Sea World

On our trip back to South Carolina we stopped by Sea World and words can not describe how much fun Micah loved it.  His absolute favorite part was the Sesame Street Bay of Play which is just a giant splash park in the middle of Sea World.  He liked Shamu and the other stuff but LOVED the splash park!























We were at the park from around 11 am to about 5 pm.  Micah was totally worn out when we were done!  He NEVER sets his head down on our shoulder like this so it is evident that Sea World took every last ounce of this boy's energy!

Since I have been bad at blogging...

Since between, getting the house ready to sell, planning for a move, and going on various trips, I have been very bad at blogging,  here is a picture cute enough to make it up to you!  Our little pilot in training!



I am pretty sure he really does get cuter every day.  And you can't even hear him making the airplane noises while flying the plane around the house!  Pay no attention to the mismatched PJs :)

A day at Lake Wateree!

We have some of the best friends back here in Sumter.  We hadn't even been back a week and they were already filling up our weekends with tons of fun!  We went with some of our really good friends the Buessings out on their boat last weekend and it was a blast for the whole family! Micah went out on their boat last summer but slept most of the time, however this summer he was ready for action!  He loved pretty much everything about the boat.  Feeling the wind in his face, being in the sun, jumping in the water, exploring and even (pretend) driving the boat!  One of the cutest things he did while we were on the boat was while brad was water skiing, I sat with him at the back of the boat turned so we could watch.  He would continually wave to Daddy and got a real kick out of it when Daddy would wave back.  We all had a blast, soaked up some South Carolina sun and enjoyed all of the good company.  Thanks James and Elizabeth!

4th of July family fun!

Another 4th of July came and went.  It is always a fun holiday since there is great festivities but not all the commercial fuss that goes alone with many holidays.  We spent the day with family and friends and had a good American time!  Most of the day was uneventful but we did go to dinner at Chili's and then go to a local park for a fireworks show with some friends.  The park was absolutely packed!  It is apparently one of the largest fireworks shows in the state so it is well attended by locals and others from surrounding areas.

Micah loved the festivities.  He was so excited by the hustle and bustle of all the people.  They had tons of food vendors and small rides and entertainment set up.  Micah was too small for the attractions but that didn't stop him from having a good time.  He just wanted to run all over the place! I have to be honest we kept a very close eye on him but he is a hard kid to keep up with!









The above image gives you an idea at the speed this kid can run!  We hung out for awhile and looked around at everything going on.  There are some funny sights at a small town festival!





We also made sure to get some yummy treats!  Brad got a frozen lemonade and I got a funnel cake.  Our friends Hugh and Kristen did the snow cones and sweet tea.  Between the group we really had festival food at its best!  Micah of course had to approve it all for us too!





We were a bit worried how Micah would do at the festival.  I know many young children do not do well with the loud fireworks.  Micah doesn't really even like the vacuum and adding in that it was close to 3 hours after his normal bedtime we were saying a little prayer for the evening.  Well God answers prayers and he did GREAT!  He absolutely LOVED the fireworks.  He was beside himself and kept trying to reach up to the sky to get them.  It was more fun for us to watch him than to watch them!

A wonderful night and a wonderful 4th!

Play date with Lana and Liam!

Last week just flew by.  I guess it was because we were having so much fun!  On Tuesday we got to get together for a play date with our friends Lana and Liam.  Micah and Liam are only 3 months apart and they really enjoyed playing together.  We did our best to beat the heat and of course as standard, Micah tried to eat her out of house and home and devoured pretty close to a whole watermelon!  Most of the smiles in the pics below came from me holding up a piece of watermelon and him wanting it!  Whatever works!

Playing Catch up...

The thing about blogging is that it is really important to keep up. When you don't it is hard to even know where to start.  So I am just going to start with this past weekend and work my way back to get through all of our travels and changes.

We have really enjoyed being back in South Carolina.  Since Brad graduated from Weapons School we have had some really great (and much needed) family time.  Last week was Brad's first week back at work and as luck had it he needed some paperwork to go through before he could really start his job so he had some pretty awesome work hours.  We were very spoiled!  This weekend was a fun one. I used some birthday money to take a photography class.  I have been wanting to get into a class for a long time but just hadn't been able to work it out.  This was perfect because it was on a Saturday so Brad could watch Micah.  I learned a lot and and now am pretty confident shooting in manual mode on the camera which is a big step forward for me.  Here is a pic I took using the principles I learned from the class:



Sunday we had a family day and got stuff done around the house and enjoyed each other's company.  Brad did have to go to work for awhile so that was back to reality for us but we managed to still fit in some fun.  I made a Southwest Chicken Salad for dinner which was pretty delicious if I do say so myself.



Then we took off to the the park.  Micah had been in the house most of the day since we were doing housework and so we wanted to give him some time to run off some energy.  I also just happened to take along the camera so I could get some more practice in.  This was the first time that Micah really took notice of the ducks.  He would point and say "quack quack!."  He also learned how to feed the ducks.  Most of the bread made it to the ducks... a few went into his own mouth :) We rounded out the outing with a quick trip to the playground which was of course just way too much fun!



















We finished up at the park, went back home, then had, bath time (much needed after the 97% humidity) and bed for the little guy.  And all of a sudden it is Monday again!