End of Summer

I'm definitely in need of catching up on pictures from summer! I got the beginning up and here's the middle to end of all the summer fun we've had! I love looking back on summer! So many good memories smooshed into just a few months :)

the morning of the 4th of July!

we drove to the lake that day to stay with Great Jean for the weekend!

Ryder LOVED canoeing with his daddy!

having fun in the lake!

Kylan was not so excited about the canoe, but he tried! haha

fishing

uncle Sol teaching Ky the ropes

Kylan is also not a fan of fire crackers, he started like this and then I had to take him inside

the girls! Nyah Shelby and Sadie

ready, set, GO!

Kylan and Mimi

Ryder and Eden

so pretty and peaceful

just some smooches ;)

little explorers

some serious bird watching happening

eating his breakfast on the back deck, I like his style such a little man

 ::GEORGETOWN::

we love to visit georgetown in the summer and make a day out of it!

the kids loved the huge sprinkler!

lunch on the water front, eating and boat watching... and people watching :)

Nyah getting some air

Kylan didnt feel the need to get all the way in

we had a our share of pool days this summer too! (baker park pool)

::CHARLOTTE, NC::

It'd been an embarrassingly long time since we'd made the drive to visit our dear friends! But we finally made it happen!

CJ and Ryder

The "guys" took a day to do guy things like fishing :) (uncle Toph, Ryder, & CJ)

lake swimming

Ryder the driver

We also went to a kids museum and the kids had a blast! (Nyah and Avery)

sea creatures

taking turns in the air chair

Anna Cate and Ryder

Avery and Nyah

more Avery and Nyah

all the kids!!

the four of us :)

love this girl, wish we didnt live so far apart!!

silly pic

smiley pic

::ANNIVERSARY STAY-CATION IN DC::

Neil and I celebrated 9yrs in Aug. and decided to do an overnight at the Donovan House in DC to celebrate!

we started with lunch... sushi was a no brainer!

maybe he was overwhelmed haha

we were upgraded to a Jr suite so we had an awesome view and plenty of space!

our plan - to spend as much time relaxing by the rooftop pool as possible!

... clearly we had no problem doing just that haha

one of my favorite parts - coming back to the room after the pool to find champaigne and choc covered strawberries!

getting ready for din... just us

the food was amazing!!

later we acted like total nerds and had fun with the camera timer and our cool robes lol

our weekend ended with lunch on the waterfront :) 

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Next, we move onto real life and back to the grind, as Nyah had her very first day at her new school! Frederick Classical Charter School has been much anticipated and this August they had their very first opening year! We were ecstatic to find out that she was accepted into the school and have been beyond impressed with how amazing the staff is and how great the school is! Nyah has adjusted SO well and made friends super fast! Audrey and Phoebe have been the topic of conversation from day one! I love that she loves her new school and after meeting the teachers recently at the open house, I'm even more happy to call this her home away from home.

looking fab in her new uniform

her home room on her first day!

::GIRLS' BEACH DAY::

Alissa and I like to plan a day to get to the beach... just us mommas! we had amazing weather! (OC, MD)

we literally sat on the beach ALL day relaxing and chatting

i swear i have a bathing suit on!

cheers to mommy time! Eating on the boardwalk

of course i had to take Alissa to Secrets!! the view of the sunset was incredible!

It was such a blessing to get away and refresh for a day with a great friend!

 ::BETHANY BEACH (round 2)::

labor day weekend we packed up and went back to visit my Aunt Donna and Uncle Paul at the beach

we seriously love it here and knew it'd be our last beach trip of the year!!

daddy and ky (who was not a fan of getting in the water)

but he liked watching and playing at the edge :)

Ryder went out with daddy a LOT! They had a ball... and got wrecked a couple times haha

me and ky

Ryder and Uncle Paul having some early morning quiet time

sandy girl

i love watching them play at the beach

playing in the ditch

just layin out...no big deal

not staged. Neil just happened to catch them being super sweet :)

my three little loves

ice cream on the boardwalk!

the whole gang in one pic! thank you stranger for taking this for us :)

arcade games!!

skee ball!!

bunch of party animals

getting out her art supplies on the beach, cuz we cant really go a day without them :)

shell collecting with Aunt Donna

normal pic

no wait... this is the normal pic lol

not a bad view to wake up to, but so hard to leave!

Thanks again Donna and Paul for having us! 

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 Once again its back to the real world as Ryder started he first day of 4's preschool! This was the start of his second year at Good Shepherd Preschool. So far its continued to be a wonderful experience! This year he's going 3 days a week instead of two for 2 1/2 hrs. He seriously loves school!

the infamous peace sign haha

he so excited to see some of his friends from last year in his class again!

 ::BACHELORETTE WEEKEND::

to celebrate my sister being two weeks away from saying "i do", her friends and I took her away for the weekend! (view from our room)

so pretty (another room view)

we went to the Chesapeake Hyatt in Cambridge. It was seriously beautiful and once again the weather was extremely cooperative thank God!

ready for dinner!

our time spent was mostly here, relaxing poolside :)

the infinity pool was our favorite

 We had an amazing time relaxing, eating, making smores by the fire at night and celebrating my sister's big upcoming day! So glad that you girls could all make it and that things went so well! 

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::DOWNTOWN FREDERICK::

sometimes we like to go downtown when the weather is nice to walk around, eat, play, feed ducks, and really just see stuff :) This day we met up with Naomi for lunch and walked around and it was just beautiful out!!

 

elevators that you can see out of are the very best!

when we got there we saw a kids band playing!

we had a nice little view from the other side :)

then they wanted to watch from the bridge

fountain obsessed

Carroll Creek so so pretty

trying to call the ducks over

this is how they do lunch haha (La Paz)

Just a few days later was "in the streets" in downtown frederick! They shut down the streets and have a ton of sidewalk vendors out giving away free stuff, tons of great food, and of course performances!

Some American Idol person was there and Nyah's dance team was scheduled to perfrom! Sadly, Daddy was at home with strep :(

Abby and Nyah checking out some cool pens this guy was making

Ryder deciding to entertain the gathering crowd before the show started with his "break dancing"moves lol

dance team girls ready to go!

Nyah and the girls performing "beiber fever"

they did AWESOME and of course had a blast!

more abby and nyah :) cutest

snapping shots as we walked back to the car. Theres really so much history there if you stop and look

...and they really actually like to stop and learn about the history :)

Whew, well there's our summer in a nutshell!! Its been truly amazing and wonderful! My sister did get married and I'm lame and took no pics because honestly, I was very involved with that one haha. But I will say it was completely beautiful, gorgeous weather, great food and music, and my sister looked stunning!! I got through my matrin of honor speech (with a few stops to try and get myself together), and her hair and make up turned out lovely. Eric and Erica went to Cali for their honeymoon and just got back this past weekend so I cannot wait to hear all the stories and see more pics! I'm sad that summer is over but looking forward to the nice perks of fall. The trees are already starting to turn and the weather had been OH so fickle as usual haha. 60 here 80 there, no big deal. But I'll take that all day long over the cold. We've had the windows open and have been able to go back to the park to play bc of the cooler breezes blowing through :)

I started teaching my 3rd year at Urbana Dance and so far things are going great there as well. Neil is still working away at Criswell and loving that too. We are so blessed, healthy, and trying to slow down time a little. We can get so busy sometimes that we plow through the week, so holding days to do nothing or just be together as a family is something we have started trying to do. Nyah has also started her 3rd year at UDS and she is there 4days out of the week! I work there 2 days, and Ryder as started up Tee ball again on saturday mornings! Life is full, but its all really great stuff!

Now we are just praying hard for God to do a work with healing my Papa. Its been super hard to find the words to write about it, but he's suffering. He's in pain and trying to fight off Mesothelioma which happens to be close to impossible. It's been over a year now since this all began. He went to have cancer removed in his esophagus (which was a major surgery) and unfortunately  that's when the mesothelioma was found and its been so hard for him to fight that after recovering from a life changing esophageal surgery. He's such a fighter, such a trooper, and even made it to Erica's wedding. We want him to stick around here, but we want him to not be in so much pain. If you read this, say a quick prayer for him. My Nena needs him the most. Though God is her ultimate need and strength, Papa is her gift from Him. We know nothing can last forever here, but we are not ready to see him go. My family is my everything, and all I want to do is fix the sadness and suffering. While he's here we want to enjoy him and love on him without causing stress. Praying for comfort and a miracle.