Family Trip Up North Part 2

Hi!

If you missed yesterday's part 1 of our family's trip up north for the 4th, click here!

Saturday, July 6th

Saturday morning we started off by taking some pictures before Mimi, Papa, and the grandkids headed down for the parade. For the last 7 (?!) years we've participated in the club's golf cart parade.  The kids really love this tradition with their grandparents.

 The grands!

 Our fam

 We dressed the kids like little grillers for our cart's theme.

How cute does Reagan look?!

 The front of the cart.

 The back of the cart.

 My parents with Charlotte and Rea.

 Here is an action shot of during the parade.

My niece and nephew rode their scooters along side this year while Charlotte and Reagan rode in the cart.

Harper and Hudson just watched from the side this year!

After the parade we headed back home to feed kids, rest, and get ready for the pool.

The pool is always so fun this day every year. They hire a balloon artist/face painter, have a great band, and have cotton candy, snow cones, and popcorn.  It is so much fun! We left the babies at home with Mimi and Papa and just took the other 4 kids.

 Super Rea Rea!

 Yum!

 Enjoying the day!

The clouds rolled in and the rain started, so we left the pool and headed back to the house for afternoon/evening fun.

Sunday, July 7

Sunday morning we headed to the golf course to take some family pics. I loved some but was frustrated with others! It's going to be tricky to get all 3 kids smiling and looking cute at the same - plus throw in me looking icky - blah!

 I do LOVE this one of my family.

 Oh. And here is the classic.

I'm going to try to do a re-do pic soon.

 My older sister and her family.

 My younger sister and her family.

I love this one of my parents and the grandkids!

After photos we went inside the clubhouse for the pancake breakfast. 

It is always so delicious! 

 Reagan said this year was "pan-tastic". Love him.

 My beautiful baby girl.

 One side of the table.

 The other.

After breakfast the boys all went golfing and the girls went home with the kids.  We did a lot of wrangling little ones. And I laid down and napped with the babies.

Cousins playing through the door.

That evening after dinner some of us hit up the park.

 Rea had a blast as usual.

 Watching his big cousins play.

 Doing the zip line with Uncle Ryan.

 Cousins

We had a WONDERFUL time as usual. Huge thanks to my amazing parents who host us all and create a wonderful little vacation for us all every year.

 I just love that my kids are growing up so close with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grand parents.  Growing up, I didn't live near any of our family.  All of my dads family lives in Wisconsin and I've seen my cousins maybe 5 times. My grandma on that side flew out a couple times a year to stay with us growing up but that was it. My mom's family lives all over and we rarely saw them when we were little. My grandparents on her side lived here but they weren't what you would call typical grandparents. 

Anyway. It just fills my heart with joy that my son calls his cousins his best friends, thinks his aunts/uncles hang the moon, and love his Mimi and Papa (probably) more than Nick and I. Ha. 

Family Trip Up North Part 1

Every summer over the 4th of July my family gathers at my parents' summer house up north.  It is always a fun little get away from the heat and time to enjoy one another's company.

Here is a little recap of days 1 and 2!

Thursday, July 4

We drove up north on Thursday morning and met my parents and sister Meg and her family. (They got up on Sunday). Thursday was pretty laid back.  We mainly just hung out!

I did get some pics of the kids in their patriotic garb!

 Love these two!

 My sister Meg and Charlie.

 Mimi and Harper

 Playing Wii in the basement.

Brothers

 My little firecrackers!

After lunch we decided to go to the pool.

 The twins and Papa before getting in the water.

 Rea Rea

 The twins and I

My baby girl.

 My handsome boy.

 Charlotte and Reagan in their Mike and Sully towels!

After the pool we came home and took baths, ate dinner, and went for a little golf cart ride.

 Reagan was so tired and snuggled up to watch a movie.

The babies were so good!

We didn't do fireworks or anything ... maybe in a year or two!

When the kids went to bed we watched "Identify Theft" and laughed so hard.

Friday, July 5

Friday morning we got up and got ready for the day. My older sister and her family were arriving that day and Reagan couldn't wait! He loves his big cousins.

More pics of the kiddos!

Yay! All of the cousins!

 We spent a lot of time on the deck playing that day.

My big boy!

 Everyone played so hard! Harper fell asleep in the sitting position in her pack and play!

Cousin Sadie loved reading to the little ones.

One of our favorite things to do up north is play games as a family.  

Nick cooked up an awesome dinner for us all Friday night.

I love this pic of my mom escaping from the noise and chaos inside.  With 6 grandkids, 1 dog, the tv, adults playing games she needed a little alone time with her drink! Ha Ha. The gin and tonics were certainly flowing this weekend! :)

After dinner we headed out front to decorate the golf cart for the club's parade the next morning. We decided to do the theme "Grilling up some fun!" Everyone really worked together and I think it turned out pretty cute! 

That night it was more games and gabbing before bed! 

Thank you!

Just wanted to pop in to say a quick THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me over at Circle of Moms this past month.  Thanks for voting me one of your favorite teacher/mom blogs for the 3rd year.  I really appreciate all of you who read this little blog and support me through your comments!

You can see the full list of winners here.

And my page is here.

Thanks again! XXOO

Trendy Tot Tuesday

Oh my word.

We just got back from a long weekend up north for the 4th and my kids were full out in patriotic outfits. I was in love.  But one of my favorites were ones sweet Leah over at Everyday Love made for my kiddos. They were absolutely precious. I'm so glad this sweet blogger and I have become friends and I can go to her for all my personalized outfit needs! :) Go give her some business and tell her I sent ya! :) 

Don't forget to link up with Megan for Trendy Tot Tuesday!

I will post more pictures later. But here is one of my favorites from the trip.

Seriously. Crying? Can't we get one picture where everyone is happy?!

(At least the outfits looks cute!)

Made It Monday #2

I know I'm a day late linking up for Monday Made It this week!

But we got back from vacation yesterday and I couldn't seem to sit down at the computer.

(1)

I'm excited to start incorporating more whole brain teaching into my classroom this year. I've loved everything I've read and the videos I've seen on You Tube.  I found a great freebie for whole brain class rules from First Grade Fever.

So I printed them out and hung them on a piece of ribbon that I will hang up in my classroom.

(2)

I'm also really excited to try out Fun Friday  from A Teeny Tiny Teacher with my firsties this year.  My old teammates had great success with it after I left and I thought I'd give it a go! No color behavior chart? No treasure box? No clip chart? I'm sold.  We'll see! 

I've been doing some shopping and collecting from family members for my various stations!

(3)

I've also decided to change up my classroom jobs this year.  It got to be such a pain remembering to switch them each week and filling in for absent kids and all that jazz.  So I'm going to try just having 1 boy and 1 girl be my "helping hands" for the day.  I put them on rings so I can easily flip (or have a kid flip) each morning.  Those 2 kids will be in charge of all "jobs" for the day. We'll see!

I have a lot of other school projects left to do before school starts!

I will definitely share them on the next few "Made it Mondays"

I will leave you with something not school related but something we made on vacation- our family's entry for the golf cart parade.  I put my teacher juices to good work and we whipped up this crazy cart.  It didn't win, but the kids had fun and looked cute!