Summer Photo Dump

Clearly, I am way behind in blogging, so I wanted to do a photo dump of our amazing summer trip to see my family. We didn't do anything extraordinary, but we don't have to--our little shopping trips, swimming, dad's pizza, singing together and a sunset on the beach (plus all the little things in-between) made it more than perfect. We also gave my sister her bridal shower while we were there which turned out elegant and gorgeous-just like her-so I'll be posting about that soon!

A family night for dinner and ice cream (Abotts custard is to die for)

After spending the day working on shower preparation. Sister time is precious to me.

My Mom's side of the family had a reunion while I was there. Grandma and a great-Aunt led many rounds of BINGO ;)

Looking far from glamorous while baking the best-ever chocolate chip cookies (as in, 4 dozen were gone in an hour)

Why do all of our pictures involve food?! Anyway, my dad's pizza is an unspeakable gift that must be documented. It's perfection.

Like I said. Perfection.

This guy cut 4 teeth all at once while we were there and wasn't even fussy! He's such an easy going baby. I'm so blessed!

The cousins played outside all.day.long. for hours and hours. Clothing and shoes optional.

These 2 became much closer this year

Greg let Nate use his corvette for a few days and the guys were loving it!

Shopping, lunch, coffee, sisters. Nothing better!

Pretty crazy to see all of the little boys together (even crazier to hear them all together, I can assure you), especially with my parents who were surrounded by 99.9% girls their whole lives. haha!

My Mom is such an amazing Grandma (Nonnie as the kids call her). They love her so much and she cherishes them each individually.

A few days before we left, we had our family pictures taken at the beach. I've seen a few previews and they are stunning... I will definitely be sharing them here once I get them all! My sister took this while our photographers were taking some shots of Nate and I and I just love it!

There are so many more I could share but I didn't want to blast you after so long of not blogging! We have enjoyed our summer immensely; between 2 of my sisters visiting and obviously our nice vacation to visit them, we were surrounded by family and it was so special!

 We start school this next week. We'll be homeschooling this year so I have 2 in school for the first time. We'll be doing the Abeka dvd's which will give me a little bit of time and sanity in-between to work with Nathan on pre-school (very light) and keep up with the house. This will be a big change for Joe who had a few hours of Kindergarten last year and was free the rest of the day. I'm hoping that he will do ok sitting for that long. We shall see! :)

 I'm hoping to be back soon to share my sister's bridal shower, and Nicolas' birthday.

 Have a great week!

Spring Break

Sorry for the long blog absence! It's been a full, busy, beautiful 2 weeks.

 2 weeks ago started our spring break week and we enjoyed every day to the fullest. We went to the park, out to ice cream, on walks and shopping. It was so nice not having to rush to bed time or worry about hours of homework every day.

 At the end of the week, we drove to Dallas to spend a night in a hotel and go to the zoo. On the way I texted a friend and she recommended the Fort Worth zoo and said that downtown Fort Worth  was beautiful. We took her recommendation, got an amazing deal on a downtown suite (they upgraded us for free!) and walked around downtown. I've never been there and it was absolutely lovely! I would love to go back someday and really enjoy it and take it all in! It was a little chilly and the kids were hungry, so we didn't get to walk around quite as much as I would have wanted to ;) but what we did see was still gorgeous. It was like a quaint little town in the middle of skyscrapers--really unexpected!

We came across a little cajun restaurant that was reasonable and delicious! The seafood gumbo was so good!

Back at our hotel, we spent a little time in the indoor hot tub and then got the kids ready for bed and a movie. They were so cute and happy all cozy on the couch. :)

The hotel had the most amazing free breakfast buffet I have ever seen. Cooked to order omelets and pancakes and every other breakfast item you could ever want. Of course we took full advantage of it, including sneaking some muffins for snacks later. haha. Nate and I took turns working out while the other watched the kids, so having a little alone time was nice as well.

I don't even know where to start about the Fort Worth zoo. It was spectacular. I felt like I was out in the jungle with the animals rather than viewing them in captivity. I LOVE the zoo, maybe even more than the kids do, so I was in my glory all day. We realized afterwards that it's one of the top zoos in America--no wonder we were so impressed!

After 5 hours of walking close to 6 miles (yes, it's huge) we were starving and chowed down on burgers and fries before heading home!

The next day we headed to the next little town over to play at the park, ride bikes and dip toes in the water. We spent nap time in a little bookstore where Nathan and Nicolas slept while we read to the older two. Of course, frozen yogurt was involved as well.

We all crashed hard on Sunday afternoon. It was truly one of the most relaxing, memorable weeks we've had as a family, and even though we only went out of town for 1 night, the whole week felt like a vacation.

The Great Family Vacation of 2015

  You can't choose the family that you're born into or raised in and you don't really think about it growing up. At least I didn't. As the oldest of 9, I got a new baby doll to play with every few years (AKA a new sibling) and we all played together every day, we schooled together, fought, ate together, talked and made memories. Of course, at the time, it was just life and we had no idea the great memories we were making.

 At 18 I got together with my first and only boyfriend and after a little while it became clear that we couldn't live without each other and would get married, which meant I would move far away to Texas. Suddenly, the family that I spent every day with and didn't think much about (although we were close and loved each other fiercely) became treasured jewels. Every day spent with them was a day closer to the long awaited wedding day, but one less day to live under the same roof and I tried to value it the best I could while being madly in love with my man.

 Fast forward to marriage. Less than 2 months into it my sister visited, and the visits haven't stopped. Thousands of dollars spent over the past 8 1/2 years on traveling to see each other. People marvel that we see each other "so often" as they say, but really, a few weeks here and there throughout the year with the family you spent every day of your life with is nothing. I don't take a minute of it for granted and love our concentrated time together. 

 A year ago my dad emailed us while still on their vacation. "We rented again for next year. We'll be here if you guys want to come". My grandparents winter in a gorgeous, quiet trailer park (for ages 55+) that we vacationed in growing up. My parents try to go once a year and rent their own trailer. Within a few days of the email, I called them and I'm sure they could hear me beaming. "We rented number 409," I said. It was still a whole year away and seemed like forever to wait, but perfect time for us to save and plan for a 2 week vacation spent with my heart and soul: family. 

 This post is picture heavy, so be prepared...

 The best thing about where we stay is the huge pool that is hardly occupied, or if it is, it's a few older people who have all grown to love our family from my dad's preaching and our singing over the years. It's a free way to keep the kids occupied all day long, and we all get to sit in the sun and chat--one of our favorite things to do as a family!

My Grandma turned the big 8-0 while we were there, (I know, she doesn't look or act it!) so we all got to celebrate together one night. We loved getting to spend time with them and for our kids to get to know them better!

And speaking of my grandparents, my Grandma works at Disney World and was able to get us all free tickets. I'm not gonna lie--I love me some Mickey and Minnie and princesses. We all do, actually. Going there 2 separate days was so fun and special, and of course the kids loved every second of it! The first day we went with Greg and Claire so that all the kids could be together and it was such a blast. My Mom and Grandparents also got to spend the day with us, just to see the kids reactions to everything. ;)

 Here Nathan was quite offended that we were getting a picture instead of getting on the ride. Ha! This picture was just too classic not to share.

The lighting wasn't the greatest, but a picture in front of Cinderella's castle is a must!

His first visit!

Cousin love waiting for the parade...

The second time we went, it was just us and we spent our day at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. It was really special to spend a day with just us and I think Nate and I locked eyes 100 times throughout the day, saying without words, "we are so blessed. How are these beautiful children ours?!"

The safari at Animal Kingdom is so incredible and we saw several different species up close and personal. We could have reached out and touched the zebras!

Nicolas was unimpressed 

Most of our time was spent either at the pool, eating ice cream at the best soft serve place ever, or shopping. The entire time was completely relaxing with a perfect amount of fun mixed in.

One night we drove toa quaint little town called Celebration, sipping coffees and chatting while we walked around. Perfect evening!

This picture... Joel's missing shoe (that was never found), Joe wearing one of his Aunt's sweaters, Michael and Nathan's faces... BOYS! All I wanted was a cute picture of them in front of the fountain, and this is what I got, which was better than a boring old pose anyway and deserves to be framed. ;)

Love these girls...and just missing Julia :(

OK. So it's no secret that our family loves food probably more than 99% of the families in the world. Soft serve ice cream is no exception and when it's ridiculously cheap and a 1 minute drive from where you are staying...it becomes an almost nightly event!

We headed to Downtown Disney one night where the kids (and me ;) got to spend part of the Christmas money they had saved.

Aunt Nicolea with the love of her life

On our last night, we took one more walk to take in the beauty one last time. Growing up I loved this place, and I will always love it. Now my husband and kids love it too and it will always hold a very special place in our hearts.

We arrived home exactly the way you are supposed to from a vacation: completely refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. Which was good, because 8AM the next morning had me calling the Dr. to schedule a visit for a very sick little baby. Right now we're knee deep in hand sanitizer, fevers, runny noses, coughs and cuddles galore, feeling very thankful we're home to deal with it!