4th of july myrtle style

troy managed to snag a long weekend for the 4th of july

so we headed for a quick family vacation to myrtle.  

kids are so happy with some sun, sand, ocean, an indoor waterside park and lazy river.  

yep heaven for kids.  too bad sleeping in hotels is so brutal with kids 

or i would love to do this all the time.

and this picture depicts the kids so perfectly.  yep. 

hitting the lazy river after getting too much sun

the kids mastered catching little crawfish in the sand this year.

they were hoping to take them home in their buckets.  

sooo not going to happen.

the boardwalk where we watched some guys catch sharks. 

our favorite spot on the way home-  cheeseburger in paradise.  we love their chairs… and food.

camp rockfish

cam was ecstatic to join braden at camp rockfish this year.

what a great trip!!  5 days with a bunch of friends from the hood playing in the wild

living it up day camp style.  

tad pole haven

somehow my kids have managed to keep their tadpoles alive 

(the 100 tadpoles collected from the soccer field)

look closely

gross

down pour

my kids will never get enough of warm summer rain dancing.  

really i can't blame them.  

its just so fun. 

lets get dirty

i love the yw in my ward.  love them

i got called as the young women's president and had a chance to go to camp

with my girls for a few days.  so much fun!!  i have the most  amazing girls ever.

it is hard for the youth in north carolina   they are usually one of the only 

mormons in their schools and it is difficult to have many that don't hold their same standards-

but they hold strong and are such an example to me and those around them.  

its so nice for all of them to get together and just relax and have fun!!

what a perfect spot for testimony meeting!!

my die hard camp directors sarah and rachel.  these are amazing women! 

challenger

we love that so many fun things happen in our neighborhood and challenger soccer camp is a 

favorite.  This year was pretty comical though.  It rained for the first month of summer- 

it was sunny every morning- and poured every afternoon.  

so the soccer field was a swamp.   the kids spent all their soccer breaks collecting tadpoles in all the

swamp ponds that they would run through.  It was disgusting and stinky.  

but the kids still had a great time and getting muddy is always fun as a kid.  

the coaches are great fun and we would meet up and hit the pool in the afternoon. 

so long

being military means there are always goodbyes… 

so we like to say so long instead because we always hope to see each other again soon.

so we had a so long party for the rowes who get to have a super fun adventure in germany.  

jealous.  we are really jealous. 

me, meridith, teresa, leanne, jackie, jackie, lori, paula, liz, maggie

and a special girl goodbye

lori-paula-teresa-me

meridith-jennifer-liz

let summer fun begin

one of the best ways to fill long summer days is with 

library story time.  thank you free entertainment.  thank you.

squish those bugs

bugs bugs and more bugs.

kids seem to love bugs.  so we hit bugfest at raven rock.  kids loved it.

bug face painting a bug exhibit and bug crafts.  

creepy crawlers are always fun.