Summer 2016 --- Trip to Alabama

It was a whirlwind ten days, but the boys and I had a blast in Alabama hanging out with friends and family. The best way to tell the story is through the photos --- and there are a TON of photos...here we go! 

 



Packed in the car and ready to go see everyone in Alabama!

RF had fun covering his arm in stickers...

 

And of course, little brother had to cover himself, too...

 

Little rocking chair during our pit-stop at Priester's Pecans outside of Montgomery...

Relaxing...

RF thought this horse swing was pretty cool!

Ellis decided to nap...

Sunday afternoon I had a meeting at our presentation location and Mr. Ellis decided to throw a FIT with Aunt Haydn came to pick him and his brother up, so he stayed with me at the school and pushed this cart around for a while...

Then he decided to color for a while...

Then he played with the locker locks for a while...

RF went with Aunt Haydn to her house while I was at the school and had the time of his life! There were lots of dogs to play with...

Once Ellis and I arrived at Aunt Haydn's house, RF decided to "show" Ellis this "cool cage"...

Turkey sandwich, veggie sticks, and string cheese for lunch...

And RF got to ride Uncle Nick's tractor --- his day was MADE!

 

 

The boys enjoyed some time hanging with Lola and splashing in the water in her front yard...

And we had a fun time at Build-A-Bear...

RF made Nemo and Ellis made a monkey, who he named "OH OH AH AH" (monkey sound)...

We splashed in Papa Tad and Lola's pool...

After a week of work, I took the boys to the Maritime Museum in Mobile to wander for a little while...

RF drove a boat...it was a green screen...

And this is what he saw on the screen in front of him...notice Ellis's hands on top of his head? The shark freaked him out...

 

But the large magnetic wall with magnets was his jam...

They got to drive remote controlled boats...

And see a pretty cool bell...

The view from the top of the museum was fantastic!

And there was a gigantic captain's wheel...RF LOVED it...

 

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Gulf Shores for a long, Fourth of July weekend at the beach...our condo for the next four days...

View of the pool from the balcony...

View of the lagoon from the balcony...

READY TO SWIM...

And swim, they did! RF swam without any adult holding on to him, which is pretty cool considered last year he clung to me like a barnacle to a rock...

Ellis enjoyed himself, too. He enjoyed jumping off the side of the pool into the pool (whether you were ready to catch him or not..) more than anything else...

After dinner, we walked across to the beach for some evening time in the sand...

Ellis's first time on the beach...in the exact same spot as RF's first time on the beach (Memorial Day weekend 2014)...

No where near the water yet and they are already DIGGING...

I asked him where the waves were and he pointed and said, "Right dare, mama!"

Happy as can be...

A beach trip isn't complete without writing your name in the sand...

Ellis, too...

Digging and building a 'drip castle' with my favorite little guys...

Putting sand into the bucket, and then dumping the sand out of the bucket. And then putting sand into the bucket, and then dumping the sand out of the bucket...

One happy boy!

And another happy boy!

 

Another fun morning at the pool...and snack-time for Ellis...

The beach ZONKS these boys out --- joint 3-hour nap-time...

Night #2 on the beach I put both of the boys in khaki pants and white shirts to get a few photos of them and they turned out really well...enjoying watching the waves crash at his feet...

Mama and her first born...

 Mama and her boys...

Heart. Melting.

Brothers...

Love these little guys...

Beautiful beach sunset...

 

Day three started out with a little morning shopping for mama...and RF got a new "super cool" hat...

Ellis enjoyed riding in the stroller...

It's always a great day when you get to drive a bulldozer...

Fourth of July night beach-time fun...

SO excited for the fireworks!

Such a big kid...

Digging, digging, digging...

RF found an "adorable little fishy, mama..."

So big...

Flying his Star Wars kite from Meme...he was SO PROUD...

Ellis flew a kite, too!

He was excited, as well...

I don't know...

I REALLY don't know...

???

Look, ma! NO HANDS...

FIREWORKS - HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Our drive home included a pit stop at Krispy Kreme for a HOT NOW doughnut...

 

We had a great trip, but were so excited to get home to see RA. We spent the next few days detoxing (so much good food along the Gulf Coast...), resting (vacationing with two kids is exhausting...), and catching up on laundry (SO.MANY. CLOTHES.). :-)

 

Beginnings of Summer 2016

We've got a good deal of fun planned for this summer for our little family - pool time, playing with the puppies, eating popsicles, catching lightening bugs, a trip to the beach, watching our garden grow, napping, a trip into the city to see a things (the Fernbank, the Zoo, the Children's Museum, etc.) and enjoying time together. We've celebrated Memorial Day with family in town and my 31st birthday. Perfect - just perfect.

Robert Alan is on vacation this week so we are enjoying a nice stay-cation here in the beautiful and quaint Covington, GA. With Father's Day this weekend, RA's birthday and our 9-year anniversary next week, we're taking advantage of our low-key, home-body personalities and hanging out with our kids and dogs.

While summer is typically a less busy time for teachers, this summer is pretty packed with travel for me as the state of Alabama development team I have been working with for the past year begins their first year of implementation with A+ College Ready Program Schools. A few members of the team and I ran a training at Enterprise High School last week, we will be in Prattville, AL next week, Robertsdale, AL the last week of June and then Thompson High School and Albertville High School later in July. It's incredibly rewarding to see a year's worth of work come to fruition and to see teachers excited about what we are presenting to them. AND it's so exciting for social studies teachers to finally have a seat at the professional development table as our own distinct content area --- can I get an AMEN from my fellow social studies teachers?

After the training in Robertsdale, AL, the boys and I are hanging at the beach for the 4th of July before coming back to GA for our last few weeks of summer vacation. I have a conference in Athens, GA mid-July for a few days, we will celebrate Mr. Ellis's SECOND birthday, and then it is back to work JULY 22 for me and back to school AUGUST 1 for the boys.

Time flies when you're having fun. Time certainly does fly.

Life lately in photos...

 

My boys in the backyard...

 

Give the kid a shovel, a dump truck, and a pile of dirt and he is good to go...

 

Give this kid a bowl of strawberries and he is good to go...

 

Chatting with his puppies...

 

Stealing the puppy bed for himself... 

 

Happy Memorial Day!

 

My mom, grandmother, and sister came in town for Memorial Day weekend. Mr. Ellis loved hanging with Mamaw...

 

And Meme and Aunt Hartley...

 

Just hanging out together...

 

Hamburgers and hot dogs for a backyard cook out...

 

A trip to the Square wouldn't be complete without a stop at Scoops...

 

Ice cream for everyone!

 

 

Another happy place...at the park on the 'swirly-wirly slide' as his brother calls it... 

Can you spot the kid?

 

Last day of the school year - cinnamon roll happy face...

 

Last minute, last day of school photo...

 

We had a drainage issue to deal with while we were in the process of closing on the house (which we did last month - FINALLY!), so once the drainage issue was dealt with, we started sodding the side yard. Between the dogs and the kids, we needed grass. 

 

The pool makes them happy...

 

Really, really happy...

 

Really, really, really happy...

 

Hard to believe this little man is approaching TWO...

 

Muddy days call for boots on everyone - mama, RF, and Ellis...

 

Brothers hanging together...

 

All three of the dogs were on the couch and RF said he needed to get up there too and pretend that he was asleep with his puppies so that I could take a 'really cute picture, mama.'

 

Art time...Ellis got mad that I was painting RF's foot for a project, so he decided to paint his own foot...and the rest of his body...

 

RF is slightly obsessed with The Little Engine That Could right now, so this was our artwork one day...nothing fancy, but he loves it. 

 

Summer mantle with summer artwork...

 

The rest of the summer mantle with more hand-print artwork...

 

Big boy loves trains...his little brother likes to destroy the train tracks that he builds...we're working on conflict resolution skills quite a bit in the Hawk house...

 

He decided to 'build a real train' one day...Ellis was just along for the ride...

 

Play-doh makes a sweltering June day more fun...

 

I knew there was a reason I hadn't gotten rid of all of the boxes as we unpacked...on a rainy, summer day it's fort-building, scrap-yard pretending, tunnel creating fun for two little boys...

 

I peaked in and they were having a conversation in the box, but turned around when they heard me. Such sweet brothers...most of the time...

 

Kitchen cabinet project. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them (it's an old historic house with lots of character), so we decided to sand them, repaint them, and change out the hardware. It's a slow process, but we'll post finished photos when the project is complete --- hopefully before summer is over. 

 

Just sitting in the dirt minding his own business...

 

With a smile that lights up my heart...

 

Another round of sunflowers are blooming in the backyard...HAPPY SUMMER!