Catching Up Part 2

 Hang on folks! This is a long one!! I am just going to get right to it. 4th of July was a little sad this year because it was pouring down rain. Rain meant no parade and no city fireworks. We certainly weren't going to let a little rain spoil our holiday fun, so we invited some friends over to our new house to swim in the rain and light some sparklers. Didn't you just move in 3 days ago? Absolutely! But true to our style, we didn't let a few boxes keep us from having people over to hang out!

 First pic at our new home! Love it!!

 As the kids swam in the rain, Beckett enjoyed the view and ate his popsicle. Funny story....I was taking pictures of all the kids swimming and everytime my flash would go off, a parent would yell "Lightning! Everyone out of the pool!" There was no lightning and everyone was safe!! :)

 No 4th of July is complete without a flag cake!

 Probably not the safest way to light a sparkler, but Jeremy got it done!

 Beckett's first sparkler...

 Oooooooh!

 Not scared one bit!

 I put Beckett to sleep and we took the rest of the kids out front to light up some sparklers!

 Jackson and Aidan posing like the Superheros they are.

 Take that!

 After 4th of July, we packed up and headed on a week's vacation to the beach. You'd think that since we have several beaches within 6 hours from us, we'd head to one of them. Noooo!!! We decided to drive 13 hours to the Outer Banks. It was very nice, but guess who is never going to the Outer Banks again?

 Beckett really loved playing with all the sand toys this trip. Good thing we had all those beach toys because the water at the Outer Banks was a cool 60 degrees!! No joke!!

 I'm not getting in the water. Are you getting in the water?

 We spent a lot of time building castles :)

 We went on this trip with our dear friends Angie and Andrew and 2 of their friends from New York. Because we had such a large group, each family would take turns making dinner. It was perfect! After dinner, the kids would get their baths and head to the porch for a popsicle!

 Checking out the water.....

 The other plus of this beach, is it was full of shells! The kids had a great time finding them.

 Beckett swinging his seashell bucket.

 Beckett decided he had had enough of this sand stuff and was going to brave the frigid temps and catch some waves!

 Wheeee!!!

 That was awesome!

 We came...We saw....We conquered that 60 degree water!

 Sweet Payton with my boys :)

 Brothers!

 Silly boys! These 2 sure did have a blast spending an entire week with eachother!

 Family shot!

 After Beckett survived, Payton and Jackson thought they would check out the waves. Waiting for a big one!

 Score!

 Since we spent a lot of time digging, we found quite a few ghost crabs..

 No beach vacation would be complete without a trip to the sugar shack!!

 Jackson picked out Beckett's treat...

 Check out our loot!

 Love this girl! So blessed to have this family in our lives!

 Deep thoughts from Beckett Nesmith.....

What an amazing vacation! I definitely would not make that drive again, but we had such a fun time! Can't wait for next year's trip!!

We moved!!

 We moved!! We said goodbye to 335 N Hillcrest! It was bittersweet because we have had so many wonderful memories in that house over the last 5 years, but we have moved on to bigger and better things! We have finally been able to get internet at our new house, so I am back to blogging! I am so far behind that these next few posts are going to have to be pretty long for me to be able to catch up. Summer is winding down and we have done so many fun things that need to be included. So here goes! Let's start with art camp!

 Jackson had the best time this year at art camp. At the end of camp, they had an art show and the parents were invited to view all their work from the week. Jackson was so proud of his work!

 Daddy was even able to sneak away from work to see it!

 Last few pictures at our old house. Jackson really wanted to fly a kite, so we bought him a power ranger's kite from Costco. I didn't think he would be able to fly it, but where there is a will, there is a way!

 We found some good use for our sloped yard. Jackson would start from the top and run down. Sure enough, that kite flew high into the air!

 Jackson and Beckett love to go to the park and feed the ducks! All Beckett says is "Duck" "Quack Quack" Very cute!

 Checking out the goose.

 Jackson feeding the baby ducks.

 Beckett also loves when his brother pushes him on the swings :)

 We also had a wonderful visit from Uncle Joe, Joey, Amy and the boys!

 The boys had so much fun playing together all weekend. We miss you guys!!

 Its time for Junior Golf! Jackson started golf at the club. Here they are getting ready to warm up before their drills.

 Stretch out those hamstrings!

 Warm up those legs! Check out that vertical!

 First swing....he nailed it!

 Not only have we started golf, but we have also started tennis at the club. Jackson did teddy tennis at the church, so he had a pretty good idea on what to do. It amazed me how she would tell him to practice forehand, backhand etc and he would rotate swings like a pro! He actually was quite good at tennis.

 Check out that form!

 Beckett loved it also! Put me in coach!

 It is very hot on the tennis court, so they end with practicing their net game with some water balloon action!

 Smash!

 Soaked!

 At the very end, they lined all the kids up at the net. Little did they know what was about to happen! All smiles right now!

 Soaked!!

 Moving day! The day arrived to say goodbye to 335!!

 After moving all morning, it was time to take a dip in our new pool! This is Jackson's first jump off the diving board!

 Awesome! I have to say that I was a little nervous about having a pool, but before we even moved in we had a safety fence installed that has been awesome! We have swam every day and love it! I am also happy to report that after only 2 days of owning our own pool, Jackson can swim! It just seemed to click. Now he is swimming underwater like a champ!

Mary with her first jump!

James needed a little encouragement :)

Beckett's turn!

My sweet boy!!

What can you do when you have 2.2 acres of flat private land? Run around in your underwear!!

Beckett as well!

Sweet Beckett. I can't believe my baby is 1 1/2 years old!! He is still such a sweet little guy and loves to do everything his brother does! He has really started to become a little climber! He is talking so much more now. He has added no, duck, truck, jaja (Jackson), Emma to his list of words. Whew! I am caught up until 4th of July! Next post will have to also be a long one because the weekend after we moved in, we left for a week's worth of fun in the Outter Banks! Stay tuned!!