Tubing on Lake PTC

We took the Butlers out with us on Lake Peachtree Saturday. We had tons of fun. The water was so warm and refreshing in this hot humid weather! We swam in coves, went for boat rides, and went on the rope swing.

But the best pictures were of tubing. Here's Jeff, Halle and Savannah. After a "slow ride" Travis sped up a little bit per Jeff's request! :) They got some air!
The 3 kiddos did too. Kaylin, Savannah and Ethan were going so slow they were practically falling asleep. So we hit some bumps...they got off shortly after. :)


Britt and I went too. These are out of order but I don't have time to fix them. Travis gave a nice, fun ride first. It was hilarious. Last thing Britt said to me was "I'm NOT letting go!" I blinked and she was gone!

The 2nd ride was faster and crazier. We got some major air, which equals to really sore muscles the next day. I think we snapped in half--legs meeting head--kind of thing. Not a feel good ride at all. But we died laughing in our too small jackets and had a lot of fun.

Father's Day!

I have some of the best examples of wonderful Father's in my life. One is my dad. The words I would use to describe him would be: honest, generous, wise, hard-working, thoughtful. The second is Travis' Dad, Brad aka Paka. Words to describe him would be: playful, generous, faithful, loving and trivia king.
And last but not least, my amazing husband. He is playful, trusting, loving, selfless, willing and honest. I am so blessed to be among such wonderful Patriarchs.

Happy Father's Day!!!

I thought this was cute--Ethan put all the bikes in the trailer. :)

29 now and forever

Would I wake up feeling older and wiser?? Yeah, I think I did. My kids forgot, but once I reminded my fit thrower what day it was, the kids all remembered and showered me with hugs. My friend Joyce dropped off a goodie basket of all my favorite things and then I rushed off to the last day of swim lessons. My mom came and watched them with me, then hauled them away to her house, so I could enjoy a day of shopping and dates!

Thanks Mom!!! (the best present ever!)

Me and Travis--despite his sprained foot and the crazy hectic day at work, we laughed all night. Thanks babe for a stress free day!

Britt and I share the same bday. So fun. We spent the day laughing and shopping and eating. It was fantastic. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time....
It was almost more painful to try NOT to laugh...the pictures were hilarious, but oh my... too embarrassing for the Blog.
After dinner Travis and I headed to the movies. Our plan was to go to our favorite hotel, but plans fell through, so we pulled our mattress out to the living room and watched movies all night. It was awesome sleeping in, taking my time to get ready for the day, had brunch and then picked the kids up from my parents.
Of course the kids had a blast. And even better to have my dad there too. He's usually working when we come up to visit during the day. My mom kept them busy making bday cards and father's day card and even took them out shopping to find us gifts! They were sad to leave....
My mom also made me a cake. I know it sounds silly, but it's so nice to have a cake on your bday-- It just completes it. I must say 29 candles were quite hard to blow out!
Another fun thing was all the birthday wishes on Facebook. It was so fun checking my email and seeing so many friends comments. Thanks!!

I WON'T mention that Travis' family ALL forgot (except his parents) as well as my ONLY brother and one sister...but hey...I'm getting old...which means so are they...it's hard to keep up! ;)

Swimmin with Friends

We went over to our friends, the Purdys for dinner and swimming! The pool was awesome because it was heated and salt water. As I said in the Swim Lessons post, Bubs has come a long way and this pic is proof! He's swimming!!!!!!Poor Travis--I haven't cut his hair in ages and the kids were climbing all over him and so he usually had some funky hairstyle going on. It made me laugh, so I had to photograph it. :)
He did all sorts of tricks with Kaylin. My favorite one was of her on his shoulders, but I had the video camera for that one.

Cute girlies enjoying a swim with Daddy.

Swimming with Mika. When she doesn't have her little floaty jacket she's fearless. Constantly pushing away thinking she can swim all by herself and needing a rescuer on hand.

Me and my girl Kenda.

Slip N Slide

Who knew how fun a slip n slide could be?? Ethan did all sorts of fun tricks and jumps. It was very entertaining.
Kaylin just loves being in the water. It really doesn't matter what she is doing!
Mika was content to be in the kiddie pool with Grandma. :)
Angie and her little fam came up to swim with us too. We went over to my mom's friends house where they had a great pool for us to spend the afternoon swimming and showing Grandma all of the kids' new tricks from swimming lessons. (sorry no pics, I was in the water too)

Bath Time at Grandma's is one of the kid's favorite things to do in her giant jet tub. After the kids all the decided to tickle the tickle bug, Henry. I love this pic with him surrounded by tickling hands.

Swim Lessons

The kids took swim lesson with Miss Amber the past 2 weeks. They were awesome!! Kaylin was a Seal. She learned how to freestyle and dive.

She did so well and loved Miss Amber.

Ethan's class was called Frogs. He was very scared at first. He didn't want to dunk his head or be with out some kind of floaty. He was sad the first 2 days but stuck it out anyway. He was a champ.
By the end of the classes, he knows knows how to swim on his back alone, go under water and swim with goggles, jump off the diving board with out floaties and swim to the side.

So proud of this little man and how far he's come.

Mika and Ethan playing a game on my phone while Kaylin's class was swimming. So cute. I love their blond little heads.
Mika's class was the Minnows. She literally screamed the first whole week. I felt bad for Miss Amber (she's even her teacher at church) as she wouldn't sit on the step and wait for her turn with out me there, and would immediately start crying once her turn came. But by the 2nd week her screaming stopped. It was wonderful.
But she still doesn't like the noodle. It would scare her because she decided twice she didn't need it and went under both times.
The first week all the spectators would laugh because when there was silence, we knew Mika was about to go under the water. She'd stop crying, shut her eyes tight and hold her breath.
Now when we swim as a family, she scares me half to death. She loves the water and tries to do the strokes and stunts like the older kids.

Thanks Miss Amber for the great swim lessons! We may put Kaylin in another round to learn breast and backstroke. What a great start to the summer!

Movies at the Park

On Friday we went to the movies at the Avenues. It was really hot, but tons of fun. They had free face painting, a jump house, bubbles and played Alvin the Squeakwell. We went with a few friends and had a really great time.

Ethan and Gage got snakes!

Kaylin and Savannah got butterflies....

They do this a few times this summer. Looking forward to many more movies at the park with friends....I love summer....

Lily Bug is 3!

My little niece Lily turned 3! We headed down to Macon for her birthday bash! She was so happy to see her bubby (Ethan), loved all her presents (she's sporting her boots and umbrella from Mimi), and her yummy pull-apart Dora cake! The best of friends, they are so cute together....

Grandma Wendy (GG to Lily) came down too! We were thrilled to see her!
I love this pic of Kaylin. I think her eyes are gorgeous. Poor Kaylin sprained her ankle walking down a climbing slide. She sat on the bench with Grandma Wendy for a while. We had some nice friends of Angie's that helped us know how to Dr her. She was a trooper.
After the party we went with the Hayes' to their awesome pool. Ang and Henry are enjoying the kiddie pool.
My kids loved the slide--Lily too! After going down slow the first time, Travis decided to speed things up a bit and fly down it, holding Mika up when he flew into the water. Of course, she LOVED it.
Kaylin went by herself and squealed everytime she came into the water out of pure excitement. She loved it and could have gone down it all day.
Sorry bubs, I only had pink floaties today. He was much more cautious on the slide, but after the first time, he decided it was fun after all.
Thanks for a great day Ang and fam! And Happy Birthday Lily Bug!