May 2014

Back in Utah I can truly say I love winter and snow and skiing and don't mind the cold. But outside Utah, away from my mountains, I have not experienced the same sentiments. I am a summer girl all the way! May gave us a nice introduction to the summer fun, without the insane heat and humidity. 

We started May with a SUPER fun trip to Assateague Island. It is just off the coast of Maryland, just across a little bridge to get to the island. It is so cool because it is a National Park and has wild horses on it, and lots of other wildlife. You get to see the horses walking right through your campground...kind of cool. The weather/temperature was perfect while we were there. We've heard that it can be pretty miserable with bugs in the summer, but there none while we were there. The campground is just over a sand-dune from the beach and the ocean. It is super cool! I do wish the water had been a little warmer, but oh well....still fun! It was about a 3-hour drive from our house, so we made a 2-night camping trip out of it, and really enjoyed ourselves. We went with our friends, the Woolley's, but sadly they weren't able to make it until the 2nd day:(

As you can see, there was hardly anyone there all day Friday. They all started arriving Friday evening, and that campground got super full! But it was fun. We made friends with some of our neighbors and even got to share a little about the gospel with them. Such a cool lady and her kids!

The horses were small, and have no fear of humans. They are not very friendly though...

After that great start to the month, we got a wonderful visit from my mom and Don. It was super fun to have them here and to show them around a little bit. Amish country is always a fun place to visit, so we don't mind going there every time we have visitors:)

Especially when Hershey World is part of the trek....chocolate, chocolate, can't have enough chocolate.

LucyMae was very pleased with her birthday haul from grandma Michelle and grandpa Don.

And what lucky kids to have their grandma let them do her hair and then sit on the floor with them playing checkers!

Good times and memories all around.

Our asparagus patch was giving and plentiful this year. Those are some pretty long asparagus if you ask me...

And our first visit to Valley Forge to actually see some of the sites was well worth it. We met Sam after he got off work for a picnic too.

LucyMae was pretty proud of the caterpillar she found as we were getting in the car to go meet daddy....

We had such a great time with my mom and Don. Thanks for coming! And then they had to leave:( It's never fun when visitors have to leave....

Another day at the zoo in May...it was warm, it was perfect, it's a great way to spend the day with 3 little munchkins.

This new cat-walk they built at the zoo is one of our favorite features now...so cool. There is a spot where this cat-walk and the monkey-tunnel are very close to each other. It was fun one day to see one of the orangutans taunting the tigers that were hanging out in the cat-walk....monkeys are hilarious! I've always been fascinated with them...

This peacock was actually doing the real mating dance....it was interesting to see....cool, but glad my kids weren't paying that much attention:)

And a little surprise date for Sam....I got tickets to the Brad Paisley concert. He'd never been to a real country concert before, so I thought I'd take him to one. It wasn't that great, but we had fun anyways. We were some of the oldest people in the crowd for sure....and it was a pretty risque crowd too....interesting evening in the rain:)

Sam had to go out of town again in May, for a solid week! ugghh! We survived again though. But he missed the art show at the High school, where LucyMae had some of her art displayed. I took all the kids to it though so we could see it...a little crazy with 4 kiddos there, but glad we went!

And then Sam got home just in time for LucyMae's birthday. I can't believe this girl is 6 already! How did this happen?We had a wonderful Sunday dinner in the backyard, followed by a family walk and some birthday crepes.

And I got to take the birthday girl out for breakfast the next day since it was Memorial day and there was no school. Do you think she was excited?

And James is just getting bigger and bigger...

And then Papa came for a visit too! He was on his way home from his annual sailing trip over in Greece. Another trip to Amish country and Hershey World here we come!:)

It was too short of a visit Papa! You need to stay longer next time!

And then we had a billion kids over at our house for LucyMae's birthday party. She invited her entire kindergarten class and a bunch of kids from church. Of course not everyone that was invited came, but it was still a surprising amount! But we sure had fun!

And all because of this guy....the life of the party for sure!

James, James....stop growing!