On June 1, we had another family picture session with Nixie. It seems to be working out that we are doing 2 sessions a year, and I hope to continue that!

Unfortunately, the kids weren't so cooperative this time. Nixie still got some good shots, but Addison and Fischer didn't make it easy.

Here are a couple of pictures to show you the overall mood of the session...

More pictures to come soon...including some of the kids actually smiling! :)

We didn't have any big plans for Memorial Day this year, so we decided sort of last-minute to take a quick trip to NC to visit my parents.

We left Saturday morning and headed home Sunday afternoon. It was a quick visit but we had fun!

Saturday afternoon, we headed to the pool and the kids had a great time swimming. The rest of the day was spent hanging out at home and relaxing. We even got to watch the raccoon that's been visiting my parents a lot! She seems very brave and used to people, which sort of freaked me out when she walked right into the yard towards Fischer and I while we were outside playing. I was a little more comfortable watching her from inside!

Sunday morning, we headed back to the pool. It was a bit chilly since it was earlier in the day but the kids still had a great time. I wish I had some pictures from the pool but I didn't take any. :(

Before leaving on Sunday, the kids got to go for some rides around the block (with my dad driving very slowly, of course) in "Zeke." They had fun riding with the top down and even got to stop and see a bunny along the way! I'm sure they'll be asking to go for another Zeke ride next time we visit.

It was nice coming home on Sunday and still having Monday as a family since Scott was off for Memorial Day. I love long weekends! :)

A couple of weeks ago, we went strawberry picking! I'd never been before but was excited to give it a try.

There were so many rows of strawberries. The kids took off as soon as we got our bucket!

And it didn't take long to fill our gallon bucket. Addison and Fischer had a great time picking - I loved how the strawberries were at a perfect height for the kids!

I think Addison ate more than she actually put into the bucket....

And Fischer isn't big on fruit, but I was excited that he actually tried a few very fresh strawberries (even if they were the tiniest ones he could find!)...  But I think his favorite part was when I told them they could run to the end of the row and back. :)

We had a lot of fun and I'd love to go back before the season ends. Blueberry season starts soon so we'll definitely be going to pick those at some point!

Addison and Fischer have been out of school for the summer for a couple of weeks now! The summer seems to be flying by already! August will be here soon and they will be going to school 3 mornings a week... that seems so grown up to me.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from their last day of school. They weren't too interested in letting me get a good picture - they were much more interested in looking at bugs. :)

And here they are leaving school! I was in charge of the end of the year party, and all of the kids got buckets with a few goodies inside. I managed to keep them hidden from Addison and Fischer so that they would be surprised too!

In an effort to keep the kids entertained, we've done a couple of little science experiments. They are fun and short enough to hold their attention!

The first one was easy.. we just needed plastic bottles, hydrogen peroxide, food coloring, yeast, dish soap and a funnel.

First, we mixed the yeast with some warm water and let it sit for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, we poured our peroxide into the plastic bottles and added some food coloring. Fischer chose red and Addison chose yellow. We also added a squirt of soap. I thought I took pictures of these two steps but I guess I didn't!

Then, it was time to add the yeast through the funnel. Slowly, the mixture started to foam and rise in the bottles! The kids had fun watching come up and out of the bottles and onto their trays. Eventually they got brave and touched it a little bit!

Our next experiment didn't go so well, but the kids still had fun. All we needed was food coloring, oil and warm water. Unfortunately all we had was olive oil and we were supposed to use vegetable oil. I thought I'd try anyway but it didn't work.

You mix some food coloring with the oil on a plate, then dump it into a jar of warm water.

The colors are supposed to separate again, sort of looking like fireworks in the jar. Ours just turned black. Oh well. :)

We will try this one again soon!

Things continue to be busy around here, and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. Our June calendar is pretty full, but at least that will keep us all entertained! :)  Here is a quick post to do some catching up...

1.  The weekend before last we met our friends at a local festival. It was completely free except for $1 to feed the goats. It's so rare to find free entertainment these days. We had a great time and I got to hold "Baby Logan" for a little bit! :)

2.  This past weekend we went to see my parents for a night. We went swimming twice in their neighborhood pool and the kids had a great time. Addison is very brave when it comes to jumping in from the side of the pool so we are really going to have to watch her this summer. We really need to look into swimming lessons. I have some pictures from our visit that I will post soon.

3.  Both kids still wear pull-ups for nap and at night.  They could probably go without during nap, especially Fischer, but I'm just too nervous to make the switch. Addison moved up to size 3T-4T pull-ups last month and Fischer just moved up over the weekend.  They are growing, growing, growing!

4.  Speaking of growing, we've been measuring the kids on a door frame at my parents' house each time we visit. The last time we measured was in February. I wasn't expecting a huge change, but to my surprise, both kids have grown about an inch since then. Crazy!

5.  Fischer is back into his habit of waking up around 5:30. This is a phase that seems to come and go but it is a tiring one. And he gets really tired when he gets up so early, which puts him in a not-so-good mood. I'm just asking for him to sleep until 6:30... that doesn't seem too greedy! :)

6.  We are starting back to weekly My Gym classes tomorrow morning! We stopped going last summer since the kids were starting school. I figured it would be a good air-conditioned activity to do each week this summer. I hope they like it just as much now as they did a year ago!

7.  We ate couscous last night and the kids liked it. I'm pretty sure I never ate (or heard of!) couscous until college. Addison and Fischer have tried so many foods in their short little lives! :)

I think that's about it for now. Like I said, our June is going to be quite busy! We have a beach trip planned, a trip to the dentist for Addison and Fischer, Scott's mom is coming to visit, family pictures, weekly My Gym classes, and much more I'm sure!

Last Thursday, May 10, we picked the kids up after school and started our road trip adventure!

Our first stop was at McDonald's for lunch, and then we were officially on the road.  The kids quickly fell asleep (school makes them tired!), and we had a smooth ride into Tennessee.

We did have to stop along the way, and the kids picked out "Moritos" as their snack.

Scott made reservations at a hotel in Tennessee that was halfway between home and Dayton. They kids did so great on this first half of the trip - we probably could've kept going but we didn't want to press our luck.

After we checked into our hotel, we decided it was time to go swimming. Addison was in charge of the key...

Scott purposely booked a hotel with an indoor pool so we'd have a way to get Addison and Fischer's energy out! There was also a hot tub "hot pool!!" which Addison loved! After a nice time at the pool, we headed across the street to dinner.

Then it was time to try and get the kids to sleep... they actually did pretty well considering we were all in the same room! The next morning, we were up early for another swim and some breakfast. Then it was time to hit the road and drive the rest of the way!

Again, the kids did great on the drive. After a quick Skyline Chili (where they give kids Oreos for dessert!) lunch right outside of Dayton, we headed to Uncle Chris and Aunt Jamie's house!

Carly and Carter weren't home from school yet so Addison and Fischer got Uncle Chris to themselves for a little while. He even let them play his guitar!!!

After Carly and Carter got there, Fischer and Carter had a great time running around being boys, while Addison persuaded Carly into letting her play in her make up, jewelry and nail polish. She had the best time.

Our hotel in Dayton also had an indoor pool, so Saturday morning we ate breakfast and went swimming. This pool was much more crowded than the first hotel's so swimming was a bit more stressful but still a lot of fun. And, much to Addison's relief, they also had a "hot pool."

We then headed to lunch with Chris, Jamie, and Carly. Carter was at the Special Olympics, where he won 3 medals. So proud of him!! He was able to meet up with us after lunch at Young's Jersey Dairy. There was a lot of stuff for the kids to do there...

They climbed on tractors...

Fed goats....

Rode the "train"...

Played in the play area for quite awhile....

And ate yummy ice cream!

Everyone was tired afterwards, to the kids all got shoulder rides back to the car....

Our day kept going after that! After a quick visit with Aunt Jamie (who had to work a lot while we were there), we headed back to the hotel with the whole group to swim, then out to dinner. Then,  it was back to the hotel for bed.  At dinner, we saw a lot of high schoolers eating before heading to Prom. Addison was in awe of all the "princesses and at one point she even yelled "There's Taylor Swift!!"

Here are all the cousins before heading to dinner...

We drove the entire way back on Sunday and the kids did great. It was a long day in the car but they didn't complain at all! The most challenging part of the trip was getting the kids to sleep each night. They were so hyped up from the excitement of the trip, and they were sharing a bed so they wanted to keep playing. They weren't asleep until after 10 each night. But, that's what vacation is all about, right?!  :)