It's Time for School!

I LOVE the summer with my boys. We have so much fun together and it is just so relaxing. Needless to say, I am always a bit sad for the start of school. Thankfully, the boys were excited to get back to school and see their friends, which makes the transition a bit easier.

Evan started third grade and his teacher is Mrs. Spivak. He has many of his old friends in his class and he is making new friends too. We love Mrs. Spivak. She is a great teacher and is also so kind and caring. Evan likes school so far and has been happy to tell me about each day. I think third grade will be wonderful for him!

Orientation went well and Evan got to explore his classroom, find his desk, meet Mrs. Spivak, etc. He started to get excited about school when he saw that some of his friends would be in his class!

Evan and Mrs. Spivak

First Day of School Pictures (I can't just take one!)

Preston started the four year old preschool class. He will go to school 4 mornings each week, which still leaves me a "free" day, so I can spend time with him during the week. I am excited about that! His teacher is Mrs. Breunig and Mrs. Cattano is the assistant teacher. We have not met Mrs. Breunig yet, as she is out of town for the birth of her grandchild. We have heard great things about her, so I am sure Preston will adore her. Mrs. Cattano is taking over as the lead teacher while Mrs. Breunig is away and she is very nice. Preston likes her already!

Preston was excited to go to preschool. He liked seeing his classroom and his friends at orientation day. He also like meeting Mrs. Cattano.

Preston had a great first day of preschool! He looked so handsome!

Evan Goes to Camp

Evan is always interested in being outdoors and having fun, so we decided to send him to summer camp! He went to Camp Hi Ho from about 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p,m. for a whole week and he loved every second! In fact, as soon as I picked him up on the first day, he said, "Mom! I had SO much fun today! I am going to have fun all week and I want to go back next summer too!" He spent his days swimming in the lake, having fun zip lining, participating in archery, having water gun fights in tree forts, fishing, kayaking, playing Gaga ball, and playing with both new and old friends. It was a wonderful experience and we are so glad that he was able to attend.

Gaga Ball

Archery

Playground Fun

Katie was Evan's counselor. His good friend Alec was also in his group!

The giant slip and slide was lots of fun!

Of course, Evan found dirt to play in! I love it!

Evan had lots of fun in the lake!

Jekyll Island - Summer 2016

We decided to take a family vacation fairly late in the summer and our usual spots were unavailable. We needed a new spot and we decided to go to Jekyll Island. I was a little apprehensive about a big road trip, but overall, the kids did well in the car and it was totally worth the drive. We had an AMAZING trip. In fact, it is one of my favorite family vacations and we have already talked about going back! We did so many fun things, including going to lots of great beaches, visiting Okefenokee Swamp, having fun at the water park, visiting the sea turtle center, fishing, finding sand dollars, and catching crabs. The boys had a ball and were totally in their element. Carl and I had SO much fun with them! I am so glad we decided to go!

On the way to Jekyll Island, we stopped in Tennessee to visit our family. The boys had a great time with their cousin, Marlee. We went to Jump Jam and went bowling too.

Jekyll Island is SO beautiful!

We spent our first morning at Driftwood Beach. It is one of the most amazing places I have ever been! The boys had fun playing on the driftwood and catching crabs.

We are ready to go explore!

The trail to get to the beach was pretty. It was a nice little hike.

We made it! It's time for fun!

Searching for crabs was really fun for both of the boys.

Evan caught lots of crabs!

The boys liked playing at the beach that was in front of our hotel. They both liked playing in the waves and Evan liked finding sand dollars.

We spent an evening walking on the trail through the marsh. The sunset was beautiful!

The trail ended at the ocean and my sweeties posed for a picture.

We had a great time at Okefenokee Swamp. We got to see lots of wild alligators and we took a boat ride through the swamp. We saw all sorts of cool things, including snakes and spiders. We also got to climb the observation tower for a great view of the swamp.

We got to see alligators as soon as we got out of the car! It was so cool!

The boys were really excited for the boat ride. We had fun and we learned a lot too!

Preston climbed the tower all by himself! He was so happy to get to ring the bell at the top!

We had a great view of the swamp from the top of the tower.

Evan got the chickens to eat out of his hand!

Time to relax!

Before we left, we had to go see the wild alligators one more time. This is Crazy. He is one of the biggest alligators in the swamp!

After going to Okefenokee Swamp, we took a short trip over to St. Simons Island. It was pretty and Carl and I liked looking around. The boys were not too thrilled to be looking around, but they had fun catching Pokemon and they did let me take a few pictures.

We went to Glory Beach and to Driftwood Beach after our trip to St. Simons Island. Glory Beach was HUGE! Evan and Daddy liked exploring, but Preston was content to play in the tide pools.

Glory Beach

He looks sweet, but watch out, he likes to throw sand!

Driftwood Beach

We visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. It was really cool. We got to see lots of sea turtles and terrapins. Preston really liked the tiny baby turtles and playing the turtle video game.

After the Sea Turtle Center, we walked around the historic district. We also stopped for some sweet treats.

Evan went exploring with Daddy one afternoon and he found a cool hermit crab!

We went fishing in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we did not catch anything. We had fun though!

Preston fished for about two minutes and then he got bored. He had fun looking for crabs with Daddy.

Our "bucket head zombie" was so cute!

After fishing, Evan helped Preston catch some crabs.

We visited Tidelands Nature Center. The boys liked the touch tanks, but the best part was getting to hold the snake and pet the alligator!

While the boys were napping, Carl went searching for sand dollars. He found a sand bar to walk on and he got to walk way out into the ocean, This is Jekyll Island from the sand bar!

We took pictures on Driftwood Beach on our last night. Of course, the boys had lots more fun catching the crabs!

We visited the water park twice on our vacation. We had a great time playing in the wave pool, riding the slides and relaxing in the lazy river.