Family Time!

Late Saturday evening, a few of my favorite people in the entire world arrived at our home- my mother, sister-in-law, two nephews (Israel and baby Jonathan), and my niece (Sarah-Grace). This is the first time that they had been down to see "Rah Rah and Hunna" since we've been married (other than my mom), so I was really, really excited to have them.

First things first, on Sunday morning Sarah-Grace was outside playing with Sage, and I could see her playing with some of the blooms on our crepe myrtle tree. She comes back inside with a branch, and says,
"Wah-Wah, I know this is late, but I wanted you to have this fo Motha's Day."
Me: "Sarah-Grace, thank you so much. You are so sweet! But I'm not a mommy."
SG: "Yes you aw, Wah Wah! You aw Sage's mommy!" Well...can't really argue with that. So this was my belated "Motha's Day gift" from SG:

That afternoon we headed over to Stone Mountain to celebrate Independence Day. We had full intentions of getting their early, letting the kids enjoy themselves with games and other attractions. Um...not so much. After two hours in the car to get there in the traffic, trying to fight our way through the crowd to get even a smidgen of a spot to park our hinies for the fireworks, we really didn't have that much time. We did however, manage to get a great spot to watch the fireworks, and did have time to take the children to a mini 4D movie. I have no idea how many people were there, but Hunter guesstimated between 100-200,000. Insanity. Tuscaloosa on gameday doesn't even compare to how crowded this place was. Regardless, we got to spend some quality family time together, and see an amazing fireworks display, which totally made up for the ginormous, insanely ridiculous large crowd.

I know this shot isn't technically perfect, but I love it.

Can't beat a game of "Go Fish" with Mamaw.

My SIL and her two youngest.

Sometimes playing is hard work.

I can't get enough of these chubby cheeks!

So I definitely haven't figured out how to take pictures of fireworks with my Canon, but this was taken with my iPhone. You get the point. Fireworks were pretty awesome.

On Monday, we headed over to the much-anticipated waterpark at Lake Lanier Islands. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the hubby and I had just as much fun, if not more, than the children did. It was great! We go up to the lake every so often to take Sage swimming, and we also enjoyed renting a cabin there for New Year's Eve this year. So we were familiar with the area and knew that they had put lots of money and planning into the entire resort, and their waterpark was no different. It was the perfect size- not to big or too small, plenty of things to do without getting overwhelmed or bored, and the best part- it was all centered around the lake. So we had a perfect spot on the beach with an umbrella and chairs (that included imported white sand, by the way, so it was a pretty lake beach- which is not very common), that made for a great place to allow the adults children rest when they needed to. The park opened at 10, and we got there around 10:30 with intentions of staying a few hours, maybe until the early afternoon. We may or may not have lost track of time because we were having so much fun. As we were leaving to go to the car, we heard them announce over the loud speaker that it was 5:45 and the park closed at 6. So we successfully spent the entire day swimming, playing, sliding, splashing, and of course eating.

Disclaimer: I know these pictures aren't the greatest, but I didn't dare take the nice camera to the waterpark, so most of them are on my iPhone, and some are with my point-and-shoot..

Dipping Dots are always a hit!

Hunter took the role of driving the stroller all weekend. I must say, he looked pretty cute doing it. :)

I don't think we had even gotten out of Lake Lanier Islands before there was an instant silence in the backseat. I turned around, and this is what I saw:

Tuesday we enjoyed a little pool time at home:

And then we headed to the mall to do some back-to-school shopping. I'm pretty sure they were more excited about the train ride they took around the mall than they were about new clothes.

I cannot believe how fast they are growing up. It breaks my heart, but makes me so proud at the same time. SG will be starting kindergarten this year, and Israel will be in the second grade. I absolutely cannot believe it. It literally seems like yesterday that we were welcoming them into the world. They are my life, and if I love these children as much as I do, and I can't even begin to imagine how much I will love my own children one day!