Food, Friends & Fun!

What a busy day!!  Adam and I have decided that we need to "serve" more.  It seems like we are so busy in our own lives, like so many other people, we often use that as our excuse as to why we don't do more for our church and community.  Northside on Oak is an outreach ministry in downtown New Albany.  During the summer they serve lunch Monday through Friday to children who may or may not have another meal for the day.  We have decided that this would be a perfect area for us to serve in.  This afternoon the kids and I headed to Northside on Oak, with some friends of ours, to serve.  18 kids came in for lunch today.  We had a wonderful time sitting with the kiddos while they ate.  Many of them have been coming all summer.  They look forward to it everyday.  The joy on their faces when they walk in and see the familiar faces of the volunteers and staff is precious.  What a wonderful way to give back to the community.

After we were finished we were headed to the pool!  It was such a beautiful afternoon.  We actually had a little break from the heat wave that we had earlier in the week. As soon as we walked in we saw Grace, our friend who lives across the street.  She hung out with us the rest of the afternoon.   

It was a good thing Grace was there or Claire would have been outnumbered!



June

I guess I will start my first official blog post by covering the month of June.  I have so much to cover!

Birthday

We celebrated Jackson’s 8^th birthday on June 4^th.  I can hardly believe that he is 8 years old!  It doesn’t seem possible.  My little boy is growing into a little man right before my eyes. 

We celebrated with a limo theme.   He had been talking about it for months.  We rented a limo and had a limo cake!  We had invited 28 kids and 17 showed up!  Thank goodness, because those boys were W-I-L-D!

Vacation

On Monday we were headed for vacation!  This year we went to St. Pete Beach and Tampa.  The two hour layover that we had in Baltimore turned into a dreaded 5 hour layover.  The kiddos did well, considering, but momma on the other hand was a tad bit cranky!  J 

                                                                We finally arrived!!

We spent Monday through Wednesday in St. Pete.  There was a Sloppy Joe’s in our hotel (not near as fun as the one in Key West).  We had dinner there and then headed to the beach!

Ready for the Beach

On Tuesday we spent more time on the beach just hanging out and having fun. 

There was a huge 40 foot water slide on the beach outside of our hotel!  Claire and Jackson had a ball.  The guy working even let them go down extra times.

Next they were off to ride the three wheel bicycles.  They were more challenging than they looked! Claire was a little frustrated in the beginning but caught on quickly.

On Wednesday we headed up to John’s Pass Village for lunch and shopping.  We had lunch at Bubba Gump’s and then went on an afternoon pirate ship cruise complete with water gun fights, story telling and face painting!

Claire having a water gun battle with one of the pirates.

It's limbo time!!

Thursday we went to Busch Gardens to see the Cirque Dreams show.  It wasn’t a full length show but the kids really enjoyed it. 


Adam got pulled on stage!

Claire with some of the cast.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Adventure Island.  It was a pretty nice waterpark with lots of cool slides.

We spent Friday at Busch Gardens.  There was so much to see and do! 

While we were there we went on a "Safari" to see the giraffes.

Yard Sale

On the 18^th we had our neighborhood yard sale.  I am blogging this, not to talk about the yard sale, but to talk about our summer project.  Claire and I signed up for a 30 day challenge for “Beading to Beat Autism”.  Claire and some of her friends set up a table at the yard sale and sold 26 bracelets!

Way to go!  You girls rock!!

We were supposed to make and sell 300 bracelets in 30 days.  So far we have made about 150 bracelets.  It looks like our challenge is going to take us about 60 days instead of 30, HA!  It’s the thought that counts!!



Jump!

I have finally decided to do it!  I am creating a blog.  As I sit here looking at a picture of the kiddos on my desk I feel an overwhelming sadness.  They are growing up, fast!  I know I am a little late in starting this (they are half grown for crying out loud).  Better late than never, right??  I feel like I have so much to catch up on.  Where do I start??  Wish me luck!