my big backyard and the giant man eating fish

We met Steph and the boys at the Botanic Garden on a drizzly, humid morning.  

We headed straight to My Big Backyard to go exploring and to play!

First, we played in CANDYplantLAND,

Grace and Tripp went swinging inside a chrysalis.

We were beginning to get pretty wet at this point, so we took cover played in this hobbit house for a while.

When the rain stopped for a second, we explored the pond.

And then it was back to taking cover and playing in all the cool playhouses!

Once the rain stopped for real, the kids and John built a "fort."

Grace practiced her balancing skills on this tree trunk beam.

momma bird and her babies

We had a visitor in our nest...sweet Drew!

Better watch out, Carter's at the wheel!

Then we played in a thunderstorm at Raindrop Stop.  This probably would have been cooler if we weren't already playing in the rain!

We finished our explorations in the Japanese Garden.  This was definitely our most memorable adventure of the day.

So, we were feeding these koi and we were all pretty amazed and kinda grossed out at them.  There were so many and they are big and loud! I wondered what would of happened if Carter fell in...not sure and glad I didn't find out!  Six out of seven of us (Charlie was safely strapped in his stroller) were standing there watching the fish and John threw some food in.  I'm not sure what happened, but the next thing I know is we all screamed!  Kids were crying and Carter had been knocked down and the front half of his body was soaking wet!  It was pretty intense and funny!  

We headed to higher ground!  The fish can't get us up here...I hope!

It was a fun day and we will be going back on a drier day.

Oh yeah, and Batman was there!

InstaFriday x 2

~~my last 2 weeks of phone pics~~

We watched fireworks.

Carter found Grace's old Elmo slippers and wanted them on!

Both of my children are a little OCD.  Carter puts his paci and puppy on the stools EVERY time he eats.

We went to the Wilhite Farm for the Fourth.

Even our pancakes were patriotic.

We bought fireworks from a road side stand.

Grace picked out these egg laying hens.

Carter found a rocket!

My favorite little firecracker!

We ate lunch at Borroum's.

It was delicious!

It was fun!

Carter conked out after church.

We spent Sunday afternoon/night at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's with a bunch of family.  Pawpaw and the kids were looking through toy catalogs (circa 1994) and making their Christmas lists.  They like to be prepared.  HA!

The weather has been pretty cool (which is WAY abnormal for July) and we played outside and went on a walk.

Carter ate some pudding.

Carter wore some pudding.

The kids played with "their dog" who lives on the other side of the fence.

We were attacked my giant man eating koi! (more on that later!)

Steph and I celebrated our moms' birthdays with a girls night out.  We ate at Swanky's.

Then, we painted.

I plan on having a fun weekend and hope you do too!

The Fourth on the Farm

Well, we celebrated the Fourth back on the farm with Kenny, Beth, and Lily.

The girls got to playing immediately!  Why are they already acting like teenagers?  I mean seriously, look at them.  Laying on the bed playing with an iPhone.  When I came in to take this picture, Grace was like, "Mom!" and Lily rolled her eyes.  

Ok, this is much better!  Not exactly sure what they are dressed up as or what they are about to do with those guns, but I can handle this better than the-13-year-old-girly-attitude from earlier.

After a "quick" run to the grocery store,  we had an afternoon swim!  Carter can now just chill out in the pool in his floaties. (Grace was still in a baby float at this age.)

And, Grace has decided that she can swim with her face in the water!  This is HUGE!  She has always hated water in her eyes.  I'm not sure what made her try this out, but I'm glad she is getting braver!

Lily is a cutie!

We had patriotic pancakes for breakfast on the 4th!

We swam.

We jumped.

We kissed.

We built towers.

We jumped some more.

What was that?  Did you just see Grace jumping in the pool?  Oh my!  I'm not sure I recognize that girl.  First, swimming with her face in the water and now jumping in!  I'm very confused!

After yummy hamburgers and homemade fries, we had some rice krispy treat sparklers.

Carter went to bed because he was EXHAUSTED and we had our very own fireworks show...from the farm truck tailgate.

John provided us with the grand finale..."Dirty Dancing in the Sky!"  I don't know how "dirty" it was, but there was some dancing in the sky and it was the perfect ending!

The next morning, we did a little shopping in Smalltown, USA.  We went back to Borroum's Drug Store and ate one of the best burgers ever.  The kids sat up at the counter to wait for their milkshakes...

...and they were super excited about it!

Love this cutie!

We had another wonderful time!  What a great way to celebrate our country's birthday!