Summer Time!

Holy moly, we have been SO busy this Summer!  We just got back last weekend from our trip to NC.  I have SO many wonderful pictures to show you, but I just haven't taken the time to go through them and start putting together posts!!  I really need to make that happen this weekend!  We had such a great time visiting our friends in NC and Randy had an awesome time in Kentucky again on a mission trip he has gone on the last three years with some friends from Florida.  Since we've been home we have been spending time with new friends, going to the pool every day, and getting ready for our week at family Bible Camp!  I can't believe it's already the end of June.  Time is really flying by and this Summer has been the most beautiful Summer we've had in a long time.  We are really enjoying the weather here although we hear it's "unseasonably warm".  I think it's been extra warm everywhere though since our friends and family in Fl, TN, and NC are hitting triple digit temps this week and it's not the first time this Summer they've had it that bad!

Since I haven't put together pictures to show you yet, I thought I would post a little video from a couple days ago that I took while we were in the back yard.  It's a little peek at our garden and the kids playing.  Poor Noey gets hurt at the end so I had to cut it short.  Hopefully this weekend I will have a second to set up all my NC pictures on auto post for ya'll since I keep forgetting!!

Oh and some of my zucchini leaves are all speckled looking.  They seem to be healthy and are producing tons of new blooms, but the leaves look funky.  Anyone know what it is??

Dairy Breakfast

Over the weekend we attended our first "Dairy Breakfast!  In Wisconsin, the month of June is dairy month and every weekend there are a number of local farms that host a dairy breakfast.  It's almost like a mini festival where a local farm serves breakfast and opens the farm to the public to come look around.  The one we attended served pancakes, cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage, and a variety of Wisconsin cheese.  They also had some locally made ice cream that the kids really enjoyed.  We took a tour of the farm in a horse drawn wagon ride and walked around to explore some.  They had some face painting and a fire truck that the kids could sit in.  It was a lot of fun and really neat to learn about the way farmers in Wisconsin run their farms and take care of the cows.  Randy had a baseball game so he missed out, but I'm really glad the kids and I had a chance to go!  I'm going to post more photos on Facebook, but here are a few from the day!

Going to the "beach"

Yesterday on a whim we decided to pack up and go to the lake!  Since we grew up in Florida, the beach was a pretty big part of our childhood.  When we moved to North Carolina, we still had access to beautiful beaches and the only thing we really missed was the powder white sand we were used to.  The beaches in NC are wonderful and we learned to love them just as much as the beach in Florida.    We are "beachy" people so when it's Summer time, we go to the beach.  That's just the way it is. 

Since we don't have access to a sandy ocean shore, we had to improvise!  I think we all agreed that we are more than pleased with the results.  Yesterday, we went to a local state park (maybe 10 minutes from our house) and visited their "beach".  We had the best time!  It was definitely NOT the powder white sand of our childhood, but that didn't stop the kiddos from having a blast!  They played in the sand for hours going back and forth from the water with their buckets.  They also were really brave and  went swimming in the cold water.  We loved it!  It was pretty crowded, but we were still able to keep a close eye on them from where we sat.  Also the water was shallow for a descent amount out so it was easy for them to "swim" around by themselves.  No worries about waves or riptides.  It was perfect!  The only problem we had was keeping up with our daredevil Noah who kept trying to wander out too deep.  He was making me a nervous wreck.  He really has no fear at all.  Thankfully, the water really was shallow so if he stood up his head would be out of the water, but we still had to keep on him to stay closer to the shore.  Crazy kid!  

I can't imagine a lake replacing our love for the ocean, but I can definitely say we're a fan!  It's sand, water, and sun.  It was in the upper 80's.  The scenery was beautiful.  And it did the trick.  

Marsh-meh-woes!

When we moved in and saw our new back porch, we kept going back and forth on what to put out there.  At first, I wanted a table and chairs so that we could eat dinner out there whenever we wanted, but we also wanted a place where we could relax, too.  After a while, we decided we would really like to have some seating and a fire pit.  We found the one we wanted and they were selling for about $135.  It was one of the larger square shaped ones which we thought would work better with the kids since on the smaller round ones they could bump right into the bowl that holds the fire.  Well, last Friday we were out exploring a city near by and somehow ended up running into their Walmart (we were trying to shop prices on gas grills).  While we were in the outdoor section we noticed they had a bunch of fire pits on clearance!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to shop, but I really love shopping for good deals!  So I was super excited to find a square fire table like we wanted marked down to $74!  Yipeee!  It's not quite as sturdy as the one we were originally planning to get.  The other one had a wider border around the fire, but we are really pleased with the one we bought!  We feel really safe with the kids around it because in our experience so far the border of the table has stayed cool even while the fire is going.  These pictures are from last weekend, but while we were on the deck last night we all agreed that this is our favorite purchase ever!  The nights here are so beautiful and it gets just a little bit cold where you may need a jacket or blanket, but sitting out by the fire is so fun.  You don't even need bug spray because there aren't any mosquitos!  We leave for NC next week, but once we get back I will post about our lovely red chairs that wont be that color for long!  I'm hoping to complete the chairs and get some flowers out there so that the deck will be "finished" and we can enjoy it the rest of the Summer!  Who wants to come visit and eat marsh-meh-woes with us???!!!

Workin' at the CAR WASH!

Ella and Noah got their cars all washed up and ready to go for the first time since we moved.  They had a great time playing in the water and even though it was only 72 degrees or so they didn't seem to mind getting wet!  It was a really bright, sunny, day so that helped us keep warm!  Now they just have to learn how to drive up the hills! There are a couple of spots in the yard that the jeep just wasn't quite strong enough to go up so they will have to learn their way around to avoid some areas..

Our ferocious guard dog keeping a close watch on her babies! ;)