Activities in August

The first half of August, we were still in PA spending part of our time at camp (work) with Adam and part of our time at my parents house. We were anxiously awaiting our whole family vacation to the Outer Banks later in the month. I have to say "our whole family" vacation, because one could argue that the boys and I were on vacation the whole summer in PA while Adam was working at camp. I would partially agree...I mean, I still worked at my part-time from "home" (whether that may be NC or PA) job, and I was a single parent alot of time doing just day to day things like cooking, cleaning, breaking up fights, laundry, etc.

But then there were pool days, and beach days, and amusement park days...so yes, that was a partial vacation more so than Adam got as he went from his school year job to his summer job with only day in between and that was spent driving 600 miles! He is such a hard worker to provide for our family!

Below are the August activities in picture:

Levi gained a new interest in fishing while at camp. While catching 35 fish in less than an hour with just a net and some bread, gave him a false sense of mastering the hobby of "fishing"; he cannot be talked out of learning how to fish with a rod and reel. I'll will update with the progress or decline in his fishing fever after we take him fishing for real later this fall

So proud of his catch!

Having a birthday is so much more fun when you have kids who are so excited to get you presents, flowers, balloons and a cake! My parents helped them in their desire to shower me with all of these wonderful surprises! Levi couldn't believe that Grandma found a cake that had my name written on it! (he hasn't realized that you can custom order cakes yet) :-)

We left PA and drove 400 miles to the OBX and stayed with my in-laws for 4 days. Despite the unseasonably cool and wet weather, we still had a relaxing time as a family.

Normally in August at the OBX, you would not have on this much clothing when going to the beach!

Levi lost his 2nd tooth! My dad got to pull it out. The amazing part was that Levi did not even shed a tear or scream, or having a temper, or kick, or hit. My dad it out with none of Levi's usual "drama"!!

My mom and I had a wonderful day in Lancaster, PA seeing the Amish "stuff" and shopping at the outlets!

The boys loved to eat their lunch in Grandma's tree in her back yard!

Sunset on the Outer Banks Beach

Exploring a hole that someone had dug earlier in the day

Taking his beach "finds" back to Gram's house.

A rainy, cool day spent at the NC Aquarium in Nags Head.

Being silly outside of the Aquarium

August is also Daddy's birthday month. We got to celebrate his day while at his parents house.

Fun at Ocean City, NJ

Growing up, our family always went to Ocean City, NJ. It's close enough to even just do a day trip. This year, we had to wake the boys up in order to leave by 7am (probably one of the 2 days in the whole summer that they actually didn't wake up at their usual of 6:30am!). We were on the boardwalk riding bikes and surreys (the big cart-like thing pictured below) by 9:30am! In the mornings, the boardwalk is full of bikes, surreys, runners, and walkers! This year we rented one bike that my mom and I took turns riding while the other 2 adults pedaled the surrey.

 

The actual beach at OCNJ is always quite crowded (at least compared to the Outer Banks), but we found a great spot and ate our packed picnic lunch. Levi had a great time using the squirters with my dad. I love the picture where you can see him looking up just laughing!

My dad taught Wyatt how to "boogie board". Wyatt loved it!

This year, we bought another hermit crab. This year, little Lightening Bolt only lived about 2 weeks ;-( Levi had not stopped asking when he could pick out a crab since the moment his feet touched the boardwalk. Surprisingly, he was not too upset when "LB" died. Thank goodness!

Skee Ball!! Everyone in our family loves skee ball! At the boardwalk, we found this arcade that has 10 cent skee ball! We spent a lot of time here before dinner!

This picture is out of order, but while we were riding the surrey, Wyatt said he wanted to get out and run in the "running lane". He ran for about 1 minute and then wanted to get back in the surrey and just ride!

The boys had fun digging a big hole with Papa. We had perfect weather for a day at the NJ "shore" (as the northerners call the beach)

Some highlights from July

July was filled with trips to the amusement park, the beach, the mini-golf course, Chuck E. Cheese and many days at the pool! It's so great to be able to be with my family for an extended period of time!

We also made a few trips to the local library as the boys were  both in a summer reading program to earn prizes and raffle tickets! I would often find Wyatt making time to read in various places...on the couch, outside, in a tree, etc. so that he could check off boxes on his Reading Bingo chart!

 

We took our annual trip out to Lancaster for a day of fun at a just for kids amusement park called Dutch Wonderland!

This was the first year that the boys to got take control of the steering wheel on the antique cars!

Riding the train is always fun!

One of their all-time favorites, bumper cars!

Such handsome little cuties! I want to just freeze time!

And when you are in Lancaster, you are in farm country! Right next to all the rides was this stream w/ ducks, geese and a cow and corn fields in the back ground!

Getting so big and brave!

There's a long story behind this carnival-like game below. The boys were very happy to have earned their "medium sized" prize!

Almost getting too big for this ride!

Aunt Marianne took the boys and I to Chuck E. Cheese one rainy day. We had a blast! Here are the boys showing off all the tickets they earned!

Fun 4th of July food with family!

This picture is out of order, but it's always our first stop when we get into Lancaster before our day at Dutch Wonderland! I love seeing all the horse and buggies!

Levi lost his first tooth this summer at Grandma's house! What a special memory!

Not only did we have all those fun times w/ Grandma and Papa, there were tons of new exciting adventures to try at camp now that they are older! They both were brave enough to try the "flying squirrel" where they went free falling with the harness strap.

We also worked in some time with friends from the church that I grew up in. They have a lake house just 30 minutes from the camp that Adam works at. The boys love riding on the "motor boat".

And we can't forget about archery at camp. While it was quite challenging, the boys loved to continue to try to shoot bow an arrows.

And a family picture after min-golfing!

Levi really got into the min-golf and was quite the "coach" as to what angle we should putt.