A day in the hospital

Monday was Hannah's birthday; her, Heather, Caleb and Bryan came down to Carowinds.  Flossie decided to come down with her boys and we all gathered at Sarah's pool for dinner and a party.

Tues morning Flossie decided to take her 4 week old baby to the children's hospital bc of some breathing problems.  (Don't worry he is ok,  he has trachea malacia if you know what that is.)  She was there WAITING and WAITING... Sarah was watching her boys and I live right by the hospital so my little group went to hang out with Flossie and baby Caden for the day.   Funny enough, the kids had a blast, there was no shortage of snacks for them to eat, coloring books to color and TV to watch...and of course a cute little baby to hold.

 

Katie was pretty sad to leave, on the way home she let out a big sigh and said, "I just want to hold baby Caden all day."

School's out for the summer...

Katie's 5 months as a Kindergartener were a blast.  I LOVE her school (and not just because I can walk to it); in the Spring her teacher would call me everytime they would go to the park so that I could meet them there with Marcus, Addy and Rufio.  Katie and her friends had so much fun running the poor dog around the park.  I spent a couple hours every Wed working with Katie and then eating lunch.  Katie's class ate lunch in the classroom so we got to sit at a little table together.  The first couple times I ate school lunch with Katie (she thinks it is such a treat), but quickly learned so then I started bringing us in Subway.  

Towards the end of the school year Katie's teacher, Ms. Cheryl, said that Marcus and Addy were welcome to stay and work, so by the end of the year I felt like I was spending more time at her school then at home.  Of course Marcus and Addy loved hanging out feeling like big kids, they made friends with Katie's classmates.  On field day I finally let Marcus and Addy eat lunch at Katie's school with us--it was like a mini-party for them.

Katie on Silly Day during Spirit Week

When she got home she got a little carried away with Rufio

The Wed of the last week of school we had Katie's birthday celebration, I brought in a picture from each year of her life and got to talk about her and all her classmates wished her a Happy (future) Birthday and we ate cookies.  The last day of school the teachers hinted it would be great if none of the kids stayed for the day, so we brought in our homemade bread and jam, said goodbye and headed to the pool.

Now...we are almost two weeks into the summer and I am starting to wonder if I was crazy for not signing my kids up for any summer camps...not that they would have time to go to any anyway, this summer is starting out way busier then I thought.

Katie's soccer season ended with a bang.

The kids have swim lessons at the Y every morning for these first two weeks.  (I'm not sure they were a good idea...Katie is learning but now Marcus and Addy are officially scared of water.) We have spent the rest of the time swimming with friends/cousins, going to the museum and library or relaxing at home.  Sat. Mark and I took the kids bowling, the place was straight out of the 70s, seriously it didn't have any score screens or anything.

 

Katie's obsession with bugs/worms led to this...her worm house.

Mark and Katie on Father's day--wearing the mask Katie made him.

Some other fun shots of M & A

I got made at Addy at the store, this is Marcus comforting her

And Rufio joined in

Camping

The Friday before Memorial Day we went camping.  We have been planning it for a little while so the kids had lots of time to get super excited.  We went with some good friends and our kids spent a lot of time making a list of everything they needed.  Mark wasn't as excited as the kids, but we dragged him with us anyway.

Marcus and Kainoa

Elle and Katie--Elle (who hadn't really met Mark before) told her mom that "Katie's daddy looked like the man who bought the zoo."

 We had a great little spot on a river, it was a great place for the kids (and Rufio) to play.  There were  rocks to climb, snakes and tadpoles, and water perfect for wading.

For dinner we cooked hotdogs--both Marcus and Addy broke their vegetarian streak and ate one.  After dinner we gathered around the campfire for s'mores and ghost stories. 

 

The kids got to stay up really late, so when it was bedtime everyone was ready to sleep.  I think Mark and I actually got some sleep as well.  We woke up ready to party (really it was just a repeat of the day before).   The kids put on bathing suits bright and early--the water was freezing!

When it got warmer we rented some tubes and floated down the river.  At one point Mark had Katie on his lap and I had Addy on mine; we were almost at the bottom near the swim whole when Mark and Katie got stuck.  Mark put Katie on the shore to fix the tube and they got back on and kept going and it WENT FLAT.  Luckily, I had noticed and Addy and I were waiting to see if they were ok.  Mark was able to get Katie onto my float and he had to swim back.  Did I mention the water was freezing.  Katie was pretty shaken up...she wouldn't go down with Mark again (although she did trust me enough to ride with me).

All in all, I would say it was a great trip, I think we will make Mark do it again.