West Virginia and Virginia Trip

Last week we were able to drive to West Virgina to go and visit Grandma and Grandpa Hicks. The kids were so excited because they always have fun when they go over there. For this visit, Les' brother and his family were also there so, the kids had a ton of cousins to play with.

The younger kids waiting to start a water balloon fight!!!!

Grandma brought out an old box and it made for hours of fun!

Audrey had a blast playing on the hill with all the kids!

We were in West Virginia until lunchtime on Thursday and then we packed up the car and headed to my sister's house in Virginia. The GPS told us it was a 3 1/2 hour trip, but with traffic and a missed exit it took us 6 hours. The kids were actually pretty good during the trip even without the air conditioning working in our van. I think if we weren't stopped so much in the DC traffic the heat wouldn't have been so bad because we would have had wind blowing on us.

Playing with their cousins at the back of my sister's house

This is baby Giselle, she is the youngest of my sister's 5 kids and her and Les had a special bond :)

The kids with my neice Genna on her baptism day. This beautiful young lady is the whole reason we took our trip to Virginia.

Me and the love of my life!!!!!!!

Ice cream sundaes after the baptism with cousins


Not much better than this

My sister Lisa with her 5 kids and my 4 kids on the morning we left

It was a great week and we all had a blast spending so much time with the members of our family we don't get to see very often. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Hicks and also Lisa and Brett for being so gracious with your homes. We love you!!!!!!

WALT DISNEY WORLD

We couldn't go to Florida and not take the kids to Disney World, especially since we were only staying about 1 hour away. We knew we had to take this opportunity because we didn't know when we would ever make it back to Florida again. Of course from the moment we told the kids we were going they were beyond excited, as were Les and I. The last time I went to Disney World, I was about 7 years old and Les had never been.

Just look at the happy faces on my cute kids!!!!

Something that I thought was really great is that we were all able to go on most of the rides. Since so many of their rides are more like attractions and not dips and loops Audrey was able to come along too. She was scared of a lot of them, but never cried or anything, she just covered her eyes. Something else that I think Audrey really liked was that we weren't allowed to take the stroller in the line so, she was given a lot of freedom. I was a little nervous at first, but she did really great about staying with us and not trying to run off.

(remember to click on the collage to make the pictures bigger)

We were at the park for about 10 hours and the kids did awesome. One of the favorite rides for the boys was Splash Mountain. They were all tall enough to ride so that worked out great. Technically all the boys were also tall enough to ride Space Mountain, but Logan didn't want to and Parker decided last minute that he didn't want to either. Parker said that he will be ready to ride it when he is 11 years old. I was so happy that they backed out because I know it would have scared them so bad. Les said that when him and Bradyn were done with the ride Bradyn said, "I'm not sure I want to do that again." It was so funny and cute. When I was 7 and rode the ride I cried because it totally scared me. What was also great is that we went with our friends Jim and Melissa so, we had 4 adults and 4 kids. That really worked well for rides.

By the end of the night we were all exhausted and ready to go. We left while the fireworks were still going and that was an awesome plan. We were able to get right onto the monorail, which took us to a tram, which then took us to our car. It was a wonderful experience and I am so happy that we were able to go as a family. I can't wait till we are able to go again!!!!!

Florida Vacation!!!!

Last week we were extremely blessed with the opportunity to take a trip to Florida. My best friend of many many years Melissa was going to be going down to New Smyrna Beach with her husband Jim to stay for a week in Jim's parent's condo. They invited us to come along and we jumped at the chance. We knew we would never to be able to take this trip without having a place to stay free of charge. The condo we stayed at was right on the ocean, I mean look out the balcony and there is the waves. It was absolutely beautiful. This will just be my first post on the vacation, I have a lot more pictures to put up. Stay tuned for more beach pictures and pictures from our magical day at Walt Disney World!!!!!

This is my first attempt at making a photo collage so, I really hope that it turns out ok!!!!

****The bottom left picture on the collage is a picture of a jellyfish that the tide brought in. For 2 days they covered the beach, it was horrible. Thankfully by the time we returned from Disney the jellyfish were gone and it wasn't inconvienent on the beach anymore.

Logan showing his muscles (isn't the water just beautiful)

Parker Boogie Boarding (this was the boys favorite thing to do)

Boogie Boarding with Jim

Logan enjoying the water

Audrey having fun on the sand. She didn't want anything to do with the ocean!!!!!

End of Season Baseball Picnics

Parker and Logan's end of year festivities......

Parker and Logan's T-ball Team-----Daddy was one of the coaches!!!!

Parker receiving his trophy

Logan receiving his trophy. Last year his team was totally unorganized so, he never got his trophy. He was so excited to finally get his own trophy!

The boys with Parker's buddies!!!

Bradyn enjoying the treats!!

Bradyn's teams end of year picnic.........

Having fun eating some good food...Audrey just loves sitting there with her brothers :)

Bradyn receiving his trophy!
Hicks boys with their best buds!!!!!

WE ARE A HAPPY FAMILY!!!!!

We were very lucky to have the kids be apart of such great teams this year. They had such a blast playing and we enjoyed going to their games to watch.