Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Forts, Fireworks and Fruit

Iron man, Hulk and Wonder-woman, I guess, headed down to the creek to play in their "fort" in the rain. 
Ironman protecting his city with a big stick
The hulk shooting all of the bad guys with his big bazooka! 
I am glad that Ryan's hunting tent can serve as a pop-up play fort for the kids.
 Fourth of July:
Kylie, Reed and Braden eating at Cracker Barrel on the 4th.
We went to the Karkau's for our church class 4th of July party. The kids had a great time swimming, sliding down the bounce house, launching water balloons, shooting fireworks and of course, sparklers! 
If you ever need to kill time with your kids, get some cardboard and washable paint to entertain them for a while. Who doesn't love to paint their body:-) 
Blackberry Picking with Dad:
This is me at the beginning of my 4 hour long picking. I did this several days on my brother's farm. I love to put up blackberries and especially use them for homemade blackberry jam! 
This is your worst nightmare when picking blackberries. I thought I was going to cry when I droppped my bucket going down the hill on the 4wheeler. I salvaged as many as I could. 
At least this is my view when picking for hours. Can you spot my dad?!! 
VBS with Charley's church:
 Free food at Chik-fil-A if you dressed up like a cow! 
Can we PLEASE freeze time! Kylie, Braden and Reed are such blessings and a lot of fun. We have not been "involved" in any organized sport so far but the kids have definitely gotten to be kids this summer. They pretty much fill each day with any activity that is permitted outside such as swimming, riding bikes(which Braden taught himself how to do in June), making forts, catching lightning bugs, and the list could go on and on. I would really be okay with freezing them right now but I know that the future holds many more wonderful memories that we will all make as a family.    

Summer Happenings in June

It's been a great summer and the kids are having so much fun. We are definitely staying busy with our friends and family though the weeks. Here are a few things that we did during June:
Vacation Bible School 
Ella Tate, Reed, Ford and Braden
 Charley, Kylie, Bennett and Wright
Slumber party after VBS one night with Charley
Gatlinburg with Friends 
CeCe, Kylie and Camille
Braden, Reed, Harris and Colton
It started raining on us in Dollywood and the kids, with no prompting by us, all decided that they would ride the water down the sidewalk.
Hiking on Saturday: The Whites, Crawfords, Karkaus and Watsons.
CMA Fest with friends: