1st Day of School 2018/2019!
Good luck little men!
Xander, 2nd Grade, Mrs. Foster
Declan, 2nd Grade, Mrs. Foster
Cache, 4th Grade, Mr. Beichler
Easton, 6th Grade (MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!!)
The rest of August was great. We always enjoy a quick dip in this cute fountain. I love the colors.
And yes, the twins are in their pajamas!
We got to love Rachel today too! She is my friend, Katie's youngest daughter. She is so cute! Her little hair cut and romper...grateful for the few girls in my life while surrounded by all boys!
Lunch with the Macphersons
Cache found this chair at Costco. He is always asking me to take him to Costco to see if his chair is still there. He wants to buy it with his own money. I haven't let him though because 1. I wonder if he will regret it (it's like $350, and yes he has the money!) and 2. He will be a total monster if someone else touches it, and how could someone resist!
And the best part of August...our Texas cousins came for a visit! My sister decided to not suffer with the road trip this year and flew here! We spent a day downtown and parked right by this cool statue of Einstein.
I always love the Vietnam Memorial.
Cute boys.
After I take the first picture, Declan says, 'mom wait, one more'...and this is what I get!
Declan photo bombing his cousins.
Gross, but my prefered way of viewing sharks.
After running out of time on our parking meter, Claire and I realized we would have to leave the kids at the museum and take a taxi the almost 2 miles back to the car. Downtown is surprisingly exhausting and everything is spread out. Here is the picture of our 8 kids waiting for us!
What the kids want to do all day!
What we made them do instead!
A good old hike up Sugarloaf Mountain.
But just one hike wasn't enough to wear all these kids out! On Saturday we drove up the Shenadoah Mountains and did a real mountain hike!
We all made it to the top!
The boys wore out Lindsey. She was so great. She taught them Ukulele, made home videos, and was a great big sister!
Going to Costco is like a field trip for my boys. Yep, those are my 7 year olds in the fridge and my 9 year old in the cart!
Declan searches all vending machines for loose change. Today he made over $1.00!
Our breakfast came alive today!
Why do I participate in community garage sales? I love to buy things at garage sales, but having your own is so painful!
I took the boys camping for the first time alone. They are getting older so I figured we could handle it. We drove about 3.5 hours to Natural Bridge. There is a cute Jellystone Campground there and it couldn't have been more perfect!
This lake was totally disgusting around the edges, but it was small and had a cool inflatable in the middle, so the boys practically lived in it! There was also a super long slide down into the lake/pond.
The sad inflatable mountain kept deflating and eating up the boys.
We camped right by the James River and the water was awesome - not too cold, not too fast. And there was a cool rock wall where the kids could float down and it was so fun.
Not a bad view while roasting marshmallows.
Easton before and after realizing I was taking his picture for no reason :)
We had awesome weather until we didn't. One terribly wet afternoon.
We decided to go on a drive and find dinner. We ate on the covered porch of a church.
I borrowed Katie's cot and it was amazing. The kids kept trying to steal it.
The camp also had some fun activities, including this ridiculous bubble machine. And yes, my kids totally hogged it!
And why do they call the area Natural Bridge...
Ta-Da!
They have an old village, bat caves, and a mysterious cave that no one knows where it came from or where it goes!
I spy a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop...quick, pull over!
And a Declan burrito for dinner.
What, enough fun for one month? Nope, not yet!
I grabbed some really awesome tickets to Busch Gardens from Certifikid. It was 2 days for $50. We spent one day at the park and one day at the waterpark. Easton wanted to go on anything and everything. So did Declan, but he wasn't tall enough. Somehow, David, Easton, and Cache all went on this (the Gryffindor) and survived!
This was more Xander's speed!
Later Busch Gardens!
Easton learning how to One-Wheel with his buddy David.
And who doesn't love a little bowling...
We went with Cache's best buddy - Ben and his little brother, Jack.
For the record, I don't recommend going to play frisbee golf with 9 kids.
Can I tell you how many times I said phrases like, 'who's turn is it, don't go out into the field until everyone has thrown, stay out of the way, it's not your turn yet'. Oh, and my personal favorite, 'not into the bushes!!!'
And summer, that's a wrap!
