Top Hat

It's hard shopping for the girl who has everything, but Aunt Deborah nailed it when she picked out a pink Minnesota hat for Kathryn. That hat has quickly risen to sunglasses status.

This will be yet another beach accessory she can't live without.

Here she is carrying her "purse" around. 

My sweet little beach babies playing in the sand together.

Nate and Kate and I love going out and battling the waves together. I have to hold Kate, but Nate holds on to my hand and my arm and we jump through the waves. Watching Nate get flung around is hilarious. These waves plow through him and he ends up laid out flat across the top most of the time. He is definitely in his element when he's at the beach.

Ripe for Pickin'

Nate's class took a field trip to a strawberry patch to pick some fresh strawberries today. Of course, that meant that Kate and I also went.

There's Nate hard at work picking only the best strawberries.

There's Kate hard at work picking only the best strawberries for immediate consumption.

Kate wandered around eating strawberries the entire time. The strawberries were juicy, like her shirt says... and shows.

Nate proudly showing off his hard work on the farm.

They were rewarded with strawberry yogurt after all their picking. It was definitely a welcomed treat after picking strawberries in the 90 degree heat.

Afterwards we went to a park to play and have a picnic lunch. Nate and Kate had so much fun today. Especially Kate, she likes hanging out with the big kids in Nate's class.

Shoe Fetish

As I was looking through my pictures to find sunglasses pictures of Kathryn, I noticed another trend that I have a lot of pictures of. This fetish goes way, way back to before she could even walk. Her love of shoes....

Then I noticed another trend that I could dedicate another post to. Her love of purses. I'll just leave it that though. You get the idea. She's an accessories gal!

Shady Lady

I have to dedicate a post entirely to Boomba and her love of those purple My Little Pony sunglasses Lady bought her during their time together over spring break. She has worn them everyday since she got them.

Lady took her to story time and she was more interested in her sunglasses. And I'm noticing an empty, old Coach purse that I'm assuming Kathryn carried there.

Sunglasses on the front porch... along with a  pair of Lady's wedge sandals. I'm seeing what kind of fun they had together while Paw-Paw, Nate and I were in Tennessee.

Showing her church, steeple, people hand trick.

Snuggling indoors with Opa. She's one of those people who are so cool they can pull off sunglasses inside.

Walking out the door to head to school. Seriously. (Sometimes she loads up on jewelry, but I take it away from her before she goes to her class.)

And last, but certainly not least, in the bathtub.

That's Boomba for you.

Living it Up

Last night the kids and I went on a spur of the moment dolphin cruise. We're lucky to get to live a vacation like lifestyle all summer long. While we waited to board, Nate and Kate shared some ice cream.

They put on a sweet show for everyone once we were on the boat.

It was a sunset cruise which made for some very pretty views.

The next morning I took Nate and Kate to open gym at the gymnastics place. That's one of their favorite places to go. Nate has been asking me to take him every Friday for the past month, so finally we got the chance.

After gymnastics we went to the beach. Anytime I ask Kathryn what she wants to do her response is usually, "I wanna go to BEACH!" So today was her lucky day too.

 It looks like Nate is doing yoga on the beach, but I think he's just making sure he is completely covered in sand from head to toe. We would hate to leave any sand on the beach when we could just as easily bring it all in the car with us.

 As usual, Kathryn in her sunglasses.

Kindergarten Physical

It's hard to believe the time has come to register Nate for kindergarten. Where have the past five years gone!?! I took him for his kindergarten physical and everything is in working order. He's old enough to go to kindergarten, but he's still small enough to be my little baby. He's in the 10th percentile for weight and 20th for height.

More to come about kindergarten after our tour next week!

A Common Occurrence

Paw-Paw and Lady tried going to the beach but it was too chilly.
Too chilly for the locals... i.e. my kids. Tourists don't seem to mind when the temperature only reaches 80.
They ended up going to Destin Commons. I don't know who likes Destin Commons more, my kids or my parents.
So much fun to be had here.
Nathan loves living here, and for good reason. He used to always ask if we could move to other states, but recently he asked if we can live in Florida for a long time.
Kathryn wouldn't let Lady be more than 2 feet away the entire time she was in Florida. This was her look as soon as she noticed Lady out of arm's reach.

Bellingrath Garden

While Paw-Paw and Lady were here Steve and I saw our kids a total of 10 minutes and that was fine with everyone. Steve and I got to go out every night and Paw-Paw and Lady got to play with the kids and cater to their every whim. It was a win-win all around. Their first outing was a trip to Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. JAJA met up with them there to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I opted to stay at home and babysit Mace. I have pictures, but I wasn't there to provide much commentary, but if you're really interested you can click here to see the real story. One thing I can tell you just by looking at this picture is that Paw-Paw and Lady were in heaven. Look at them loving every minute with those wild, crazy, bad kids.