beach babies!

Our 4th of July continued with some boating, beach and fun in the sun!

This little beach baby bug decided she loved the boat!

I think she thought she was kissing him, too!  Ha!

I just couldn't get enough of her in this swim suit combo!  Cutest little ladybug ever!

Not to mention a pretty handsome little man!

Ga Ga's first mate!

I love this!  Papa and Andrew's feet!

We love to anchor the boat and walk up to the beach to play.  Kerigan and Andrew had a blast!

This baby face is almost too much for me to handle!  She is just as squeezable as she looks!

I absolutely love how she's gripping Andrew's arm and he's being a sweet big brother

This was so funny, he was digging with his legs spead apart and he fell backwards!  Ha!

I am going to order this in a huge canvas for our new house.  It's just that beautiful.  And it's so meaningful to me.  This is our lake.  My 30+ years of memories.  And my babies playing in it.

Tired little ladybug!  What is it about boating that makes everyone want to just take a nap!?

After boating we had planned to meet my long time friend, Carrie, and her family downtown so our kids could meet.  We played by the fountains overlooking the lake- I love this spot!

So did somebody else!

Anticipation.

This picture is just too funny for words.  My friend Carrie's little boy, EJ, is on the right.  I love how far away he and Andrew are standing (ha!) and then Kerigan just photo bombed the picture and decided to look down and act all shy.  Ha!  Funny kids.

The last time Andrew and EJ saw each other was when EJ was a baby and we went to Florida to visit them on our Disney trip.  

Our families, minus Craig.  He was working.  Big surprise there!

I just love this picture of us with our kids.  We were about 2 years older than Andrew when we first met!  It's amazing to think that we've been friends literally for a lifetime.  I know not many can say that and we are so blessed!  I always pray that my kids will make close friends and at least one will be a life long friend.  It's so special.

Playing in the waves!

Kerigan was not scared of these huge waves!!  I couldn't believe how much she took to the water and the beach.

And we couldn't complete the 4th of July festivities without a bonfire with our cousins and some sparklers!

And daddy made it home from work!  Ha!  This was the last bonfire we had at our old house.

The kids had a blast with the sparklers!  I love Andrew's face!  Ha!

Can't believe how much Evelyn has grown up into such a pretty little girl!  She and Andrew are 4 days apart.  

Loving s'mores!

Happy 4th!

4th of july

I swear I'm going to get caught up by the first week of school!  Can't believe I'm just now getting around to blogging about the 4th of July... how I wish we could go back to this time!  It just flew by, but we had so much fun!

It is a tradition to go to the lake for the 4th.  Rarely have we missed a 4th at the lake.  I just love everything about it, the parade, the carnival, the beach... all the hustle and bustle of Clear Lake in the summer.  My best memories of my childhood were spent here.

Waving her little flag at the parade

He wanted his picture by this green "Ninja Turtle" car!  Ha!

Watching the parade with Ga Ga and Papa!

Does he look relaxed?  Ha!

I love this picture!  He finally figured out how to basically run out in the middle of the street to get his candy!  He had 2 fist fulls!

Oh how I love these two little firecrackers!

This is always one of my favorite parts of the carnival, and the kids love it too!

Kerigan actually had more fun that it looks!

Andrew could ride rides all day!

Loving the carousel!

He loves these twirling dragons!

This is the first time Kerigan has even gone anywhere near a sort of ride like this.  Normally she wants nothing to do with them and cries when we put her in one!  Her face here cracks me up... but look at her crazy brother, can you blame her?  Ha!

Andrew looking stunned that she actually is getting into this!

She's enjoying it!

Crazy brother again... these pictures just crack me up!

HA!  This is pretty much a typical Andrew face!

I have a picture of Andrew just like this when he was about her age.  Love it!

Once she rode something, then she wanted to go on all the rides!

Sweet little man!

I love this view of the park during the carnival... heading towards the lake to relax!

We love sitting here, snacking and watching the water!  Best feeling in the world!

Our family photo attempt!  Andrew was done with pictures!

After the parade and hanging out downtown for a while, we went back to the hotel to swim, because we always have to build pool time into our day!

This little girl just loves the water!

Believe it or not, this was before Andrew's swimming lessons this summer!  He and Ga Ga were racing!

He is just doing awesome.  I think it's safe to say he's a swimmer!

Our little fish!

We got out of the pool and had dinner at the OP, one of our favorite pizza places at the lake, and of course we had to see Despicable Me 2 at the lake theater!

I love that this movie was here on the 4th.  This theater has so many memories for me.  Growing up here during the summers and every time we got into town we'd drive by to see what the movie was (this was before you could find out with the click of a link on your phone!)  Craig took me to a movie here the night he proposed.  After the movie he suggested a walk down to the lake (it's just about 2 blocks from here) and the rest is history!  It was fun to take my kids to this theater, and yes, Kerigan went to the movie too!  She loves minions!

Hence, her Pj's.  Ha!  Andrew actually admitted he was too tired to stay up for the fireworks, which made me a little bit sad!  I actually tried to convince him to come with us!  It was funny trying to talk my 6 year old into staying up late.  But the kids stayed back with daddy and they all went to sleep while I went to watch the fireworks with an old friend, just like old times!

This cracks me up because we were laughing so hard after about our 17th attempt at this!  Carrie and I have been friends for over 3 decades.  It's amazing to think about it.  She is my oldest friend that has still remained in my life.  She is from Clear Lake and we met one day during parks and rec (my parents always put me in that stuff to make me make friends so I'd have something to do besides bug them!  ha!)  So one day I just ran up to Carrie and asked if she wanted to come over and play.  The rest is history (and yes I know I've used that line twice in the same update but nothing else quite fits!)  Traveling overseas together, in each other's weddings, meeting babies... I could go on and on. This is a friendship that will certainly never end.  And it's amazing to have a friend who has known you your whole life and knows you better than anyone.

We spent many 4th of July's watching fireworks together.  Mostly with boys!  Ha!  But this night we couldn't help but think of our kids and how times have changed!  They are still just as special, just so, so different!

4th of July day 2 coming up (so I guess that'd be July 5!)  It's all the same celebration to me!