4th of July Weekend at Shakamak

It seems our 4th of July plans are never quite the same, but we always have a great weekend (usually camping somewhere)! This year, we went camping at Shakamak. Since Alex was a kid, his parents have enjoyed camping with his aunt and uncle and their boys. We were ALL able to camp together this weekend.

The whole crew- Adam, Tristen, Alex, Lou, & Marv in back. Andre holding Gabe, Mandi, Tim, Krista, Tera w/Brynna, Jenn w/Brent, Trista, Brad, Janet, & Mervin in the middle. Ella, Braylee, Addison, Sydney, and Brody in front.

These boys have lots of camping memories from over the years.
Adam, Brad, Andre', Tim, and Alex

We spent most of the weekend at the pool. The big girls and dads spent a ton of time on the slide and diving boards while the moms and little ones stayed mostly in the "beach" area.

Brynna's patriotic piggies

Tracee, the twins, and my niece & nephew came over to swim with us on Saturday afternoon. We had just went down the slide...Hadlee loved it, Kooper hated it! ;)

My parents' grandkids: Emilee, Hadlee, Brynna, Ely, Braylee, & Kooper

We went to Sullivan Saturday evening to watch the fireworks.

The chaos of taking a walk/bike ride with lots of little kids. :)
Brody, Braylee, Sydney, Trista, and Addison...the others weren't in the mood for photos.

Gramma Lou brought squirt bottles for the kids...a big hit, especially with Annabelle!


The kids made patriotic crowns and decorated their bikes.
When we got home Monday evening, we went over to Gramma and Pappy's fire pit for more fun.The girls with Uncle Adam and Tristen

I'm so thankful for the friendship these 4 girls share.

We found our own little spot to watch the fireworks too. While searching for the right spot, we had quite the adventure on the golf carts...just ask Braylee.

Now for some random things...

The girls found these panda jammies and just had to have them. They said it would show their new sister how much they love her.

We helped Eli celebrate his 1st birthday! Mandy did such a cute job decorating.
Braylee made a Chinese take-out container at daycare. She told me she made it for her new sister and put Chinese food in it. Sure enough...I opened it up and there was Chinese food inside!
The girls made yogurt pops by sticking a spoon in the top of a yogurt and letting it freeze. Such a healthy and fun snack!

Par 3

When Alex and I were in college, we used to golf at Howell Par 3, a little golf course near campus. Back in May, we had planned a day to take the girls golfing there but it rained. We finally had the opportunity on Saturday, and we had the best time! The weather was perfect!

Braylee with her new golf clubs
What did Brynna do while we were golfing, you ask? Oh...she twirled some flags,

posed for some pictures...
and did a little bit of "putting." (She has to swing hard with that plastic club!)
Mostly, she just hung around. :)

Braylee was proud of finishing her 1st official 9 holes of golf! She didn't give up. Alex offered to let her tee off and then pick up her ball and take it to the green to shorten her play, but she declined and continued to hit her ball all the way to the green. She's an impatient putter though. ;)

Daddy and his girls

Here's a big flashback to 11 years ago! Abbie and I golfing at Howell Park. Don't ya just love my high-waisted shorts?!

Girls Weekend- Plus Kooper :)

The fathers in our lives didn't mind too much that we happened to have a Girls Weekend over Father's Day. I think they were secretly excited about golfing, watching the U.S. Open, fishing or whatever. :) My mom, sisters, and I met up in Nashville where my youngest sister Trista lives.

Brynna, Kooper, Hadlee, and Braylee

Kooper got his little fingers pinched in a sliding door. We improvised and used the water in his sippy cup to soothe them. He stopped crying instantly!

Sunday, we went to the Nashville Zoo. We had a blast (except for dripping sweat because it was so humid at the end of the day)! The only bad thing is we didn't realize the tours in the historic home closed early. We walked up to the house at 4:35 and the last tour was at 4:30. :( We did enjoy walking around the property though as we all love history stuff. The gardens were beautiful.

Grassmere Estate

The zoo had a huge "Jungle Gym." The girls loved it!
They loved the sprinklers too. :)
And their snake souvenir.

After the zoo, we went downtown to walk around and eat dinner. I was feeling bad at this point for leaving Alex at home since I know how much he loves being in a city.

Braylee- outside "The Stage" where Trista was in a Hank Williams Jr. video when she was in high school.

Monday, we just hung out at the pool and then drove home that evening. We were only about 30 minutes away from Trista's apartment when Braylee said she missed Hadlee and Kooper already. She loves them so much.

Just a few pictures from last week...

My girls LOVE swimming at the neighbor's house.

Lillie had spent the night and it rained, so we did indoor crafts instead...painted-macaroni necklaces.

The girls love to watch "Minute to Win It" on TV. They also like coming up with their own challenges. :)

Sweet Summertime

Summertime is here and we are loving it! We are soaking up our time together. Braylee finished up another year of softball and really enjoyed volleyball camp this week. The girls and I have been spending a lot of time in the water and slurping slushies but I haven't taken many pictures. Just a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks...

Silly girls playing in the rain

I love Ella's expression as the little girls listened to Braylee.

At the park on Memorial Day

Swimming at Loogootee with friends
Braylee is in red, playing third base

We bought a little pool for the back patio.

Golfing lessons with Daddy

Learning to serve over-handed

Miss Braylee has patiently been waiting to lose a tooth since most of her friends have already reached this milestone. Momma was happy she hadn't lost a tooth yet because I just love her gorgeous and contagious smile! But alas...the day has finally come that her little teeth are wiggling! On Monday, she complained that her teeth hurt when she bit into an apple but I didn't think much of it until she complained again that evening when she bit into her corn on the cob. She was sooo excited to have a loose tooth! She now has 3 loose teeth but I told her it may take awhile for them to actually come out. I wanted to make sure I remembered her sweet smile just the way it started, so we had a little photo shoot one day.

"I have a loose tooth!"

I promise I'm not tickling her...she was probably laughing at one of her own jokes! ;)

Love you, sweetheart!

Miss Brynna said, "I want to figure out how to get a loose tooth." :) She wants to be a big girl just like Braylee but I assured her her time will come.

The girls headed out on a camping trip with Gramma and Pappy tonight. We are already anxious to go meet up with them tomorrow.