Summer Break 2018

Well, it's that time again.  I have already gone back to work and the kids start school next week.  Summer break is on its last legs.  It has been a good one.  Even though we spent most days around the house, we were able to squeeze in some fun along the way.  Here is a breakdown of how we spent our summer vacation.













The city offered free snow cones in the park on the first day of summer.  That was a good start.

 This summer has been a scorcher, so we tried to stay indoors as much as possible.  We were able to squeeze in some hiking at Little River Canyon National Preserve on our way to Space Camp in early June.

As you know, the Valdosta Toys R Us closed its doors in April.  Brian drove to work at the store in Jacksonville through the month of June, and he had July off with us. He has never had this much time off with us in the summer. He was able to do things with us (like go bowling), and he was able to do things that he wanted to do (like play golf).  We also celebrated his birthday in July.  It will be back to work for him in August, but it was really nice to have him home with us this summer.

The kids learned how to play tennis at a night camp in June.  They were taught the basics of how to play, and both of them really liked the game.

They also participated in the summer reading program again this year, and they were able to attend two of the maker camps- one for animation and the other for perler beads.  We are lucky to have such fantastic programs available to us through our library. 

One of my favorite parts of being off is that I have more time available to spend with family.  We went up to visit Cassie, Nick, and the boys in the early part of summer and got to be some of the first to try out their pool.  

Poor Maren, she never gets any attention.





















We got to spend a lot of time with our friends this summer.  Olivia and her friend Hannah have been planning a sleepover since April.  The big thing that they wanted to do at the sleepover was build a box fort.  This has been a big deal.  One night in May I caught Olivia up after bedtime with a flashlight.  I thought she was playing on her ipod (which is a no-no), but she wasn't.  She was up after hours drafting a plan for the box fort.  Like I said, this was a big deal.  Hannah's mom Kim spent weeks collecting boxes for the fort.  The big night came and it did not disappoint.  Somehow, the whole thing took on a life of its own and became a 24 hour box fort challenge.  The girls stayed in the fort for a whole 24 hour period (they boxed in the bathroom too).  While this is not something that I would want to do, it was apparently a lot of fun for the girls.

 Owen also got to spend some time with his buddies this summer.  One of the coolest things that he got to do was try an escape room.  Their crew made it through and were rewarded with snow cones afterward.

I spent a part of my summer cooking and cleaning the house.  I don't know how many pots of peanuts I boiled.  My kids love boiled peanuts- they can eat a whole pot in a day.  

All in all, we had a great summer.  We rested, recovered, and now feel ready to begin this new school year which is ahead of us.

Ichetucknee Double Dip

Twice in one summer!  It wasn't but a few days from our first trip to the Ichetucknee when we were invited to go again with some friends from our church.  Of course we said yes.  The second trip was a little more ambitious than the first in that we started at the north entrance and floated the entire length to the last take out.  We also visited the head and blue hole springs, which is my favorite part of the park.  I think that Owen and Olivia liked having other kids their age around this time.  We sure do love the Ichetucknee.

"That" Beach Vacation

 This year's beach vacation will forever live in infamy, and will from this point on be known as "that" beach vacation.  As in, remember "that" vacation when we had the kidney stone issue.  Or, remember "that" vacation when 14 of us got the stomach virus.  Or, remember "that" vacation when two people (none of our party) got attacked by a shark and they closed down the beaches.  Yeah, it was an interesting week to say the least.  It was definitely not business as usual.    Nonetheless, only one of the Sanders crew got sick and we still had a great time. 









One of the nice things about the kids getting older is that they have more independence at the beach.  This makes me happy because I can stay on the beach while they go fishing or go to the pool.  I, therefore, spent most of my days on the beach.  The kids were also down there some.  They tried boogie-boarding on a few different days, but the waves weren't very good so it didn't last long.  The older girls like walking down the beach and checking things out.  Yep, they're getting older.

 The kids did spend a lot of time in the pool this year.  All of the older kids are good swimmers, so they also had a little more freedom to swim on their own.

 Hurricane Irma knocked down a portion of the pier last fall.  It had been knocked down the year before by hurricane Matthew and they rebuilt it, but after it got knocked down a second time they decided to wait awhile before deciding if they want to rebuild again.  I don't know if it will ever  reach it's former glory.  Because the pier is so much shorter, the window for fishing is limited to high tide. Still, the kids went out there and had a great time.  The pier is Brian's preferred place to be, so he also was out there a lot.

 A factor that had a major influence on where the kids hung out was where the babies were hanging out.  We have no shortage of little ones in our family- 5 kids under the age of 3.  The older kids love hanging out with their little cousins. 

 Because so many people were getting sick, we went out to eat more than we normally do.  We usually all eat together for the majority of the week, but no one wanted to chance catching the bug.  This gave us a chance to revisit some of our favorite restaurants like The Surf and The Salty Pelican.  And, as always, we went for ice cream downtown.  We were also pleased to see that the fake shark was back at the marina.

Even though there were some bumps in the road this year, we still had a great vacation.  We love spending time with our family, even if things are crazy.

A Sweet Fourth

 The Fourth of July was a sweet affair this year.  On July 3rd we traveled to Jacksonville because Sweet Pete's candy company was offering 4¢ factory tours in honor of the holiday.  We got to check out the room where all of the chocolaty magic happens while the guide explained to us how different types of candies are made.  Afterwards we hung out in the store.  They had a special deal where for $4 you could fill a box with as much candy as you could fit into it. Owen and Olivia were stuffing their boxes full of all sorts of candies and goodies.  They definitely got their four dollars worth. 

 Since we were already in Jacksonville, we decided to catch a minor league baseball game. We had never been to a Jumbo Shrimp game before, but we will definitely be back.  We had the best time.  We cheered and ate hot dogs and did all of the little chants.  We even got to meet Scampi, the mascot.  There were fireworks at the stadium following the game.  The fireworks were really good- better than the ones we saw in Waycross on the following night.

We spent the actual day of July 4th at home.  We had hamburgers for lunch and I boiled a big pot of peanuts.  In the evening we went to our usual spot in Waycross to view the fireworks.  The Murrays were also there and they were more than happy to help finish off the peanuts. 

Hello, Dolly!

One of our favorite summer traditions is going to a show at the Peach State Summer Theater with Granny Mel.  This year's show was Hello, Dolly!  What did I think of the play?  Wow, wow, wow, fellas!  It was really well done.  The play was well cast and the lady that played Dolly- such a good actress.  I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't find the play interesting, but that wasn't an issue.  Ava even said that it was her favorite play so far.  We look forward to this day every year, and we are so glad that Granny Mel invited us.