A Day with Daddy

I am a little behind on this post, but the Saturday before Father's Day, we went to Chewacla State Park in Auburn, Alabama.
 
We had planned to go to church on Sunday morning and pay a visit to Granddaddy on Sunday afternoon, so we decided to have Chris's day on Saturday.
 
I threw a couple of ideas out on what we could do for Father's Day, but ultimately Chris decided that he wanted to spend a day at Chewacla.
 

 
Chris is an outdoorsman and has always loved nature. He had visited Chewacla several times before we were married. (I lived in Auburn for 5 years and visited Chewacla State Park all of one time. Ironically, it was with Chris's cousin, Shannon, my college roommate.)
 
Our first stop was Chewacla Lake. It had a little beach area and a diving platform, which we enjoyed. Chris was the only one to brave the high dive. Although, Chloe and I did swim out to platform, we only jumped/dove in from the platform itself.
 

 

After a couple of hours of swimming, Chris took the family on a hike down one of the nature trails. The littles and I had dressed for swimming, so we didn't do so well going down the trail in our flip flops. However, we had a great time...just a few bumps and bruises;)

 

 

The Chewacla Dam was beautiful.

 

 

We got up close and personal with nature, from the gigantic horseflies to the mussel shell beach.

 

I'll let the following photos speak for themselves.

 

 

I know that Chris appreciates days like these and I am glad that he will be passing on his love for the outdoors to the littles (because we all know that they won't be getting it from me:)). Evan kept repeating, " I never want to leave." It warms my heart to know that he has a love for nature.

 

We love you, Chris, and we hope that you had a Happy Father's Day!!!

Rainbows Doughnuts with Dad & An Honors Ceremony

The Rainbows (Chloe & Evan's Wednesday night church group) celebrated Father's Day a couple of weeks ago by inviting their dads to the annual Doughnuts with Dad night! Chris had two classes that evening, but he was able to squeeze in an appearance in between classes.

The following Wednesday, the Rainbows had an Honors Ceremony! At the Honors Ceremony, all the children were recognized for the successful memorization of Bible verses. This ceremony was extra special because the children that were graduating to the next group (according to grade) were honored. Since Chloe is an October baby and won't start Kindergarten for another year, we have one more year before she becomes an "honor." It was really a sweet and sometimes emotional ceremony, especially for the girls that were graduating from the program altogether to become a part of the Youth Group.

Here were our little Rainbows.

Prior to ceremony, I asked Evan if he wanted to go on stage, since he was new to the group and had only earned one badge. (He was set to begin in the month of June, but decided he wanted to start attending after the Mother's Day celebration in May, which also happened to be the week after his 3rd birthday. He's becoming a "big boy" which is bittersweet for me.) He decided that he wanted to go on stage and he was so cute!

He didn't know what to think of it. Chloe was a little calmer, less fidgety, than she usually is on stage. I think that the calm collected big sister was kicking in:)

 

Afterwards, we caught up with Maevelyn, Chloe's bestie from Rainbows. She was an honor and is no longer a Rainbow. I'm not sure how Chloe will take it once she realizes it.

I'm so glad that both littles are involved in this program. I'm so thankful to the group leaders, Mrs. Dodi and Mr. Jason, for all that they do to teach my little ones about Jesus, the Bible, and being good Christians.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.~Proverbs 22:6


A Trip to the Farmer's Market

This past Saturday we headed to our local Farmer's Market in the search of the perfect peaches for a Father's Day peach cobbler for Granddaddy!

As usual, we were running late and every vendor that had peaches had already sold out:( In desperation, I remembered a red truck that we passed on our way in which had a few baskets of peaches sitting next to it. I approached the vendor and asked him about the peaches that I had seen next to his truck. He told me that they were over-ripe peaches that he had pulled from his baskets (before he sold out), but he offered to sell me a basket for $1. Score! Over-ripe fruits usually make the best cobblers and these were so pretty!
 

 
We walked around a little while longer to see if we could find any more good deals. I loved all the pretty colors of the fresh produce!

Chloe spotted a stand selling ice cream bars and I caved. They had some interesting flavors. Chloe and Evan settled on chocolate hazelnut!

After just a few bites, I was rethinking my decision. It was pretty hot out and the littles were covered in the remnants of the chocolate hazelnut.

 
We also spotted a guy making balloon creations. We witnessed him make a princess and John Deere tractor from balloons. It was pretty cool and the best that I've seen in person. He was making Spider Man in this picture.

He made a butterfly for Chloe...

And he made Lightning McQueen for Evan!

We enjoyed our first trip to the Farmer's Market as a family. Chris made the comment that we could have gotten out of there for a dollar. This was true, but it wouldn't have been as fun:)

Second Saturday Fun

This past Saturday, the littles went roller skating for the first time. We took advantage of an online offer that emails me two free skate passes per child each week. (Looking at the site, many skating rinks across the nation participate in this summer program, so it's worth looking into if you have a local skating rink in your neck of the woods.)

We invited two of our favorites to join us, Diana and Sophia!

Chloe and Sophia are only about a year apart in age and they get along so well. Look at these two silly girls!

We also got a mini-group shot minus Diana. (Someone had to take the picture:))

Chloe was pretty shaky, but she tried her hardest to keep up with Sophia.

All by herself! (Don't worry, we tied the lace.)

Evan made it onto the floor a few times as well, but he needed a little more assistance, so I didn't get any pictures of him skating.

Afterwards, we drove by the house to see if Chris wanted to join us down at the Riverfront for Second Saturday. Last year Montgomery City began hosting a Second Saturday Festival which begins in April and ends in September. There are usually local vendors there and they have some sort of event. It's really a nice family outing.

We met back up with Diana, Sophia, and some new friends. The kids couldn't wait to play on the Splashpad.

We cooled down with some ice cream. Can you tell that the littles enjoyed it?!

 

Check out all these silly faces!

 

 

We stayed a little later than our friends and enjoyed the concert in the amphitheater that evening. The littles got up close and personal. See if you can spot them. This is our version of "Where's Waldo?"

 

 

It was such a fun day. We were so exhausted by that evening and slept-in the following morning. Chloe slept until 10 o'clock the following morning, which is unheard of for our early bird. Surprisingly, Chloe and Evan really enjoyed roller skating and they can't wait to try it again. We may try to go again this weekend, but I'll make sure that we wear shorts/pants with a little more padding:)