July's update is filled with all things new. Since we moved to Alabama the very last couple days of June, this was going to be our first full month in our new state. I was beyond thrilled that we had a full month before school started, and I was determined to fill it with fun! We wanted to take the kids to do as many fun things that our new city had to offer as we could!
We visited Rainbow Mountain and hiked. Clayton hiked almost 2 miles with his sweet little legs, then John had to carry him almost the last full mile. It was super hot, but so fun! The kids loved the huge limestone they could climb on along the trail.
Perfect for our fishermen-the neighborhood we are renting in while our house is being built has a neighborhood lake. We fished in it countless times this month and caught several dozen fish. It never gets old to the boys.
The first Monday that we were in Alabama, we headed to the library to get library cards and check out books. Clayton's favorite part of the library is that there are train tracks behind and he got to see a train go by...oh the excitement.
ISOM'S Peaches...I have talked about these delicious peaches for the past 6 years we have lived in Tennessee. Seriously, when I took the kids to Isom's Orchard to get peaches on the 5th day we were here, John's response was that he couldn't believe it took me 5 days to get there! HAHA. So good. The kids love them too, obviously, and devoured them. Dawson was determined that he "remembered Isom's from when we lived her before" so he wanted a picture at Isom's...I don't know if he really does remember Isom's or if it's just from me talking about it!
We also took the month of July to explore almost every park. It was sweltering hot everyday. Carter routinely said things like, "this is the hottest place I've ever lived...in my whole life." "The air here feels like the air inside a volcano." Haha! But they all enjoy being outside so much that they dealt with the heat.
As I posted in our June blog the first 2 days we were in Alabama we had 2 parties to attend, well on the 6th day we were in Alabama we had another party to attend. This was a 4th of July Pool Party! So much fun at our friends the Waye's house with other friends too. Here's Nora Kate and her sweet friend, Annie, at the 4th of July Party.
The pool party was during the day, so on the way home we were discussing if we should drive to one of the many local fireworks displays so the kids could see fireworks on the 4th of July. Well as soon as we got home, it was clear the answer was that that was not going to be necessary. It seemed everyone in our neighborhood was setting off giant fireworks. We just sat in our front yard and watched them all around us. It was great.
Nora Kate was ready for her first fishing pole so she could fish with John and the big boys. It's a Barbie rod that's pink, of course. She loves it. She likes the idea of fishing but her "arms get so, so tired" after holding it for a while so she mostly likes the idea of fishing and fishing for short amounts of time.
We swam at Henry, Annie, and Ruby's house tons this month. Nora Kate, Dawson, and Carter are all awesome swimmers and love the water. Clayton still swims in his puddle jumper, but he loves the water so much too!
One Thursday evening we went to the Athens Kiddie Carnival, a North Alabama tradition. SO FUN! When we lived here before we never took Dawson because he was too young to enjoy it, we thought, so this was a first for all the kids! Our friends the Houghs met us there, and it was such a fun night! They loved the rides. The whole thing has this great "small town America" feel to it. So fun.
Our kids and the Hough kids at the Carnival.
Clayton's little buddy, Ruby, turned 2 and celebrated with a birthday party at the splash pad on the 8th day we were in Alabama-so another party it was! SO fun!
We partied and partied....then the next day the tractor trailer delivered all of our things and the party was over for a short bit while we unpacked and tried to get settled....boxes, boxes, everywhere...and packing paper-seriously, they used so much packing paper!
The day our stuff was delivered we saw this beautiful rainbow!
The boys are still doing awesome keeping up with their reading time every day AND either journaling or doing math each day too.
As I mentioned, it's been super hot. The heat index over 100. The kids bought new water guns, and we had family water wars in the backyard several days this month. SO fun!
How could I run away from this cutie with the "water shooter"
The boxes are unreal.
More swimming
When we decided where we would be living one of our friends who is the school resource officer at their school offered to give us a tour of their school in July-AWESOME! The boys were thrilled to see their new school, and I think it will help them picture themselves there.
Visiting another playground
The Creekwood Park Creek
somehow an out of order photo from the kiddie carnival
The kids were SO excited when we were starting to unpack toys they hadn't seen in a couple of weeks.
We visited the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, and had a BLAST! So fun and so beautiful. The loved the hammocks too.
and the butterfly garden there
Since it was our first time, I didn't know to plan and bring water clothes-so Clayton striped off his shirt and hopped right in the water play areas.
The kids like going to check on the status of our construction, especially when they get to check out the equipment.
One Sunday we decided to drive down to Birmingham and visit the Zoo. We had only ever been once before when Dawson was two. It was awesome. Not crowded at all. So fun!
They loved this bird area, especially because you could feed them and they land on you!
Zoo Train
Zoo Train
Thumbs up on the zoo train
Then getting really relaxed on the zoo train.
We all got such a kick out of this bird area.
So fun...and so funny.
And the sea lion show was pretty great too!
Oh this boy, this boy! He's been into everything the last week or two. This particular picture was taken after I told him "no more snacks" and then went to fix Nora Kate's hair. He grabbed a greek yogurt out of the fridge, grabbed a serving spoon, punched through the top of the container, and when I came back 2 minutes later, he was enjoying this yogurt he had gotten and taken care of totally on his own....with this smile on his face. Oh, good thing he's so sweet and cute.
picnic lunch after swimming
summer journaling and math
Visiting an Athens must-Kreme Delite...this was a delicious treat for reaching reading goals!
Visting another park.
The kids liked that this park had swings instead of park benches around the pond.
"Take my picture, Momma!"
Our small group girls (Melanie, Sarah, Kelly, Lynn, and myself) went to Nashville one Friday night in July for a girls "weekend" (although we left Friday and came back Saturday night, we still called it a weekend, hah!). We had such a great time relaxing, chatting, shopping.
Here I am in Draper James (Reese Witherspoon's store) in Nashville. Everything in there was super adorable! They give you sweet tea to sip on while you shop (of course!), and even though I don't drink sweet tea I just had to give it a swig in this store! Haha..so here I am in Draper James with my sweet tea.
And here are 4 of the 5 of us girls outside Draper James.
John did great (of course!) being solo with the kids for the 24 hours I was gone...he even took them to Lowe Mill to see Koo Koo Kanga Roo...one of our very favorites from Go Noodle! Clayton's personal favorite is Dino Stomp, and they all made sure to tell me that they got to hear that song. There were apparently lots of things to do there also. And, they found lots of Rocket City Rocks...like this Ninja Turtle one!
Opry Mills
We had Dawson's friend Matthew over to play one morning.
These boys had such a great time!
I showed the boys this picture on the left of when they used to have playdates when we lived here before and they couldn't believe the picture...so we took a new one for today. The one on the left was in 2010.
Seriously the kids want to fish all the time...and sometimes I just have to get in on the fun.
It's still summer break, so we may be in a new state but we still do breakfast on the patio some mornings!
I wasn't sure about this decision, but one particularly hot July morning I decided to take the kids by myself to the movie theater. Clayton's never been to the movies before, and I was so worried it would be a waste that he wouldn't sit still. We went to the really nice theater (used to the be the Monacco, and I can't remember the name now) at Bridge Street with the reclining seats and foot rests. The kids were so excited for this. And, I couldn't believe it, but Clayton did AMAZING! We saw the whole movie. So Clayton got to see his first movie in the same theater Dawson saw his first movie in, 8 years ago. Clayton's first movie was Paddington 2.
Here we are in the theater after his first movie.
Then we had a snack of animal crackers as we walked around bridge street. They loved looking at all the fountains.
Ah, here's the name of the theater now...the Cinemark.
Downtown Madison has these great concerts on Thursday nights at the gazebo. I had been wanting to go and take the kids, but when I found out that one in particular was a Jimmy Buffet cover band, I wanted to go even more! We went, took a giant quilt, and chairs, and had SO much fun! The kids danced to music, ate cotton candy, ran around, and it was just a great evening!
John got to go on a fun work outing one Friday to drive and ride. He had a great time!
Lolly came to visit one weekend in July! We had such a great time! We packed her visit full of lots of fun. We were all so excited to see her.
First, she came to our house we're renting and we showed her around (kids were so excited to show her around). Then we went by John's work and let her check out the showroom.
Next we took her to the Botanical Gardens. It was hot, but so fun!
Then we took her by our lot!
And, what a great day to take her by...they had poured our slab that morning!
We also made sure to take her to Isom's to get peaches, on a walk around the pond in our current neighborhood.
Then Sunday before she had to head back to Tennessee, we went swimming.
Nora Kate loves to ride her bike, especially around the pond.
Here we are at the pool before Mom left Sunday.
We had several friends over to play one Monday morning for a water playdate to end summer break since school is starting very soon.
Nana and Grandad came for a visit!
We had a great time, and again we crammed a lot of fun into the days they were here.
We went to Bridge Street for shopping and out to eat lunch at Red Robin.
Then it was soccer evaluations (before the teams are made), so Nana and Grandad got to see the kids do their evaluations.
John, Dawson, and Carter took Grandad to Top Golf...they still talk about what fun this was!
The last day Nana and Grandad were here we took them to The Space and Rocket Center which was also great fun!
Looking back through all these pictures as I prepare this post, now, I'm happily remembering all this July fun...we really did have a great first month here. Oh, how we love summer break! So nice to be free of schedules and schedule fun all the time!
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