September Snapshots: Friends

Today is a fun Friday with friends for our kids.

 Chloe & I met her bestie (& her bestie's mom) for a pizza date!

(She also had lunch with another friend today....while Mommy had lunch with her bestie!)

 Chad took Carter & his friend (& his friend's dad) to the Phillies game!

This pic is from last weekend, but Audrey is at a birthday party and sleepover with her friend Kessa (standing to her right).

I am thankful for the friends my children have!

They are all such great kids.

And friends make everything better in life. :)

And then she was 11.

This year instead of a "birthday party", Audrey decided on inviting a few friends to spend the day at the beach with us for her birthday.  So bright & early, I packed up my van with these 4 awesome girls and we were off for a super fun day in Ocean City!

 The girls spent a LOT of time in the water riding waves.

 Worked on a few sand castles....

 Played some paddle ball....

 I actually got to do some of this....my favorite beach activity is actually reading fashion magazines.

I think the last time I did this was about 1998.

I'm only slightly exaggerating....

 One of the girls got buried in the sand....

 Then we got cleaned up and were off to cruise the boardwalk. :)

The funniest thing about this picture is that I used to cruise the boardwalk....IN THOSE EXACT SAME STYLE SUNGLASSES.

It all comes back into style, folks.

 We had dinner at "Big Slice".  I bet you can guess what we ate for dinner. :)

And by the way - they didn't wear those sunglasses through dinner.

I just thought they looked so cute in them so I made the girls put them back on!

 On the prowl....for hermit crabs.

And about 2 zillion trips to the bathroom. :)

 3 out of 4 girls LOVED this ride.  And one definitely did not.

I'm afraid we traumatized her. :(

But the other girls were able to cheer her right back up.

The girls were all so sweet, and they all got along so well together.

I hear about "mean girls" but thankfully Audrey has yet to experience that.

All 5 of us!

We had quite the adventurous trip home including weaving drivers, traffic jams at 10pm, giggling girls, and bathroom emergencies!

We made it home late but I bet everyone slept well.

As for me, I have spent the "day after" feeling like I got hit by a truck.

But it was so worth it....I think it was a day to remember. :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 42

Well, I am going to dub this "the summer of visits with new and old friends".  I spent the last week of June making a lot of new friends in Bulgaria.  And I have had the immense pleasure of seeing a number of "old" friends this summer, some that I have not seen in AGES.  

Today I took the kids to Hershey/Chocolate World to meet up with my friends Ingrid & Matt & their kids.  It has been so long since I've seen them that we have never even met each other's children in person.....and they have an 11 year old, so yeah, it's been awhile!!

I am so, so glad that we arranged this because it was such a blessing to see them again.  You know friends are keepers when you can go for a zillion years, and then just pick up where you left off. 

It was so great to see you Ingrid, Matt & kids!  Hope it's not another 12 years til we see you again!

Summer Snapshots, Day 39

A fun day out at the farm again.  This time with my friend Lyn & her little guy Owen!

Isn't he a cutie?  He loved throwing stuff in the river!

And this beautiful butterfly followed us around while we were there!

Summer Snapshots, Day 36

When I started this blog seven years ago, it was a way for me to share pictures of the kids with grandparents, remember little anecdotes about our family, and write about my life as a mom.

I think like 10 people read this blog, and about 8 of them are family members. :)

But Melissa - who lived in Arizona at the time - stumbled across this blog while searching for information about the town she was moving to here in Pennsylvania.

She emailed me and asked me some questions about activities for moms and kids in the area.

I wrote back.

When she moved here, we met each other and became fast friends!

Melissa, Katie, Brianne & I had a weekly Dunkin Donuts date with our kids.

She even ended up going to the same church!

She is a wonderful, warm & caring person, and an awesome mom to 2 sweet boys.

And unfortunately she moved away back in the fall. :(

This week, she was back in PA for a visit, so today she, Katie, Brianne & I got together for a crazy lunch at Chick-fil-a (w/ 10 kids!!  Thankful for that play area!)

Who knew that this blog would bring me a lifelong friend?? :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 34

It ain't summer til you've been to Rita's.

It's even better when you go with the Voges'! :)

BTW - Mango Strawberry?  Super yum!

Summer Snapshots, Day 31: Taco Tuesday

What happens when you have 12 adults & 14 kids over for Taco Tuesday?

Beautiful chaos! :)

 Swimming & splashing....

 Wii sports....

 Playing ball....

 Being forced to eat squash instead of tacos.....

Chocolate pizza!

  5 July birthdays to celebrate!

Friends for life. :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 26

 Today we had a fun day swimming!

 Pretty girls :)

 My diving girl

And then this happened.

Carter went off the high dive!

 But the reason I love this picture is this.

Carter's first jump off the high dive was a belly flop.

He came out of the water and started crying. :(

But then within an hour, he was up here trying again.

This time, he did a pencil jump, with much better results.

Then he went again, and again, and again!

I am very proud of his determination and that he conquered his fear!!!

Well done, Carter!

Summer Snapshots, Day 25

A fun day with the Voges family in Saratoga Springs!

Sweet memories.

Summer Snapshots, Day 24

Yesterday we had an overnight visit from our friends the Arneys!

{Minus Kyle. :( }

We took a QUICK tour of Valley Forge.

{It was hot.}

Then we went to the pool.

{Until thunder rumbled and they shut the place down.}

We had a picnic on the deck for dinner, then Chad got our fire pit going for smores.

The kids did some sparklers.

{And once again - thunder, lightning, & RAIN!}

Chad roasted marshmallows for us in the rain.

And for once....we did NOT lose power!!

{hallelujah}

It was a fun quick visit, and now they are off to Virginia Beach!

 Sparklers!

 Sweet faces....

.....AAAANNND crazy faces. :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 23

So yesterday was about Chloe's achievements.

Today is about Audrey & Carter's new skills....

We went swimming with Chloe's friend Fiona & her mom & younger brother.

Fiona is Chloe's school bestie!

They are too cute together.

They swam around singing "Let It Go" at the top of their lungs.  :)

 

Audrey had fun shooting some hoops in the water.

So did Carter.

 Then Audrey & Carter decided to try diving.

Neither has ever dove in a pool before.

Jump in? Yes.

Cannonball?  Yes.

Somersault off the diving board?  Yes.

But diving?  No.

By the end, they were doing this:

Way to go, kids!!!

Summer Snapshots, Day 17

Today's adventures in Bulgaria....

Hanging out with my friends

Our new teacher friends said we had to try a new drink - Boza.  Not a fan.  

The best way to describe it is that it tastes like pureed cheerios & milk.  Slightly fermented....

More rainbow loom fun!

Kids learning to play baseball

Painting our nails with the girls

I gave these 3 girls French braids - they loved it!

Ultimate frisbee

The kids really seem to enjoy this game.

And can you believe this is the first time they had seen a frisbee?

I took an after-dinner walk with Patti and we stopped near this monument and chatted.

The beautiful view from our bench :)

Thank you Lord for another great day.

I will miss this place when we leave.