Audrey's first day of first grade

First day of first grade.

Insanity.

Orange Beach 2015

I wanted to soak up the very last bit of summer so we spur of the moment decided to take off the last week of summer vacation. We left when Barker got off work Thursday and headed to Orange Beach! We didn't come home until Monday night, the night before school started! School starts so early here, well before I'm ready for summer to be over. So we squeezed one last hurrah out of the season! So glad we did. It was wonderful and the kids were so great. The drive was the long but they were fantastic. I think we stopped once to eat and once for bathroom breaks. They loved their room in the condo, the sand, the water, everything. We were so happy. Life is grand.

Arden wasn't sure about the beautiful white sand straight away but I brought a little pop up tent so she could be in the shade until day 2, when she decided the sand wasn't all that bad after all.

 

She spent a lot of time feeding goldfish to her baby.

 I brought some of Hud Muffin's construction trucks and beach toys. 

  

He loved every second of it.

 Audrey hunted sea shells until her heart's content.

  

 Arden enjoyed watching for boats.

 Barker and Audrey did this 3 story obstacle course.

Brave souls!

My beach babies were over the moon. I hope we can go more often. We hadn't been since I was pregnant with Hudson so this was his and Arden's first trip to the beach. They loved every bit of it and talk about it all the time.

 photography by Audrey ; )

One day I took the littles to the beach alone. I was a little intimidated by lugging chairs, umbrellas, drinks, etc by myself with two little ones, just for them to get down there and have to go potty or need a nap. But they did great. We left around 8 and didn't walk back up to our condo until nearly 1, when Arden fell asleep in my arms in the ocean. A moment I'll treasure always.

Meanwhile Barker took Audrey deep sea fishing!

Audrey was a pro.

She got a bit sea sick but was tough and focused on the captain letting her steer the boat on the way back to shore.

 

 Her catch.

See? Toes in the sand : )

 Her smirk says it all.

 I tried to get a group shot on the last night when we were out of decent photo worthy clothes. Oops! 

But then Hudson had his own plans. Typical middle child. Sigh.

I loved every precious moment of summer with these maniacs. I felt I owed them a grand summer after being sick and pregnant two summers ago and nursing a 3 nap a day baby last summer. And I think it was mission accomplished. 

Already looking forward to next summer!

Audrey is 7

Cool for the Summer

This was the first summer in 4 straight years that I wasn't either pregnant or nursing a small 3 naps a day infant. 4 years! That's a lot of summer I'd put on hold. So this year, in order to make it up to my kids,  I had to cram a lot of fun into a few short weeks of summer break. I started planning in April. I printed out calendars for every month and plotted out our summer to be sure nothing was missed, no day was wasted and every summer bucket list wish was ticked off the list by August.

It was a great success!

 We started off with summer time hair cuts.

 We visited splash pads.

 The bigs attended a total of 3 vacation Bible schools.

Arden only attended 1 VBS, those weeks where the bigs were at camp she and I got some solo time.

 We played arcade games with big brother Rykley.

 The car wash was on Hud's summer bucket list.

Arden was not a fan.

 Arden enjoyed terrorizing the nursery workers at my gym. She climbs everything so they have to put the chairs on the counter tops every morning when my crew walks in.

But the kids get gym time of their own. 

Audrey and Hudson both take tumbling classes. 

They love it. 

Thanks Pop!

 Arden likes to watch them tumble while scarfing down fruit snacks.

We also hit up story times at the library and Barnes and Noble.

 These sweeties! <3 font="">

 Artie loves that there is a Starbucks at Barnes and Noble.

Audrey also went to a STEM camp and an art camp. But her favorite was the week long horse camp!

 They stayed in converted train cars! 

It was like running away to join the circus.

 As soon as we arrived she unpacked her bags and set up her bunk.

I teared up as we drove away, even though I was certain they'd call that night saying she was homesick and I needed to go get her. Hudson cried because he wanted to stay at horse camp, too. Arden cried because she thought I was leaving her there. Audrey was the only one that held it together. She was probably so glad to be rid of us! 

When we were finally able to retrieve her on Friday I rushed through the doors, so anxious to hug her and hear all about it. As soon as she saw me she asked me to buy her a souvenir. She hadn't missed us at all. She said she'd all but forgotten us until she received my letter on the second day. Ok, so I mailed her a letter everyday. Girls love mail, ya know?

She had the best time. Zero homesickness. She said it was just like The Parent Trap but without ear piercing. They got up, dressed, had breakfast, rode horses, went swimming, lunch, learned to shoot guns (I'm assuming bb guns? I can't tell from the pictures the camp sent me but it was adorable and obviously safer than I had imagined) they had hay rides, zip lines, rock climbing walls, dinner, hiking, Bible study, drama class and an end of the week play, campfire smores, etc. Whew! I'm tired just reading that back. It sounded like the best week ever, I only wish they had places like that for moms! I'd love to have someone cook for me while I ride horses, read and swim for a week. Sign me up!

Hudson missed her quite a bit when she was gone. They're besties.But Arden-

 She relishes being an only child.

 One day she spent all morning, like 4 hours, rummaging through Audrey's room.

 Hudson attended a camp that week so that kept his mind off of missing sister for a few hours a day.

 Audrey had soccer camp when she returned home.

 And no summer is complete without lots of hanging out with our oldest.

 We made a trip to Texas so the kids could hang out with their cousins while Daddy sprained his ankle.

We went swimming and Arden had her first ice cream sandwich.

We did a slew of other things I failed to document like bake cookies for our neighbors, we spent a few mornings at the cinema seeing the Minion movie, Inside Out, Book of Life and a few others. Barker did a triathalon, or maybe 2. I can't recall. We visited Red Mango for fro-yo once, maybe twice. Ok, maybe more than that. The kids also spent a week at my dad's ranch making smores, fishing, riding tractors, etc. They cashed in their piggy bank money and went on a shopping spree at Toys R Us. We did the farmer's market, pedicures, school shopping and a host of other things. 

And yes, there were also chores that had to be done.

And just when it was time to say good bye to summer and get back into the swing of the school year, we decided to sneak away to the beach for one last hurrah! (More on that, later.)