Marval Weekend

We went to Marval for a marriage retreat before Isabella was born and Michael has wanted to go back ever since. We went this weekend on an RV camping trip with Cappy and Nana.

Art time with Nana

The river was freezing, but so refreshing.

We had s'mores...of course. :) Some serious s'mores eating going on.

Playing by the river in pjs while breakfast is being cooked. "Heavy rocks. Throw heavy rocks"- Benjamin said 100 times.

Trying to catch a tadpole in her net

Skipping rocks with Cappy

Golf cart rides!!

We floated the river, threw lots of rocks, played at the playground and splash pad, swam at the pool, played candyland, took lots of golf cart rides. Isabella didn't want to leave and asked if she could come back again another time. We had a great weekend! Thanks Nana and Cappy!

Hayden Family Maternity

We almost didn't take pictures this night because it had been storming, but decided to go ahead and take some between storms. Which turned out to be a good thing since Katie went in to labor 5 hours later, almost 3 weeks early!! I've never cried while editing photos, but after watching my friend go through the heartache of loss and the hope of repeated adoptions that fell through, I felt so overjoyed seeing their connection and joy anticipating their sweet baby. We planned to take some other pictures over the weekend and get some with better light since it was stormy, but obviously that didn't happen since baby came early. So I was a little disappointed in them as there wasn't much warm light, but I was glad we didn't decide to wait and wouldn't have had any pictures at all! We had fun and laughed a lot.

July

Making a village out of pool noodles and paper from her highlights magazine. And Benjamin in the background thinking he is being sneaky foraging in my bag for a mint.

We took the kids to see Inside Out. I wasn't quite ready to take Benjamin to a movie, he's much younger than Isabella was for her first movie. But we didn't have a babysitter for him and he did just fine. He was completely still and motionless for the first 25 minutes or so. I couldn't tell if he was terrified or just taking it all in. Some of the deeper themes were lots on the kids, but we all loved it!

Her vegetable garden getting some rain. 

We played at this park several times and Benjamin finally got the gumption to go all the way up to the twisty slide. And now he goes over and over and over the whole time we are there.

Asleep with a few of his favorite things...his plane, paci, blue blanket and the loose string on it that he holds while falling asleep...

My Aunt had some extra tickets to Mary Poppins and offered them to us.  It was a great show. Isabella remembered some of the songs. It was a little late and long for her. She got restless several times but then a song or scene would pull her in. The scenes were well done and flying characters were great. The next day she asked if we could go see it that night again. I look forward to more plays and shows with her!

Blanket capes have been a big thing around here lately. 

At the duck pond...

Benjamin's strategy is to eat a piece and throw a piece. 

We play ponies every. day.

Playing at the Thunder Fountain.

The kids shared a milkshake from Nic's after playing in the water. I was doing whole30, so I didn't have any. Whoo hoo!

On the last day of July we celebrated Cappy's birthday. Those kids LOVE their Cappy!