Just Face It. It's Over.

Summer that is. Labor Day just makes it official and it comes with mixed feelings. I love the lazy days of summer at the pool almost more than anything. But I also love the feel of fall, starting school and getting back to a routine. It was 97 degrees last Friday and we spent almost four hours at our pool. And then Monday it was 68 degrees. Fall hit with a vengeance. I was so glad we got one more day as a family doing our favorite thing. The girls set some goals with swimming this year and it made me really happy to see them achieve them. I haven't put them in swimming lessons and have been torn as to whether I was doing them a disservice. But they are both swimming great and loved every minute of it. I think that I am even more sad this year knowing that we will be leaving next summer. I am one that gets pretty sentimental about things. We went for a walk on Tuesday and they were pumping the water out of the pool. I teared up a little.

Audrey's big achievement this summer was swimming with her face in the water. She loves her "doggles" and wants to be just like Julia. We even took her life jacket off a couple of times and she was able to swim without it and float on her back without it. I didn't let her go lifejacket-less too often though. I like the freedom it gives her and to be honest it makes me a little nervous when she is without it.

Here she is floating on her back. She loved to show anyone and everyone that entered the pool her tricks. I'm sure the random old dude loved the fact she could put her face in the water.

Julia's goal this summer was to swim all the way across the pool. It took a couple of months but she was finally able to figure her breathing out and got pretty fast. We still need to work on getting a stroke rather than just flapping her arms but she is doing great.

Here's a couple of videos of the girls swimming. What a great summer at the pool. I know that I will look back on these and miss these simple days. Arrggh there I go getting all sentimental again.

The Big Kindergarten

She's growing up too fast. Kindergarten is here. It seems like yesterday this one was a baby. She was so excited about her outfit and her new light up twinkle toes. She picked her favorite hair-do and loved having a new backpack. It was an exciting day. I must be honest, I was even more nervous than she was. Something about sending her on a bus and having no control from that point on makes me a little anxious. But then again I feel like these experiences are so good for her. I have already seen her mature in just one week. It's going to be a great year for her. I can already tell.

The extra special treat was her daddy surprised her by coming home for a few minutes to see her off the bus. She was beyond ecstatic. Bryan didn't want to miss this momentous occasion.

So sweet. This just melts my heart.

We are lucky enough that a neighbor rides the bus with Julia and is in her class. It has been SO nice knowing she has a friend to ride to and from school with every day.

Here she is getting on the bus. Oh, this was a little tough for me!

And this was pretty much where the waterworks started. I didn't think I would have a hard time but I was pretty glad I was wearing sunglasses at this point. Watching her excitedly bounce up the stairs and wave to us with a huge grin on her face was just a little emotional. I blame the pregnancy hormones.

Up the bus she goes.

Audrey misses Julia during the day but to be honest I think she really likes having a little one on one time with me. She better enjoy it because it's coming to an end in a couple of months. We love to walk to the bus stop to pick sister up.

Here she comes on her ride home.

We have another neighbor friend that she rides home with sometimes.

To top it off Julia lost two more teeth this week. They sang to her at school and gave her a sticker. That made for some excitement.

I had to take a picture of her later this week in another cute little outfit because it may be the last time she wears it. She thinks the tie makes her look like a boy. I desperately tried to convince her how cute she looked and we even put a red butterfly in her hair. She finally gave in but we'll see if I'll win the battle in the future.

And Julia's also starting a soccer camp this week. She is so excited about it. After I took the picture she told me that I should have had her say, "First day of soccer!" while taking it. Next time I'll remember.

Big week for Julia. We are so proud of what a well adjusted and sweet girl she is. She is taking to school like a fish to water and I am really excited to see how much she grows and learns this year. And I am excited to see her beat the boys in soccer (we couldn't resist her soccer shirt.)

Beach Pictures

We had some family pictures taken on the beach last year and decided that we would do a repeat this year but with my mom's nicer camera. I think they all turned our pretty good. It was so beautiful there on the beach but the mosquitoes, oh my. they were EVERYWHERE. We were getting eaten alive. Luckily we had bug spray and were able to get some pictures of everyone. We even all coordinated.

Carli and Chuck.

Me and Bryan.

Our family.

More family...

The whole group. There were some official photographers there on the beach that took some shots for us which was awfully nice of them. They then offered some maternity shots of me that would be "gorgeous." I don't know. I'm sure they would have been great but the combination of the photographer being a random lady I didn't know, lifting my shirt up to show my giant belly and the mass amount of mosquitoes I felt forced to turn her down. Maybe I'll regret it...but probably not.

What I do like is that Julia is the perfect height to hide my growing belly.

The parents.

I think this is my favorite family shot.

The boys.

The girls.

After looking through the pictures at how perfectly Julia's height covered my belly I figured I better take at least one belly shot. So I had Bryan do the typical "hold the wife's belly" pose (he was THRILLED with this idea). But as you know with Bryan and I...

things deteriorated quickly. Bryan needed a belly shot too.

The girls.

But of course let's be honest. There were a whole lot of pictures that turned out like these too...

I like the sprint right as the picture is being taken.

What are we looking at? And why is my dad wearing those socks? Why must the girls climb those dang rocks?

Bryan's belly shot #2. Can you tell he was mocking my great idea from above?

Third Time's a Charm

The best part about living east is we get to make our annual journey to the east coast. We couldn't break tradition and headed to Folly Beach once again and it didn't disappoint. It was well worth the 11 hour drive to have a little down time as a family. I think even after we move from Ohio we will still have to find our way to this little slice of paradise. Even better my parents met us there once again (after some brutal flights) and Carli and Chuck came along as well. Perfect!

When we arrived we of course had to slip down to the beach just to have a look around. And as any well meaning walk on the beach starts...

It inevitably ended up with the girls in their panties. They couldn't help themselves. The water was calling their name. Luckily even though the ocean call was pulling at Bryan as well, he was able to restrain himself and remained fully clothed.

I love this picture.

And this one even more.

We had days spent in some serious humid heat. They have had a record high heat wave there in SC and we were able to experience it first hand. We took a walk to the Folly Beach Fishing Pier and had to sit in the shade to keep our sanity. Unfortunately in this shade we ran into a crazy lady that kept putting her sunglasses on Audrey and asking Audrey to give her some of her goldfish. It was really weird. I mean goldfish are delicious but I think the 50 year old woman should probably go and buy some of her own rather than pilfering them from a three year old.

The girls also spent a great deal of time playing in the sand of course. We had all sorts of creations, castles and lairs for flying unicorns and pink dolphins.

The food, oh the food! We stuffed ourselves with some of the best fried chicken, hush puppies, mac and cheese, seafood, BBQ, and just about every other southern food you can think of. I don't think the scale is going to be my friend this month. I am dreading my 28 week appointment next week. But I must say it was WELL worth it. SO yummy.

We are sitting outside of the famous Hyman's here. Well fed I assure you.

After our delicious dinner we took advantage of downtown Charleston and took a tour by mule drawn carriage. Our driver assured us that mules are the way to go. They are much more heat tolerant and are better workers. So bring on the mules! Julia thought it was awesome. We also learned some very interesting facts about the city. Charleston has such a fascinating history.

We were even lucky enough to look at the mules up and close after our carriage ride.

We of course took more walks on the beach and had to take more pictures. I even made Bryan dress up nice one night and take some "official" family pictures (those will come later). The beach there is so beautiful.

More fun in the sun. Because of the warm water temperature we did encounter a few more jellyfish this year. Bryan got it on his foot and leg and they are still itching. Luckily we found a stretch of beach where we avoided them almost completely. Nasty things.

A family shot.

Oh boy do these girls love the beach. We would stay for hours and they never got bored.

I think this girl's hair went three shades lighter this trip.

And to make things even better they were showered with attention from Nana, Papa, Carli and Chuck. Their every waking need was taken care of almost immediately. Spoiled little stinkers.

We even spotted some starfish this time. Audrey had no fear picking the little things up.

Julia prayed each night to see a starfish, dolphin and for no jellyfish. Almost all of those prayers were answered.

We did a little boogie boarding, though I have to admit my 27 week belly didn't allow me to do much. The waves were a little flat the last two days and so my girls were in heaven floating on the boogie boards. I was secretly a little glad since I couldn't even enjoy the nice waves! Selfish, I know.

Ah, I could just bottle this image up and keep it forever. Such a wonderful trip. It's been such a whirlwind of busy since getting back with getting ready for school to start and such. I'm so glad we could get away for a little while. Thanks again Folly Beach.