Reasons I LOVE summer...

Just a couple of the reason I LOVE summer:

1. Pop-sickles. In this picture Lincoln hit his pop sickle against Riley's and said "Cheers" :). I love having a cool treat on a hot day and so do the kids. AND

2. Nakedness. Is nakedness even a word? When it is hot out and we're home with nothing to do, I'll admit my children are almost never clothed. I just let them run around in their diaper/underwear (and bow, of course). Why not, right?!

3. SWIMMING! Okay, not exactly my kind of swimming, but the kids LOVED it. I often feel guilty that we don't have a big backyard for the kids to play in but I know this is just the time of our life right now. However, if I can make up for it I will try. We have a small deck out our slider so we bought the kids a pool and they don't even notice they're on a deck instead of in a big backyard!! I am sure we will be spending a lot of time "swimming" this summer. (Thanks to Ty's Gma, we used the kids' Easter $$ to buy them a fun toy we'll be enjoying often!)

4. Milkshakes. I LOVE chocolate milkshakes and love not having a reason to make one. The kids love their "shakes" too...they just don't know that mine is a chocolate shake and theirs is a strawberry, banana, kiwi smoothie that Daddy made :). They think it's the greatest treat in the whole world. Am I so mean that I make my kids eat healthy :)!!??

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This picture will not be staying up very long because it's disgusting, but here's proof for those of you who don't think I'm absolutely huge! Good thing no neighbors came outside :)! Only 14 weeks to go!

The Kids Museum

This weekend was full of fun and things to do. Saturday we visited my Grandma in the hospital again (which, is not fun--please keep her in your prayers!!) then afterwards, since it's been pretty nasty here, Ty and I took the kids to the kids museum downtown. I LOVE taking them there--it's usually one of our fun winter activities, but we figured why not!? I absolutely love the museum and it keeps the kids occupied for hours! They switch the "theme" of the museum every 2 months, so it really keeps them interested! This month it was cars/trucks/trains.

Deer Forest

Growing up Ty and I both used to go to Deer Forest in Coloma. When our playgroup suggested we take our kids there too for an outing we jumped at the chance. I used to have so much fun and can still remember the commercials for the place "Feed the dear, ride the pony, feed the dear and ride again...". When we got there I noticed that they literally hadn't changed the place since I'd been there last, which was probably a good 15-20 years. It was pretty run down, but even though I noticed they kids didn't and they didn't care either. Both Riley and Lincoln had a lot of fun feeding the animals and looking at all the different animals! We packed a lunch and ate under the pavilion they had reserved for our group.

Most of our playgroup...missing 4 kiddos (I think).
Riley feeding the dear.

Petting the bunnies.

Riley swinging and Lincoln hanging out in the stroller.

The kids checking out the cougar in his cage.

This was when Riley kept telling me she wanted to hold the fox!

Riding the dragon.

Remember when I say that Riley runs off? She does a great job at holding my hand, but the second I let go of her hand she's long gone. Well, I knew I'd have to push the stroller, therefore I couldn't hold her hand. Yes, she could have sat in the double but I wanted her to be able to get out and explore. So, Mandy let me borrow her "Monkey backpack" for Riley so I could keep her close. I've always thought the "leash" was cruel, but it's so dangerous that Riley runs and I can't just leave Lincoln by himself to run after Riley. She actually didn't mind wearing it and did a great job staying by me. Here Riley was leaning to touch the water and Christy caught her by the monkey tail so she wouldn't fall in.

The kids really enjoyed feeding the horse! I was surprised Riley did it, but she really liked it. She kept saying "The horsey licked me"!

A day at the (Silver) Beach

This summer's weather as been so weird that we've only made it to the beach once! Our playgroup took a day trip to Silver Beach in St. Joe. Since I grew up going to that beach I was the tour guide. It's been years, literally probably 6 years since I've been, and as you can imagine a lot has changed since then. I decided to leave Lincoln home so I could focus all of my attention on Riley. She has a bad habit of "running off" if I take my eyes off of her for 2 seconds so I didn't think it was a good idea to have to watch two babies very closely especially around water. But, I have to admit I do love spending that one-on-one time that I get with each one of the kids when I get the chance.

It was the most perfect day for the beach, and we were obviously not the only ones who thought so...it was PACKED. I don't think I've ever seen it so busy, except on Venetian weekends. What a great day and great company we had!

Riley, for a second, forgot that she cannot swim like Kaitlyn and Kendyl. This picture (thanks Christy) was taken right before I had to jump in and "rescue her". (She just got scared, she wasn't in danger.) I didn't think she'd step foot in the water, hence no life jacket. After this scare though, she definitely didn't go back in...I think it may have scared her for life.

Cold Summer?

I think this picture of Riley pretty much sums up how the weather has been most of this summer...what in the world is going on?? Lets just hope it's not a preview of how this winter is going to be!

My 2 Little Fishies

Ty had a short day at work today so we decided to take full advantage of this beautiful weather that we've been having lately and took the kids to the pool. Lincoln has never been in the pool before (I thought he was too little last year) and I thought he'd love to test out the water since he loves baths. Riley loves the water too, but whenever we get to a pool she'd rather run around the edges and sit on the stairs and today was no different. I took Lincoln in with me and he was pretty unsure at first. He didn't cry at all, but whined, probably because he was cold. He's used to his warm bath water. After about 2 minutes he warmed up, floated in his "inner tube thing" and we hung out in the water for almost 2 hours. I am so excited that we've got access to 2 pools ALL summer LONG . We intend to take advantage of them and hopefully I'll have a good tan by the end of the summer (without having to pay $$ for it this time :)).

"I love this, mom!"

My handsome little guy!

Sippy/photo break (Lincoln was sitting on the chair and Ri came up and sat next to him and put her arm around him. I just love how much she loves her little brother and how well they get along.)

It's funny because I've always laughed when I heard people saying "women hate summer because it's bathing suit weather". I'm thinking, 'oh come on people, get a grip...it's not that bad'...that was before I had kids. Now I know exactly why people hate bathing suit shopping and getting into a suit to be seen by everyone! I am so there and it's depressing that I'm only 25 and my bikini days are OVER!! I've got two babes that I'm so thankful for and are so worth every stretch mark, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. Maybe one day I'll get back in shape, but I doubt it :).