Swim lessons

Bryce decided he wanted to learn to dive and learn some swim strokes this summer.  Our neighborhood pool (our second home this summer!) offered an 8 session 45 minute swim class for all levels the hour before the pool opened.  Perfect for us!  I was only going to put Bryce in but CeCe decided she wanted to take lessons too so I signed them both up.  It turned out to be wonderful for them both.  Bryce now has a great dive and the two teachers are very impressed with his backstroke! CeCe didn't get so far, but I wasn't expecting her to.  She will now at least put her mouth and nose in and blow bubbles and she enjoyed swimming around with the teacher.  It was only Bryce, CeCe and another little 5 year old girl so they pretty much had private lessons! 



Psyching himself up to dive off the dive blocks....

 This is the closest he came all week!  His dive is perfect from the side, but get him up much on either the dive blocks or diving board and he just can't do it!  I know he'll get it one day though!  Once he sets his mind to something, watch out!!

Day trip to Charleston, SC

Sunday morning we woke up and decided to go to Charleston for the day.  We decided at 8:15 and were in the car on the way by 9:00.  It was very spur of the moment, but ended up being so much fun!  We had lunch at a great place in Mt. Pleasant (across a river from downtown Charleston) and then took a ferry to Fort Sumter.  It was HOT outside yesterday but once the ferry started it felt great.  It was a 30 minute ferry ride out there and back which was a great way to see some of the Charleston harbor. 

We caught the ferry at Patriots Point. There was a huge battleship museum there too.  That is on our list next time we get to Charleston.  It looked awesome!

These two were super excited to see Fort Sumter!

I love that CeCe gets excited about her brother's obsessions too.  She just likes being out and about!

At the Fort.  Ft. Sumter is where the Civil War began, so very cool for Bryce.  

After the ferry ride back to the car, we drove around downtown Charleston while CeCe snoozed.  We parked after about 30 minutes and decided to walk around and find some ice cream.  This is what we found!  How neat!  She was so excited to get her favorite food, ice cream at a place named CeCe's! 

We also walked through a downtown market type place and found a place with smocked doll clothes.  REALLY?  She and I were so excited!  We let her pick out one dress and she was so excited to get back to the car to try it on her baby. 

It was such a fun spur of the moment day.  I'm so excited the kids are up for days like this.  We will definitely be doing more of these little trips!!

Our next visitors

The next Friday our friends from Pensacola (who now live near Atlanta) arrived!  We miss Robin, Steve, James (3.5) and Sam (2.5) and love spending time with them.  The kids had a blast playing together!

As soon as they got here on Friday afternoon, we went straight to the beach!  James and Sam love the beach as much as Bryce and CeCe do!

They had so much fun playing together! Inside

and outside!

Sam loves babies as much as CeCe does so they had a blast playing babies together. 

Saturday morning Steve had an adventure planned for all of us.  Waiting....

To go kayaking!  SUCH FUN!!!  Each family could fit on one kayak which made this a cheap, fun, awesome adventure for everyone. 



We rowed out to Little Tybee Island.  An island just off Tybee that you can only access by boat. 

We were out at low tide which was awesome.  So much to look at and explore. 

Next we rowed to a sandbar between the two islands and swam in the shallow water which was perfect for all the kids.  No pictures from that, too much fun and water involved!

Visitors!

A few days after my parents left our next visitors arrived....The Hill family!  Anthony's sister Tracy, her husband Dave and their son Daniel (7) drove from Huntsville on July 4th to visit with us.  We had fun showing them around Wilmington Island, Tybee, and downtown.  Daniel, Bryce and Dave had lots of fun on their boogie boards at the beach, but I don't have any pictures from that day.  We went to the neighborhood pool one afternoon too, but again no pictures!  I do have a few of the kids playing with water balloons one afternoon.  I bought a bag of 250 in Olive Branch and we have been using them all summer so far.  The kids love it! 

Daniel

Bryce's new thing is to play water balloon baseball!

'I'm out of water balloons!'

Friday night we went to the Savannah Sand Gnats baseball game.  It was so much fun!! The stadium is wonderful.  We are going back for another game this weekend.  

Saturday night Anthony, CeCe and I went to a wedding for one of Anthony's coworkers daughters.  Bryce decided to stay here with his cousin and aunt and uncle but CeCe was excited to get dressed up and go to a party!  She LOVED dancing at the reception!  It was so cute and reminded me of our nephew Chandler at our reception! (who is now 16, wow!!)

Cappy and Papaw Ruff in Savannah

Wednesday the 27th we left the lake and headed back to Savannah.  My parents followed us to be there for CeCe's party.  Thursday we headed to Tybee.  We went to the southern most part of Tybee at a friend's recommendation and loved it!  We hit it at low tide and there were tidal pools and sand bars everywhere.  Great water for wading and swimming. 

The night before the birthday party, Cappy gave CeCe a mani and pedi

My dad has a bruised toenail that CeCe doesn't like so she asked Papaw if she could paint it yellow(his favorite color).  He is a good sport!  Cappy let CeCe paint all of her fingernails and toenails pink but I don't have a picture of that masterpiece!  

Lake

We left my parents house on Friday the 22nd and drove to the lake.  Anthony met us there that night and Blakeley, Hunter and the Js got there that afternoon. 

A full swing!  I don't think we will have room for 5 on here!

We got out the slip n slide again.  Bryce was the only one who really enjoyed it this time.  Jude tried but couldn't perfect his technique enough to get a good slide.  CeCe never tried and poor Jasper kept slipping and hurting himself. 

They did have fun mix mixing though!

Everyone had fun on the tube!

Except maybe Jasper!  This was a very windy and choppy day, not the best choice for tubing little ones.  CeCe stopped enjoying it soon after this picture was taken, but loved it on Monday when it was calmer. 

 The blondies and Cappy on the boat.   I love how Jasper has his arm around Cappy!

Who is surprised that we found a fort close to the lake?  :) We went to Fort Jackson/Fort Toulouse in Wetumpka, AL on Monday morning.  I'm glad we went but don't need to go back to this one. 

The only cannon we could find

There was a nice shady walking trail that we might go back to see in cooler weather

The kids had fun swimming off the dock.  Even Cappy got in (and the water was not very warm)

Sunday my Aunt and Uncle hosted a Borden family reunion at their farm.  Bryce, Jude and Jack had fun on the sled again. 

CeCe had a blast on the ponies.  Here she is trotting and giggling the whole time.  She could have stayed on that pony all day!

Her older brother was a little more nervous though!

My uncle has made a tall grassy hill for the kids to play on.  They loved sliding down on cardboard!!