressed separately without seeing what the other person put on and ended up twinsies. :) We will probably start looking like each other pretty soon too. We are that old.

I think we would all agree that this was by far our favorite summer yet. (running a close 2nd is the Disney Cruise) So much traveling and fun times!

Visit to Illinois

Ross, Poppy, and I went to see the Sparks over summer break too. It was Poppy's first time. We stayed at our usual hotel midway on the drive down. As you can see Ross was excited. :)

Ross always takes a pic of the arch as we drive through St. Louis.

As soon as we got there I went pretty much straight to Buddy. He is so cute!

They picked up same as usual.

We went to a race track that had dune buggies. Oh. My. Goodness. That track was so incredibly bumpy. I was sore the next day.

I didn't warn Poppy when he agreed to go with Ross. :)

Next we rode the go-carts. The rails were buried tires so you could easily bounce over them, which Ross did on the last round and spun out. He and McKenna have a fierce competition when it comes to go-carts.

The last thing we did was ride the water boats. So funny! Danielle got soaked and I didn't get a drop on me. All the better.

Next up was the wildlife reserve park. There was a mobile pottery truck there so the kids got to make something. Ross made a bowl and McKenna made a vase.

Finished products before they were cooked, painted, and glossed. They turned out so good!

It was quite hot that day so we took a nice long trail ride. We saw so much of the park that I'd never seen before.

We ended the afternoon on the big slide.

As you can see McKenna wasn't happy about seeing us go, or maybe it was that she didn't want to take a picture. I choose to believe she didn't want us to go. Buddy didn't either.

Summer Vacation

We had a jam packed summer vacation trip to San Diego. Here are my little traveling pros the day we flew out. Thank goodness for electronics. 

Poppy went too! 

First stop was La Jolla Beach. Avery loves the beach! The water is so cold there though. 

After a change of clothes from the beach we went to see Aunt Amanda and finally got to meet Emily. Avery was most excited about this! 

The next day we went to the zoo. Sadly, Ross was sick and he and Don didn't make this outing. 

Guess what little person didn't touch that Madagascar hissing cockroach? Ding! Ding! Avery

She got to pick out one thing as a souvenir and got a cheetah headband. 

The next day we went to SeaWorld. It is always a huge hit. One of our favorite things is feeding the seals. 

This was a fun little air car ride across the area. 

Dolphin show is mega fun too. 

Ross and Don are on this ride. 

They talked me into it. I got soaked! Not in the picture is Avery, who braved it and rode the ride as well. Mega huge deal.

The ride home went about like this. :)

Our final outing was Legoland. (our least favorite thing) 

Don't mind my finger. ha

Aunt Amanda rode a ride with Avery. 

Finally caught up with Ross at one point and took him to meet Emmet. Shortly after he immediately left me to go ride more rides. Hence, the reason I don't have many pics. 

In the meantime Avery, Reid, and I watched a fun little play. Reid is just as nervous about rides as Avery is. 

The ride home went like this. Thank goodness b/c it was a long ride home in traffic. 

We met up for breakfast on the day we left to go back home. Breakfast every day was SO good! 

Fast forward to the next day when we were home and running and errand. The kids were exhausted. Their parents was too.