Beach Time!

What do kids do at the beach? They get busy!

Even princesses know how to get their hands dirty.

Daddy gets in on the playtime action.

We met up with the Nicks for some beach time and the kids enjoyed playing with their friend Charlotte.

Daddy and his baby girl heading out to boogie.

And she's off!

Payson's turn!

Go Hayden go!

A few days later some friends rented a cabana and we spent the majority of the day at the beach. 

Once again, the kids played like they were paid to do so!

Hayden was all smiles as she took a water break.

The post-storm waves on this day were big. Here's the before shot of Keith and Hayden playing in the waves...

And the after! 

We were all exhausted after a fun day at the beach and Madison couldn't even make it 5 minutes in the trailer before she conked out. We sure played hard on this trip!

Painting Watercolor

We made our second annual trip to Watercolor, Florida with some family friends of ours and we had a blast! I flew there alone with the kids (I'm gettin' pretty good at it!) and it didn't take long to jump into the activities. Day 1, the kids made their own stepping stones poolside! It was so wonderful to have three swimmers on our hands and made the time at the pool much more enjoyable and fun!

Daddy joined us that evening and the following day we spent a few fun hours Yolo Boarding (paddle boarding) with the kids onboard. Here's Daddy and Payson paddling in. But what's that on the back of his board?

It's Madison!

Karaoke time! (Friends Morgan and Anna with Payson and Hayden in the middle.)

We spent a lot of time doing this. In lieu of renting a car this year we opted for bikes. We rode everywhere!

We had two adult bikes, each with a trailer, and one bike with training wheels that the kids rotated riding. To my surprise the kid bike was all the rage and the kids asked to ride it constantly!

But, there were a lot of falls (think distance, gravel, distractions, oncoming bikers, etc.) so I was sure glad that there was only one riding at a time. I can only imagine the number of falls there would have been had there been two or three 4-year-olds to run each other off the road!

 Kids table - Jack, Payson, Madison, Anna, Claire and Hayden.

After a long day at the beach Madison took some down time out on the front patio while the sun set before her.

Movie night!

Our last day we took in one last delicious meal.

When we happened upon this little bench Madison said, "Let's pretend we are reading" and they sat down and turned make-believe pages. Then she said, "Let's pretend that we're on our iPads" so they began tapping their hands. So funny!

Duckies! Hayden loved the children's store called Duckies and she was so excited to get her own t-shirt to wear like the big girls she saw around the beach.

And of course we made several visits to Frost Bites for the best Root Beer Float ever and some delicious snow cones and ice cream!

Afros and Rainbows

The heat is on and it was time for some indoor summer fun so we took Grandma, the kids and their cousins, Addison and Avery, to see Madagascar3 at the theater. They had such a great time together there and at lunch beforehand. Madison and Avery were ready for the Afro Circus ("...polka dot polka dot polka dot afro!").

Madison, Hayden and Payson acting silly alongside the Brave triplets!

This was the first time that the kids really liked 3D. The technology has come a long way and the glasses were finally a good fit.

Good times with Grandma!

Last night the kids saw their very first rainbow! I'm surprised by that but I guess it's all about being in the right place at the right time. Looks like the pot of gold is at the neighborhood water tower!

Here's the other side of the rainbow.

In other random news, we have started a new reward system. We previously have been to using "Happy" jars and "Sad" jars. Each jar would start out with equal amounts of fuzzy balls and as the kids made wise choices, they would get to move fuzzy balls into their happy jar and if they made poor choices then they went into their sad jar. Once the happy jar was full (and the sad empty) the kids got to pick an outing with mom or dad (such as ice cream or donut shop) or choose a surprise gift. It worked pretty well but, as with all reward systems, they eventually lose their excitement.

Now I have dreamed up a much more complicated system but the kids are excited about it. We have individual charts where the kids can earn stickers for things such as getting dressed right away, getting buckled right away and being obedient at bedtime. If they earn six stickers in a single day then they get to put an ice cream scoop on their cone. Once their cone has nine scoops and whipped cream on top they get to go out for ice cream!

Then we have a Fruit of the Spirit Basket. This has foam fruit stickers that are awarded to the kids when they show the various qualities and behaviors listed on the stickers (Kindness, Self-Control, Love, Patience and Gentleness). It's a community chart so once it is full the whole family will get a reward to share together. I love the teamwork and verbal encouragement that it brings out in the kids.

With that I will leave you with our six little feet! Whose feet are whose?

Red, White and Blue

We had a great 4th of July with neighborhood friends. We started with a splash party with friends which doubled as a birthday party for our dear housekeeper and family friend.

We contributed some festive fruit and treats which the kids loved!

Hayden swinging just before piñata time!

 After the piñata went down, Payson turned one of the stars' five ends into a party hat!

At the fireworks show, Hayden and Haley got creative with their glow-in-the-dark necklaces. Once the show and the synchronized music began, Hayden was on her feet dancing to the beat for almost the entire show!

Then on Saturday morning, Payson and Daddy headed out to have breakfast with Spiderman! We gave Payson a new stuffed Spidey and a mask in celebration of getting to meet the super hero for the first time. Payson was so excited!

Payson had all sorts of questions beforehand like how can Spiderman talk through his mask, will he spin his web inside (and, if not, can he go outside so he could watch him do it), why is he in town and how did I find out he was going to be here. We were able to answer all of his questions to his satisfaction. But he often says that he is Superman so he had to work out in his mind how they both could be Spiderman. He concluded that he could be Spiderman (taking the current one's place) when he's bigger and that he's not big enough to save people yet and that's why he can't shoot webs yet. Oh the imagination of a child - I love it!

Bring Your Kids To Work Day

Keith's office hosted a Bring Your Kids To Work Day which is something that the kids really look forward to every year. His office hosts various family events on-site, so they are often asking when they can go to another party.

The office is a playground for the kids with dry erase boards (the markers work on the glass walls too), candy and cereal dispensers and lots of crafts and activities for the kids including face painting and a balloon twisting. Jack and Payson transformed into pirates!

 Anna and Hayden became butterflies.

And Madison was a princess (as usual) and Claire got a ladybug.

Back on the home front, Nunie took the kids to our golf course for a WTGA event and the girls sported their custom hats that she made for them.

Charles, a best friend of mine since high school, joined us for a swim and to hang out before he moves away. We will miss our Cha-la!

The kids have had swimming lessons for several weeks and have been worn out! They are still taking naps but only about 4 days a week now and I have to cap them at 2 or 2 1/2 hours to protect bed time. This is the scene I found one morning when Hayden was missing from her room. She had a bad dream and went to sleep with Payson. So sweet!

Grandma still comes over for weekly visits and the kids cherish their time with her. Here she is reading Payson his personalized baseball book that she gave him.

Daddy has taught Payson how to make coffee and it really benefits the both of them. He loves to help and is a hard worker. Just today he swept the back patio... just because he wanted to!

I've had a few fun nights out in recent weeks, first to the Coldplay concert. It was fabulous.

Melissa and Don joined us for dinner beforehand.

And we ran into Dan and Betsy at the show!

A few days later my SIL, Negeen, and I went to the Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour show by Cirque du Soleil. They used his vocals along with a live band and it was such a celebration of his music and life. Man, his This Is It concert would have been one amazing show.

Me and Negeen, happy, yet reflective, and a little mournful after the show. But it was a great one!