Fourth of July Luau and Gulf Shores...

We debated about taking the kids on a weeklong trip at this age, since they still need naps, one needs diapers, the 10 hour car ride would not be fun, etc. But we went anyway and are so glad that we did! The kids were great! I caved in a bought a dual screen DVD player for the trip. It was well worth it! It kept the little ones occupied on the way there and back. (side note: it is already back out of the car until the next roadtrip) The kids were great the whole trip....with the exception of Miles at dinner one night when we made the mistake of trying to go eat at his bedtime. Our fault...and we paid for it dearly!

The kids loved the beach! We are still finding sand in places that it should not be. We stayed in a condo on the beach so we were down there a couple of times each day. We got the kids helmets with lights on them to search for crabs at night. We didn't find any crabs, but were quite entertained just watching Miles follow the spotlight that was on the beach in front of him everywhere he went!! He couldn't figure out why it kept moving when he did! Too cute!

I thought I would throw in some of the "out-takes" while we were trying to get some good pictures. There are A LOT of out-takes!! We were able to get several that turned out good. Brad, Jim and a woman walking down the beach did a great job!

Ava clowning around while trying to get pictures of her. She was tired of taking pictures and wanted to go swimming in the ocean.

Kinley is always so easy. She takes great pictures and looks so pretty in this one!

Nana and Tito! Brad was worried that they might not ever babysit again after this trip. I am happy to report that they have said that they will still happily babysit for us!! YAY! We love this picture of them!!

A very nice lady on the beach offered to take a picture of the 7 of us. We are so glad that she did so that we had one of everyone. What a great trip!

Nana and Tito with their grandkids.

This picture didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. First of all, I expected the little ones to comply and secondly I underestimated the amount of 'grass' that would be in the way of the picture.

Our family.

This would have been just right if I could have gotten Kinley and Ava to sit up straight!!

Our sweet kids!

Again with one leaning forward and one leaning back. :/

We took the kids to The Little Zoo That Could in Gulf Shores. It was the zoo that evacuated when Hurricane Ivan came. It is a small zoo, but a very interactive one. The kids got to pet and feed many of the animals. They also had some baby white tigers that you could get in the pen with and play with if you had blue jeans on, signed a waiver and paid extra for it. They had a lemur cage that you could pay extra to get in and hold/play with the lemurs too. It was extremely hot the day we went and everyone was very pink/sweaty! So we did what anyone that hot would do and went for ice cream afterward!

Ava is always in a full sprint everywhere we go!

The kids feeding the animals. There was not enough hair product in the whole of Gulf Shores to tame Miles' wild curls!

Kinley feeding the donkey. There is a joke in here between Brad and Kinley, but I am going to leave it out since this is a family blog!

Our hot/sweaty kiddos!! Kinley spared us the silly side-bun and instead went for the side ponytail....we are making progress....slowly.

Miles was not so sure about these birds, as they were using their beaks to climb around the cage.

Miles has a thing for horses. Every time he sees one, he yells "Nay! Nay! Nay!". He tries to gallop while he is on them and smiles ear to ear!

The baby white tigers. They were so cute!!

Ava went around petting all of the animals and was very upset when she couldn't take one of the baby rabbits home with us.

Miles was nervous about petting the baby goat and would only come pet it if I would. That is the ONLY reason that I am in this photo (couldn't find a way to crop myself out of this one!).

Brad and Kinley went parasailing while the rest of us road in the boat. They went up between 400-500 feet and at one point the driver dipped their feet in the water. Miles was either sea sick or tired. His head was bobbing and his eyes looked "swimmy". Ava had her mouth open the whole time watching them. She wanted to know when it was her turn to go up. I asked the driver of the boat what their age limit was and he said he would take as young as 18 months! I would have taken Ava up with me if I could have had her strapped to me, but we would have had to go up like Brad and Kinley. I didn't think she would handle me being that far from her up there (I wouldn't have handled it well either!).

Brad and Kinley waving at us in the boat. The kids thought it was pretty cool that Daddy and Sissy went way up high in the sky with a parachute!

Brad said it was actually quite fun once Kinley stopped screaming!

Ava is such a water baby. She was in the ocean every chance she had and at night when I wouldn't let her get in the ocean, she was allowed get in the swimming pool. It was miserable trying to get her out each night. Nana would always give in and take her! She isn't completely self-sufficient at swimming yet, but is close. She can go under and hold her breath and propel her self forward for a few feet. She loves jumping in and going under. This was her first time to use floaties and she LOVED them because they allowed her to be independent!

So proud of herself!! (Note the swimsuit purchased the the Fourth of July Party turned Luau!)

Nana said that Ava kept saying, "Let me go! I can do it myself!" It's disconcerting to let go of a 3 year old at night in the water!

Our little beach baby girl!

The little kids' first time to see the ocean. Miles kept saying, "Wawa!!" Yes, Miles, there is a lot of water! Although he wasn't too sure about getting in it. He wanted to play in the sand. Ava was itching to get in along with Kinley. We didn't get any pictures of the kids in the water because we were all in with them (and we didn't want to leave the camera on the beach). :( I wish we had gotten pictures of it. Miles mostly clung to whomever was holding him (usually Me). Kinley got a boogie board and was riding the waves. Ava decided she wanted to ride the boogie board and was HOOKED! Brad was holding the board while she was laying on it and would not only let her ride the large waves, but would assist in her "flying over them" and crashing down on the next one. She had a "permasmile" a mile wide!! I wish I had it on film!

He didn't build anything, but dug a lot of holes and filled a lot of buckets!

This is a picture of Ava's first time to get in the ocean on our first day there. She said she loved the water, but that it tasted, "Yucky".

Meemaw and Papa have a Fourth of July party every year. This year, after I bought everyone red, white and blue clothes and swimsuits, they changed it to a Luau! (just my luck! Ha!) All 12 of their grandchildren were there and several other friends and family members and their children. A good time was had by all! In this pictures Ava was tossing the "football" and landed it! Miles did an excellent job of carrying his and placing them in the hole!

Ava and Mia are the 2 youngest girls and are a year apart. They are finally at an age where they can start playing together. They even had matching swimsuits this year.

Ava and Miles decided that they wanted to drink from the fancy Luau margarita glasses with the flowers on the stem. So, they drank their orange juice from them and were pretty cute. The pictures that I can't post, but wish I could, are of Ava and Miles turning up (empty) beer bottles when we weren't looking. When we turned around and caught them, Brad snapped a few quick pictures and they are Hysterical!!

Each year Ava and Miles climb this tree at the party in Meemaw and Papa's backyard. This is the first year that they were able for me to let go of them for a minute or so for pictures.

Ava and Miles in their Luau gear at the party.

Working on learning to skate....still safer on carpet for now! Hoping to graduate to hard flooring soon!

A busy start to Summer....

Miles' official last day of soccer practice this season. He went out with a bang! It was like someone slipped amphetamines in his sippy cup! He was wild, but having a ball!

1...2....3....F I R E F L Y S!!!!

Bringing up the rear and making sure Mama isn't too far behind.

Sitting on his ball like his coaches asked. He couldn't do this at the first practice (very funny watching him try though). So he has definitely made progress this season.

Obviously a bunch of 18 month-2 year olds aren't actually PLAYING soccer! But they do short intervals of running cones, running ladders, running obstacle courses and kicking the ball into the net....with VERY frequent water breaks, as it has been 98-102 degrees here for weeks now.

He had a blast at these practices and will take soccer again next year. I love this picture!

Group photo (partial group). It was Father's Day and very hot, so we were missing quite a few. Brad did a VERY good job of getting a photo with everyone looking this way.

I took the kids to Kinley's private gymnastics lesson and there were a group of cheerleaders practicing. This is a picture of Miles watching the group of them walk past him. He was in AWE! The expression (along with the shirt) was priceless!! Some ladies man.

Ava was very proper sitting just eating her apple and watching the whole time. It's amazing how much difference a year makes!

Kinley working hard on her back handspring. She landed it perfectly several times!!

YAY Kinley!!!!

Ava floating "like a starfish" in the water with her swim teacher, Miss Lauren.

This is Miles first year to take swim lessons and the water is so cold early in the season. He does OK, but doesn't like the cold water. He also is going through one of those "I can't be one freakin inch from my Momma or I think I might die" stages....which makes it a little challenging. Once I was in the water with Miss Lauren, he did a lot better.

Ava jumping in and going under. This is her third year to take lessons and she is really making progress this year. She has been putting her face under and blowing out her nose and jumping in without pinching her nose. She came up one time from under the water and looked at me and said proudly, "I'm so brave." God love her!

Kinley with the weird side bun that she says is "IN". I warned her that this could be her Mullet Moment and that maybe she should take my advice and rock the old-fashioned ponytail. She didn't. I will be saving the photos.

Going under looking for dive toys.

So proud of herself!!! Momma is pretty proud too!

The Girls!

Not enjoying the fact that I am out of the pool holding a camera instead of him. This was the best picture actually (the rest he is red-eyed, bawling with snot hanging from his nose.).

Miles kicking. He was actually very good at this from the get go. He also did good with "scooping" his arms or "monkey crawling".

Miles and Brad at Ava's Dance Recital. Miles did much better watching this year than last year. He LOVES music and will try to play drums (very cute to watch), do the "Stevie Wonder", and headbang. He actually had a good time this year.

Ava is the one with her hands over her eyes, "Trying to see where Mommy is sitting". This went on for about a third of the song.

Still looking....

Second from the left with her "fake hair bun".

She is the third from the right in this one. They did so good this year (compared to last year anyway). They were as cute as can be.

Can you believe that Kinley is 13 now?????? Crazy! We have a little teenager on our hands! AHHHHHH!!!!!

Kinley getting her iPhone. In her words, "Finally".

Modeling one of her birthday gifts!

Ava enjoying all the company!

Water babies.

I love this picture of Miles!! Always playing peek a boo....at what age does that cease to be fun?

Savannah, Kinley, Morgan and Ashley (where was Marissa?). Kinley had 3 of the girls spend the night after her party. Ashley had to leave for camp and couldn't stay. We also had Amber staying over with Hayden and Olivia (in Kinley's room). The girls decided to run around (Literally RUNNING through the house. I think THEY were actually playing freakin Peek a Boo!) until well after 2am, while screaming and laughing hysterically. I know there were cheering and acrobatics going on as well. These girls will cheer anywhere....Kroger, WalMart, anywhere. They woke all four of the babies/toddlers up multiple times AND their parents. Not good. Brad finally banished them to the playroom and warned them there would be consequences for their actions...... SO, somewhere around 8:30am, the bleary eyed parents commenced very loud music (Think: Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive and multiple songs from Aerosmith), opened all blinds in the living room where they all slept and began jumping on their air mattress singing at the top of our lungs...."Sing with me!!!! It's a PARTY!!!!!!!" Then Brad pulled the plug on their air mattress and sicked the 4 little ones on them. These four were relentlessly climbing on the girls and yelling for them to wake up....while the 3 of us smiled and drank our morning coffee/tea. Paybacks are truly a bitch.

Ava and her friend Nadia at Haven's birthday party. They all take dance together and Nadia will be going to school with Ava in August. They are both precocious little Scorpios....scary. There is NO telling what trouble they are going to get into. Here, they are trying on other peoples shoes (basically....shoe shopping) while everyone watches Haven open gifts!

Planning their next move. They kept running around the place yelling that they had to hurry and save the animals that needed to be rescued and they were the ones brave enough to do it!

Such a cute picture of them. Having lots of fun together!

Recital photos.

Trying to strike a pose!

They do a picture every year with the feather boas and the girls get to pick whichever color they want. Of coarse, she chose Pink.

Just hanging out playing in the yard. (You know, good old fashioned cheap fun like WE used to have in our sprinklers. Apparently this never gets old! Yay!)

Oh, the hair products he is going to require!!! The hot, humid summers down here are NOT going to be kind to him!

After telling Ava the story of The Three Little Pigs for the 7000th time, I told her that the wolf couldn't blow down the house of bricks again. This time she asked me, "Why Mommy? Was his DOOR made of bricks too?" Now why hadn't I thought of that? In the movie and the books their doors are, in fact, all the same. Smartypants.

Miles is talking a lot more and has recently hit his terrible 2's a bit early, like Ava did. The only good thing I have to say about this is that maybe they will end sooner too? Have mercy Lord.

Kinley and Morgan (who might as well be 'Morgley' as they are joined at the hip) decided to beat the boredom (my LEAST favorite word to hear right behind MINE and NO) with a lemonade stand. Our neighbor, Barbara came over and gave them some pointers. They ended up selling something like $32 that day! Of course, it helped that the roofers working on a house 2 doors down came and bought a whole pitcher for $10!

Making the sale!

We really have to watch what we say nowadays. (Hard for me) Ava repeats everything and can sometimes finish your sentences and knows what you are spelling a lot of the time. Great. Miles has already dropped the S word a couple of times. (oops) But it's not all about swearing.... Ava was hitting Miles one day and we told her that she is "teaching" him to hit her. She needs to "teach" him how to act nice. A few days later, Ava had her feet on the table at dinnertime. I asked her what in the HECK she thought she was doing, to which she replied, "Miles is teaching me to to this". See? She does this with EVERYTHING.

I told her we cannot wear pink everyday. Getting dressed each morning is a complete nightmare, which generally starts with me saying, "OK, let's go get this overwith". It's that bad. I told her that the other colors of the rainbow want to be worn too....nobody wears one color everyday.......

Dear Walt Disney, PLEASE put Minnie Mouse in another color for just ONE day. PLEASE. She now points out that each of the Disney princesses wear the same color everyday, so why can't she? She can argue her point about anything and leave me defenseless. You want your kids to be smarter than you....just not until they are 18!!