Fourth of July

For this year's Fourth of July celebration, Ben and Charlotte flew in from Atlanta to spend the day with us for some fun in the sun. Our friends The Aasmyrs were out of town for the week and were gracious enough to let us spend the day at their home (more like a resort!!) so we could swim, play, and grill out.

Ben and Charlotte poolside.

Don't they make such a cute couple? ;-)

One of our poolside games -- the competition was fierce!

Kaitlynn enjoying a snack.

Love this pic of my brother. He is so fun and handsome!!

Lovebirds!

Uncle Ben and Kaitlynn

Love this pic of Kaitlynn. She loves to be thrown up in the air by her "sweet Daddy".

Sunny weather, yummy food, refreshing adult beverages (wink, wink) and great company all together at a beautiful home with a resort-like pool and jammin' tunes in the background. It was a perfect Fourth of July celebration!

Our little Fourth of July firecracker!

Our WAC-ky Galveston Adventures

One of my favorite summer activities is when we meet up with the Watkins boys and Aasmyr kids for several days of WAC-ky fun at the beach in Galveston. This year, we found a new resort in Galveston called Diamond Beach and we had so. much. fun!! The resort is amazing -- massive pool area, waterslide, lazy river, hot tubs, indoor pool, 2 gamerooms, movie theater, and the list goes on and on. All of the WAC kids were so excited to spend time together again and enjoy the sunny Galveston weather.

The main pool at Diamond Beach. It is massive and amazing!

We stayed in a 3-bedroom condo at the resort and it worked out great. We enjoyed breakfast and lunch in the condo and then ventured out for dinner each night. Lily (age 2) joined us for the trip this year but she only stayed the first day/night. And as hard as I tried to take some good pictures, I really didn't get any good ones this trip. We were too busy having fun! :-)

All 7 WAC kids at the pool.

Dinner at Fish Tales.

The kids making a wish before throwing a penny into the pond. I LOVE their expressions -- wishes are serious, people!

Sweet pic of Kaitlynn and me.

At Rainforest Cafe.

I took this right before Connor fell and nearly knocked out that snaggletooth, ha!



Our 7 kiddos at lunch time. What a group!

As great as the pool and resort area was, the main reason we travel to Galveston is the BEACH. The kids just love it, even if it makes us Moms a little nervous after hearing too much lately about riptides and sharks.

I love all of these boys -- so funny!

Our strong men.

"See ya!"

Kaitlynn loves all the sand toys.

Boogie boardin' time. The seaweed was out in full force this year (eww).

Couldn't resist posting a pic of shower time with 7 kids. Line 'em up! LOL!

Golfin' with Grand Daddy

Although he always has fun hanging out with all his girl cousins, Connor sometimes feels at quite the disadvantage being the ONLY boy cousin on the Morgan side. But we've recently discovered one of the perks of being a male Morgan -- golfin' with Grand Daddy!!

Anyone who knows my Dad knows that he LOVES golf and has always been an incredible golfer. One of the first thing Grand Daddy was excited about when he finally had a grandson was to be able to teach him the love and sport of golf. This year for Connor's 7th birthday, Grand Daddy presented him with a custom set of clubs just his size. So cool!!

While Jeff and I were away in Jamaica, MeMe and Grand Daddy stayed with Connor and Kaitlynn at our new house in Katy. Golf was the big event on each day's agenda and after a couple of practice sessions, Connor had developed his very own LOVE of golf! We received many texts from Connor during our trip about his progress and how far he was hitting the ball; he was proud of himself!

Connor was so excited about golf that he has been begging us ever since to take him. Unfortunately, I don't golf and Jeff is usually working long hours. So Connor was really excited when we told him he could golf again in Galveston when we went for our cousins' trip. He ended up going with Grand Daddy, Uncle Chris, and Caleb (Chris's son). They played a 2-man scramble: Grand Daddy and Connor versus Chris and Caleb. Connor returned from the outing flushed with excitement because he tied his longest shot (57 yards) and he won his very first competition with Grand Daddy on his team. So fun!

Grand Daddy and Connor -- the winning team :-)

Uncle Chris and Caleb

Check out that concentration, ha!

The swing

Chilling in the golf cart

Side note: Connor is wearing the same golf shirt in every single photo of him golfing! I think I need to get him a new golf shirt, ha!

Although Connor is just a beginner, Grand Daddy and Chris were impressed with his perseverence and positive attitude. One story that I loved was when Grand Daddy took Connor to hit some balls at a local course. They had been hitting balls for over 30 minutes (in very high heat), and then someone gave them another huge bucket almost full of balls to practice with. Grand Daddy stepped away to work on his putting and came back a time later, thinking that Connor would be bored, hot, and ready to leave. But he found Connor still there, working away happily at that bucket of balls which was then almost empty.

Next week, Connor is signed up for a junior golf camp at a local course here in Katy. Connor is super excited about it and we've already invited Grand Daddy back to Katy after the camp is over to see if Connor is improving. I just love the bond they are forming over golf!

Jamaica

Jeff and I had been planning to have another vacation away, just the two of us, for his 50th birthday this year. It took us a little longer than anticipated to get the trip planned and work it out with our crazy schedules, but we decided to go to a Sandals resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.We spent most of our days lounging by the pool and beach with adult beverages. I think Jeff was a little bored by the end of the trip because we didn't end up doing any excursions, but we both had a wonderful week of sun and relaxation! What's even more relaxing is that I didn't even bring my real camera, so the only pictures we captured were from our phones.

On the plane in First Class, woohoo!

Our oceanside resort.

The view from our corner balcony -- gorgeous!

Beautiful sunset view.

Selfie from our balcony.

My handsome man at dinner.

We seem to be wearing the same clothes in all the pics, ha!

Cheese!

Another sunset from our balcony.

Relaxing in one of the beachfront cabanas.

Our official Sandals vacation pic.

And I'm going to write this on here to make it official: our next vacation away, just the two of us, will be a bucket list trip for Jeff. We need to start planning now -- we'll be going to Italy! :-)

Four

We continued our "year of lame birthday celebrations" in 2013 when Kaitlynn turned 4 last month. Since Kaitlynn was able to celebrate her birthday with her preschool classmates in May, I didn't feel as guilty as I should have for not making a big deal out of her special day.

The birthday girl with some of her birthday jewels.

On Kaitlynn's actual birthday, we celebrated with some birthday donuts before VBS. Then she took a big box of donut holes to share with her VBS class.

Enjoying birthday donuts before VBS.

After VBS, we drove across town to see Dr. Pope for Kaitlynn's 4-year checkup. I felt bad about taking her on her actual birthday (because as everyone knows, age 4 is a big year for shots!) but it was the only time we could find before August. Kaitlynn wasn't thrilled about the shots, but she was so brave. She likes to remind me now that she won't have to do that again until she's 11! And as for her stats, Kaitlynn weighed 41.8 pounds (90th percentile) and was 40.25 inches tall (70th percentile).

Later that night, Kevin joined us and we had a combined birthday dinner for he and Kaitlynn at Rainforest Cafe. These two will forever be special birthday buddies!

After dinner, Kaitlynn had a few small presents to open. She tore through them so quickly!!

I don't know about other Moms, but I have been COUNTING THE DAYS for this 4th birthday. Age 3 was HARD for us. It was tough with Connor, too, but with Kaitlynn it was almost brutal. The whining, mood swings, defiance, and tantrums were almost too much to bear. Don't get me wrong, Kaitlynn can be SUCH a sweet and loving child. But if she doesn't get her way....WATCH OUT!!

So Kaitlynn and I have been talking about age 4 for a long time. I would tell her that I was so excited for her 4th birthday because I just KNEW she was going to act like such a big girl now. And since we are changing schools this fall, I've been reminding Kaitlynn that her new school expects "big girl behavior" and that her 3-year-old behavior needed to stop. Maybe that has helped a bit, plus we've finally gotten a little more settled after such a crazy spring. In any case, I can definitely see improvements in Kaitlynn's behavior. She has been whining a lot less (or she is sometimes able to stop after a gentle reminder) and seems better able to control her moods. Sometimes when she is on the verge of a tantrum, I remind her that she's 4 now and she needs to act like a big girl instead of a 3-year-old. Occasionally, she'll remember that she's 4 and she'll immediately stop whining and start talking in a clear voice. Amazing!

Kaitlynn makes us smile SO much. She just couldn't be anymore girly than she is, with her love of dress-up, tea parties, makeup, and jewelry. She has to carry a purse when she leaves the house, and it's packed with all her essentials (cell phone, lipstick, and pretend snacks, of course). Lately my parents have started calling her "Little Lauri" because well, she is SO much like her Mommy. Some of the stories my parents love to tell about me as an independent, strong-willed little girl are being re-enacted all these years later by Kaitlynn. Even though I may not find it so funny, my parents sure get a kick out of it! Ha!

Our little princess -- with an attitude! Ha!