We just celebrated Allie's 8th birthday. Nanny and Pa kindly brought over donuts on her birthday morning and we ate breakfast and played one of her favorite games, "Go nuts for Donuts".
Allie's cake was fun to make, but did get a little smashed in the hectic rush to get down to the pool. This was the night before.
A day or two after she got back, I finished summer school and we headed to Emerald Isle for our vacation. These pictures are a little out of order. We began with our annual mom/kid trip with our China Adoption families. Only Robyn and Caleb were able to come from the Musser family, then they left July 4th and the Runkles a day or two later. Then Dennis and Matt came up, then the whole Moore family to finish off the trip. There was a lot of in and out and activity and it was great fun.
The next to last night, we polled the kids to see what they had wanted to do and not done yet. The older boys wanted to putt putt so they did that while the rest of us did evening beach time and then we all headed to Sweet Spot for ice cream. The last thing to carry out was Julia's request for a walk on the pier, which Matt made happen for her in spite of the raging storm headed our way. They made it home just before the bottom fell out.
Our long time plan was to do another pool party the afternoon of her birthday, but it looked as if the weather would not cooperate. We had cakes and "ocean water" punch, and snacks all ready to go and I spent the middle of the day looking at the weather and alternating between "Should I pack the van for the pool?" and "Let me clean up the house and get some games ready here". About 30 minutes before the party was to start, a huge downpour came through, soaking Gray and Pa over at their house working in the yard and Matt out for a run. I was about to call off the pool when the rain stopped and the sun started to shine. We ended up having a hot, sunny afternoon at the pool and Allie enjoyed her friends and fun, though she was pretty worn out afterwards, with all the built up excitement she'd had for months about this day. We finished the day with a girl movie with Addie and Ava and Harper, who was visiting and I'm just realizing isn't in this picture.
Earlier in the summer, while Joshua and Matt were at a lacrosse tournament, the rest of us joined our community group to help clean up a local Head Start program's outdoor play area.
Then we headed off to take Julia to Mimi and GG so she could travel down to the Leighton's new house in Florida. She had a great time and loved hanging out with her cousins. She did get a jellyfish sting, but that has not dissuaded her from longing to live at the beach and loving the ocean.
Allie and Maddox on our last beach day. They could have stayed and played at the edge of the water forever.
We got a quick visit with Aunt Kathy.
We took Raven with us and she got lots of walks and loved going down to the ocean. And snuggling with anyone who was willing, even in hot, sandy conditions.
Gray's favorite game, Secret Hitler, was perhaps the most played game (though Bananagrams was pretty popular too). It's a game where you lie and argue for fun. What more could you want? He was able to get some adults in it too. Dennis brilliantly had them play a silent round when people were napping. That was my favorite.
I love reading and chatting on the beach!
Julia enjoyed taking Raven for walks.
Addie taught Allie how to ride waves and she was hooked!
Lots of bucket ball was played.
One of the best parts was July 4th night. We did an after-dinner beach time. Once the sun went down, the girls were manically digging a hole for a hot tub, the boys were playing their own version of bucket ball, and the rest of us were sitting around listening to music. We had hoped we might see some fireworks on the beach, in spite of the rules against them, and they didn't disappoint. It was a perfect, relaxing night for the holiday.
We spent July 4th day inside at a bowling alley. Most of the girls opted for the arcade.
The boys and Katelyn playing bowling. Gray was thrilled to win playing left-handed, never mind that he had the guard rails up. ;) He did get some strikes without them though.
July 3rd night we went out for pizza and walked over to the area fireworks show, which was pretty big and long. We did get stuck in traffic for quite awhile after, though. Some folks even went in the grocery store for snacks while we waited.
Several of the mornings, we did walks and Katelyn's "ab challenge" while some of the kids (ahem, Joshua and Gray) slept in.
Robyn brought a bunch of oreos to do a fun game where you roll them down a ramp and see which bowl they land in-- could be milk, could be garlic. You have to take a bite after it lands!
We always make the kids line up in age order.
Gray is not a huge beach fan and it was a bit of a challenge with his cast. He went in the ocean with a bag on it the first couple days and had to keep it over his head. That got old real fast. Most of the rest of the time, he only came on the beach when forced and preferred to stay in the house and play games.
Football on the beach the first night.
Joshua sure did enjoy having Katelyn there and they did a great job of hanging out with everyone the whole time.
We got one picture of the 4 moms before Robyn left. Love these ladies and so thankful to have time with them.
Our last night, the adults went out for a fun dinner and left the kids with The Princess Bride and leftovers. We played 90's pop music trivia and had a great time.
Then we came back to play the "celebrity" game with the whole crew and had so much fun. Jeannie captured the moment of all my kids guessing who each other was, thus being a team of only Crabtrees.
Post-game selfie
And that was the end of a fabulous week at the beach!
Not pictured:
-Robyn and I pushing a dead golf cart back to the beach house with Caleb at the wheel, sweating while cars went around us. It was funny after the fact!
-A fun night of playing "Fishbowl" with all the moms and kids
-Premiering the movie that we started filming in the fall, which Gray directed and edited
-Lots of porch sitting and talking
-Fun "leftover/appetizer" dinner we threw together one night
-The Baker and Crabtree kids doing an excellent mid-week clean up of the beach house in preparation for part 2
-Lisa, Julia, Addie, Ava, and I having a blast riding water slides at the little water park down the road
-Trying a new donut shop, courtesy of the Bakers
-Watching Wimbledon, also courtesy of the Bakers, who are big tennis fans
Other happenings this summer..
Gray got his license after a fateful trip to the Roxboro DMV where we endured a long wait due to low staffing only to find that Gray had left his permit at home, which he needed, and left my license at home that he had borrowed for paperwork, which he also needed. After confessing to the dmv lady that we are such a mess and apologizing profusely, she said, "Yes you are a mess, but we're going to go on with your mess" and thankfully, put through the paperwork and Gray passed the driving...
...just in time for us to get home to host our community group cook out. My favorite moment of it all was when Matt insisted Gray drive himself and Joshua to lacrosse and all our community group gathered in the driveway to see him off on his first licensed drive.
The next day, Gray and I headed to Asheville for his lacrosse tournament. Cheryl was kind to host us and it was great having a little time to catch up with her.
After a day of games, Gray and I had a dinner out near Cheryl's house. It was nice to have time with him, but he was not feeling the mother-son selfie to document the moment.
Sadly, the next day Gray backward somersaulted when he was hit on a shot and strained his wrist to the point of fracturing it. So that was the end of that tournament. Thankfully there was an urgent care right by the fields with no wait, so we were able to get him splinted and a few days later, he got a cast back at home. This week, he got an excellent report from the doctor and the cast came off. He was able to play in his last tournament with no problems. After lots of no-go's with summer job searching, he maaaybe found some work for this week. Also on his plate, post cast-removal, is learning to drive the stick shift car that Matt got for him to drive, which is supposed to be safer for kids with ADHD. It's been a bit of a car shuffle this summer, with Matt selling his blue car, buying the stick shift, and then buying a truck for himself to drive, which they will bring home from DC tomorrow.
We had to squeeze in a Father's Day celebration with Matt, since he was away or working most every day. He liked this personalized Mandalorian shirt I got him.
We went out for ice cream and the kids gave him sweet cards and mostly food gifts.
This tree played a big role in my summer. It was absolutely covered with poison ivy and needed pruning-- one of the last tasks that needed to be done before we could put the Roxboro house on the market. I enjoy pruning trees and agreed to get the job done. I was careful as possible, but by the next day I was seeing signs of a rash and within a couple days it was covering my wrists. It got incredibly disgusting and uncomfortable and I had to keep it covered for weeks. It was such a relief when it finally healed.
We had another sibling birthday dinner out...this time for Mexican food in Roxboro. Always a fun time!
Stacy typically takes the kids to Carowinds at Allie's age, but she gave her the option of choosing the zoo instead and that was Allie's choice. She loved her day!
Matt had so many trips up north for summer lacrosse for the boys. It's a lot! Lots of games, lots of being tired, and lots of hours in the car. They also got in some baseball games in their downtime up there and some opportunities for Joshua to talk to coaches about college. It's been such a process already, this figuring out college stuff. We are learning a lot and Joshua's improving his planning skills and people skills, as he works on promoting himself, getting to know coaches, and evaluating possibilities. He's heading up north again next week with a friend to do more college visiting/lacrosse team meeting. Most of his time at home is spent working his two jobs now-- the bus garage 6-12 and rec center 1-5, but in his free time, he's still into fishing! Senior year is fast approaching and he's feeling the time flying....as am I.
Speaking of time flying, summer school seems like forever ago and I'm already down to one week left of my summer break. This week will be a lot of running kids around, appointments, etc. Julia has band camp and is taking care of Sammy while the Moores are in Canada, which is keeping her busy, and then Allie will have a series of camps and a trip to Rock Hill to keep her busy while I return to school. She went through her typical "let me get into any and everything I feel like" while she was somewhat on her own when I worked...such a different life she leads than the the other three did when they were little. I think it's par for the course when you have a lot of kids. And probably this summer feeling like a different phase of life is par for the course too. Just hoping we can hang on and enjoy all these changes as they come up fast over the next few years!
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