Summer!

Yippee for the last day of school! Summer is here!

 David has been dying to go to our local state park which has a lake.
So after the last half day of school we headed out.

It was a beautiful day and a great way to celebrate the end of the year!

Literacy Parade

 The last week of school the kids had a literacy parade at school. They choose a favorite book and made a head band or vest to display their favorite scene.  Bridget and I loved searching for them among all the other school kids. 

A garden party

 Allison celebrated her last daisy event of the year with a garden party. She has had such a fabulous time this year and learned so much. Four of her troop will be moving on so this was also a farewell party for them.

Girls trip

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet a friend in Georgia. We had such a great time exploring some sites in Atlanta.

World of Coca-Cola

 (had to get a tour in and try some unique soda flavors)

Atlanta Aquarium

(huge HUGE tanks with whale sharks and manta rays...amazing to walk through a tunnel with enormous fish over you)

We had to try some killer donuts and hot dogs.

We spent the majority of our time in Asheville, NC. 

We toured the Biltmore Estate which was incredible.

 And took 2 different food tours. What a fun place with SO many very yummy places to eat. It was amazing to sample 12 restaurants of food in one day. We liked it so much we went on another tour the next day in the historic part of Asheville.  We sampled olive oils and balsamic vinegars of many flavors, we went to a few gourmet chocolate shops, a potato chip shop that added chocolate, caramel and sea salt to the sweet potato chips. 

This was a breakfast salad that was sensational! All the food was so beautifully displayed and delicious.  If you ever get the chance for a food tour....take it!

Our Shirley Temple

Allison has gotten into Shirley Temple so much that we had to try and get her hair to curl just like Shirley Temple.  She went to school and no one recognized her.

Cub Scouts

This boy is LOVING cub scouts! 

You would think it is the biggest event in his life each week, well maybe it is.

Baptism Day!

 Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with friends and family for David's baptism. It was a beautiful spring day and full of sunshine (the first without rain all week!)

 It was so special to have Grandma and Grandpa Jones here to give talks and help and make David's special day even more memorable.

 Aunt Shauna gave us some yummy recipes for cupcakes (too bad I forgot to take the picture before they were all devoured!) They were a hit. Thanks Shauna!

Birthday boy

 It is always great to choose your favorite foods on your birthday, I guess David is a lover of breakfast foods...or at least the sweet toppings that go with them.  For breakfast he wanted waffles with whip cream, strawberries and chocolate chips. Dinner "puffy pancakes" with buttermilk syrup, Brazilian lemonade and an ice cream cake. Sweet stuff!

 Of course he got some legos and a really big lego head (the only picture taken...oops)

It is great to be 8!

 Happy Birthday David! We can't believe this smart, sensitive and kind boy has been around our house for 8 years! We sure love his thoughtful questions, inquisitive nature and love for legos!

 For his birthday we celebrated as a family a day early.

After watching and cheering Aaron on for his first 5K

 Which he did really well.  We went to one of our favorite spots. David chose to go see the butterflies...and it was better than we have seen other times.  There were some very bright green ones, ones with clear wings, yellow and blue, orange and red...they were beautiful.

 I guess they liked the necks of these boys!

Play Gym

 The girls and I spent some time with some friends at a local gymnastics facility. We had such an exhausting afternoon, running, jumping, swinging and bouncing!

A saturday morning hike

 As you can see...these safety vests are a hit with the kids...at least they can always be seen!

We went to a local state park for a fun little hike. It was beautiful, but we were told we will have to go back in a month to see the wall of Rhodednrons and path lined with them for 1/2 a mile.

 We still had fun exploring and spending time as a family.

Safety First

 After learning about bikes from the children's museum, David was pretty serious that we needed to be safer while we were out biking on the street.  I had given Aaron a "glowing vest" for his early morning dark runs for Easter...and David was sure we all needed them. So when Aaron returned from his brother's wedding he had them for the WHOLE family! David and Bridget were giving them an early morning try as they attempted to run around the neighborhood. David's ear warmers slid, lucky for him he had Bridget to lead the way home.

Exploring the Ecotarium

 During April vacation we spent one day exploring the new games exhibit at our local children's museum.  We had a blast playing lots of board games, inviting our own rules and learning about bikes.