Andy Grammer

 Wild Adventures hosts a summer concert series each year, and as season pass holders we are able to get the first shot at the reserved seating section (and they only charge us $5 per seat).  This year there was one concert that I was interested in and that was Andy Grammer.  He has a lot of songs that I like, and the kids really like his song "Honey, I'm Good".  We ended up scoring tickets on the fourth row- so close that we could see every move the band made.  It was great!  Andy sang all of our favorite songs plus his new single "Fresh Eyes".  He said that this was the first time that he's performed this song live.  The band really knew how to pump up the crowd and we were all on our feet and jumping around by the end of the evening.  It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend our last weekend before school starts back.

Summer Fun

 Well, summer vacation is coming to an end.  I go back to work tomorrow and the kids will go back next week.  I will miss these lazy summer days, but at the same time I am happy to be getting back into a routine.  This post serves as a reflection of some of the things that the kids and I did this summer.



We saw a couple of movies and even made it to the drive-in once.  Our favorite was Finding Dory- such a cute movie.

The kids participated in the summer reading program at the library.  Each week they read books and logged those in for prizes.  The library also hosted weekly events, but we were only able to participate in one of these special programs.  The program we went to featured a man known locally as THE expert on all things Okefenokee.  He spoke to the kids about wildlife found in the swamp.  He had couple of tables full of animal shells, skins, bones, and other things.  It was very interesting.  I think the highlight for the kids was being able to touch hardened alligator poop.  They all giggled and said "gross", but at the same time they all wanted to touch it.

 In July the Pokemon Go app was released, and the kids (and Brian) have been trying to "catch'em all" ever since.  As I type this, the kids are outside looking for Pokemon.  I don't know much about this, but I do know that when Brian says "I'm going to the gym" he means he's going down the road to the church parking lot because that is where the Pokemon gym is.

We used our season passes to visit Wild Adventures / Splash Island. Owen was finally tall enough to ride the Twisted Typhoon roller coaster, so he was excited about that. He was also tall enough to ride all of the water slides in Splash Island, so no more sitting out for him.

 Mama said that there were a bunch of sparklers left over from Quincy's wedding, so we met up at Granny's house on the fourth of July to use up the last of them.  The kids really liked doing this.

 The kids and I also made a day trip over to Saint Simon's Island for a fun day at Neptune Park.  We had a nice lunch, swam in the pool, played on the playground, and walked around the park (looking for Pokemon).  This was our "last hurrah" trip of the summer, and we had a great time.

Even though summer vacation is over, summer isn't.  We are going to have at least another month (maybe even two) of insanely hot weather.  Hopefully we'll be able to keep cool.

Pets Unleashed VBS

 Our church has had a very eventful summer.  Two of the main events have been saying goodbye to our long-time preacher and welcoming a new one.  When we sat down last spring to choose a VBS date, we had a hard time because many of the dates available on the church calendar were already filled by other events.  We decided to try a weekend VBS, and it was a hit.  The theme of our VBS was "Pets Unleashed".  We even had some furry friends on hand throughout the weekend to emphasize the theme and thrill the kids- they especially liked the pot-bellied pig. At Bible school, the kids learned about the life of Jesus, read the Bible, played games, and completed a mission project of making various animal toys to donate to the local animal shelter.  It was a great weekend.

Fisher Girls

 All of the older girls really caught the fishing bug this year.  They wanted to be on the pier morning, noon, and night.  Brian took Olivia out to the pier on the first day to make sure that she remembered how to bait a hook, cast, and reel in.  After the little refresher course, the girls were given permission to fish on their own.  They had to bait their own hook and handle the fish themselves- and they loved it.  Some night they were out fishing until well past midnight (w/ adult supervision).  Brian even deemed that Olivia was ready for her own rod and reel.  She was so excited on the day that Brian took her to the store to pick it out.  There are probably fancier places to stay at on Amelia Island, but we stay at the same place every year because of the private pier.  It's a perk that can't be beat if you have people who like to fish in your family.

Heading to the pier... by themselves

The Pool

All of the kids enjoy the condo pool, but this year it was the place that Owen wanted to be.  Owen is still a developing swimmer, but he is slowly getting better.  This year he began swimming underwater for short distances.  This is an improvement because he would only keep his head above the water up until now.  Brian bought him a snorkel mask and I think that this has helped because water doesn't go up his nose (so he's more willing to try going underwater).  He still doesn't feel confident enough to swim in the deep end, but he'll get there.  I'm just glad that he keeps trying to get better at swimming even though it is something that hasn't come easily for him.  And he finally seems to actually enjoy being in the pool, so that's a plus too.  Here are some pictures of everyone having fun in the pool during our vacation.

Beach Vacation 2016

We had another great vacation on Amelia Island this year.  I love that we still vacation with my extended family.  There have been many changes since last year, including the addition of my bro-in-law Chase and the birth of two babies- James and Riley Quinn.  Several of our family members have recently begun new jobs, which meant that they could only stay at the beach for a few days due to work commitments.  Still, we had a good number of people who were at the beach all week, and we all had a great time.  I will be doing a couple of posts with our beach pictures.

First up:  the beach.  This is my favorite place to be when we are on vacation.  The kids spent a fair amount of time playing in the sand and boogie boarding, but less time than in years past.  The older kids were able to "walk around" solo more this year than in the past, and they took full advantage of that.  I think that they enjoyed having a little more independence.  This also meant that I didn't have to have them under my thumb at every moment, so I was able to have more "alone time" on the beach than in years past.  That was nice too.

 The babies got loads of attention all week long.  R.Q. is definitely a beach baby.  James, on the other had, is not yet a fan of the sand or water.  He liked hanging out in the condo with Gigi.

 The Pokemon Go app came out right before we went to the beach.  Brian and Owen spent quite a bit of time trying to "catch'em all".

 Melanie was able to join us for a couple of days and we were glad to see her.  We had several yummy meals at some of or favorite local restaurants- and ice cream (of course).

 ...Still hunting Pokemon...

 On our last night we all went out to eat.  We usually go to the Marina, but it was booked up this year.  We tried a new place- the Sandollar.  This was a great place!  It was right on the water in the Mayport area of Jacksonville.  We were able to watch large ships come into and out of the port as we ate.  This was a nice way to close out the week.