This might be a long one, although I'm typing on my new tablet so that will help shorten it (no touch screen beats a good old fashioned keyboard). I can't believe this is the last official week of summer, it has truly flown by. We spent a couple of weeks at home in July then headed up to camp for our annual week of junior boys, Steven was speaking this year and I, once again, was the nurse. With 4 kids in tow I worry I don't do a good job but thankfully there were no catastrophes and always some willing arms to hold Mary Jo when a camper needed me. Last year Steven insisted we bring the 4-wheeler, this year I insisted. The boys absolutely loved it. As usual, Sadie quickly found friends and lived it up, as pictured below.
Mary Jo was good, as long as she got her naps in. Here she is trying her best to get Eli's sucker.
We love camp, the fellowship and being a part of the Lord's work in these children's lives, it is priceless. I'm so glad my kids get to make memories there, hopefully the first of many!
We went home for an hour or two after camp and turned right around and drove to Hilton Head for the week with my parent's and my extended DuBose family. It was a sweet week of swimming, bike-riding, and family time. The kids had a ball, Mary Jo got to try out her new strawberry bathing suit.
Daddy finally got a little time to rest! We shared a beautiful house with my parents, and several other family members, with a spiral staircase to the 3rd floor. My kids were in heaven.
Between Sadie and Daddy sleeping in, Mary Jo's naps, and the number of meals to prepare, we didn't make it out to the beach every morning. It truly is a great playground for kids!
Despite the beautiful beach, my kids love the pool the best. We have a rule that we have to go to the beach first, or we'll never make it past the pool.
I realized that my kids didn't go anywhere in the car the entire time we were there. Hilton Head has awesome bike trails and we rented this cool trailer (aka the chariot), plus some baby seats, so this was our main mode of transportation for the week. Mary Jo enjoyed it, and it was a guarantee for Eli to take a nap if I took him out about 5pm in the afternoon.
A couple days after we got home Mary Jo had her 6 month "birthday"! I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big (sort of, she's actually still pretty scrawny), but is just getting sweeter and sweeter every day.
Even though there was a million things I needed to do at home last week, I decided to take the kids to Charlotte for a couple days to hang with my Mom before a Charlotte shift, mainly to spend time with her in lieu of her birthday (which we weren't going to see her on).
Here they are having cookies and ice cream outside on the swingset, just one of the things about my Mom that makes her a fun and special "Nana".
Steven had a speaking engagement last Sunday in Richmond, VA, one of our favorite chapels to visit. There is a nice little apartment in the church that we stay in, and we usually go up early on Saturday to do something fun with the kids. After a friend's birthday party we drove up and went to this old theatre in Carytown (a cool section of Richmond) to see a movie, then walked to a diner for supper and ice cream. While there I noticed something dripping and looked down at Mary Jo's jeans. Yes, it was poop. Out of her diaper, onesie, and down her leg onto my shirt. Unfortunately, that was not the low point of our night. David had seen a preview that day for a movie with dogs in it that ended with one of the characters saying "it's off the chain, yo!" Of course, David started repeating it. That night the kids were wide open, running around the little apartment, as I was trying to get the beds ready and Mary Jo in her pajamas. I was in the next room when I heard Steven say "David, no!!!!".....but it was too late. He had pulled the fire alarm and it worked, very well. Being in an unfamiliar place we kind of panicked, Steven didn't know who to call or the code to turn the alarm off. Sure enough a few minutes later the firemen pull up, in their gear and ready to fight a fire. Here they are, to my kids absolute enjoyment, resetting the fire alarm, while David watches from his Daddy's shoulders.
I have to say I don't see a lot of remorse in this little face. In fact, when the firefighters looked at David and said "Was it you that pulled the alarm?" I'm pretty sure he was a little proud of himself, or maybe a lot. This one we may have to watch a little extra, he is truly "off the chain, yo."
