Lake Oconee Trip plus a few days in Opelika!

We have had a really great week.  Last Tuesday the kids and I went down to Opelika for a few days.  My sister Grace and her husband and daughter were coming down from Connecticut to visit.  So although we only got to see them for a little over 24 hours, it was totally worth it!  We just swam, went to the park, and chilled.  It was great.  Then the kids and I drove to Lake Oconee in Georgia to meet up with Josh.  Every summer the coaches and their families go to Lake Oconee the last weekend in July before the craziness of football season takes over.  It's kind of like a last hooray for the families.  It was tons of fun.  Each family gets their own house, and ours was crazy nice.  We just spent our days either out on the boat or at the pool.  The pool had a really tall, super fun slide. And it also had a zero entry area and a splash pad.  It was great!  The first night everyone went over to the Richt's house for dinner, and the last night we all had dinner at the clubhouse.  On Friday night we actually got a babysitter and went out to dinner with another coaching couple.  It was all so much fun!!  And to top it all of, thanks to social media, I realized that one of my best friends from Birmingham, Courtney, and her husband happened to be on a weekend getaway at Lake Oconee.  So we got to see them on Sunday for a little bit before heading out.  That was awesome!  Anyway, below are some pictures from our week.

 Riding a crocodile at Jojo and Pops!

 Floating along :)

 Jojo and Thomas

 Silly girl putting on all sorts of floats!

 Thomas checking out the water with Jojo.

 Cousins!!

 Everybody enjoying the pool.  Even me, Jojo, and Thomas joined them!

 Aunt Grace getting some good Thomas snuggles.

 My sweet breakfast helper at Lake Oconee…and every day! :)

 Two thumbs up that he's ready for the lake.

 Helping daddy drive the boat.

 Me and my littlest.

 Sweet boy enjoying the beautiful day on the boat.

Day on the Lake = Pure exhaustion

 He's such a sweet little thing!

 Day 2 on the Lake also = pure exhaustion

 Tucker and Bryant had so much fun!

My biggest.

 Taylor on her first jet ski ride with daddy!  Bryant took his first jet ski ride with me…but of course Josh didn't take a picture. ;)

 Bryant and Taylor went down this slide, which is a lot bigger and taller than what's in the picture, probably a thousand times.  They LOVED it!

Thomas enjoyed the zero-entry part. :)

Until next time…

Heather

Taylor's 2 Year Checkup, Birthday Parties, Friends, & More!

The past two weeks have really been busy!  A few weekends ago we went out to dinner with friends on Friday night.  It was  quite an adventure since between the four couples we have 10 children 4 & under.  But it was a lot of fun.  The next day we had a birthday party for one of Bryant's friends.  Tripp was turning 4 and we had fun swimming and playing with him and other friends.  Then that Monday our friends from Alabama, The Pippins, came over to Athens to cook for the UGA Football team.  They own their own BBQ company called Lazy Boy BBQ, and are huge UGA fans, so Josh was able to set up for them to cook for the football team on that Tuesday night.  It was a huge success as everyone loved the food.  And it was so great to see them.  They brought their oldest two with them, Will & Matthew, who are 6 and 8.  Bryant had so much fun playing with them.  Also on Tuesday Taylor had her 2 year checkup.  Everything went good and thankfully she didn't have to get any shots!  She weighed in at 30.8 pounds and was over 37 inches.  It put her in the 90th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height.  So just like her brothers, she's big for her age!  Then this past weekend we had another birthday party.  Bryant has become good friends with our neighbors little boy.  He turned 6 on Saturday so we went to his birthday party.  It was lots of fun!  In between the parties and friends visiting we have had played with our friends a lot.  In fact, I think today may be the first day we are just chilling at home by ourselves. :)  Although we have had lots of fun stuff going on, I have been absolutely terrible about taking pictures.  So below are a few pictures I've taken, and you'll just have to imagine all the other fun. ;)

 My oldest babies hanging in daddy's chair.

Sweet girl

 Me and my sweet Bryant.  Love him so much!!

 My boys!

 Taygirl had to hold him too. :)

 My three angels.

 Such a cutie pie.

 The Reddhouse.  Yum!  And 10 kids…no problem! ;)

 I had to include this picture because it makes me giggle.  Sweet Taylor...

 Swimming with daddy!

 Pretty girl smelling the flowers.

 Now that's pure exhaustion...

 Still passed out hanging off the couch!

 The big kids up at UGA waiting for the team to come eat.

 Yeah…I think yall may be a little small boys.

 The football team enjoying some Lazy Boy BBQ!

 Bryant and Taylor enjoying breakfast with Will and Matthew.

 Daddy-Daughter Love

 Taylor likes to try and play golf just like her big brother.

 Going in for a double fist pump.  Because he's that awesome.

Happy boy!  Most of the time…

Until next time…

Heather

Vacationing in Palm Beach!

We spent all of last week and the 4th of July weekend in North Palm Beach, Florida!  We had a blast!  Josh's sister and her family moved down there about 6 months ago, so we got to stay with them.  Which it was so nice of them to welcome our crazy family of five for a week! :) They have an extremely nice house on the canal with a boat, plus a pool and hot tub in their backyard.  And we were lucky that while we were there Josh's mom came for several days, then his dad came for a few days, and his brother and his wife came for several days too.  So we got to see everyone from his family.  While there we went to the beach, swam in the pool a lot, went to his cousin's neighborhood pool and splash pad areas (it was SO nice), took the boat out, played golf (well Josh did a lot and Bryant did once), and had a fun 4th of July celebration!  Both kids loved the ocean the first day because there were no waves, but the next day there were lots of waves and they weren't as big of fans.  They still enjoyed it though.  And they both loved the pool just like here.  They would seriously swim every day, all day, if they could.  Bryant had so much fun playing a Par 3 course with Josh and Uncle Chris.  He actually beat Josh on one of the holes!!  As for fireworks on the 4th, Taylor was already asleep by the the time we shot them, and Bryant did not like them.  They were too loud for him.  Oh well!  Really the only negative of the trip was the drive down there.  It took about 10 hours each way…  But the kids did surprisingly well, and it was definitely worth the drive.  Below are some pictures from a wonderful vacation!!

 No waves.  She just walked right out into the ocean when we got there.

 Bryant checked it out a minute and then went on in.

 Sand castle building!

 Sweet Thomas enjoying the pool.

 Bryant did amazing with his swimming while there.  He is getting better and better.

 Jack and Thomas hanging out.

 He was much more skeptical the next day with the big waves.

 Taylor and Josh swimming.

 Me and my biggest!

 Snack Break

 Some serious sand castle building with cousin Charlotte.

 Jama was helping fetch the water for the sand castle. :)

 Kicking contest.

 He is just too much!! Love!

 Fun at the splash pad baby pools!

 Tired Baby

 Posing ;)

 Uncle Jon with Thomas

 He was breaking it down with his dance moves on the boat!!  

Aunt Rachel was helping Taylor dance.

 Me and Aunt Rachel with my babies.

 Thomas meeting Poppi for the first time!

 The two girl cousins.

 Swimming in the bay.  This is an area the locals call Peanut Island where you park your boat and swim.  It was great!

 Looking all cute watching Frozen.  This lasted about 2 minutes.

 Passed out!

 Sporting his 4th of July outfit!

 Sparklers!

 Brothers and Cousins

 Poppi and Bryant :)

 Swimsuit model? ;)

 Boys!

Fun in the pool!

Until next time…

Heather