Summertime Memories

We lived it up this summer and tried to make the most of the warm, relaxed days with no schedule to keep.  Here are some of the fun times we had during those glorious 10 weeks!

We enjoyed our days at our old house, leading up to our move...

We had the best visit with the Vlach and Haru Families, our great college friends!  The Vlachs traveled back from Luxembourg for a few weeks to celebrate little Bitsy's baptism, and the Harus came all the way from South Carolina to visit.  Such special friendships that have lasted so many years (we really missed the Stolls - the college wolf pack was not complete without them!).  It's amazing to see all of our kids together, having fun...how I wish we could all be neighbors.

We had a great visit with our cousins, Jack and Charlie!  We love getting all the kiddos together.  4 rowdy boys...and Miss Cassie.  :)

Lastly, we enjoyed some R&R at our new home in those final few weeks of summer.  We had a backyard campout with some neighbors and friends (with Erik and Matt at the helm) - one of our summer highlights for sure.  The school year brings with it a hectic schedule, so we try to soak up the summer fun as much as we can.

Summertime in Florida

Well, the movers transported about 100 big boxes to our new home in mid-July.  We unpacked what we could in about 10 day's time, and then packed up our suitcases for a trip to South Florida!  We had planned this trip months prior and were so excited to join up with my parents, sisters and their families down at the beach.  We packed a lot of fun and adventure into those 2 weeks - I think I'll let the photos tell the stories.  It was a fantastic trip!

The road trip begins!

We spent many hours in the pool, on the beach, and in the ocean...

All the cousins

I love Tyler's expression towards Grandpa!

Mommies are usually behind the camera, but Grandpa snapped this one!

Afternoon ocean time, calm waters

Tyler loved playing in the sand

Ocean explorers

Tyler loved his yellow goggles!

Using goggles to see little fish

1-2-3-jump!

As much as they bicker, they really are glad to have each other :) 

I try to take this beach pic every time we visit - makes my heart happy

Cousin fun

Pool shenanigans

Ice cream on the beach - yum

The cousins all had fun fishing with Grandpa.  No real catches but it's just fun to try!

I always love the lizards we see out and about, and the beautiful scenery...

We had some nice meals out and lots of fun times with family...

We visited the Lion Country Safari just north of us in Loxahatchee, FL, which is a drive-through wildlife preserve and small amusement park.  We had some up-close encounters!

 We walked the beach most mornings to watch for the "turtle rescuers" that look for hatchling tracks in the sand and dig up the empty nests to make sure all the turtles get out.  The usually find a few and they let us see them up close.  We also saw a few mother turtles lay nests at night as well as a few live nest hatchings at night too (no pictures allowed and they are closely monitored by volunteers).  This has become one of our favorite parts of our beach trips!

Lastly, I'll include our various attempts at family photos.  It's tough to get everyone looking, and smiling, especially in a large group, so we took a good bunch!

Me and my babies!

It was finally time to head back home.  We have school starting soon, and we need to finish unpacking those boxes!  We stopped at The Villages on our drive home and spent one night there before trekking back to Wilmette.  We had the prettiest sunset so I snapped a quick photo.  Can't beat those sunny skies.