We Heart Generics

The Lake.  The Beach.  

Generic terms for very specific places. 

At least in our minds.

This summer we were blessed to take trips to both!

1st stop:  The Lake 

(Lake Tillery in NC for those of you who must know)

The Lake (also called "the river" by the locals) is outside the town of Mt. Gilead, NC.  The town where my in laws are from.  They were middle school sweet hearts, ya know.

The Lake has a hammock.  

I bet heaven will have hammock only seating....

because hammocks are so.....

heavenly.

Cousin Austin and Aunt Jordan came to the lake, which was so fun.

 This is how you would find the boys most mornings...having some cousin/PJ time.  

It's essential, really.

When we weren't lounging in our PJs or pretending to be sloths in hammocks, we were on the water.

And just so you know, this is how Genie's (my mother in law) hair looks all day on the boat.  

It's a Lake mystery.

Kind of like the Loch Ness Monster.  Except it's not a monster.  It's insanely good hair.

No words can describe the love between a Gigi and a Finney.

It was a drafty day so we held the tube down on the dock with Austin.  He was so upset as you can see..:)

Next Up:  The Beach

My family has vacayed at the same beach since my parents were youths.  

Even though we live at a different beach, it's a given that we'll make the trek to go to this beach with my family until the end of time.

It's important.

There's lots of cousin bonding to be had.

And fake smiling (jack) even though you're deliriously happy...

And evenings spent on the dock...

And at least one goofy family photo.

Jack would invite Owen to live with us and he would wholeheartedly mean it.

Anna would ask Finn to live with her, and she would mean it, too.

And Jack would let Adam throw him over the dock if he had wanted to and would have lied and said it was awesome.  Just because it was Adam.

(But Adam did not do that.)

The Beach was f.u.n.  9ish more months til next year's trip!

Round 3:  The Lake (again!)

The first trip to the lake was just a practice run. 

The second trip was the family vacation.  

With everyone!

Uncle Trev, Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jeff were able to make it this go around and Trev brought these super cool headbands and wrist bands for his nephews.  That's what uncles are for.  

And that's what Walmart is for.

Best photo of the summer.

Jack could not be happier than he was in this moment. 

Nor could John.

Have you ever had smile fatigue?  Like at the prom or your wedding (not saying they're comparable) or when your baby was born?  You know..a time when you're smiled so much and for so long that your face goes numb and you're not really sure what it's doing anymore?

Jack experiences smile fatigue at The Lake.  

Proof:

Skirfing...Skurfing...not sure how it's spelled.  Either way, it's the Ussery water sport of 2010.  

Here, John and Jeff have a typical 'should we fist bump or high five' situation.  

Awkward.  Even with the coolness points of skurfing calculated into the equation.

(But this is just a jealous Skurfing School drop out talking.)

Uncle Bob took us on a cruise one evening aboard his Hinckley Picnic Boat.  

It was super cool.

I felt like a James Bond girl cruising around Lake Como.  

But then snapped back to reality when I heard someone mention The Burger Shack as a possible dinner option.  

But the reality I snapped back into was pretty cool.

The boys made sure Uncle Bob stayed on course and they made sure to ask no less than 204 questions.

They also made sure they were cute.

Tah-Dah!

As the saying goes..."Save the hunkiest for last..."

Summary:

We like The Lake and The Beach.

We will go back.

Lunch Box

The boys started school on Thursday.  I was so excited for them.  Partly in a selfish way.  The kind of mom selfishness that creates daydreams about grocery shopping alone.  But mostly excited for the boys.  Jack was so jealous last year of all the Pre K kids who got to stay an extra hour and go in a different entrance to the building (hey...it's the little things, right?).  And Finn spent every Tuesday and Thursday last school year crying "Why can't I go to school!??!?!?!?!!"  

So, I was excited about school.  

Until I had to do this....

I had to pack a lunch.  For my child.  My little, tiny son who just learned to walk yesterday.  Who drank his breakfast from a bottle just last week.  Right?  Surely he's not old enough that I could entrust some teacher stranger to supervise the 2nd meal of the day twice a week.  I mean, he could choke.  He could request something different that only I can make for him.  Or maybe, just maybe, the ultimate worst could happen and he would eat all of his food and enjoy his stranger teacher.  

Packing that darn Transformer lunch box made me cry.  I'll admit it here on blogosphere, but for whatever reason, that night I tried to hide my silent tears as they dropped on a soggy bologna sandwich.  It was the first of countless packed lunches I'm sure.  The first of many other moments where my supervision isn't needed.  Because, as much as I don't enjoy it, my boy is growing up.  

Both of them are.  So weird how that happens.

Here's Jack proudly displaying the satanic lunch box that made me cry.

And since everyone loves pictures of kids from behind....

They went to school.  Together.  I did do pirouettes down the aisles of Kroger because I was alone....but only after I cruised on autopilot to the bakery for a free cookie, and realized that I had no one to give it to.  

So I ate it.  (And bought more bologna.)

Goof Troop

Sometime in early June we were invited to an impromptu Friday night pool party.  We very quickly accepted. 

Because we knew it would be fun.

Because it was hot.

Because they offered pizza.

Because I wouldn't have to cook.

Because we wouldn't have to eat my cooking.

Because we would have adult conversation with good friends.

But mostly because of these guys:

We love our children.  And we love our friends' children.  

We love knowing that pictures like these will be pulled out years down the road and that we'll still be friends with these kids and their parents.  

And we'll laugh at how cute they all were and how young we all looked.

Onto the individual shots...

Jack sat still for a second.  Just long enough for me to capture the goggle marks on his forehead.  Should probably loosen the strap a little.

Gracen was beautiful despite the black eye she had(her left eye).  

I can't even remember how she got it.  

Mattie ate 7 pieces of pizza.  Where did it go?

Okay, so maybe she only ate 3.

Pavin is still eating...  

Carson cheesed to show me his chocolate teeth. 

And Finn looked up to show me how well he had cleaned his face.  

Thank you, Lord, for the awesome friendships we have!  

(And thank you, Dana, for the pool pass:)

Bart (Boy Art)

We had a Bart day back in early June.  I remember the day because it was the same day that Papa Johnny returned home from his surgery.  It was a happy day.  So we did happy things. 

For Bart days to be fun I have to be in a natural state of who gives a flip or under mild sedation from the expired pain killers leftover from Finn's birth.  Because I'm a control freak, and I want grass to be green instead of blue, and I enjoy alternating colors instead of the same colors touching one another on a painting.  (And that's just one of my many annoying qualities. )

But....ROY was there in full force which is always good.  Whenever I'd start helicoptering over the kids artwork, I'd just look at ROY.

Jack was so proud of his surf board.  And I was, too.  Perfect in-the-lines watercolor would be so whack.  And so not him.  He was so focused, and it paid off.

Butterfly was equally beautiful.  

Finn, on the other hand, did not get into the whole express yourself through watercolor thing we had going on that day.  

It appears that he prefers to express himself with clothing.

This was early June.  Only a month behind in blogging.  Hopefully we'll catch up soon!

Enjoy the summer!

Out of Doors

When it's not 100 bazillion degrees and the air we breathe in is not direct airflow from the bowels of hell, we LOVE being outside!  Sweaty, sticky, grassy, dirty.  We'll take it!

Finley decided to 'help' John was his car one afternoon.  In his boxer briefs.  If you've read at least one post from this blog, you are aware of our 2nd born's affinity for nudity.  Consider this a step in the right direction.    

After the car washing, he turned to "gardening the jungle", which was in actuality digging a small hole in a natural area with two trees that the boys call The Jungle.  His boots are made for diggin'.  And that's just what they'll do.

This picture was not taken outdoors, but the talent itself did not remain confined to our house walls.  Jack, being the genius that he is, decided upon himself that he should try hanging a spoon from his nose. We don't know where he has ever seen this done or where he heard about this trick, but he went for it and quickly succeeded.  He took his new skill outside of our house and into his preschool the next day for show and tell.  There were surely some boogery spoons throughout Bluffton that night. 

We're not sure if this past year has allowed time for eye hand coordination development, vision improvement, the birth of baseball passion or a little of the three, but Jack can hit a baseball like a mad man.  And he knows it.  And I flinch when he hits the ball and I'm the pitcher.  Every time.  

When we're outside, we make friends.  Of the turtle kind.  

Small turtle 2010 (Henry II)

Small Turtle 2009

Read about Henry I here

Flower planting.  Another favorite passtime.  Finn screamed for gloves of his own, and all I could find were these winter gloves.  Sorry Finn.

Sometimes when I whine and convince John that cooking dinner would send me over the edge, we venture down to the May River for a picnic.  It's my favorite place to go in Bluffton.  Here we are, the happy bunch....I'm happy because I didn't cook.  The rest of them are happy because I didn't cook.  

Win. Win.

Our view...

And who needs shrimp n' grits on the May River when you can dine on Chinese take out?  

Finn ponders life's biggest questions over some sweet and sour sauce  chicken.

Jack's fake excitement over nothing exciting. But still cute.

This is a happy moment.

This was Jack on his last day of preschool this year.  He chose his outfit.  Nice socks.

Popcicles and hose pipes = heaven to boys.  And moms who like playing in the hose pipe, too.  

Can you tell it was a little hot outside?  He needs some wipers on those things.

Finn finishing off the 2nd half of his Spiderman popcicle.  Yum.  Who needs dinner?

Hope you're enjoying the fun sweatiness of Summer like we are.  103 here today according to my car.  So my next post might be of all of the indoor activities we enjoy!

Happy Summer (in 6 days)!