Happy Birthday Samuel

We celebrated Samuel's 2nd birthday this past weekend. We had a great time with almost all of the grandparents, many little buddies and lots of fun memories!!! Samuel was all over the place, entertaining his friends, making sure all of the toys were in working condition, smiling for the camera, and just having an overall great time! We love our little man and are so thankful that these first 2 years have been so wonderful. Can't wait for many more!!!

The pirate ship cake in the making

Completed and thanks to gravity a little shipwrecked! It looked awful but it tasted great!

Lilly Kate, Charlotte, Anna and Samuel checking out the pirate ship water table!

June looked so cute in her outfit, she thought it would look better in the swimming pool! This sweet girl has NO FEAR when it comes to exploration!

Samuel and daddy in the bouncy house!

Mom was so very helpful in cleaning, cake making and cooking for the big day! I couldn't have done it without her!

Good friends of mine and their boys are great buddies with Samuel. I am enjoying watching them grow up together.

Samuel tasted the cake just to make sure it was delicious. Smiling as we sang happy birthday!

who needs a fork when hands work just as nicely?

Happy Father's day!

I got this cute golf outfit for Samuel about a year ago with great anticipation of him playing golf with his daddy! Ryan loves the leisurely game and tries to play as much as he can (which is less than I think he would like!). Today Samuel and I took him to the driving range for some practice! We had a great time, though it was hard to get Samuel to understand that he couldn't run the whole field!

Setting up daddy's tee.

Checking out daddy's form.

Literally saying "dere daddy, dere"

Samuel getting his lesson

As Ryan hit the ball I tried to get Samuel to say "fore" which he quickly responded "two" because, of course, that is his favorite number!

A stop in Raleigh

We stopped in Raleigh for a couple days on our way back from the mountains. Our dear friends live there and Ryan had a food safety class for CFA, so we decided to make another mini-vacay out of it! Thanks Joe and Abby for being so hospitable! Samuel misses his "sizzy and osh" (Lizzy and Josh) and asks for them about 10 times a day!

Samuel's new favorite thing in the pool. We put him up on the side and before we know it he is jumping in the water! So fun to see him get more and more excited about the water!

We went to a children's science museum which was really cool, and REALLY crowded. We sped through the exhibits, but I did get a few pictures outside at the drums. Samuel had a BLAST!

Mountain Getaway

Last week we had an amazing getaway with some great friends. We, and 3 other families, headed west to my families house in Cashiers, NC. It was a full house but fun was had by all! Lots of laughter, some fun little side trips, and some much desired quiet time (though these times were few and far between!). We can't wait to do it again!!!

Ryan let Samuel drive the boat, he was so excited! Samuel also found the horn and periodically ran over to push it until we made him stop! He was LOVING it!

Beautiful view of the waterfall at the bottom of our mountain. The boys loved seeing all of the waterfalls!

Sweet Charlotte a little worn out on our way back to the marina.

The kids so excited about being on the boat and feeling the fresh wind in their faces!

My little sailor!

The guys (plus Caroline!)

The ladies (plus Charlotte)

Driving under the waterfall was a highlight! Of course stopping to take a family picture proved to be a little difficult!

The group (minus two, poor Sherry wasn't feeling well so she and Matthew stayed home). And of course Ryan was taking the picture across the street, so we'll just pretend he was there!

Samuel reaching out for the water! He kept saying "wet, dere (there)"

Lilly Kate, always ready to pose for the camera!

June loved reaching out for the water!

Samuel and Charlotte are like two peas in a pod, always together, most of the time giggling and happy with the occasional spat! They are so fun to watch, but have to keep an eye on them at all times!

June and Caroline both were very upset when the ice cream ran out, and didn't quite understand why dad wouldn't just go and get them some more!!!

Sliding Rock

While in the mountains we went to a fun place called Sliding rock. Parks was awesome and took all the kids down the rock that wanted to! Here's our little dare devil!