Beach Trip Part 4 - Photo Shoots!

I kind of took a break from the blog while we were on vacation in the Midwest. I can't believe how far behind we are!!  I'm going to try to catch up quickly.  First up, I need to finish our Florida trip from months ago!

Whenever we go to the beach, I try to channel my inner photographer and do some pics of the kids.  It never seems to work out very well, but alas, I try.  I didn't really plan out outfits but I was able to put together something that at least seemed to work okay. This time, Evan and Caitlin were pretty cooperative... Ryan, not so much. We tried two different times so here are the best I could get (note: may be coming to a Christmas card near you!).

It was a great overcast day the first time we went out.

This one is one of my favorites!

Here was the best pic of my three loves... not horrible!

Somehow managed to get a smile out of Ryan.  It was hard to keep him from eating/playing with the sand to take any pictures!

Our family shot. Thanks to the random person for taking it!

And here is a photo from our 2nd attempt.

Photo of all the kids!

Beach Trip Part 3 - Blue Angels!

One day, we went to Pensacola to see my mom and other family. We randomly decided that day to go to the Naval Air Museum at the naval base.  We pulled in and could not believe how many people were there!  Turns out, they were having a Blue Angel practice.  How lucky were we that we arrived at just the right time on the right day with no prior knowledge??  

Evan has been really interested in all things army, navy, etc. since reading a bunch of books at the school library. He was so excited to see the air show. Caitlin - HATED it. She really hates loud noises and a 45 min long air show was NOT her thing.  Both Bryce and I thought it was fantastic. Here are pics from our day!

We all thought this was a silly looking plane

Fat Albert!

Bryce and the kids walked through Fat Albert while we were waiting

Blue Angel ready for take-off

After the show, we got to go to the musuem and actually meet the Blue Angel pilots! Here are the kids with Lieutenant Commander John Hiltz who is a Notre Dame graduate - Go Irish!

Ryan enjoyed walking around the museum

Say cheese!

We had a great day, but we will have to go back again since we did not get to see much of the museum! We spent most of our time at the air show and meeting the pilots. But that was totally worth it. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

Beach Trip Part 2

Here are some pictures of Ryan from our beach trip.  He had a great time playing in the water. He was definitely a bit of a handful on the beach. He usually was not content to just sit and play and wanted to be in the water so you had to watch him pretty carefully.  Not exactly relaxing for us adults, but he loved it!

One afternoon, I did get him to take a nap on the beach so we didn't have to go back to the house for naptime which was nice!  Here he is asleep in our little beach tent.

Avery loved to help with Ryan so that did give us a break every once in awhile!

 Enjoying snack in a beach chair... his other favorite thing to do!

Beach Trip Part 1

Just after school got out, we went to Destin, FL for  week's vacation with some friends.  The added bons was the my mom and Grandpa went to Pensacola at the same time so we were lucky to see them as well!

After a long day of driving, we met them for dinner on our way to the beach.

We alternated between cooking at our beach house and going out to eat. Here is a group shot of all the kids at dinner one night.

And a family pick by the water

The kids (especially Evan) discovered the joy of boogie boarding!

 

 

I think that's enough pictures for Part 1 of this beach trip. Stay tuned for more!

End of school Splash Day!

I almost forgot!  Evan had an end of year splash party at school. The kinder classes always get to have a special end of year party complete with lots of water activities like this slide!

I went to volunteer so got to observe all the fun. It turned out to be a nice, hot day too. Perfect for water activities!

Evan and some girls in his class eating popsicles.

Picture of Evan and I

Fun with shaving cream!

Bubbles!

 And then a few more pics from the last day.  Here is Evan with Ms. V.  The last day of actual school they had a pizza party and watched movies. I came up to school to bring some fruit and a present for Ms. V.

And one more pic from the last day of Evan and his friend Dane waiting for the bus!

Also another pic of the entire soccer team that I found... last time they all get to play together since next year it's just boys.