This week in Charleston

We have been exploring our new city and have found several fun parks.  At one park we went to this week the kids discovered a "bamboo forest" and thought it was sooo cool to play in it.  They kept talking about pirates and buried treasure, I love their imaginations.  

 

We also do A LOT of swimming. 

The kids are getting more daring everyday.  Molly has pretty much taught herself to swim this summer and is always trying new things.  She is very proud of the fact that she can jump into the deep-end and swim all the way to the stairs by herself.  Ethan on the other hand has been teaching himself how to do flips and trick dives into the pool. 
This week Ethan learned that doing flips from the side of the pool = a bald spot.

 

He got to close to the edge of the pool while attempting a front flip now he has a whole in his head.  You would think that now he would listen to his mother when she says "NO FLIPS" but he is still doing it.  I really hope we don't have to make a trip to the ER this summer. 

Happy 9 years

It has truly been a wonderful 9 years with you Scott.  We have aged, grown wiser, learned a lot, and accomplished some big things.  Together we created three beautiful children.  We have had lots of ups and downs but through it all you can still make me laugh. 

When I was looking for all these pictures I realized something.... ever since we've had children they are always in the picture with us.  It was very hard to find a picture of just you and me from each year (I couldn't find a single one of just us for 2010)

7 up

 Last weekend my little boy turned 7 and I realize that he is not so little anymore.  We had a great weekend and he had a VERY fun-packed day. 

 I went with a Super Mario theme and cut out characters to hang around the house.  I thought they turned out pretty good, but all Ethan kept saying was "Mom, why didn't you make Yoshi, or Bowser? You should've made a Mario."  I guess I should take it as a compliment, because he thinks I can do anything.

 His Birthday started off with breakfast and all his favorite things, then some b-day spankings and a wrestle with Dad. 

 He liked all of his presents but especially the one that had "Super Mario Galaxy 2" in it.

 We spent most of the day at "Splash Island" and had a blast.  Ethan went down the water slide at least 100 times.

 One year older. 

After cake and ice cream we went to another party with a bouncy house, blow-up slip-n-slide, and slushy machine.  Ethan and Mitch were in heaven especially since they got to pour soap all over the slide and got covered in bubbles. 

Summer so far....

  I am way behind on blogging, as I am frequently reminded by my mother.  So this is my attempt at a recap of the last 2 months. 

Dan, Heather & Seth came to visit

For Memorial Day weekend we got to play with baby Seth.  Both Molly and Mitch LOVED having a cute baby to harass play with.

I actually got to leave the kids for the day and have fun at Cedar Point.  It was so fun to ride all the big rides, but I was definitely reminded of my age by the end of the day.

Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame

 

Fun at one of our favorite Cleveland parks, Preston's Hope.

Swimming and sliding on the natural water slides at Euclid Creek

Goodbye BBQ's

We made so many good friends during the last few years of residency.  We are really going to miss everyone.

End of School Zoo trips

 

I went with both Molly and Ethan's classes on their zoo field trips.

Saying goodbye to our neighborhood friends

Last Day of School

Ethan and Molly both had such a great school year, with wonderful teachers and friends.

We miss ALL our good friends

Baseball

Ethan played half the season before we moved.  He had such great coaches and some good friends on his team.  Wish he could've finished the season.

Too many good friends to say goodbye to

Last Cleveland Beach trip 

I got to meet up with my cousin Jessie and her girls at the beach.

Graduation



So proud of Scott and all his hard work over the last 8 years.



Moving Day



It was so sad leaving our HOME.  Mitch was crying and wanted to go back in when it was time to leave.  He was so confussed and had no idea what was going on.



 We made it to Charleston



Huge THANKS to Bonnie for coming out to help us with the move.  I seriously don't think we could have survived it without her help.



 Week with the Merrill's

After getting settled in Charleston Scott had to go back to Cleveland to finish work.  So I invited myself to Joe and Monica's house in NC.  We were just planning on going for 2 days but the kids had so much fun that we stayed the whole week. 

 Happy 4th of July



Fireworks at Patriots Point.  The kids loved watching the helicopters land and take off.



 I LOVE the BEACH

It is so nice living 5 min from the beach.  I LOVE it



One night at the beach we found this horseshoe crab