School ended at the very beginning of June. Hello summer break!! The girls had a great last day, complete with class parties, gifts to and from their teachers, and special awards they received.
At school for their final day - loaded up with teacher gifts!
I got to attend Hallie's party, which was so fun!
Hallie's adorable K-4 class, with their teacher, Mrs. Baines (center), and teacher assistant, Mrs. Edwards (left)
One of the best StoneBridge traditions is that the teachers give each child an end-of-the-year Christian Character award. Mrs. Baines shared why she chose that character trait to describe each child, told what it means, shared a Bible verse that described it, and said a prayer over the child.
Hallie's award was for "Contentment." Her teacher said she hardly ever hears Hallie complain about an assignment or activity they do in class. She goes with the flow and enjoys everything.
I popped into Emma's room for a few minutes to say hi and see her receive her Christian Character award, also.
Mrs. Learn was such a kind-hearted teacher for Emma's this year. She had some funny stories to share about Emma, too.
Mrs. Learn gave Emma an award for "Dependability." She could count on Emma to follow instructions in class and turn in her assignments on time.
Mrs. Learn's 2nd grade class gave her a big, huge group hug at the end of their party!
We did a few fun things during the last week of school. We spent Labor Day at Busch Gardens with Dan's brother, Tim, and his family.
Tim and I quickly reached our roller coaster max, since we get nauseous and headachy from the motion. So we sat out on the battering ram ride pictured below.
In the back row: Josiah, Emma, Benjamin, and Nathan
In the 3rd row from the back: Dawn, Micah, Hallie, Dan, and Aaron
While the older boys and some of the adults went to ride major roller coasters, I stuck with the younger four kids and we hit the calmer rides.
The day before school ended, Dan and the girls visited a beachfront timeshare in Virginia Beach where his parents were staying. They have an indoor pool there, which is perfect when the weather isn't warm enough for the beach.
And right after school ended, we had a combined birthday party to celebrate Micah, Tim, and Dawn!
The second weekend of June, we took our first summer vacation to Ocean City, Maryland! Dan has a coworker whose family owns a 2-bedroom condo there, and she offered to let us use it for a couple of days since it was available. We greatly appreciated her generosity!
It was raining the Friday we drove to Ocean City, but we still checked out the boardwalk for dinner that evening.
Dan's coworker's condo was cute and cozy. The girls loved the bunk beds, and it was just one short block to get to the beach.
The girls were up bright and early the following morning, ready to hit the beach despite a light rain. Dan tried to take them in the early morning, but it began to rain too hard.
Dan took a nap later that morning and we finally had a window without rain! So the girls and I hit the beach while he caught up on sleep.
They buried each other's feet.
And Emma checked out a lifeguard's view!
We didn't stay at the beach long since it started raining again. Instead, we visited Frontier Town, an old western-themed amusement park. It had a huge water park and campground on location, which of course cost money, but the western town, train ride, and old western and Native American shows were free to the public.
We rode the small train and got held up by a robber along the way!
We put the girls in stocks for their crimes. Heh!
But then they turned on us and locked us up. I swear we're innocent!
They had corny, but kid-friendly shows that demonstrated horseback riding, lassoing, and shooting (with blanks).
We went to a show where a Native American family performed authentic dances in their native dress. It was really interesting and fun!
The last show we saw included Bonnie and Clyde robbing a bank. When the sheriff showed up to arrest them, they had a show down, and they invited all the kids to join the sheriffs side or Bonnie and Clyde's side. Emma chose the sheriff's side, and Hallie chose the outlaws' side. The picture shows all the outlaws' bodies littering the ground after the sheriff's gang was done with them.
We ate dinner at Fish Tales, an outdoor restaurant with a beautiful view, good food, and an island feel.
The best part was that the restaurant had a pirate ship-themed playground where the kids could play instead of sitting at our table waiting for food.
We ended the day with another visit to the Boardwalk and its Jolly Roger amusement park.
The girls mostly rode rides together, but Hallie enjoyed this flying ride while Emma and Dan rode "The Kracken" which Hallie wasn't tall enough for.
Dan and Emma are flying high on "The Kracken". I'm so glad he rode this with her instead of me - it was jerky, went forward and backwards, and lasted a really long time. My stomach would've never recovered!
On our last day in Ocean City, we finally had a warm, sunny day! So we soaked up all the beach time we could before heading home.
The following weekend was Father's Day, and we had the chance to shower love on our favorite guy in the world!
This man is an incredible husband and father every day of his life.
We got to celebrate with our dads, too. We love living close to them both!
Dan's dad unfortunately broke his ankle while we were vacationing in Ocean City. He'll be in a cast for at least 6 weeks. That's horrible at any time of year, but we especially hate for anyone to miss out on summer.
Since my parents attend church with us, I got to give my dad a big hug on Father's Day, and we ate lunch together to celebrate.
When our families gathered to celebrate the dads, we also celebrated my mom's birthday, which was the day after Father's Day! We loved being part of her special celebration, too.
This picture is just to document the Honda Odyssey convention that assembles at Dan's parents' house when we get together. Dan and I drive an Odyssey, Tim and Dawn have two Odysseys, and Dan's parents have THREE Odysseys! Pictured are five of the six that we currently have in the family.
In other news, about three months ago, our range top microwave stopped working. We were getting by with an extra countertop one we had, but then our refrigerator stopped working also. So we got the fridge repaired, and while we were spending the big bucks, bought a replacement range top microwave.
My dad came over to help Dan with the very uncomfortable-looking installation.
I'm so thankful to have such wonderful men in my life!
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