Back to school...

We are back in school..and are still playing like it is summer break. This is going to be difficult to keep a decent bedtime, but we will try our best. We are still hanging out at Lagoon, have a camping trip planned and having plenty of water afternoons. The kids were excited to head back and see friends that they don't see around the neighborhood.

Ashlynn is in 1st grade and is excited about being able to play on the big playground with the rest of the kids. The Kindergartner's had their own little playground last year. She is also looking forward to eating lunch at school this year. She is ready and has her new lunch bag. I am little sad that I won't have my lunch buddy anymore. It is going to be slightly different around the house without her. Even though she is a self entertainer, it was nice to have her around for laughs and to hear her interesting stories.
Carter had mixed feelings about starting a new year. One of his favorite friends is not in his class this year and that kind of bummed him out a little. But, he is excited that he has a very nice teacher this year. He is just a ball of energy and needed to get back to a schedule before he drove us all out of the house. I can't wait for all the new things he is going to accomplish this year. He is such a sweet boy and definitely a charmer. I am confident he is going to make more friends.

Here we go...

A perfect water park day

We spent the afternoon with some of my co-workers and their kids at Cowabunga Bay and had a blast. We all pitched in and rented a cabana and had our food served to us and we had a place of shade. It was great! The weather didn't look too promising in the beginning, but it turned out to be beautiful weather while we were there. Just as we were leaving a big thunder and lightning storm broke out and they had to clear everyone out of the water to take cover. So, it was perfect timing to call it a day.

Ashlynn in the pool area.

They had some fun slides for all ages. Carter went down every one of them, but Ashlynn was slightly nervous about them and just stuck with the lazy river and the pool area. We must of went around that river 100 times. She loved swimming around in the water.

The place was so cute and decorated well.

Carter and his friend Gage lounging in the sun.

We had a fun time!

Scouts Day Camp

Carter had Scout Day Camp this week. He had so much fun-he said it was one of his funnest days. The scouts did several activities. The zip-line looked fun but we ran out of time for the adults to try it. darn!

Carter got unto the platform for the zip-line and it took several minutes convincing him to jump off. He finally jumped off and Carter was glad he did it. Wahoo!

7/11

The kids had their dentist appointment and then we headed straight to seven eleven to get our free icee to celebrate seven eleven's birthday. And yes, we immediatley filled up on sugar right after the dentist, it was great! The kids also got great news that once again NO cavaties! Yeah!

Where's Flamingo?...

Matt had this idea to make a story book about this flamingo and his travels. So, we took along this flamingo where ever we went on our East Coast vacation. He went everywhere and was always being shared between all the kids. The poor thing looked like a rag doll when we got home. When ever we would take a picture of something we had to take a separate picture with Domingo. He was a fun edition to our vacation. Below our just some highlights of the photos we took with Domingo. Matt is so clever to think of this.

Maine

Our final destination was the southern Maine coast. Our hotel was in York Maine right across the ocean. We could see the ocean out the window of our room. We had so much fun playing at the beach and enjoying the ocean. The first day the water was cold and then it got warmer the next few days. One our favorite parts was to got out at night or early in the morning when the the tide was out and search for starfish, shells and hermit crabs. I just love the ocean scenery. This was a perfect way to end our vacation!

I was so excited to see these lighthouses. There are such a sight to see. One of the many highlights was when we walked out on rocks at low tide and there was a baby seal stranded. We tried to get it back into the water, but I think it was hurt or something was wrong with it. Poor little cute seal. The kids were thinking it had the flu and wanted to rest. We also saw a pirate ship type looking boat floating in the ocean as we were looking for lighthouses.

All the cousins really enjoyed being with each other. They didn't want it to ever end. It was so much fun to be with family and site see and visit with them. It was also really convenient to have our hotel room right next to where Aunt Tracy and Matt's parents were staying. They had a beautiful deck that we would sit on an chat and look out at the ocean. We are already missing the ocean and being with them. We will have to visit Maine again.

New Hampshire highlights

After Boston we picked up our rental car and drove to New Hampshire where Matt's brother's family lives. Laura hosted a fun BBQ and an awesome firework show of our own. It was really weird to actually light "real" fireworks. They don't have the same firework rules we have here in the west. We lit up the sky and the kids had a blast. We had a great time staying the night at their house.

Laura made her famous cookie bowls that we filled with ice cream. They were delicious!

Matt's brother Mike gave us a tour of the University of NH campus and showed off his snazy office. Thanks for the tour and we bought a few souvioners in the bookstore.