Summery Stuff

Ellen Oncu posted a picture of Gracyn standing on their front porch all dressed and ready to go to church... on a Saturday morning.  She figured out it was Saturday when she drove to church and no one was there.  So we took a picture on our porch and texted Ellen with the helpful reminder, "Hey Ellen, it's Sunday."

Girls' lunch with Grandma at Steak 'n Shake after church.  Grandma has been asking for Tate to come play with Holly's daughter Ellie.  Holly (maiden name Sample - was in the youth group with me in Ky) moved here in January and lives right across the street from Heritage.  Mom has been having Ellie over to play, and I'm usually too busy to join.  But she and Tate had a big time when we were finally able to make it for a summer playdate:

Tate caught a summer cold so he was a little under the weather earlier this month, but that meant lots of snuggling.  We got to see Miss Barbara when we picked up Daddy's birthday gift from her gallery.  I'm sad she's no longer teaching preschool but glad that I always know where to find her!

Lakeland had its wettest May on record this year, and June wasn't much better.  We wanted to utilize summer break to go to Legoland as much as possible, but we had to settle for the children's museum.

Wesley has grown just a little bit from our early days at the children's museum... I remember when the fireman's coat looked like a trench coat on him!

When you’re driving down the road on the way home from Steak n’ Shake and glance over and see that they’re actively filming a scene for a Disney movie... you turn in and make your whole crew take a picture!  Carigan was at a friend's house, but she got to see all the commotion driving back and forth while they were filming.  But I made Hyatt, TJ, Wes, Anna Kate, Lydia and Tate get out of the car and pose for me. The were extras hoisting picket signs that said things like “Free Hugs.” So when we see a scene in The One and Only Ivan where a crowd is hoisting signs, we can say we were there!

Boardwalk Burgers and Bowl A Rama are props for the movie - covering up the sings for the actual businesses, which are a Sushi Bar and Babe's Shoes & Apparel (where YaYa works).  I love this pic of TJ and Tate:

Michael and I get to walk while it's still light in the summer.  We've seen lots of beautiful sunsets on Lake Morton.^ Summer sleepover selfies (AK & Ila and AK & Lydia) courtesy of raiding Anna Kate's iPod:

We hardly ever go to the movies (because when you live in Florida, you get to go to places like Disney World and Legoland, so I'm not inclined to pay for additional recreation).  But Tate loves the The Incredibles, so Michael and I donated blood for free movie tickets and took the whole family (Hey, it's a win-win; We have no shame). It was the snuggle bug's first movie, and he couldn't have been more excited.  He squealed and cheered and made his happy noise (sounds like he left his motor running) during every action scene like it was a video game.  Hilarious.  The best part of this summer is that it's the summer that my kids actually started sleeping late!  Well, some of them.  This was Anna Kate at 10:09 a.m one Thursday morning (below).  Carigan helped me take a meal to Grace Polter, and she got to hold sweet baby Mackenzie:

Speaking of babies, Adam and Megan finally adopted their sweet babies this summer.  The adoption of Uma & Coco is final!!! Thank you, God for your faithfulness!!!!

Until next year, Sanibel

Soaking up our last days in Sanibel. Carigan and Tate love the "river" that's created when the tide goes out.  They dragged a little girl they met on this boogie board through the river, babbling the whole way.  I love how they can talk to any stranger like they've been best friends for life.  Tate found the skinniest star fish I've ever seen:

The kids love Cheeburger Cheeburger so much they begged to go back a second time.  They love the flavored sodas.  The girls got vanilla coke and Wesley got mango coke.  Handing him a refill, the waitress said, "So does that actually taste good or is he just a kid?"  I laughed and said, "No, it's gross. Definitely it's just because he's a kid."

Anna Kate and Carigan always want to go for a night swim after dark.  This time Tate wanted to come.  He always begs to put his feet in the hot tub.  I won't get him swim in it, but I'll let him put his feet in it.  He's so sweet the way he sits obediently on the ledge.  Usually before we go in I'll let him slink down and sit on the first step.  That's pretty exciting stuff. 

Just like we do at Disney, we told the kids that they could pick out a souvenir at the end of the week (although at Disney it's the end of the year) if they didn't  bug us to buy stuff throughout the week.  So they've been anxiously anticipating returning to She Sells Sea Shells. We've had amazing weather, but it was supposed to rain on our last day.  It was overcast and there was really no way to predict when it would hit, so we just decided to head out and if we got wet, we got wet.

Well, we got wet.  Wesley wanted to ride down to another shop to buy Sanibel playing cards, but we could see the rain coming, so we hopped on our bikes.  Pretty much as soon as we started pedaling, the sky opened up and it poured.  I was so thankful for my sunglasses to protect my eyes from the rain - I just needed windshield wipers!  I was in awe that none of the kids crashed.  And I was sure they'd start crying, but instead they were laughing and squealing. Those crazy kids - you never know when they're going to be tickled or traumatized!  Tate wasn't laughing though.  Poor guy... it was straight into a warm bath for him.  We forget how big our tub is back at home - Carigan and Tate barely fit in the tub in the condo:

Tate was excited about digging the sea turtle out of the egg he bought.  Nothing like spending money to make a mess!  Pure joy for a 5-year-old.  The rain cleared and we got to enjoy one last evening on the beach!  Although as we were cutting through the parking lot of the condos across the street, we heard what sounded like crackling lighting and then we could feel the ground shake with a thump.  A giant tree limb fell off a HUGE oak in the parking lot.  We actually watched it fall, because we heard the crackling before it broke.  It was crazy!  Thank goodness we were at least 15  yards away.  Although it made so much noise crackling we would have had time to run even if we had been under it.  Thankfully it didn't hit a car either. We took this picture to text to Mimi to wish her a happy birthday:

One final sunset on Sanibel.  It's been such a joy to be here together as a family for a whole week!

Nothing like coming home and having to shoo a mama swan and her four cygnets off your parking pad.  We missed you too, little guys.