August 2013 Trip to Annapolis

We visited Pop Pop and GG in August and had a blast.  We rode on an airplane, celebrated Sean and GG’s birthdays, took lots of boat rides, saw an Abba cover band, visited Granny, went to the Baltimore aquarium and science center, and took a pirate ship adventure.  I’m tired just looking back through the pictures!

Oh yeah.  I’m not going to embarrass our kids at all as they approach their tween years…

Sean’s 1st Day of Preschool

Sean started Monday – Thursday 1 – 4:30 preschool in August.  He was really excited because he just loves his school and most of his friends from the year before continued in his class. He just loves his teach Ms. Meghan – he gets a little embarrassed when she talks to him in front of us.  It’s so cute!

The difference a year makes…

August 2011 / 2012 / 2013

The difference 10 minutes can make…

Sean’s 4th Birthday

We celebrated Sean’s 4th birthday pretty much the entire month of August!  He asked all summer for a party at My Gym with all of his friends and had a blast.  He’s still talking about it and I have a feeling it won’t be the last birthday party there.  We were excited to have Aunt Carolyn and Hanna in town, too!

Out Here in the Open, mmmmm Motorboatin’

<< Did anyone get that song reference? No?  Oh.  Well, now that I've peaked your curiosity, it’s a pretty clever (for me it’s clever anyway) reference to that Pontoon song by Little Big Town. Ok, no, we don’t own a pontoon but we DO have a motorboat. Close enough? >>
We’ve been having a really good time with the boys on the boat this year.  Last year was difficult because Dylan was so young and anyone who’s ever put a life jacket on a baby knows that they don’t ever want to put another life jacket on anyone’s baby ever again. But now they’re both big enough to enjoy the boat (AND not complain about wearing their jackets) and it’s been a lot of fun.  They get to take a backpack of toys and Sean gets to pee off the back of the boat so they’ve been more than thrilled.

Look closely at the pictures below...  both boys were sound asleep.  Now, I can understand Dylan.  He wasn’t even two years old at the time.  But Sean cracks me up.  He was sitting straight up with that watering can held up for over 30 minutes.  Now that’s tired!

Reunion 2013

We had another successful McDaris Family Reunion in Asheville NC in July.  Pop Pop and GG came for a visit and took the boys to the pool which is always a treat.  We met up with Ashley for a traditional Mellow Mushroom pizza dinner the night before the reunion and topped it off with a fun night of dancing, ice cream and a firehouse visit.  Dylan got a lot of smiles running around town in his Superman cape, too.  The reunion was a lot of fun, good food and lots of family catching up.

OBX Vacation

July brought a very exciting Ward family beach vacation. It was especially fun because we hadn’t been doing OBX beach vacations since the boys were born (the drive is just too far when they’re really little) but we thought they were old enough to be entertained by movies in the car so it was time to give it a try.  We also learned that there’s nothing better than the promise of a McDonald’s happy meal for good behavior :)  John and I were able to go down a few days early while the boys stayed with Grandma and Grandaddy which was so nice.  We even decided to do a helicopter ride around the islands!

Words to live by