Last Beach Trip of the Summer

The last weekend in July we went to beach with the Warnke side of the family. The boys had a great time! They love the beach, pool and of course playing with their cousins. We mainly just took it easy and went to the beach and pool. I am hoping for maybe a fall beach trip, that is if the hurricanes don't mess things up!

Cale


Carter and Charlie

Mack after an exhausting morning of crying because he got sunscreen in his eyes! Poor baby!!

The boys building their roads and tunnels

Playing in the pool. Mack is swimming with his face in the water!

Cale and Carter "sorfing"

Enjoying the kids pool

Mack once again tired after not taking a nap and then rubbing more sunscreen in his eyes. This is the last day that Daddy is allowed to put sunscreen on the baby.

One last kid picture before we go and as always I have a child totally not wanting to participate. I think this happens every year.
Does it ever end?

4th, Lost Tooth, and More

July 4th wasn't too big an excitement around our house. We went to the pool late that afternoon once the craziness has died down, then it thundered so we had to leave. The fireworks that may or may not have occurred ended up being way past my poor kiddies bedtime. You see it doesn't matter what time they go to bed, they get up at the same time in the morning (7:00, if I am lucky). This summer the boys have been letting Mack and I sleep in to a whopping 8:00 though. Anyways, the big event on the 4th was Cale losing his first tooth!!! The boys cut all of their teeth on the same day or within a day of each other, so I was very curious to see how they would lose them. It is August and Carter still has all his teeth. He isn't too concerned with it though.

Mack is a very funny kid! He is so happy and he has what we call a Dr Evil laugh. It is so cute, but sounds so sneaky. He has started this summer putting 2 and now 3 words together. The other day he said, "Cookie all gone." That is a big accomplishment with this kid because he has been a late on talking. It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't so sure of what he wants, but can't tell us. He is getting much better at communicating. Although he has start in with the 2 year old screaming thing and then he gets the time out thing until he is ready to calm down. That has been working pretty good so far, but we will see as 2 gets even closer. I can't believe my baby is almost 2!! Where did the time go! I feel like just last month I was 9 months pregnant and thinking this kid would never come out and now he is about to turn 2. I wish I could make time stop, but I think that is making time go even faster. My big babies are going to start 1st grade in less than a month! I remember their first day of preschool and that seemed like it wasn't that long ago. I was looking at pictures tonight of when they were Mack's age and reading some old posts and it is so funny how different they are from Mack and just how much I have forgotten. I felt like those pictures were the only memories I had because it just seems like I can't remember when they were turning 2. I think I do remember enjoying that time with them and it being a fun age. This summer has had its ups and downs with them. I think I just can't accept that they are growing up too and that my expectations are too high. I just want them to be good and sweet to each other and others forever and I feel like I am losing that with them. Maybe not, maybe we are just so tired of being with each other everyday this summer (thanks to Andy and no camps)!!


Mack chillin on the couch


My boys on the 4th! I totally forgot to have them dress festive. I think this is the first time I have done that!! Too much going on and no brain cells!!

Cale's missing tooth!!! The tooth fairy was very generous with the first tooth, he got $5!

Start of Summer

This summer has been really busy! Can't you tell?! I am just now posting June. The boys finished up kindergarten on June 10th and then we were off and running for the summer. I don't know how I let Andy talk me into not doing any camps this summer. That was a huge mistake!! The summer started off great. In June we went to Charlotte and the Great Wolf Lodge. The boys did all the slides except the only one that they weren't tall enough for. I was completely shocked!! Even Mack had a great time on the little kiddie pool. I really wish the water had been warmer though. Then they stayed the whole week in Charlotte while Andy, Mack and I headed to the beach for a few days. Andy surprised me with a trip since we had just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Yes, we took the baby with us. Having one kid after have twins and then three is a serious piece of cake! Eating out was a little challenging, but he did good. Well good enough for us to finish our meal!

Mack had his first swim lessons. He took them the whole month of June. I was a little worried since he hadn't really been in the water until we went to swim lessons. He ended up doing great! He was literally the star of the class, his swim teacher said so and this isn't just a Mommy bragging! He learned to hold his breath and go under, jump off the side, and swim from me to the instructor and back. That part was more us propelling him, but he was trying to really swim and he was holding his breath.

The boys on their last day of kindergarten!



Andy and I on our 10th wedding anniversary

The boys having fun just playing and doing nothing!

Mack swimming in swim lessons!

Mack at the beach...Topsail

Sprinkler Time Already?

We go to Florida and the temps are in the low to mid 80s and come home and now it is in the 90s! Andy tries to say that Florida is too hot, I think not. Well at least for the moment. We broke out the sprinkler yesterday. I wish it was we opened the pool yesterday, but fat chance on that one happening anytime soon. I am in the process of once again trying to find a decent pool to join. We have a public pool down the street from our house, but I don't like it. I pretty much don't like any pool where I don't have a 10 foot buffer zone at all times. I am a pool snob and like my space. Andy will not agree to putting in a pool, so for now I will have to do with crowded gross public pools.

The older boys now love the sprinkler...

but Mack wasn't too crazy about it.

Disney Part 3

This should be the last installment of the Disney trip. These are the fabulous views from our balcony. If you are planning a trip and wondering where to stay, the Animal Kingdom Lodge is awesome! It is far from everything, well except the Animal Kingdom. Which ironically we waited 20 minutes for the bus to take us there because of the influx of scooters now days, I won't get started on that one. We did have quite a long bus ride to MK, which was a bummer. I do think the view made it all worth it. Cale was so excited, saying he got to see two of his three favorite animals (the third being the elephant)!

Zebra and Giraffes eating (I purposely left the balcony columns there so you can see this was actually our view)

The excitement of seeing the animals so close

Cale wanted to make sure you could see the giraffes in the back ground!

The Savannah

ostriches and zebra

Disney Part 2

This Disney trip is looking like it will take at least 3 posts! I guess I could have done a slide show, but was too lazy. Here is the rest of the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and some of the Animal Kingdom.

Tired Boys

The morning of the shuttle launch. We went to the 5th floor overlook, but unfortunately for us the one more it was cloudy was that one. What we thought would be an awesome once in a lifetime experience didn't happen. There were lots of others outside that were disappointed as well. After the shuttle launched and we all realized that there was no way we would see it a collective sigh was heard. Lots of heartbreak over that one.

Hollywood studios or as Andy and I kept saying MGM. There wasn't a lot here that interested the boys. Andy said he would definitely want to skip it next time. I however love Tower of Terror and always have to do that one. I was all set to ride by myself and then the boys announced that they would do it. They hated it! No tears, but did not like it. I forgot how many times you kept going up and down. My bad, hopefully they are not scared for life! The new Toy Story ride was pretty fun, but the boys all like the old one better. The new Star Tours ride was opening slowly and we were lucky enough to get to ride it (it officially opens tomorrow). The boys really liked it. It was a motion simulator 3D. They loved the 3D! We did the Muppet 3D and Carter kept trying to grab the stuff, it was so cute! We ate with the Disney Junior people at Hollywood and Vine. The food was ok and they boys were thrilled for Mack that they got to meet Oso, that is Mack's fave. After that we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for more thrilling rides.

When they were Mack's age they were obsessed with Little Einstein! They still like it and now Mack loves to pat, pat, pat...blast off, too!!

Lots of dessert and just food in general on this trip!

The Animal Kingdom was fun, but not too much to do there either. I think next time we may hit here and Hollywood studios early on the extra magic hour and then go back the the Magic Kingdom or Epcot. The boys loved the safari and a couple other things like the boneyard and the bug 3D movie. They did Everest, but didn't like it. Even Andy was a wimp about that one! I thought it was a lot of fun. I like roller coasters a lot though. We were suppose to eat breakfast with Mickey that morning at Chef Mickey's, but wimped out and decided to sleep in. We then ate supper at the Yak and Yeti in the Animal Kingdom. It was good food. We were going to eat at Boma the restaurant at our resort, but Andy chickened out on the African food. I wanted to try it. They did have corn dogs!