Ahhh... The Beach

This week we took a few days and headed to the beach in Ocean City, MD.  

On Wednesday and Thursday, the high temperatures were supposed to be in the upper 90's, so we took this opportunity to escape to the beach!

 Our family loves to go to the beach and just stay there all day.  

 Buddy loves to build sand castles...

and Sissy does too.

 Jon even got in on the fun by helping them out.

 Here is the final product.  

 On the second day of our trip, the sand was very hot, so the munchkins got a piggyback ride from dad.

Each one had their turn.

We had a wonderful time beating the heat at the beach.  

Happy Dad's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day and I think our munchkins did a great job making Jon feel special.

Before Jon woke up, Sissy got his Father's Day coffee mug and bowl (filled with his cereal) ready for his breakfast in the morning.  We made these for Jon two years ago for Father's Day, 2010.

 They each made Father's Day cards for him and set them next to his place setting so he'd be sure to see them as he was eating his breakfast.  Along with the cards, his gift from me was some more of his cologne.  He'd been out for some time and it was what he had requested this Father's Day!

One of Sissy's cards said, 'You will awags (always) be in my heart.'  She has such a sweet heart.

 After church, we decided to head out to a park and have a picnic lunch.  We stopped at Subway and  picked up some sandwiches before we arrived.

 The munchkins enjoying their lunch.

 Then we headed over to the playground.  They always enjoy swinging on the tire swing.

 Jon helped Buddy strengthen his arm muscles by showing him how to do some pull ups.

 Then it was Sissy's turn.

After some play time, Jon was craving some ice cream from Jimmie Cone, one of our favorite places to go in the summer!

It was a wonderful day spent all together as a family.  

Happy Father's Day, Jon!

We love you and are so thankful for you!  

A Walk in the Woods

Today the munchkins and I went to the 'Tire Swing Park,' aka Lake Needwood.  After playing at the playground for a little while, 

we decided to go for a walk in the woods.

 While we were still at the playground, we saw this 'bug' that looked like a spider with antennas.  He was crawling around quite quickly, so it was hard to get a good picture of him.

Then, we stopped by a bridge close to Lake Needwood...

 They look so grown up in this picture... when did they get so big?

 We also saw some geese enjoying the lake water

 After that, we were off to take a hike in the woods.

As we were walking, we saw a really big rock... Buddy wanted to climb up it, but I was able to talk him out of it.

Let's just say it was a bit too steep and tall for him to safely climb.

 The munchkins loved the creek along the path.  

 We saw a ladybug crawling along on a rock.

 Sissy sitting on a rock by the creek

 Buddy loved the water...

 They found a few clam shells

 As we were walking back to the car, these little mushroom-like plants along the path caught my eye.  They looked like little orange golf tees.

A beautiful wild flower 

We had a fun time walking and exploring the great outdoors this morning.  It was a wonderful late Spring day to take a walk in the woods.

Picnic Lunch

For lunch today, the munchkins and I decided to have a picnic in our backyard. 

   What a beautiful day it was to be outside and enjoy a picnic lunch. 

Donuts with Dad

Yesterday, June 8th, Jon was invited to go to 'Donuts with Dad' at Sissy's school, bright and early in the morning.

It was a special time for Jon and Sissy.  There was a raffle for some great prizes, like when I went for Muffins with Mom, but Jon was not a winner.  That's okay, he enjoyed some one on one time with his little girl and some yummy doughnuts.  Happy early Father's Day, Jon!

Change of Plans

Grandma Jean came to town on Saturday, May 26th. 

 We all had a great time celebrating Buddy's birthday and enjoying her company. 

She was planning to stay until June 5th, but her plans were changed.  Last week she started coughing a lot and by Friday night, she was having chest pains!  I took her to an emergency care clinic on Saturday morning where they did several tests to try to figure out what was wrong.  It turned out she had double pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital.  

Grandma Jean, Buddy, me and Sissy at the hospital

She stayed at the hospital until Wednesday.  Jon and I divided our time going to visit her.  The munchkins even ventured up with us a few times.

 Grandma showed the munchkins how to play concentration with a deck of cards on one of our visits.

   On Tuesday night, we brought Grandma a Krispy Kreme doughnut and the munchkins shared a powdered doughnut as well.  

 We continue to pray for Grandma Jean's recovery...

and hope she heals completely and feels all better soon!