September, 2016

The only pictures I took in September were of our trip to Destin, Florida!  That was for sure the hi-light of the month.  We spent 4 days in Destin with Eric's Uncle Albert and Aunt Kathy, and we had a fantastic time, as always.  We played on the beach, spent a day on a boat, played games, and ate SO much good food.  It was the perfect way to end the summer.  Way too many pictures are below!  :)

First day on the beach.  

Sandcastle building!

Boogie boarding!

Attempting to catch fish with a net- unsuccessfully!  :)

No trip to Destin is complete without a meal (or two!) at the Back Porch.  

We walked around the Harbor after dinner a couple of evenings.  There is so much to do for kids.  Eli (and Eric and Albert!) loved this indoor gun shooting game.

This picture is so blurry, but Eli loved the bungee trampoline thing too.

At night we hunted ghost crabs!  At night you can stand on the balcony and look down the beach and see so many pools of light from flashlights- everyone takes their kiddos down to walk the beach and catch these super-fast, super-cool little crabs that come out at night.

You can kind of see Eli bent over in the light.  :)

One of my favorite things in the whole world is to walk the beach at sunrise.  

SO pretty!

We rented a pontoon boat one day and had a blast.

Eli caught a couple blue crabs (that we threw back)- he was so excited.

Pure happiness!

Crab #2.

We stopped at this one little spot to look for shells, of which there were MANY.  But they ALL had crabs in them!  :)  There were a ton of them all clinging onto this log- it was a really neat thing to observe.

We took the boat to a spot called "crab island," which is a shallow sand bar area with great snorkeling.  Unfortunately, there were so many jelly fish in the water that we were too afraid to get out of the boat!  :)  

I love Eli's face here.  :)

 Eli and Uncle Albert and Aunt Kathy.

 More beach pictures...

 And that's the end!  We're ready for FALL!  Much love!

August 2016

August was pretty calm, which we loved.  It made jumping back into the school routine difficult!  :)  A few pictures from our month below...

Eli built an "airplane" in his room.  The pictures don't do it justice- it was really cute.  :)

Here he is at the "control panel."

Eli and I went to Northpark Mall one day to do a little shopping, have lunch, and see a movie.  It was a great "date" together!

We met some friends at Splash Kingdom one day before school started.  The kids had a blast riding ALL the rides- even the scary ones!  Eli has had a special connection with Victoria since Primer, but we haven't seen them in a while.  It was fun to see them pick right back up where they left off, and Victoria's mom and I had a great time catching up too.

 Here are Eli and Victoria coming off the end of the volcano slides.

Hank had his second birthday this month!  He got a giant bone as a present, and he was in heaven.  :) 

First day of THIRD GRADE!  Eli was super excited to go back to school.  We're so thankful for a great school, great teachers and faculty, and great friends for him there.

Ready to go!

And this was in the care on the way home one day last week- getting back into the school routine is exhausting!  :)  His lips are blue from a snow cone.  :)  

And that was August!  As much as I love fall, I am sad to see summer slip away.  We had such a great time this summer and made some wonderful memories.  I'm very thankful!