Family Vacation: Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from us to you! Happy Birthday America!

 

We woke up nice and early and Adrienne and had made plans to go to the sprinkler park at Saluda Shoals. Grandma and Grandpa Jackson suggested it. We were originally going to try the zoo but being that it was going to be like 95 and gross during the day, we thought it wouldn't be the best idea. The boys and Amelia headed to the shooting range to do target practice with their guns for the morning. Grandma Jackson suggested this sprinkler park. We invited Grandma and Great Grandma Mimi but due to the heat, they decided to stay indoors for the morning. Uncle Keith, Aunt Nancy, and cousin Jillian were going to come meet us but we ended up leaving before they came.

 

This girl loves a playground!!!

Naturally we brought snacks. We ALWAYS bring snacks.

These two. Watching the weird, dirty, sketchy kids at the park....making sure Charlotte is safe and we don't need to throw down.

She is really starting to love a good slide.

The kids were overwhelmed with the sprinklers so we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's house to meet up with some of the family. They also have a neighborhood pool that we wanted to check out. We dropped Aunt Adrienne off at home because she had plans with her friend and then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

Charlotte ran up onto the porch and joined Aunt Nancy and Jillian on the swing. Sawyer and Uncle Keith started another gun battle like the night before :)

How cute is he?????

I could just pinch him. That hair. The curls. The blonde. His eyes.

CHEESE!!

Grandma Jackson gave Sawyer his special birthday present! It's a choo choo train!!!

We had lunch with everyone. We had delicious leftovers from the night before.

Then for dessert, we had delicious cupcakes.

This girl loves her sweets.

There is a lot of red white and blue going on here!

Both kids got adorable swimming suits from Grandma and Grandpa Jackson. They were red white and blue. So they wore their new swimming suits for the 4th of July.

And Sawyer wore Uncle Adam's new hat.

The kids love my phone. They took it and were showing videos and pictures of themselves to Grandma Mimi.

And then they shared their pictures with Grandma Jackson.

We finally headed to the pool for a bit. They had a baby pool at their neighborhood pool. The kids LOOOVED it....although this was right before Sawyer went under. Freak me out.

Rocking her new swimming suit.

Cousin Jillian came to the neighborhood pool with us. Because of the heat, no one else wanted to venture out and watch the babes play in the water. They were in heaven though.

After about 45 minutes, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's house. Alex and the guys had gotten back and were eating lunch there. We said hi and the kids put on a show for everyone. Then we headed back to Uncle Adam's house. It was time for naps and time to get ready for the wedding :)

Family Vacation: Downtown Greenville

We woke up on Day #2 of vacation in beautiful Greenville, SC. Alex spent one weekend a month here for five years in the Marine Corps. I came with him some weekends and would just hang out in Greenville. I LOVE Greenville. My one requirement while we were visiting the Midgetts besides just being with them was that I wanted to head downtown and be downtown Greenville for a bit. So, we got up on Wednesday morning and we headed downtown. The kids were going to play in the waterfalls and the adults were going to just be :)

 

These two were inseparable.

A family photo!

WHAT?

We never get family photos!

When you're the best of friends.....

I don't know what I would do without her....

So beautiful.

I admire Niki as a person and especially as a mom.

The four babes ready to play in the water!!

Check out Sawyer's hands on his hips!

He killlllls me!

The waterfalls are outside of one of the hotels in downtown. It's a little area down by Falls Park where people are expected to play in the water. There are even benches for the adults to sit on and watch. CLEARLY the waterfalls were loud. Check out my two :)

It was cooooold.

 

AH!!

Parker is a lot like Sawyer. He gets overwhelmed at times. I love this picture of him and Alex hanging out.

I love this one...

Now he is ready....

And Niki came prepared. Cups for everyone!!!

Naturally we had a man down!!! Gavin had a cut and some blood BUT he was a champ and it stopped bleeding PRETTY quick!

Watermelon!!! YUMMMMM

These kids LOVE them some watermelon :)

How cute.

There is a train theme at the waterfalls. It was so cute!

Niki is always prepared!!

When in doubt, give them all a bit of a sugary treat and all meltdowns will end.

 

They love each other :)

CHEESE!!!

This tired boy decided he needed some daddy snuggles instead of playing with the older kids.

My two boys...

As we changed under the bridge (like some real creepers) we encouraged Sawyer to take a pee outside. He did awesome. Peed all over that rock!!!

Gavin and Charlotte were so proud!

ANOTHER family photo!!

After we were done with the waterfalls and getting changed, we hung out in Falls Park and checked out the ducks.

Next to the sign that says that we aren't supposed to feed the ducks, we fed the ducks.

Feeding the ducks. I should have gotten a sign in the picture.

This one wasn't scared at all.

Charlotte was trying so hard to pet him!

It's a stare down!

 

We shall call him Ephriam and take him home and pet him daily.

I did a little photo session of Niki and Parker. As in, I took a bunch of pictures in a 45 second time span. These were my favorites.

This one just hurts my heart....

Who's sick of these family photos??

Had I known we were going to be doing so many, I would have worn something a bit more becoming :)

My handsome sunkissed boy.

Still trying to grab Ephriam.

A boy and his Daddy.

It's seriously love. They didn't need us. Just each other. It just warms my heart more than anyone could know.

Time to head back to our friends' house for lunch and to pack up for the next leg of the trip...

 

We had lunch. We got packed. Sawyer pooped on the potty for the first time. And then we headed off to Columbia to see Adam and Adrienne.

 

It was the best 21 hours. We love visiting our friends. They make us feel at home. They are family. There is family that you are born into and family that you choose. We choose them. We love them. Thank you for the best night, Niki and Ty. We love you so much!!!!