friday funday

friday we had a very fun day with the hogan clan....miss tiffany had to work and josh was on daddy duty, so we planned some fun for the kids to share together to pass the time. first we hit the park. the kids played until they could not stand the heat any longer and their cheeks were so red i thought they would shoot heat out of their heads! so in order to cool off and change the scenery, we headed to the hogan house for some wet water fun.....the kids had a ball on the bounce slide, especially when josh added bubbles to the slide. more laughs and fun. this was the first time that olivia could keep up with the older kiddos and boy did she have fun. it made me smile and a bit sad to see her actually keep up with them and having a ball doing it. she chased them and laughed so much. she is no longer a baby, but a full-fledged toddler! oh my. we finished the afternoon up with a cool off inside the house and then back out to pick blueberries. that was so cute to watch. ellie, jackson and emry had a hoot of a time "hunting" for the blue-berries. i think we burned it into them only to find and pick the ripe "blue" ones!! thanks for all the fun guys-til next time

jman in mid air jump off the slide

the big splash result

bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles...funny how they add SO much more fun

the gang teaching miss o the ropes of playing

olivia trying to surf

swimming lessons

jackson has been taking swim lessons now for about a week and man is he a little fish. he loves to be in the pool and is so comfortable with it, but until now has not known how to really swim and be safe without floaties on. nathan and i both saw how much he loves to swim and felt that he was ready for real lessons....ms.becky was a wonderful instructor, firm but not too rigid. jackson was a great learner and soaked up all that he needed to learn. he passed with flying colors and can swim with the big dogs now!!!

swimming all on his own in the deep end!!

underwater superman

jackson swimming in the deep end with ms.becky

fathers day weekend at the lake

nathan provides for us all year long and like most everyone else knows, the economy has made it even harder for us to enjoy the down time well. a friend of mine has a family lake house just an hour south of jacksonville and was looking to rent it out for long weekends this summer. she set quite an affordable rate and i could not resist setting this up as a surprise for nathan and wayne for fathers day. he gives so much for us and he deserved some fun time. Crystal lake was beautiful....just the right size, not too busy with weekenders and so very comfortable. most everything was there, all we had to bring was food, bathing suits and fun (and some fat tire beer for nathan). it was a most enjoyable family time...lots of sun, one really cool rain shower, tubing, fishing, jumping off the blob(the tube turned over), making smores, and low key laughs.

Thank you, nathan, for all that you do for us all year long. you are an amazing father and wonderful man to all of us! xox

miss.o checking out the rain storm coming across the lake

jackson and olivia trying to catch some minnows

my two men swimming

sweet lady O

family time

jackson's most favorite thing...watch the army men get dropped out of a helicopter over the lake...happened all day

nathan tubing

we finally got jackson to hold a sparkler...he loves to look at them and never wanted to hold fire

teeny keeny mama

jackson raring to go out fishing

kiki and littlemama watching daddy tube

jackson with daddy on his first tube ride!

wayne daddy and jman fishing...gotta love the tighty whities on j ( he going to hate me when he 's sixteen-total bribery)

atlanta bound

life seems, to me, to be a long path....full of twists and turns, ups and downs. life lessons! through time, love and forgiveness, we learn what matters most, family. and family bonds are what we pass down to each other. this was a visit a long time coming. all for the good.so in all that, we found it a priority to head north, to atlanta.....so my dad and family could meet their new love..miss o.

words cannot express how needed this time was and how wonderful it turned out to be....life may throw lemons at us, but we make sweet lemonade!! it was a blessed visit, full of smiles and rejoicing!! thank you papa and mia for making the time so perfect. may there be many more visits soon.

xo

papa and miss o....

me and my brother andrew...my what a MAN

tender moments

amongst the family time we did also get to do some touristy time. papa and mia took us all to the Atlanta Aquarium....fishy fun!

olivia spotting the fishies (sharks) swimming above

those fish were the size of us!!

papa, little man and mia