Knights game

Chad got Charlotte Knights tickets from someone at work, so we went to the game on a Saturday night.   The kids thought it was pretty cool at first, and then quickly lost interest.  Drew decided he NEEDED cotton candy and tried to track down every vendor that came close.  Here they are enjoying their treat!

This picture pretty much sums it up!  The kids were so silly, it was extremely hot (100+ degrees), and I think the Knights gave up about 10 runs in the top of the first inning! 

And it was a late game, so Emma decided she needed to sit on my lap, so we just sweated and stuck to each other...while Drew played with her purse and Elmo paper!  LOL 

BUT, we did have awesome seats!!   (LOL, Emma pulled her sweaty pig tails out and wouldn't let me put them back in!!)

The kids had their eye on the bouncy house area in right field, so we took a break from the game and let them play.  I was proud of Emma for climbing up all by herself several times!



This was just before Drew started almost rolling down the slide!  haha

Happy 4th of July!

Last Sunday we headed over to Chad's parents' house to feed Buffy and water the plants while they're out of town.  Then we continued on up to Blowing Rock to eat lunch and play for a bit. Well, Chad and I ate lunch, but the kids were too excited by the creek and all the potential fun!  Here they are not sitting at the picnic table eating with us.  =) 

So, we finished up our lunch and got the kids in the water!  Chad tried to teach Drew how to skip rocks.

But just plain old throwing rocks was a big hit with both kids!

Here they are trying to catch a fish!  LOL

More throwing rocks!  He could have done this all day!  (we stayed for about two hours and he was not ready to quit!)

Emma loved the water! 

The water felt great!  It was a hot day, but the water was chilly.

We attempted to wade down futher, but it was hard for Emma to keep her balance.

I love this picture!  I'm so thankful for the automatic timer feature on the camera b/c this picture turned out really well.  Although, it definitely took several attempts...

Buddies! 

I rarely buy chips, but when I do, the kids are OBSESSED!  Emma didn't want to get back in until I pried the chips out of her hands!

We wanted to go to Grandfather Mountain to walk on the Mile High Swinging Bridge, but we didn't realize there was a fee to get in.  We will definitely plan a trip there for an entire day sometime soon, but we weren't going to do it when we already had two tired kids.  Here's a picture from the road out my window as we were heading out.

Tuesday, July 3rd, we went to the Lowe's Y in Mooresville.  They had a big 4th of July Celebration all afternoon/evening.  We ended up going to Rita's Italian Ice and getting some ice cream and then heading to the Y to walk around.  We were a little late for the festivities (bouncy houses and stuff), but we walked around, listened to the symphony and watched the huge crowds and then headed to our usual fireworks-watching spot down the road.  Emma snuggled up to me when they started, crying "Emma bye-bye" over and over and over...and after about 5 minutes it got quieter and quieter...and then she finally said, "mommy, look! pretty!"  and then "Emma okay fireworks."  That meant, "okay, I'm alright with these fireworks now!"  LOL   I think this picture was taken when she was still saying "Emma bye-bye."

Drew loved the fireworks!  They look pretty comfy!



Fireworks!

Then on July 4th, we went to the Birkdale Celebration.  They have a parade for kids on their decorated bikes, scooters, etc and for pets dressed in patriotic attire.  Here's the kids eating their snacks on their bikes after we finished decorating them. 

Patriotic pig tails!  =)

What a cheeseball!  I let him pick out a new bike helmet for the event - he chose a shark! 

They had a huge flag on a firetruck ladder!  I think the fire trucks had a water fight after the parade, but it was close to a 100 degrees, and our kids had had enough - we missed it.

They're waiting in the HOT sun for the parade to start.

And here we are walking in the parade!

Emma didn't last much longer than this...a firetruck in the parade set off his siren (b/c most kids like that!), and she jumped off her bike and wanted to be held!  So, we let Chad and Drew finish the parade and we just watched everyone else. 



Drew did great on his bike in the parade!

After the parade, we went home to cool off and let Emma nap.  Then we headed over to our neighbor's house to hang out.   The kids all played, there was ping pong going on, lots of good food - we had a great time! 



Silly pictures and Last T-Ball Games

Emma's hair is getting longer and thicker...which leads to some major bed-head sometimes!  Here she is at about 6:30am helping me make waffles.  She, unfortunately, is having some major sleeping issues, waking several times in the night and then getting up for the day around 5:30 or 6am when Chad is up getting ready for work.  It's been going on awhile, and we've tried everything.  I'm hoping we can help her through this REAL soon!! 

We got the pool out again - if we aren't heading out somewhere, the kids beg to get it out!  Emma's got her new bikini on!  =)   Not sure what kind of dance moves Drew's doing... haha

And popsicles MUST follow pool time!  lol

Close up cheese!

Emma absolutely loves getting clothes from her cousin Olivia.  She insists on going through the boxes with me...and wants to wear it all!  Here she is in her pool coverup (we'd just gotten home from swimming at a friend's house), and she went and got these dress shoes and Drew's old sunglasses.  She wore this for a couple hours!

Drew's t-ball team finished their season up today with a double header.  The high today is 104, and our car read 99 degrees at 11am when we were leaving the games.  At least we got to sit in the shade - but the kids playing were so hot!  Emma was so good sitting through 2 hours of t-ball.  She sat in her chair the entire time and was completely content talking with us, playing with a few toys and eating some snacks (and drank about 3 sippy cups full of water!).   

Drew did awesome - we were so proud of him!!  They got to bat two times for each game - and he hit off the coach's pitches EVERY time!! (didn't use the tee.)  And at his last at bat, the coach even turned to the team in the field and said, "Here's a big hitter. You all ready?"  =)   Actually, Drew's whole team did really well, so it was a lot of fun to watch.  I caught all of Drew's hits on video, so here they are!!

Here's Drew's whole team with Coach Ebony and Coach Chris after the games.

And Drew was so happy to get his TROPHY!!

My parents visit - Lazy 5 Ranch

My parents came to visit last weekend, and we had a great time!  They got to see Drew play t-ball and we went to Fuel Pizza again afterwards. This time Drew ate TWO slices of pizza!! Then later Saturday evening, we walked around Birkdale and saw some jugglers.  Then we went to Bruester's ice cream...the kids' new favorite place!

Yum yum!!  (the kids both picked out sunglasses when we went to Concord Mills - Drew got camo ones!) 

Here's my parents with the kids.

Then on Sunday we went to the Lazy 5 Ranch on a wagon ride to see all the animals.  When our wagon first took off, several ostriches reached right over people and started taking all the food - the lady started screaming and everybody jumped to the other side of the wagon...and Emma started crying!  It was all pretty funny and a little scary - I was worried that Emma was gonna hate the whole thing.  But once we got moving again, she grabbed some food and was ready to feed anything!

We were the first ones on the wagon, so we were right up front by the guide so he told us all kinds of stories.

These nasty animals roll around in manure to cool off.  They came right up to the wagon and luckily didn't start shaking or whipping their tails around! YUCK!

The giraffes are so cool!  Here's my mom feeding the giraffe.

And Emma fed them!

And right before the wagon took off again, Drew got to feed them!

We were told to just drop the food on their tongues...haha!

Uh oh, running out of food!

Emma really liked stuffing food into the goats' mouths!

Drew wasn't too sure about it!

But he eventually did it!

This guy was a little scary (long horn).  We were told not to feed him, but the people in the back of the wagon didn't hear that.  They started feeding him and petting him, and he started reaching his head into the back of the wagon to eat the food off the floor - glad he didn't jump up there with us!  And notice the llama getting ready to reach his head in the car behind us!  I definitely DO NOT recommend taking your own car through!

I'm so glad we got to do some fun stuff while my parents were here!  We'll get to see my whole family again in August when we meet up at the beach.  I can't wait!!!  =)