Remember the 4th of July?

I barely do.  A lot has happened since then!

We celebrated the Fourth at the river.  Grace played a few holes of golf with John and Poppa.

She loved it!

Mimi and Poppa took the kids on a little nature walk.

Grace found some bugs.

Lily and Carter were nature walk partners.

And, they found some tiny frogs.

Carter played a little golf.  I was scared.

After dinner, we watched all the fireworks that were going off everywhere!

Lily and Beth made sure that we had a few fireworks of our own.

The next morning, we headed out on the boat.

The girls had fun tubing together!  They are getting too big!

Carter was as cool as usual.

I tubed with the kiddos...lots of giggling was going on!

The boys joined us at dinner time.  While we were getting dinner ready, Andrew read a book to all the kids.  They were WILD!!!  Beth was attempting to calm them all down and it worked for a few minutes.

After dinner, we took the boat out to watch a for.e.ver long fireworks show.  It was pretty awesome and so fun because I sat with Drew and watching fireworks with him is one of my most favorite things to do!!!

Happy Fourth of July

Earlier this week, we gathered together with family and friends to play and watch a pretty awesome fireworks show.

Grace needed a little break from that intense soccer game that she was playing.

But, her break didn't last long before she was back out there.

And, since he does every single thing that his big sister does, he needed a break too!

I got to chill with this guy for a little while.

Once it started getting dark, we gathered the kids on the quilt so we could keep a better eye on them.

They kept themselves entertained with glow sticks, starbursts, and kisses!?!

At last, it was time for one of the greatest fireworks shows that I have ever seen!  Too bad Carter only saw a little of it while peeking through his fingers.  Ha!

Andrew makes any fireworks about 100% more fun to watch!  We love that boy and don't you think that he and Grace look so much alike?  Both of them are cuties!!!

I hope you are having a spectacular day today celebrating our country's freedom!

we went to the river

swim lessons

This summer, Grace took swim lessons for the first time.  She did not know how to swim.  She wasn't afraid to jump in and get her face wet like she used to be, but she was definitely a beginner.  After a week of lessons, she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the end of the pool.  We were so impressed with how much she learned!

We are super proud of our little girl (who is growing up way too fast)!!!  Her swim coach said that next year she should be in tier 3 lessons!  Way to go, Grace!!!