July

I can't believe that July has come and gone and we are almost a week into August!  I'll be doing a long catch up blog, so grab a drink and a snack and settle in. :)

We headed down to St. Pete for the 4th of July weekend.  Patrick, Mariruth and the kids drove down Monday and stopped by to stretch their legs and we went out to dinner.  Robbie loves seeing his cousins!  We drove down Wednesday and stayed at my parents' house.  They were on vacation, so we had the whole house to ourselves! :)  It was nice to be able to spread out and not worry about the boys waking anyone.

We spent Thursday morning at Matt's mom's house.  She made chocolate chip pancakes, which were a hit with my kids.  Then we went to the beach.  The kids had a blast digging in the sand with their new shovels and buckets.  We made a little kiddie pool, though I don't know if that was the plan.  After beaching it for a while, we went up to the pool.  Caitlin is a great swimmer and I was hoping she would get Robbie more interested in swimming, but that didn't happen.  We didn't stay in the pool for too long because it was getting close to lunch.  We changed and headed out to lunch and then back to my parents' house for naps.

Playing at Nana's.

Alex really wanted to play with Watson.

 
Beach time!

Will loved pushing the stroller.

Pool time!

Matt's cousin, Kim, had us all over for dinner that night.  We also celebrated Caitlin and Will's birthdays (a little late for Caitlin, a lot early for Will).  Fortunately everyone arrived before the rain.  The kids took turns hitting a pinata, though it took some adult intervention to actually break it.  The kids had fun and loved the treats inside.  We sang "Happy Birthday" to Caitlin so she could blow out her candle and then again to Will so he could blow out his candle.  Caitlin's cake was made of cupcakes and Will had a cute dinosaur cake.  We didn't stay for fireworks because that would have been too late, and, luckily, the kids slept through the fireworks the neighbors were lighting off.

The kids and the pinata.

We figured the paint stick would be easier for the younger kids. :)

Playing outside after the rain.

I'm sure they are plotting something!

Singing to Caitlin.

Singing to Will.

Mimi, Gramps, their grandkids (minus Brian) and their great grandkids.

Patrick, Gramps, Mimi and Matthew.

Friday morning we went back to Barbara's for more beach and pool time.  We didn't spend as much time outside because we were meeting up with Gramps and Mimi for lunch.  Again, we just beat the rain as we ran to the car after lunch and went to Jim and Jean's house.  Robbie loves to look for their cats outside, though I know the cats aren't as thrilled to see him.  We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening with them before heading home.

More beach time!

Robbie holding a crab shell.  It looks like he's trying to say something here, but I didn't take the picture, so I don't know for sure.

Will pushing Alex into the ocean.  Luckily the wheels would get stuck before he could get too far (and you can see Matt is close behind, just in case!).

Saturday morning we drove back to Jim and Jean's for a very short visit with Patrick and Mariruth before they got back on the road.  We stayed for a few more hours before getting back on the road ourselves.

Barbara came up July 19th so Matthew and I could have a weekend getaway.  We drove up to Amelia Island.  We walked around downtown until we could check into the hotel and then went to 29 South for dinner, a local restaurant that used to be a house.  The food was really good!  We had some ice cream for dessert and then headed back to the room.  Unfortunately we were woken up later that night by some noisy teenagers next door.  On the one hand, I felt bad for sending Matt down to complain (our phone didn't work), but on the other hand, we were away from our kids and certainly didn't need other ones to keep us up at night!  And, seriously, where were their parents?!?!  We moved to a different room the next day.  We spent some time on the beach Saturday, though we had to come inside when it started to rain.  We had the best sushi that night!  I really would drive back up there just for the sushi.

The next weekend the Eikelands and my mom drove up for my cousin Kristen's baby shower.  My mom and my aunt Katrina planned dinner at my house (it was easier than going out to eat with all of the kids) with Kristen and Karina.  We ordered some pizza and sat around the table talking for a few hours.  It was so nice to catch up with everyone!  Saturday Matt and Erik watched the kids while we went to the baby shower.  It was such a nice shower that Kristen's friends put together for her.  They had some bibs and onesies for the guests to decorate with puff paint and some iron on owls.  I'm not convinced that the bib that made has dried, yet, because there were a couple of pretty thick blobs on the bib I made.  We all had fun, though.