Summer Trip #4- Florida

Summer Trip #4

Panama City Beach, Florida

 The Traditional beach "foot photo".

 All of us out on the best balcony we have ever had- 19 stories up!

The view was just amazing!

 The Kids and the sunset. Very pretty the first and last day, Stormy the two in between.

Cold slushie drinks- Cheers!

 Feeding the birds off the balcony. It came to an end when we got a knock at the door telling us it was against the law to throw anything over the rail. Ops- but it was very cool while it lasted. 

 Brenner and Daddy in the ocean.

 The kids in a big hole that Cayden dug.

 Brenner buried in the sand.

 All of us with the sunset in the back the last day.

 Daddy with a plate of one of his favorite things at the all you could eat buffet.

Mommy and Mia enjoying everything the beach has to offer!

Summer Trip #3

Lake Oconne, Georgia

 Nikki and her connections- One of her friends from work has a beautiful Lake Home on Lake Oconee and we were invited to go for the weekend.  Although Georgia was not originally in the plans for our "summer vacations", it made for a nice weekend trip close to home.

 Brenner jumping from the Water Trampoline into the Lake- SPLASH!

 Mom and Dad on the Jet Ski.  We don't get pictures of just us often as we are always the photographers, but Cayden took this one and did a great job, we may need to hand over the camera more often!

 Mia and Brenner fishing.  I don't know where that boy gets his love for fishing as I know it did not come from his mother or I.  But none the less, He loves it! 

 The kids loved the kayaks, especially Cayden.  He could be found out in his yellow kayak most of the day.

 Doing his thing!

 Cayden on the tube on the back of the Jet Ski- FUN!

 There was a room full of vintage video games, pin ball machines, air hockey and the like and this is where Brenner could usually be found, he loved it!

The kids just hanging around down by the lake.

What fun we all had and so close to home!

Next week is Panama City Beach in Florida and we all can't wait for this one- Check back!

Swim Team

The kids are all on the local swim team this year and are loving it!  They all swim with kids that have been swimming for several years and all do very well, even coming in first and second in most of their heats.

Mom and Dad love the good family atmosphere, Cayden loves the socialization and being in the water, Mia loves the attention from all the "Big" girl and boy (yes- it starts early with this one!) coaches and her swim Buddie and Brenner loves the competition, even swimming a lap with his goggles pushed into his mouth and never stopping to adjust them (and he got second place!).  I have posted several heats below for everyone to view, make sure you see Mia's- Too Cute!

Brenner's Backstroke

Mia's Backstroke- Too Cute!

Cayden's Backstroke

MIA'S 6th BIRTHDAY

What better than a pool party with all of your best friends, lots of Pizza, Cheetos and Watermelon and a mound of presents for for your Birthday!

 Our little baby turned six on the 5th on June and lets just say that as the thought of it makes me want to cry.  I truly love our kids and their ages right now, they are so much fun.  But the thought of our last being six makes me sad.  Even though she promised me she would, nothing stays small forever!  She is still small to me and most likely will be forever.  

Mia- We love you so very much! 

 Mia and many of her BFF's.

 Mommy holding her "Baby".

Six years ago she would have fit in her arms, now- Well!?!

 And the Birthday Surprise of the year-

"Bunnies"

The kids all wanted something "alive" for a pet and Daddy finally caved in and decided that Bunnies would be a good outside pet.  Not to big, very cute, and the poo is very small (although very plentiful).  I worked on building a great cage with three cozy compartments, three water bottles and food troughs and it was done.  We all went out the the country and picked them up the day before Mia's Birthday- and they have not put them down since.  They are all Lion heads and very fluffy as you can tell.  Mia named hers frosty (After the Wendy's treat and some coaxing from Daddy), Cayden went with Snuggles (a throw back to Mommy's Bunnie as a kid) and Brenner decided on Bandit, very appropriate for a black Bunnie we thought.

2nd Summer Trip- Tennessee

Summer Trip #2

-Tennessee-

In front of Fall Creek Falls.

The largest falls this side of the Rockies falling 256 feet, they were truly amazing.

Fall Creek Falls

Cane Creek Falls- These falls (actually a cascade) were very beautiful as well.  The kids played, swam, caught tadpoles and had allot of fun at the top of these falls.  There was also a suspension bridge just above the falls that was great fun to bounce on.

Tennessee BBQ- Tangy, Smoky and Sweet- what could be better!

Brenner and His Tadpoles

The Kids on the hike to the bottom of the falls.  We had lunch down at the bottom and a lot of fun swimming and just sitting in the mist of the falls.

Brenner holding a millipede and Mia holding herself.  There are no bathrooms at the bottom!

Cumberland Caverns is a cave that is over 28 miles in length.  We walked through about a mile and a half and it was very cool- literaly, the temperature inside is a cool 56 degrees all the time.

In front of "Mobby Dick", a formation that looked like a whale.

A toad that Cayden found in the back seat of the car after picking up some fire wood- Rib it!

The Kids panning for gems and all sorts of good stuff!

Three Little Spelunkers! Too Cute!

The kids and fire flies in a bottle.  There were hundreds of these little buggers at dusk, very pretty at night.

Cool Treats!

The kids playing (rough housing) in the camper.  Forts and bombs with the pillows and blankets.

The fire at night. Very pretty the second night with the flames in green, blue, pink and purple.  We found a neat new "Magic" fire pouch at the general store, very cool!



We had so much fun in Tennessee!

The kids kept asking if we can come back next year but Daddy has other plans, maybe some time soon.  The Lake House in Georgia is next and then on to the beach in Florida- The Trek moves on!

-The 1st Summer Trip-

Decatur Alabama

 The first trip happened a week early as Daddy was online planning out the summer and found the Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival was over Memorial Day weekend and could not pass up such a great opportunity!  65 Hot Air Balloons in the air all at the same time!  Are you kidding me!

 The Kids in front of Transformers "Bumble Bee" at the antique auto show earlier in the day.

 Inside- yes, inside a balloon laying on the ground filled with cool air from a big fan.  It was very cool and just massive looking from that view!

 The kids, the Balloons and some cool treats.

 The "Balloon Glow" at dusk, very beautiful!  The black one you see in the center is the one we were inside of earlier.

 The next morning and the "Balloon Release".  No matter how hard I tried, I could not ever get them all in the camera shot, far too many balloons over way to much sky. 

Simply amazing!

 Although all the kids thoroughly enjoyed it all, Brenner is a bit older and appreciated the whole thing a bit more.  This was one of his favorites.

A picture of one of Daddy's favorites, and it actually landed about 30 or so feet from where we were standing taking it all in to deflate and roll up.  Fun to watch!

What a fun beginning to hopefully a great summer!

More stuff and Southern States to come so stay posted-

Last Day of School  

Here are the kids on their last morning going to elementary school together.  As Brenner will be in middle school next year, a big 6th grader, they will attend different schools.  Where did the time go?  A Middle Schooler?  Are we talking about our kids???

Alisa will surely love that Brenner is not wearing a T-shirt underneath his top shirt, how did that slip past me?!?  And take a close look at Mia's shirt, yep, it says "love one another" and we bought it at the local Target!  Maybe someone high-up in the Target chain is LDS?!?!

-Summer Trips-

School is out in a week or so for the summer and as we spent our Vacation wad on going to Utah this spring, allot of Camping is ahead of us this summer.  I had the grand idea to visit as many Southern States with our new little camping trailer as possible in 2012 and we are kicking it off with a trip to Tennessee the end of this month.  We will go to a neat cave and do a little spelunking, see some great waterfalls and have some good old camping fun!  Alabama is planned for the second week in June and Florida is planned for the end of the month.  North and South Carolina in July and possibly Kentucky and Virginia by Fall! We will see. Throughout the summer, Nikki has Monday and Tuesday off which gives us a three/four day weekend each and every week until August.  So we my just visit Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana too!

The kids are also all signed up to be manta rays on a local swim team and with scout camps, Mia's Birthday and everything that summer has to offer it looks to be very busy!

BRING IT ON!!!

                                     Lego Land Atlanta

Lego Atlanta! Very Cool!
The Tall Buildings, the Fox, the Aquarium, Turner Field, the Capitol and so much more all built out of Cayden's favorite little bricks.  As you can only imagine, he was in LEGO HEAVEN!

Brenner in front of Lego Turner Field.

Cayden next to the Lego Georgia Dome.

And Mia standing next to "Lego Mia" all built out of Lego bricks!

In the 4D theater. What a fun day!