Some other summer moments.

Summer break is officially over. :( The kids start school tomorrow. Addison will be gone full day for the 1st time as she starts first grade. Lucas will be in afternoon kindergarten. To close off the summer....here are some pics that I didn't have a chance to blog about.

A few weeks ago we went to the lake with my brother and his family and the kids went fishing for the first time and had a great time tubing with their cousin Avery!



We spent a weekend in Chicago visiting with my best friend Marina. They just moved into a beautiful new house that they are renovating and it was so fun to see it and enjoy a weekend in their big house. We also got to spend time with Venessa and her family.

Here we are having a picnic dinner one night.



The kids played hard as usual!

The evening of my birthday we went out for ice cream and then walked briefly over (it was about 108 degrees) to the apple chairs nearby. 

We headed down to my parents lake again and this time Bob's brother Bill and his family joined us. It was nice to have my nieces Molly and Katy there for the first time.

Molly and Addison

Katy

One highlight of Addison's summer was going to the American Girl Doll store and getting her first AG doll. My Mom got it for Addison for an early birthday present. 

Addison and her doll...Allie

A highlight of my summer....getting a new Honda Pilot. We all love our new car!!!

To end off the summer I headed to Chicago again and had a quick girls weekend my best friends since grade school/high school. We had a spa day (I had to skip out early to get back for Bob's work dinner) but I had a great time with them the evening before and had fun doing some shopping too. It was just what I needed. 

The summer went by way too fast. I am going to miss our days of just going to the pool and whatever other activity we could get in this summer. I am anxious for the kids to get into the swing of things at school and hope for a great school year. 

Family vacation to St. Pete Beach

It seems like forever ago that we were on the beautiful St. Pete Beach in Florida. It was about 5 weeks ago that we took the trip. This trip was very special because it was our first trip that we took with the kids via plane ride. We have done lots of road trips and Bob and I have taken some trips over the past few years without the kids but this was a much bigger adventure.

The kids were so excited to ride on a plane. Here they are at the airport waiting for our flight.

Lucas loved the plane and loved looking out the window.

Addison loved it too...she even managed to fall asleep and stay sleeping while we landed.

First time in the ocean! The beach and the water was just so beautiful!

I loved it too! 

So happy to be on vacation. 

Crazy boy loved the pool just as much as the ocean.

The biggest reason we went to St. Pete was to visit our friends Steve and Sarah and meet their beautiful baby girl Michaela. 

Bob and Steve. 





Steve and Sarah.

They went with us to a great casual restaurant right on the beach for dinner...and the timing was perfect to watch the sunset!



One of my favorite parts of our vacation....the kids were amazed watching the sun go down!

Lucas' favorite park of our vacation....LEGOLAND!

Could he be any cuter????

I was shocked at how much Addison loved building and racing her car.

A highlight of our day at legoland....a picture with a real lego guy!

Legoland was great. Lots of fun rides and cool things to see but OMG it was HOT that day!!!!!!

To make our trip even better....our friend Kurt and his wife Jsun came to visit too with their son Solomon. Kurt is in the army and was able to have a few weeks off before they were off to Germany for the next 2 years or so. It was great to have quality time all together and to see these 2 crazy guys with their adorable babies!

The guys....such good friends for so long!

Our pretty girl on the beach. She loved every single minute of beach time. 

It was hard but Bob put in a few hours of work....I think the beer and sitting by the pool made it not so bad. 

Our family vacation picture that I was pretty obsessed with taking! It was raining the afternoon that I had planned on getting the picture so we couldn't do it at the beach but I think it still turned out great.

Lucas' pic on the beach.

That was a small sample of our trip. It sure was a great vacation and we can't wait till the next one!!!