4th of July

The 4th of July we spent with the Glasses up in Ashburn. George had the day off, so we figured we'd make a trip of it and spend the holiday with family. Lance had left early that morning to fly to San Diego for a 10-day vacation with his Dahlquist cousins. 

We set up camp at Ida Lee to watch the fireworks, but since it's such a popular venue we got there about three hours before the fireworks started. We found a great spot and settled in for the wait.

The sun wasn't very nice, but we endured with slurpies and funnel cakes.

While we were there we ran into my sister Laura and her cute family. They were there with Tyler's family but came over to hang out for a bit.

Can you tell Laura is 34 weeks pregnant? Nope, I can't either.

Jude wanted his picture in the tree, too, just like cousin Mason.

Back at camp, the kids were having a good time. 

They had bands playing and vendors walking around with all kinds of fun things like ice cones and cotton candy.

 Callie and Bryce. These kids were great with Jude and Cole.

Grandmom is the best.

Poor Cole was still feeling pretty awful, so it wasn't as fun for him.

 Mason let him play with his ball in hopes it would help him be a little happier. It kind of worked.

 Dad had the genius idea to bring large umbrellas. Those umbrellas saved us from the sun for a couple hours!

George tried to entertain Cole with his phone which worked for a bit.

Studying.

These boys play so well together. Bryce is sweet to be patient with a very exuberant Jude.

Cole saw the big kids playing in the trees and wanted to check it out himself.

Almost time for the fireworks! Even sick Cole started getting into the spirit.

Lightsabers! Awesome.

This is the first time Cole could enjoy the fireworks. It was really cute to hear him say "Waoh! Wow!" and clap his hands while he watched.

I'm so glad we came up to celebrate with our family. There really isn't anything better than being together with people you love.

Water Country USA 2013

Since we have season passes to Busch Gardens and Water Country USA, we figured we'd better use them.

July 3rd we drove the couple hours to the water park to enjoy a mid-week adventure with George who happened to have the day off. Yay!

Watching a parrot.

They had this little snake out for display, too. Jude and Lance thought it was fun to touch.

Poor Cole was starting to get sick and wasn't feeling his best, but he was a good sport about it all.

Waiting in line for a raft ride. Cole liked watching the screaming rafts float past and would say, "wow!" It was cute. :)

Lance LOVED it!

As did Jude.

Cole, on the other hand, just wanted to be held and snuggle. I think we may have convinced him water is not as much fun as he thought. Oops.

There's a little smile. :)

(Not sure why this one is side-ways.) Waiting in line for another ride.

Trying to like it...

...nope, he was done.

Since Cole wasn't having the waterslides, we tried the lazy river

They have the best lazy river ever at this park!

Jude was in heaven floating around on his little boat made out of life jackets!

Lance enjoyed the pleasure of being older and floated off by himself for a while.

Still not feeling his best. :(

George was getting a headache and Cole wasn't feeling great, so we took the older boys on a couple more rides before we headed home.

It worked out perfect because it started storming right when we were packing up--they were closing the park anyway. 

All in all, it was a good day! We'll have to go back again when Cole is feeling better.

June Recap: splashes, sunglasses, swords and bubbles

June was a busy month! Don't forget to keep scrolling down to see all the fun things we did. 

Here are a few more summer moments that I couldn't pass up sharing:

The beauty and curse of working in the medical field is that while you have to work weekends, holidays and nights, sometimes you have random Thursdays off. Having George home in the middle of the day to come with me and the little boys to the splash pad one day in early June was priceless. Lance was still in school, so we'll have to go back again with him.

Cole thought it was great! This boy LOVES water.

"I'm singin' in the rain, just singin' in the rain... what a wonderful feelin', I'm happy again!"

We went with these lovely ladies from my ward. Look at the gaggle of toddlers. :)

Sweet Ellie came, too! Isn't she a doll?

So fun!

With the weather warming up, we're spending more time outside, which means a lot more of this:

These boys are teaching Cole the true joy dirt brings.

Speaking of Cole, this little boy is a hoot and a half! He's discovered he can grab my finger and drag me around and he takes full advantage of that all day long. His little hand is firmly attached to my finger most of the day. I love it!

He's obessessed with sunglasses and hats and loves pushing this little stroller around. He's starting to talk more, still just single words, but it's fun to hear him verbalize. Some of his favorite words are hot, dog, car, bus, truck, stuck, cracker, cookie, banana, mama and dada. While his list of "real" words isn't that long, he is incredibly talkative and will hold whole conversations with you, complete with facial expressions and voice inflection. I have no idea what he's saying most of the time, but whatever it is, it's important to him and he's so proud of himself. I love this sweet little baby. 

Jude is currently obsessed with Pirates of the Caribbean. If you don't believe me, just look at this:

That pirate hat rarely leaves his head, even when we go to the store and he is constantly having sword fights with anyone who will participate. He watches the Pirates move at least twice a week and pretends to be "Captain Jack". I love it.

Lance has had a busy summer already. When he's not at home with us, he and his dad hang out a lot at the Zobrist's farm where their dogs are kept. He rides the Polaris around, plays with the dogs and swims in the lake. He and his dad also go to the local Mint Springs Lake where they hike, bike and swim.

Hiking Mint Springs. This was in the winter, obviously, but you get the idea.

Playing at the Zobrist's:

Swimming in the lake.

 Killian came one day to meet the dogs and play for a bit.

 Lance is one lucky boy! He has recently discovered he actually likes to read and is almost done reading the third Wimpy Kid book. He and I have been slowly working our way through the Harry Potter series and we're currently more than half-way done with the fourth book! We usually read a chapter before he goes to bed and I have loved it! It's nice to lay next to him in bed while all three boys listen (Jude and Cole rarely last the whole chapter before they fall asleep). It's fun and I know I'm going to miss it when he gets older and wants to read by himself.

And just some cute pictures before I end:

Jude in a bubble bath.

Kinda reminds me of this pictures I took of Lance when he was two:

Sweet baby. :)

And how can you not love this little face?

Life is so, so good.