Boys of Summer

The boys have had a great summer and we are sad to see it come to an end.  Hayden kept busy with camps and playdates, we spent a lot of time at the pool, Lincoln attended a Mother's Day Out program two afternoons a week, and Hayden fulfilled his summer schoolwork goals.  Here is our summer in pictures....

Hayden's summer command center.  :)

He read a total of 63 books and completed the majority of his summer worksheets to stay "Fit for First"

Our summer bulletin board.  Hayden chose a weekly reward for completing his work.  He chose a trip to skyzone, icecream, seeing Inside Out at the movies, a lego set, and we offered him a couple trips to O's games that we were already planning.

Jumping at Skyzone

O's/Braves game with daddy

Hayden's 2015 Summer Schedule - he loved checking this to keep track of what he had going on each week.  :)

Soccer Camp

VBS at Glenmar

Sports Camp with his buddy Landon

VBS at Severn Run

Lego Minecraft Camp

Sports Camp at the Soccerdome

Lincoln at Mothers Day Out of Westchester

We enjoyed our new kayaks on the weekends

 

Lots of silly brother time

Lounging at the Pool

Me and the boys

Cannonballs with daddy

Hayden relaxing at Grammy and Pops'

Hayden passed the swim test at Lifetime and was finally able to do the slides!

Hayden at Back to School Night - he is ready for 1st grade!

Outer Banks Vacation 2015

The first week of August, we headed to the Outer Banks to spend a week with my family.  This was our third trip to Corolla but it had been 2 years since our last visit.  I loved so many of the pictures I took on my camera and phone so I made an album below (press the right arrow to view all).  Here is my top 10 favorite things from the week....

1. Spending time with family and seeing all the kids enjoy the beach, pool, and just being silly with eachother (Lincoln even left my side to play without me sometimes)
2. Fun on the beach at night searching for sand crabs and flying kites.
3. Hayden boogie boarding for the first time and catching waves with his cousins.
4. Lincoln playing in the sand and playing with the fiddler crabs in his wagon with daddy.
5. Morning workouts before the house was awake with E to include a beach run, kayaking, and tennis (thanks to Grammy for helping get Lincoln up while we were still out)
6. Watching Hayden and Sarah participate in the Limbo competition, Homerun Derby, and a Tennis Clinic (Hayden got a medal for winning the Limbo)
7. Watching the kids catch crabs with Pops and then enjoying them with dinner twice.
8. Watching E take 4 kids out on the kayaks by himself and later taking all 5 kids night fishing
9. Late night family talks with Emily asking Grammy to tell stories about me and Vicki growing up.  (we heard about me breaking my arm in 1st grade and the Spaghetti Dinner story every night)
10. The beautiful weather, awesome sunrises on the ocean and sunsets on the sound, and knowing how blessed we are to be able to have had this time together.

Camp Vaillant Weekend 2015

A couple weekends ago my nephew Ryan came to stay for a few nights.  He had been at my parents for the week so they dropped him off here to stay Friday-Monday with us.  We were hoping for nice weather since all our plans were pretty much outdoors.  On Friday, the boys played baseball out back while Lincoln napped.  That night, Eric took them to see the Bowie Baysox play and they enjoyed fireworks after the game (Hayden's first real fireworks).  On Saturday it rained a little in the morning so we played games at home.  Once it cleared out we headed to Patapsco State Park for a hike to the falls.  That afternoon we headed to the pool for more fun.  Saturday night we did smores on the fire pit before everyone passed out from the busy day.  On Sunday, we went to Gunpowder Falls State Park for the first time to take our kayaks out.  We rented one there so Ryan could have his own.  It was a hot day but it felt pretty good out on the water.  After kayaking we headed to the small beach there for a little more swimming before we left.  That afternoon we went to a different pool to cool off.  It was a fun, active, and exhausting weekend!  This was Ryan's 3rd year in a row staying with us over the summer and the boys loved having their big cousin around!  Here are some pics from the long weekend.....

Friday afternoon baseball

Hayden and Ry at the Baysox game

Fireworks!

Setting off on our hike at Patapsco

Cute cousins

Daddy and Linc

The boys on the bridge

Waterfall fun

Vaillant family shot

Saturday night at the pool

Linc's favorite spot!

Icecream!

Watching the sun set.  :)

Roasting Marshmallows

Setting out on the kayaks at Gunpowder

Ryan did great on his own kayak

Swimming at Hammerman Beach

My Birthday Weekend

My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year (July 7) so we celebrated the weekend after since Eric was on call for the 4th.  On my actual birthday Eric left me a beautiful bouquet of flowers in the morning and brought home G & M crabcakes when he got off work, which has become a tradition the last couple of years.  I knew Eric has planned a night away and booked my parents to watch the boys but he kept what we were doing a surprise.  We left the house at about 12:00 on Saturday and headed to Pasadena for hard crabs which is what I asked for.  :)  After that we drove to Bethesda where Eric had booked a hotel for the night.  The hotel had a roof top pool so once we checked in we lounged there for a bit.  We walked around trying to decide on a restaurant and we ended up at Cafe Deluxe which is where we had our first date which was perfect.  We sat outside and enjoyed great food and drinks and then tried a new Wine Bar across the way.  The next morning, I took a run on the Capitol Crescent trail and walked by my old building and reminisced on our dating days.  It was a great weekend and one of the things we said we wanted to do one more time before we move next summer.  Here are some pics from the weekend....

Crabs!!

Rooftop chillin by the pool

Sampling some wine

Pic on the bench me and Eric sat on for hours the night before he left for Texas for 6 weeks when we had just started dating.

This time he kissed me.  :)

Orioles/Nats Game

Two Fridays ago we had planned to just chill at home once Eric got off work.  I got a text from Eric at 3:30 saying the doc he was working with just offered him tickets to the O's/Nats game that night at 7:05.  Hayden was super excited when we told him he was going with daddy.  We used it as his reward for the week for doing his summer school work.  The big boys left as soon as Eric got home from work and they kept me posted with pics and updates throughout the night.  Me and Lincoln watched from home and I think we even spotted them on TV.  The seats were awesome and I know Hayden had a blast.  Here are some pics Eric took from the night.....

Just arriving at the park....floppy hat night!

Mommy is so jealous of these seats!

He even got a ball!

Great night at O's stadium