Chattanooga opened a new splash and play water area by their pool. I've been wanting to go all summer but waited until the girls were walking pretty well to do it. We had a great time! The girls all love the water. After we took them into the 1 ft baby pool and they loved it- although Chris and I had our hands full with all of them. They kept wanting to go off swimming by themselves!






































































We also celebrated Alex's birthday with my family. It took us a little while because of the stomach flu we all got right after our trip to Lake Winnie. Alex didn't mind celebrating his birthday so many times, though!




























Pictures of the girls with their cousin Aubrey. They are all so big!














One of Elisabeth's favorite things to do- sit in the toy box (or the laundry basket) and pull out all the toys.














This is a cute picture of Anna checking out her great-grandfather Papaw!













The girls really don't watch any tv and have never shown any interest in it. On our Jekyll Island trip the house had an old 1972 Sesame Street Sing a Long tape we played a few times and the girls loved it! I got a copy for our house and they will watch it while I make dinner, etc.. The songs are really getting stuck in our head, though.














So the girls are loving to climb right now.. climb onto the couch, climb onto anything really... It is hard to keep up! Here is Natalie climbing

Alex is back in school today so guess what I have time to do... update the blog!! Alex was very excited to be back in school- he will have the same teacher this year and she is wonderful.

Alex turns 8!

Happy Birthday, Alex. We can't believe our little boy is now 8 years old. For his birthday we took him and his friend, Anthony, to Lake Winnie for the day. They had a wonderful time, even though it was HOT!














I have been praying all summer that Alex would have a friend that would just enjoy him for the way he is- and Anthony is an answer to that prayer! They are in boy scouts together and we have had him over for playdates this summer. The two of them are just alike and have a great time together!















Alex continues to have no fear of rides, or seem to get sick from them. Not like his Mom...





























































Pooped out from the day.. or pretending to be, anyways




























We love you Alex- you have brought so much joy into our lives!

Just wanted to share that all three girls are now walking all the time! Yeah! Elisabeth did so about a month before the other two, as usual. Of course they are also climbing on top of everything, opening everything, and generally getting into even more mischief! They keep us on our toes!

Trip to Jekyll Island

We decided to return to Jekyll Island again- this time as a family of 6! We (mostly me) was a little nervous about packing everything we would need for a whole week away from home, but it turned out great! The 7- turned out to be 9- hour drive down was not pleasant as the girls are not too big on sleeping in the car- but we all survived and the trip was well worth it. We went with my parents- we couldn't have done it without them- and rented a house with an indoor pool. We had a wonderful time!

Ready to hit the beach!














The first few days on the beach the girls were not too sure about it. They mostly wanted to eat the sand- yuck- and were nervous of the waves.










































Only Anna got into the sand the first day





























































Soon, though, they started taking off crawling all around the beach- and straight into the ocean! It was so funny, but once one started doing it they all did! And they had no more fear of the ocean.






































































Alex enjoyed the beach, but he still thinks the ocean is too salty! I think he wiped out a few times on the boogie board so he preferred the pool.




























The indoor pool was awesome. All my kids LOVE the pool! We have floats for the girls, but of course now they don't want to be in them anymore- they just want to swim!

























































Alex went miniature golfing with Grammy and Gramka. They also gave Chris and I a chance to go on a date.














We all went out to dinner one night.



























It is not easy!














One day we rented a surrey and fit all 8 of us onto it! This is the only year we will be able to do that! That ride had a few mishaps (lost shoes, lost hat, Kim getting left behind) but it was fun!














We also rented bikes one day. It was during the girls naptime, though, so while it started well it ended with a lot of unhappy babies.
























































Strolling around



























Some favorite places to play














Cutie pies







































































We had such a great time! Thanks for coming with us Mom and Dad!