Then, there was that time when we missed our goddaughter's baptism.

About 3 months ago, Nicole asked if we could visit in July for the kids' Baptisms, where we would be the Godmother for Ms. Pieces, herself. Of course we were all over it and we were SO excited that we left 3.5 hours prior to the Baptismal time-the trip normally takes 2 hours. 

Instead of actually being a part of the family and playing in holy oil and such, we spent the day with this amazing scenery! If you have never spent 3 hours trapped in a car on the interstate with 2 small kids, no food/drinks and a destination that you actually need to be at...I do not recommend it. 

We literally sat in traffic for hours. It was awful. And, by "awful", I mean, Poor Brandon. I was a teeny bit psycho because I was so anxious to get there. I am not a calm/patient person in a normal setting, so this was an exceptionally fun time. 

We decided to continue on once we finally broke out of the hell traffic and I am so glad we did because we took family pics.

Max. Love. 

These 3 cuties. 

Also, Nicole has 3 kids. What just happened....

Dress clothes be damned, there will be no skipping of exploring when a creek is available. 

As usual, the backyard was set up for fun! A trampoline, sand/water table, a water park slide and about 500 water balloons proved to be a pretty fun time. 

Random times were had by all. 

S'mores with his mom. 

Then, there was this. 

He will win every single time; Just win your heart without even trying. 

We had to go back that evening (our daughters needed us), but my family is AMAZING and let Anderson stay with them for the lake day. 

Leave it to Noni to find a Rosary fit for a Levi. 

The goddaughter, herself. 

Also, shout out to my first goddaughter, Lucy! I will be sending you a gift certificate for religious goods soon!

Alabama "Vacation"

The boys & I took a trip to Alabama to visit some of our favorite family members -the Hill family and our Aunt Manda/Uncle Zack. When I picked them up, I told them we were going on a road trip and Anderson told me "This is called a vacation." 

We drove during the night, so when they woke up surrounded by frogs, they were so excited.
A lake house is made for boys and we were so grateful to be invited to such a nice one with such welcoming people. Also, we were grateful for all of the frogs everywhere-the boys were obsessed!

Aunt Sherri just loving on these boys. 

I cannot explain how cool their set up is-look at this ladder made from a tree!!

I quickly pawned my kids off on all of the Hill children (except Olivia who was at camp) and the boys were SO happy. Can you blame them? They were taken around on paddle boats, jet skis, giant hamster wheels and boats. 

Max hated the water but would tolerate jumping on the Lily Pad. 

Anderson figured out he could swim in lake water the same as pool water and jumped off everything/swam everywhere. 

As expected, there was no packing of pants for the trip. 

Also, before you start thinking that I am on Pinterest or something, he made that shirt at school. 

A Mama and her boy. 

In a super random/fateful twist, Bowman is working for the fire department and we got to watch him relieve the pressure on a fire hydrant! 

Max was in heaven. 

Max kept calling Bowman, "the firefighter." Precious.

Anderson & water is a magical combination. 

How sweet is this? 

Shout out to Savannah!!! We LOVE you! 

All of Savannah & Harrison's friends were so sweet to the boys-they even caught them a lizard! 

Seriously, their friends were so, so friendly. Anderson kept following them around and they played with him, threw him in the lake and called him "Captain Underpants." He was in heaven. 

Love these ladies!

We packed up and drove through another night and landed in Aunt Manda's basement, where the boys woke up to this....giant television and doughnuts for breakfast. I think Anderson was right about that vacation thing. 

I am not even sure what is happening here but I see oreos, doughnuts, no pants, a new toy and Uncle Zack. 

Basically, this sums up the weekend. 

Along with this. 

If the similar appearance isn't enough of a reason to prove they are related, the fact that she got a smile has to be the deciding factor. 

Big Cousin in the background. 

We could see the city's fireworks from their driveway!

They went exploring with knives and ropes. I don't even know where they went, but Anderson was so excited about the need for tools. 

How great are my nephews? I mean, look at Kyler just playing on the floor with a clothesless Max.

Also, lots of lacrosse playing happened during our visit. Well, Max kept calling the lacrosse sticks "bug catchers", so he didn't quite get in the mix. 

We are so lucky to have such an amazing family that lets us crash their lives!

Some Outings-also known as "Activity Hoarding" or "So many hours in the day"

IJAMS:

We have been to ijams so many times that when I asked Max if he wanted to go, he responded, "Yesh.   Go see frogs? And turtles? And lizards?" I love him and his innate love of all outside things. 

So, we roped Noni & Bop into coming with us and spent about half a day hiking, exploring, finding animals and eating various snacks. 

Bop found walking sticks for everyone. 

Mom helped prevent Max from falling in the pond, always a legitimate concern. 

*Actually, Anderson fell in the frog pond! He was initially traumatized because it was a little deeper than we thought, but I found it pretty funny and now he has a cool story to tell every time we go!

Anytime that he catches anything, it is considered a day well spent. 

Also, Max found an owl! He kept telling Noni that he saw an owl and we thought that he was just talking about owls living in trees, but he actually saw an owl! 

Flashback to Halloween when he was the cutest owl at Hogwarts. 

Carving his name on the pier. 

Noni & Bop's first trip to Ijams! So happy they were part of our adventure!

The Sunsphere/World's Fair Park:

Ever since Brandon took us up to watch fireworks in it about 3 years ago, Anderson has always been slightly obsessed with the sunsphere. So, when I told him we could go up in it, he was so excited. 

Also, Max knows what it is because Anderson always shows him whenever we drive past it.

 When we were leaving Max's dentist appt (his first one!) that morning, he told everyone, "I going to the sun fear!" It was adorable. 

We, of course, couldn't go inside a giant gold ball without our favorite Brimers! 

This picture totally captures our kids perfectly. 

I always come through with amazing, high quality pictures like this selfie with the sunsphere.

 I do love Clare's enthusiasm, though!

And, of course, we hit up the fountains because my kids cannot pass up giant fountains of water. 

I love, love how Anderson looks out for Max when they are at places like this. 

THE ZOO:

Thanks to Noni's zoo membership, we hit up the zoo with Noni & our favorite girl cousins!

These brothers. 

Reese in this outfit and Max in those glasses. Love. 

Noni chilling with Levi while the older 4 played in the splash pad. 

Overpriced Dippin Dots. 

Anderson is obsessed with his new "sport" sunglasses, so get ready for a lot of pics of them. 

They were $4 on the Kohl's clearance, so not really "sport", but whatever. 

Nicole has 3 kids apparently. I keep forgetting because she does not even miss a beat and will still join us for 5 hour zoo outings followed by a festival. 

In this lesson on "how to parent 3 kids", we see her trying to pull Reese out of the zebra enclosure while nursing Levi-all while her sister takes a picture instead of helping. 

Also, real life right here. 

A church* Festival:

*not our church

Bop was doing balloons at a church festival, so we decided to tag along and it was so much fun! 

Our family motto: A weekend is not weekend without a bounce house. 

Reese. Y'all. ADORABLE!

Mr. Levi just laughing at his Mama. I cannot wait for this baby to be big enough to enjoy our adventures, too. Right now, we sort of just drag him along to everything and he is such a trooper. 

Riding the train with the subtle face paint. 

I have learned to avoid actual face paint with Anderson because it gets all over his glasses, so he had a pretty cool dragon painted up his arm, instead. 

Bop and Noni in their elements: Bop making an Elsa balloon & Mom being friendly to the people in line.

Max's life was complete because there was a fire truck! Reese was equally as thrilled. 

The Mountains:

Because I work with amazing people, a co-worker/friend invited us for a day long adventure hiking in the Smoky Mountains. Anderson LOVES the idea of the mountains and was SO excited about the day.  (To be fair, when the day came he was super grumpy until we saw a snake and he caught a salamander and then his mood improved quite a bit.)

Max LOVES catching bugs but is not quite quick enough to get the same ones that Anderson can get, so when he does snag one it is a VICTORY!

We hiked a 3 mile trail to Laurel Falls and they were so excited to play in the water and try to climb the waterfall. It was a long hike, but it was so great to spend so much time with these boys. 

They loved, loved all of the dirt and, you know, mountains to climb. 

There were some seriously scary drop offs along the trail, so there were a few heart stopping moments with Max, but we totally survived and had an awesome time. 

For example-the barely 2 year old, just climbing up some part of a mountain.

 You would think a kid this adept could figure out how to pee in a potty. 

After the 6 hours in the mountains, we totally took advantage of Denise's mom and went to her house for a cook out, s'mores, sparklers and...swimming in a hot tub. 

We didn't go on a true "vacation" this year ,but I think our summer has proved to be pretty amazing!