Hanging with the Smith Boys

Josh's sister and family moved back to Indiana this summer, and on one of their house hunting trips, they brought the boys up to stay with us and Josh's parents for about a week. The boys had so much fun spending so much time with their cousins and we did lots of fun stuff!





They were all so happy to see each other!
















Wandering around campus.










We had lots of arguing over who would sleep with who. They ended up pretty much switching every night.

I checked on them one night to see this adorableness.
















Hanging at the city pool. Video of the boys cannonballing at the White's pool.

Lots of rain one morning led to puddle jumping fun.

We take advantage of the free lunch program our community has in the summer. The kids love going!

Smiling so nicely for me.

Watching the petting zoo show provided by the county fair. Video of the boys touching an armadillo.

Ike and Zac posing with the sunflowers.

Beach boys.

Riding the killer waves at Mississinewa.

Organ touching program at the fair.

Checking out the huge tractors.

Gotta see how tall the corn grows.

Pigs.

Riding one of two rides that were cool enough but not terrifying looking.














On Wednesday we took a trip to the Fort Wayne Zoo with Josh's mom, grandma, and cousin.






Posing with the zoo sign.

Giraffes.

Waiting to ride the train.

Grandma Mary and Meranda.

Shark attack.

They smiled for me!

















Wednesday was also Caleb's 7th birthday!

Dave making sure Zac and Ike didn't blow out Caleb's candles.














The boys all went to stay with Josh's parents for the last two nights of their visit. This is the kids playing in a river in Logansport.

Mid-Summer Happenings

We had a couple weeks between vacation and having the Smith boys come stay, so here's what we were up to! We mostly hung around campus since Josh worked quite a bit during that time.







They can be so cute sometimes!


















Playing at the campus splash walk with Kyson.

Ike only got a teeny bit muddy.

Water balloon fight with Dave's friends. Here's a video of the chaos! 

More pool time.

We finished Chamber of Secrets! I have absolutely loved reading Harry Potter to them and I think they feel the same way.

I went with Theresa and Zoe to see 16 Candles. It was a beautiful night!

Victory Royale with Augie.

A lot of popsicles were eaten this summer!

Ocean Isle Beach-Part 3

While on vacation we intended to have professional pictures taken of the family. Unfortunately the photographer we booked was very sick while we were in town, so I busted out my trusty tripod and diy-ed it! A little bit of amateur editing later and here are our pictures!

Ike's face-showing his crazy personality!

I think they turned out pretty good considering! I was happy to get everybody looking at the camera!


Now back to the rest of our trip. We spent A LOT of time in the ocean due to the extreme heat that was happening while we were there. When the heat index is in the high 90s, you don't have much choice other than to get in! I was super paranoid about rip currents so the kids had to wait patiently for an adult to go in the water with them. So they were happy it was hot and we wanted to get in a bunch! I have only one picture of people in the water-

Gamma was a trooper and went out with them a lot!

Ike getting ready for the beach version of Chopped.

Contestant Dave with his judges.

They had a cook-off and were explaining how they used their "ingredients".

So much Fortnite dancing. Here's a video, they are going to love that this is on the internet when they're older!











Mom and I took the kids to the Museum of Coastal Carolina, which was right on Ocean Isle Beach. It was great and a perfect size for the kids.

Checking out the shark jaws.

This was like a life-size diorama. Pretty cool.

Holding live starfish.

Waiting for the shark talk to start. Very informative and the kids loved it.

We got to see lots of sea turtle nests on our walks.













Whenever we got to the community pool, everyone always left once we were in. Pretty sure that was due to the rambunctious children that came with us! Dave brought his basketball hoop and there was a lot of dunking going on!

Getting his orders from great-grandpa.

Buckets.

Slush on the beach every day! We waited not very patiently for the cart to come by.

I spotted a deer on the beach on our last night.
















One last picture on the morning we left.












We had such a wonderful vacation and I can't thank grandpa enough for putting it all together for us! I'm hoping we can do another one next summer...maybe in a slightly cooler climate!

Ocean Isle Beach-Part 2

Every day pretty much went the same while we were on vacation. Some of us would take a walk or bike ride in the morning, then once everybody was up and breakfasted (some of us on our second breakfast) we went to the beach. After a late lunch back at the house we would go for an afternoon swim, eat dinner and then go for a walk on the beach. Within that was a lot of Fortnite playing and Food Network watching, but that's generally how our days went. It was a glorious departure from my normal jam-packed vacation itineraries! The days kind of all ran together, so I'm posting some more pictures in what I think is chronological order :)






One evening on the beach, a storm was moving in behind us!




















Tony swam to Sunset Island during low tide. The kids wanted to do this so badly but I just could not let them!

The storm looked so awesome coming over the beach.

Some quality hammock time with dad.

I can't remember why Dave thought this was a good idea.

Ike trying on Uncle Tony's glasses.

Wearing our fabulous hat-like accessories.

Bocce ball on the beach.

My hair was always crazy.

Getting some Switch playing in with Uncle Ben.














We stayed on the West end of the island, so one morning we ventured down to the East end. Along the way we went under the pier and watched some people fishing.

Posing for me at the pier.

Josh and I went out to eat with Tony and Ben and this was our view from the gazebo!

Great-grandpa and the boys at the inter-coastal.