Birthday boy! Tanner is 4!

Tanner is FOUR!!!! He asked allllll summer long when his birthday was going to be, and last night he sat up in his bed until 9pm, wondering what his presents would be! 

We started off the day with a few presents, and a surprise of fire truck balloons downstairs.

Then we heard Tanner being wished a happy birthday on the radio!!!!! So cool! He's famous!

After we dropped Bryce off at school, we went to Publix to pick out birthday treats for dinnertime.  He chose cream-filled eclairs. (PopPop would be SO pleased. . .he always brought me eclairs when he and Nene came to visit!!!) For dinner he chose steak on the grill, sweet potatoes, and strawberries.  When Bryce gets home from school we'll open the rest of the gifts, and have an early dinner before Eric has to go back to church for an evening meeting.

On Saturday we'll continue celebrating at the fire truck birthday party! 

First Day of 3rd grade!

It's BACK TO SCHOOL for this kid. Third grade. Seriously. Third grade sounds awfully OLD. I'm not sure how I feel about this!!!!

We've gotten GREAT responses from some of our teacher friends, and past teachers, when they found out who B's teacher is, so we feel really good, and we think it's going to be a terrific year! 

I think it's going to be rough on Tanner this year, because the two of these boys, (although they fight ALL the time) have spent so much time together this summer. Tanner is used to having B around all the time.

One more trip to Fort Myers!

Since we didn't get to see Mimi when we were in North Carolina, and since it was almost Tanner's birthday, we decided to make one last trip to Fort Myers, before school started! We celebrated T's birthday, played in the pool, and went to the bookstore. . .some of our favorite Fort Myers things! Annie Grannie ended up staying in the hospital for a few days while we were there, so we didn't see Mimi quite as much as we had anticipated, but we made the best of it, and the boys were happy as long as they could play in the pool! (And although she may not admit it, Mimi jumped in the pool with the boys one night. . . in her clothes!!!!)

Opening some gifts. . . .first up - the Rescue Bots police station!!!!!

Tanner and Chica, a character from our favorite TV channel for kids, Sprout. Now Tanner can "Squeaka with Chica seven days of the week-a!" just like the commercial says! :)

Tanner surprised me by choosing carrot cake for his birthday cake! He likes carrot cake, but I think what wins him over every time is the frosting carrots on top! (Seriously, have you ever had a carrot cake that DIDN'T have frosting carrots on the top!!!?? :) Carrots are great, but FROSTING carrots are even better!!!!!

North Carolina

After all our stops along the way, we finally got to the cabin! This was the longest we had ever spent there at one time, and it was DIVINE! We had so much fun, and lots of time to relax. The boys were a sandy, muddy, wet mess almost the whole week. (Oh wait, actually ALL of us were a muddy wet mess most of the week!) 

It was bittersweet to be there without Mimi, but we sent her lots of pictures during the week, and tried to pretend that she was there.  I kept joking that we needed Mimi there, to help with the DISHES! :) I know she gladly would have done dishes the whole time, to be able to be there, but it's important for her to be at home with Annie Grannie, and we love her near or far!!! And we got in an extra trip to Fort Myers over the summer, so we got to see her a few times down there! 

Okay, so some of our adventures:

We picked about a gallon of wild blackberries. We were covered in scrapes and scratches from the thorns, but we couldn't help ourselves! 

We did a lot of work in the creek. The new "Swimmin' Hole" that Eric made his mission, turned out great, and he built up the sides to get the water pretty deep in one little area. The boys sailed boats down the creek, and they really would have been happy spending all day EVERY day in the creek. 

We went to the waterfalls at Deep Creek, (because we just hadn't had enough creek stomping.) We stopped and had the best burgers and ice cream afterwards, at a little creekside snack shop. (Seriously - everything tastes better, creekside!) The weather was AMAZING all week. Bryce actually complained every morning that I didn't bring him jeans, because it was CHILLY in the mornings!!!

We fed the horses - except for Bryce. Ever since that mule tried to eat his hair last Christmas, he and the horses are NOT friends. :)

The boys had fun in their clubhouse outside, and Bryce added treasures to his museum shelves.

We played at the playground one morning, although it was a little rainy and wet, (and therefore a muddy mess) but it was worth it!

These pictures are completely out of order. . . .deal with it! :)

The begining of berry picking.

Riding behind Poppy's tractor.

Hammock over the creek!

At the plaground. . .

Somewhere we have an identical picture of Bryce on this rock, at Deep Creek.  :)

Bryce found this awesome vine hanging from one of the trees on the mountainside at Deep Creek. He considered a Tarzan move. 

Ice cream and burgers, at a Deep Creek snack shop!

Seriously - LOTS of blackberries. This was the FIRST of two batches!

This is the harbor that Bryce built in the creek. . .we called it Bryce's Happy Harbor. :)

In front of the Jarrett House after lunch

S'mores! We didn't get too much bonfire time this trip, because there had been a lot of rain before we got there, and things were pretty damp, but we managed one decent bonfire!

(at the creekside snack shop)

Tanner was happy to feed the horses, even if Bryce wouldn't!

At the plaground! 

With his pal, the mule. (The one that ate Bryce's straw - I mean hair - last visit!)

It was pretty rough to head home after a nice long relaxing trip! 

Is it next summer yet???? :)

Friends along the way. . .

On our way to the cabin, we were able to stop and see some of our bestest friends! First we saw Annamaria and her cutie patootie family.  Baby Sabrina has gotten SO big! She's a doll, and the boys loved playing with her!

Then we trekked onward and stopped in Greensboro, NC, to visit with our friends (and former neighbors,) the Cox family.  We visited the Greensboro Science Center while we were there, and the kids had a great time! They have an aquarium, an animal park, and a museum. There was a LOT to look at! The three Cox littles have gotten BIG and the twins are walking and talking (and Deb definitely has her hands full!)

Whenever Tanner gets out of the bath and has wild hair, he says "My hair is like Reisa's!" Her hair actually is so completely fabulous.  It's hard not to squish it and fluff it all the time!! :) 

Strike of the sickies (with 4th of July in between)

Right after our trip to Fort Myers, Bryce got sick. And sicker. And sicker. And I think we were probably about 12 hours away from a hospital stay, when finally he started improving.  He didn't eat for 4 days, and lost 6 pounds. He was MISERABLE. I don't think I've ever seen him so sick.  This picture was day 1, when things really weren't too bad.  He watched about 8 hours of tv on the ipad that day, tucked in his bed.  The next few days were filled with every symptom you can imagine, and three hour naps - WHAT!? 3 hour NAPS!? Bryce!!!???? It was pretty sad around here!

Thankfully B was better just in time for 4th of July at the condo.  Here are three of the boys, watching. . .oh look, tv on the ipad again.  ;)

 We stayed overnight and enjoyed the sunrise!

Me and goggle boy, ready for the beach!

 The cousin entourage in the big hole they dug.

Fireworks! Would you believe Tanner fell asleep DURING the fireworks!? Seriously. He was exhausted!

And then, low and behold a few days later, TANNER was down for the count.  Thankfully not as sick as B, but still pretty pathetic for a few days!

 Sick sleepy boy.

Just a few more random pictures. . . .

Tanner has started drawing people hugging each other.  Yes, that blue stuff is the arms hugging.

LOVE it.  

Scary summer-in-Florida weather? Um yes.