Memorial Day

the American hero always comes through

to capture our hearts with a spirit so true

some proudly are soldiers who march in harm's way

ensuring our freedom, courageous they stay

while others come forth as civilians so brave

determined in purpose, so steadfast to save

we should always keep clear a place in our heart

for each has a value beyond precious art

their duty to country will not be surpassed

please honor their courage, for some it's their last

we live in a world which can be hard to bear

thank God for these people, how greatly they care

do ponder new heroes and what they will face

and pray for their safety, no matter their place

our heritage brings out the best, we all know

our great book of heroes is destined to grow

-The American Hero by Roger Robicheau

don't mind him...he's camouflaged

Will got into the camo paint in the garage this morning while we were cleaning and organzing the boxes out there. He insisted no one could see him because he was camouflaged.

When it came time to go down the road to the farm vegetable stand, Will went in full camo paint.

We got some farm fresh raspberries, asparagus and sugar snap peas to enjoy at dinner. The kids ate almost all the raspberries on the short drive home.

The farmer told us that next week will be tomato and blackberry week, so we just might have to go back. Afterall, what's better than farm fresh produce right down the road?

YMCA Water Park

Let's just start by saying that this place is AWESOME. The kids and Mom had such a blast at the YMCA water park kick-off party this afternoon. The water park is so spacious and clean and there's tons of chairs, picnic tables, shade areas, and even a fairly priced concession stand. There's a HUGE pool which starts off at 0 depth (like an ocean, according to Will) and moves across the whole place to big a big lap type pool on the other side of the park. The kids' area, though is full of sprinklers, hoses, a water mushroom, buckets that dump and a mini frog tongue slide. It's well staffed and easy enough for Will to maintain some independence in the area he can stand while Mommy helped fearless Kylie navigate the pool. On the other side of the park, there are two huge water slides for the bigger kids, and in the middle is a smaller twisty tube water slide for medium sized kids.



Unfortunately, the water park is a separate membership than our regular YMCA membership, but we can get day passes if we want during the summer. We might have to think through getting a season pass next year since the kids LOVED it this year and next year they will be even more independent.

We had a BLAST. Will just loved every minute of being there with all his buddies and Kylie got so excited to see Izzy, too. We played for about 2.5 hours in the water before the chills set in and the sky started to look threatening.

Then, we dried off, put on jammies, and drove home in a terrible thunderstorm. Thankfully, we made it home safe, despite the tree that fell across the road just ahead of us right near our neighborhood.

Hydrate

We sort of skipped spring altogether here in Virginia. It's been in the 90s all week and the kids have jumped right into their bathing suits and summer energy. It's crazy to think that last summer, Kylie was just only a few months old and this summer, she's one of the gang.

Mr. Cool is right back to not napping now that it's nice out. He did this last summer, too. He simply can't handle not being outside when it's nice out. We've been making summer plans and tying up the school year and we're looking forward to our first summer in our house and with our dog. Tomorrow is the kick off party at the YMCA water park and we're so excited to try it out with our friends. Here's to SUMMER!

Sunday

This morning when Kylie refused to nap (again), we packed up and headed over to a nature trail/hiking path we just learned about near our house. We were hoping to find some water for our pup to try out her swimmin' skills since she's never been swimming.



With the dog in the car, it's harder to pack "gear" like a stroller or a hiking backpack, so Kylie had to rough it with the rest of us. (until Daddy carried her, that is)

She didn't mind at all.

At the very end of the hike, we found the pond for Tank. Josh was nervous about letting her go, but he's never lived with a lab before. She took to the water like, well, a lab to water.

and she's pretty much been napping ever since.

After a wonderful summer dinner which the kids devoured (thank-you hike), they were given ice cream cones on the front steps.

Clearly, there's no better way to end an early summer weekend.