Happy Birthday to Mommy and America

Birthday party for Mommy at our house. 

Matching cousins.

Close-up of Orange Kitty.  We wanted a picture because we never know how long this kitty will last.  He's already pretty beat up.  And dirty.

We went to Kent and Maeve's house for 4th of July.  We filled up a tub of water balloons without any real plan of what to do with them.  The kids decided to have a balloon fight and they were gone really fast.

St. Pete Beach, Florida

Tim had to go down to St. Pete's Beach in Florida again for another  international biology training.  We all came with him!  It was Lukey's first time on a plane.  (Anna's second-she came with us last time).  Both of them did great on the plane.  We had a layover in Charlotte, NC both ways.  Both ways were the same: non-stop talking out of both on the first flight and sleeping on the second.

Watching the planes.

Anna and Hello Kitty.

Lukey and Optimus Prime.

These beach cabanas were great.  Anna liked playing with her favorite toys on the beach and finding shells.

A Father's Day picture!

Family photo on the beach. 

We mostly stayed at the hotel because there was a lot to do there.  One night though we walked to a restaurant that we went to last time we were there.  A nice old British couple said that they remembered Anna and I from last time we were there.  They did seem familiar.  Anna and Lukey were very charming.

I love Lukey's face in this picture.  He wore the Paris jersey the day France was playing in the World Cup and they won!

Playing with a big sand castle some kids built.  I didn't take any pictures of us swimming in the ocean but it was really warm and we all had a lot of fun doing a lot of swimming.    There were also many pools at the hotel, including a 1 foot deep kiddie pool.  Very convenient.

What a stud!

Anna really really likes picking shells.  

Lukey going down the slide at St. Pete Beach

Lukey really really liked this slide.  He went down it once with ma, A LOT of times with Da and a few times all by himself.  He was very brave.  Anna went down once but didn't seem to like it much. Then she wanted to go again but I thought it was a little too much for a little tike of her size so we didn't encourage it.

Liberty Fest

Last week we went to the Liberty Fest at Heritage Park in Canton.  The kids both LOVED the rides.  The looked forward to the "roller coasters" all day.  They really did not want to leave when it was time to go home.  They really liked sitting together on the rides.  

Lukey was in one of those wonderful moods that day that he really wanted to take good care of Anna.  He held her hand everywhere and made sure she knew where to go when the ride was over.

Anna was too small to ride this ride.  Lukey was the only one on the entire ride.  

Lukey's last day of school!

Lukey did great at school this year!  I think it helped him a lot with following directions, learning to play nice, etc.  He also got to make some cool crafts and learn new songs and stories.  It was a great year.  Below is a picture of him on his last day (left) and first day (right).  He's grown so much!

Splash park, Paige's birthday, etc.

Anna and Anna

Dr. Luke and his stethoscope.

Playing at the Splash Park.

We had a visit from Brain for a few days.  The kids loved it!  Just like when Zena left, Anna cried.  She still talks about Brain and how much she misses him.

Lukey had an end of the year picnic with his pre-school class.  This was one of his favorite friends, Joshua.

His other best friend from school, Conner, is in this picture.  He's the one with the camo.    

Anna came to the picnic too.  

And so did Hello Kitty.  She really liked putting her down to get her wet then would run over to the towel and dry her off.  Over and over and over.

Swinging together at Paige's party.  

Lukey was going potty when everyone sang Happy Birthday to Paige so we missed that part. 

But they got to eat the cake!

Hello Kitty trying out the Canton Splash Park now.  I had to use this splashing crab thing to get the bird poo out of my hair after a bird decided to take a dump on my head.  That was the worst part of the party.

Paige went home to take a nap before it was time to open gifts, so Ally, Lila and Lukey stepped in to help.  Anna was too busy putting bubbles on Hello Kitty.