4th of July

I'm just going skip right over the whole plane trip home part. 

Let's just say - if you ever see a mom with 2 kids in the airport and her older child is puking his guts out and her 2 year old is running wild and they are boarding the airplane - she needs help. Help her!

Traveling 14 hours with 2 children under 5 is not for the faint of heart! 

We got back to the island just in time for the 4th of July, so it was great that we could celebrate all weekend together as a family. We were blessed to spend the 4th of July with our good friends the Heaths and the Castigliones.

These boys were so happy to see each other!

back together as a family for the 1st time in 5 weeks!

you got something on your chin, buddy!

Another one of me and my 3 handsome boys!

Keaton, Mark, Lucas, and Sam

 The highlight of the evening was the water fight!

Uncle Tim calling them to attention to listen to the rules of engagement.

practicing "grenade-throwing"

Daddy got in on the action!

Mark with his grenade!

Total dudes!

 

Edward was having a blast and hanging in there with the big boys!

Father/Son water balloon toss!

We completed our evening by walking to the beach for some fireworks!

KP

One last catch-up post and we are back on real time! 

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Bartlesville without a fun night (or 3) to Kiddie Park! 

 I may have blogged about it before, but Kiddie Park is so uniquely Bartlesville, and such a nostalgic place for me. I have so many memories here from when I was young, and now we are creating new memories with my kids!

the roller coaster!

Keaton, Mark, and Adrian are in the back... I love how Keaton raises his hands.

The train is always the grand finale of the evening!

Happy Birthday, Grandmother!

My grandmother's birthday is July 3rd, which is the day we left Oklahoma, so we celebrated a few days early. 

"Ashley Dawn, things sure were different 92 years ago!"

"Really, how?"

"For starters, running water..."

"Wow." 

And to think my kids won't remember life without the internet or cell phones.

Mom baked a yummy peach pie and homemade ice cream - yum!

Beautiful roses from the ladies at her church!

 

 

So thankful for this amazing lady in my life!

Random Oklahoma-ness

More pics from our fun trip home. As you can see, we spent most of the time just hanging out at home with the people we love! Thankfully, there much to keep my boys entertained in the country!

Helping out in Brumbra's garden. Mark loves his carrots!

Celebrating my Grandma Ruby's 94th birthday with 4 generations!

 "feels like 112*" HOT!

Which is why we spent lots of time in the pool!

I was very proud of myself for getting a pic of this hummingbird. They are so fast!

Plenty of gator rides with Uncle Jason and Adrian!

They baled hay while we were home, so the boys had fun climbing up on top of the big bales!

Pinterest idea: using bottles as big bubble blowers. Say THAT 5 times fast.

It worked great!

As usual, Mark helping out in the kitchen. I'm starting to hope maybe one day his help might actually be "helpful!" Maybe he'll cook for the family soon... that would be nice.

Serious blackmail material

My mom's beautiful garden!

mornings are beautiful in OK!

Dirty feet in pajamas. This is how we roll...

This is what happens when we try to skip Mark's nap...

Star Wars Angry Birds - Mark "Good Job Bubba!"

a picnic with Brumbra and her boys!

last day with the cousins. Oh, how we miss them! Are they not the picture of fun with their happy faces and skinned knees?

 It's always so hard to say goodbye, but I'm comforted knowing that my boys will have such wonderful memories of the summers they spent on the farm in OK!

Friends with Kids

 One of the most fun things about visiting home for the summer is getting to connect with old friends.

 Or not OLD friends, but friends that used to be my friends when we were young. 

Well -  we still are young and we still are friends, but these friends (that I'm referring to here) were my friends back in the old days. 

Nevermind. 

We are old. We were friends when we were young and we are still friends now that we are old. 

But our KIDS are young - like we were back in the old days. I'll stop now. 

Basically, the cool thing is that the parents are old friends, and now our kids are new friends!

Here is Keaton with my good friend Allie's little girl, Rilee. She's OLDER and very cute, and BOSSY! I guess Keaton likes this in girls because he  followed Rilee around like a puppy all day... and evening when we went to Kiddie park together. 

 

Here's all of us at Kiddie Park with Allie's kids, also Allie's brother, Josh's kids. Josh is 31 and graduated a  year behind us. He is at least a foot taller than me and has 2 more kids than I do. Yet, why does he seem still so much younger than us? This is the difference between old friends and new friends. You will always remember them as they were when back in the day. Am I right? 

We were also so blessed to get to spend a few days in Ft. Worth with Meagan and her family. Also, Meagan's sister, Natasha - another old friend - was there with her two girls, so all our kiddos had a blast together!

Keaton and Emery

Ring pops!

the whole gang!
Hudson (5), Mark (2 1/2), Keaton (5), William (7), Emery (5), Crew (1 1/2), Kiera (7)

Keaton and Hudson (they are 5 months apart)

sweet Crew stole my sunglasses

Unfortunately, our trip to Fort Worth ended a little bit rough. Something kinda like this...

 Yikes - let's just say... if you have to get the stomach bug and feel like you are going to die for 12 straight hours, better to do it with your best friend with your moms around to take care of your boys!

By the way, sorry for the long absence. I plan to be back in the blog bandwagon now that we are back on the rock. I have a lot of pictures to catch up on!