Some favorite pics from Pawley's

We had a GREAT summer vacation in Pawley's Island over the 4th of July. Our good friends Cathy and Jeff Roberson and Jeff's brother's family go every year over the 4th, and so does my friend Alicia Summers and her extended family. Our kids had so much fun on this trip in large part due to the fact that there were always other kids to play with. It was the best vacation we have ever had as a family by a long shot. These photos are just a few that showcase the fun we had.


Becca took this picture of us. I think it's pretty good. Art and celebrated our 15th anniversary on the 3rd, and we're still going strong!


The last day we were there, Ryan and I (and later the big girls) dug a humungous hole and then created a tunnel big enough for all the kids to crawl through to get to another hole. It was a lot of work, but a ton of fun too.



Morgan is 7 and she and Rebecca became fast friends during the week. Everyone thought they were sisters on the beach because of the blond hair.

Love this picture of Ryan even though it's blurry. It totally captures his personality. Always laughing and always in motion. He was playing hide and seek at the time.

We got the kids boogie boards for this trip, and both them spent hours riding the waves at the beach. It was a great investment.

Missing Teeth

Becca lost not one but TWO teeth while we were on vacation. Very exciting. It was explained to her by our good friends Cathy and Jeff Roberson that when you lose your teeth on vacation the tooth fairy brings you double the money and triple if you lose it on a holiday. (Thanks for that, by the way.) After she heard that, she wiggled her top tooth relentlessly till it came out. The bottom one came out a few days later, so ended up with a total of $5 from the tooth fairy. $1 for losing the tooth, $1 for losing it on vacation, and $1 for losing it on a holiday.

Pawley's Island Parade

Every 4th of July, the town of Pawley's Island sponsors a small parade. Anyone can be in the parade for $5, and families use trailers, their cars, boats, and more to decorate in all different themes. Many of the people on the floats throw candy to the kids watching the parade, so our kids were psyched about that...especially Ryan. We told him to say "Happy Fourth of July" to all the people coming by so that they would think he was cute and give him more candy. He shouted
it at the top of lungs to each and every passerby until each person acknowledged him and said it back to him as well. He ended up with a ton of candy as everyone thought he was entirely too cute.

Butterfly Exhibit

A traveling exhibit about butterflies is at our local museum for the summer, and the kids and I visited one extremely hot and humid day to escape the heat. It was a ton of fun, and we'll definitely be going back.

Here is Rebecca being careful not to touch the "hairs" of the caterpillar.


Here is Ryan pretending to fly like a butterfly on a modified zip line.

Here is Becca showing off her pretty colors and trying to get a mate!

The kids are climbing on a spider web of sorts- trying not to get caught by the spider!

In their cocoons!

Grandmommy

When Grandmommy comes for a visit, ineveitably, the kids end up snuggled on the couch with her to read a good book. I have dozens of pictures of the kids with my mom on a couch or a chair o a bed reading books. Both kids tell me that reading books with Grandmommy is their favorite thing to do together.

Wiles Water Day

The last week of school, the Kindergarten classes have a Water Day. There were 7 stations set up around the Kindergarten building all with different themes. The kids had sooo soo much fun splashing and squirting each other, but by far the favorite station was the shaving cream station where the kids smothered themselves in shaving cream.

Last day of Kindergarten

Parents were invited to come in to Becca's class on the last day of Kindergarten for a little presentation. The kids all sand "I've been Going to Kindergarten" to the tune of "She'll be Comin Round the Mountain." Then, each child came to the rocking chair and read a piece they wrote about their favorite thing about Kindergarten. Rebecca's was catching the big catfish at the fisheries a few weeks earlier.



Rebecca had a WONDERFUL Kindergarten year and a WONDERFUL Kindergarten teacher. Rebecca cried several times during the last week of school because she was so sad about not being able to see her teacher and friends. After school let out, I would often catch her staring at the class picture and then walk away moping. We can only hope that next year she has such a positive experience.

Becca's Ballet Recital

Becca's ballet class performed a piece to "Favorite Things" from Sound of Music. Grandmommy flew down from CT just to see it, and we all thought that Becca was a beautiful ballerina. Sorry the video isn't any better...Becca is one of the tallest kids in the group- so not too hard to find in there. I'm not sure that she loves ballet- she could take or leave it I think. So, we're thinking about maybe trying something else this year like gymnastics. She did LOVE watching all the other dancers, and Grandmommy and Becca and I stayed till the very end of the performance to watch all the performances.