Happy 4th of July!

So this posting is a little late (as usual!), but we had a wonderful 4th of July here in Cranford! We spent most of our day playing outside just being together as a family:) We headed over to the fireworks celebration here in town at night. It was CRAZY BUSY, but the kids enjoyed the show and we are looking forward for another set of fireworks already! Enjoy the pictures:

This zucchini is almost as big as me!

Hello Andrew! (Can you tell that he is now a blondie after cutting his hair and spending a few weeks in the sunshine?!)

My little drivers!

Swinging, swinging

Digging in the sand

And look who else wanted to swing like the baby!

And another little digger

Then we decided to play in the pool for awhile:)

My little swimming buddy

All ready for some fireworks:)

Getting ready to "ooh" and "aah" over the fireworks show!

Chilling at the Beach

We spend the majority of our days at the beach just relaxing! I LOVE beach life and if I could find a way for Chris to transfer his job there, I would be a beach girl for the rest of my life:) But until that moment comes (or retirement hits!), I will be thankful for the several days that I spend there every year. I just wanted to share a few more pictures in our last vacation post:

It's a RUFF life being at the beach, especially when you even get carried everywhere!

Look who gets to take baths together now-so much fun:)

Happy Birthday Grandma Snow! We love you SO much:):):)

Having fun playing around the house! This kid loves to play toys:)

So cute!

And doing some play-doh-trying to keep Aiden entertained

All ready for his kid's meal!

And another boy already for a nice dinner out:)

Our Annual Putt-Putt at the Beach!

Chris and I always have to play our annual game of putt-putt while we are at the beach. We headed to a putt-putt course with my parents and grandma one evening. This course had a train that you took to the top of a little mountain where you started. Aiden LOVED the train ride!

Someone isn't sure about his first adventure of putt-putt:

Look's like we have a serious golfer here:

He must have got his seriousness from his Daddy (The three women aren't so serious about this sport-it's a bit of a comedy once you see us all golfing!):

Teaching Aiden how to hit the ball:

Aiden taking a pit stop on the course:

In the middle of the course, somewhere around the 14th hole, Chris turned around to look at something and our camera flew out of the camera bag, rolled across the ground, and into a rushing rapid, and quickly flew down into the big, dyed-blue lagoon. OH NO!!! After about ten minutes and lots of onlooking people, Chris fished out the camera from the dirty lagoon. I am thankful that the memory card still had all of our pictures from our vacation but our camera has not successfully dried yet as it has been in a bag of rice for two weeks (I haven't given up hope yet!). Despite the fiasco, I am sure we will be back next year, but with our camera zipped safely in the bag!!

Beach Boys...

After a few days in Blowing Rock, we traveled across the state to Emerald Isle for another week of fun in the sun!!! It is our favorite vacation spot-thanks to the beautiful scenery and wonderful company;) Lots of fun plus lots of rest makes one amazing trip.

Today, I am going to just post pictures of us playing at the beach and swimming in the ocean. Aiden LOVED the water and I can't wait for another year or two when Andrew starts to appreciate the amazing fun that comes with the ocean:)

Enjoy the pictures!!:

Getting ready to go for a quick walk before bedtime on the first night:)

Hello Ocean!

Someone's first sight of the ocean-I think he likes it!

Getting ready to head in for a swim and pick up some shells!

I think I like this, Mommy!

My little ocean buddy

Playing in the shade with some toys:) Although, he preferred the sand most of the time!

Digging in sand

Mr. Cool

Our family of four!

Little Andrew

And happy Aiden

Checking out the ocean...

More pictures to come soon!!!!

Blowing Rock Trip, Continued...

So continuing from the last post, after naptime we headed to downtown Blowing Rock for some fun. We started off our afternoon at the park, where the boys had lots of fun swinging and Aiden enjoyed a fun climb on the rock wall!

One happy swinger

Another happy swinger

Our little rock climbing boy (with a little help from Grandpa!)

After we spent some time at the park, we headed through a couple shops and decided to get some ice cream. My mom got a chocolate ice cream cone so Aiden decided that's what he wanted too, while I ordered some fresh lemonade. Note to self: no more chocolate ice cream for the kiddos. It makes stains in shirts that are about impossible to get out, especially these cute new shirts (thankfully the shirts are clean after lots of hard work!). We headed outside with our snacks where Aiden made a big mess out of his melting ice cream, but it got even crazier when Andrew decided that he was hungry when he saw everyone else eating. He started fussing and fussing and fussing and didn't stop until we got home where I quickly fed him!

My dad had to go to a photography exhibit by a friend so my mom and I headed with the kids to the outlets for some shopping. We found the BEST deals at the Gymboree outlet-unheard of deals which will help complete next summer's wardrobe for the boys:) The shopping trip wore the boys out and they quickly went to bed once we got home.

Our last day in Blowing Rock, we decided to head to Grandfather Mountain. We started off our trip to this national park by visiting the nature center. Aiden loved seeing the animals there, especially as the bears were being fed. After we left the nature center, we drove up to the top of the mountain. It's crazy steep to get up the mountain, but there are awesome views:) At the top of Grandfather Mountain, there is a mile high swinging bride that you walk across. It's kind of creepy scary because it really does move around as you walk on it. But we survived and I am planning on doing it again another time!

Checking out the bears from Grandpa's shoulders

Getting ready to head on the bridge with MeMe

Grandfather Mountain, Be Careful!

Hang on tihgt!

It's really a mile high up:)

We spent our free moments at Grandpa's playing, playing, and playing. We had a great time and I enjoyed our first visit to his new house in Blowing Rock. Can't wait to go back again soon:)

Somebody loves John Deere!

Our little playing machine

Having some breakfast:)

Crazy, crazy hair!

Aiden and Andrew

I love these pictures that my dad took of the boys while we were in Blowing Rock!!!

We tried to enjoy a nice, peaceful walk around the lake but with two fussy, tired children-it was more of a brisk walk before any major meltdowns occured! Let's just say that we headed straight home for a quick lunch and naptime before enjoying the rest of the day! I will continue our vacation escapades in the next post:)