4th of July - Greenville, SC

We celebrated independence Day in Greenville, SC this year with Uncle Lee, Aunt Taffy, and Kalee. They moved here last summer form Houston for Lee's job. This was our first time to visit and absolutely loved it! Their house and neighborhood is so cute with all back driveways and cute courtyards for yards, pool, green space, a huge pond, etc. All over the country it poured down rain for the 4th and we got it too in SC but despite the yucky weather all weekend we still managed to do everything we had set out to do. I fell in love with downtown Greenville. We went to the Farmers Market, hiked around Falls Park in Downtown, went to a minor league baseball game, ate and played. It was a really good trip but I am ready to be home for a while. We have literally been gone since the first weekend of June.

The boys went firework shopping with Daddy and Uncle Lee

Will fell in love with Daisy. He just followed her around. I'm so thankful he is getting over his fear of animals.

First time setting off fireworks on our own. Will did not like the noise and Gaines was all too comfortable with it. They both liked the sparklers.

Kicking off the festivities with some poppers. Will figured it real quick! Take Cover!!!

Love this pic of Kalee and Lee - such daredevils!

The rain is back

First Sparkler ever.

Tanks

Will did not like the loud ones at all.

Feeding turtles at the pond looking for the Great Turtle that legends talks about but did not see it!

Gaines rode the golf cart immediately. We finally got Will on with Garrick.

Napping - this is Garrick's mickey from his childhood.

Ridiculous...

We got one pic at the Falls before the storm rolled in.

And the rain came down again

At the Greenville Drives baseball game

Falls Park in downtown Greenville and the Farmers Market

We walked and walked and walked and after we left the park Will decided to cool off in a fountain.

Love this pic of the boys.

they did not take naps on Saturday despite our efforts! At one point we looked in and they laid with their arms around each other. Didn't last long but it happened!

Our drive home took 7.5 hours instead of 6 because of wrecks, traffic, and weather. MISERABLE!

Short Week

We are heading to Greenville later this week for the 4th and despite only being home 2 days this week, we packed it full! 

Monday, we finally got to spend some time with Hayes, Charlie, and Anna Clare at the Zoo. It ended up being a great day for the zoo. It was not too hot at all. We used to good to spend even 2 hours there now we are there for 3-4 and don't even realize it! I love these pics of watching our boys grow. 

Tuesday we had our church Play group at Sarah-Beth''s house for pool day. We had a great group and the kids had a blast as usual. It was actually really cool out and the pool was freezing. This did not seem to bother the kids at all!

Gaines has pulled out every vehicle we own (which is a lot!) and set them up in his room and has called it his "SQUAD" for emergencies. The best part about it is each time he adds something he wants us to take a picture of it. I can't complain since I'm always making him take pics! We seriously have at least 20 pics on mine and Garrick's phone of the "Squads." 

Watching Gaines build his squad in his room 

He let Will add to it for this picture.

So excited! Will is petting the animals. I really am happy he is getting over the fear of animals!

Zoo with the Blands

PUMC Play group Pool Day

Carolina on My Mind

We are on the road again , now to visit Uncle Lee, Aunt Taffy, and Kalee in Greeneville, SC. This is our first trip to visit since they moved from Houston. We stopped in Knoxville for the night to spend some time with LeeAnn and Baby Carolina. They came over to the hotel and we had so much fun. Will as usual took about an hour to warm up and Gaines talked LeeAnn's ear off. We ate dinner at the hotel and when the server asked if everything was good, Gaines replied with "It is delisioso!" LeeAnn just looked at me like you cant make this stuff up! The kids were sporting their matching flag shirts. I'm sure they will be so embarrassed by these pics when they are older or maybe they will be in one of their wedding slide shows one day - dreaming of potential in-laws for the boys! I really hope my girlfriends and I keep making an effort to get our kids together and make memories, Prom dates or Barn Party dates maybe?!?

Will wanted to help feed Carolina and he took his role seriously. He was so excited grinning ear to ear helping her hold her bottle. We liked over and was so sweetly brushing her hair over to the side and sneaking sweet kisses. Poor Carolina was so laid back and just let him do whatever as long as the milk was flowing. Then he thought he could pick her up. He took some toys into the other room and shut the door and told Garrick he needed to put those up where she couldn't get hurt. Gaines was asking LeeAnn to watch his every move in the iPad, "now watch this." They performed some songs for her and Carolina as well. Feeling very thankful tonight.

Will is definitely going through the hoarder phase! Ready for our road trip.

From March to July