Anson's First Movie

A few weeks ago Grady and I took Anson to his first movie in the theater!  We saw Monsters University, and it was so cute!  Anson did really well and the boys both loved the movie.

Before the movie, with their Mike W. dolls

Ready to go!

Look!

So excited!

Take a hike!

We have been getting out and enjoying nature a lot this summer!  One of the things that has pushed us to do this is the park passport program.  We have been discovering quite a few new places too!

Lake Conestee is a place we have been before, but we certainly have not been on all the trails, and we had not seen the really cool new park, with a great playground and pavillion.

Here is the entrance to one of the trails

A huge stick!

Grady is actually pointing behind him in awe, not pretending to stab Anson.  Doesn't it look rather prehistoric behind them?

Beavers had apparently been here!

Soon after that I took Grady on a special Mama day, and we went to Pleasant Ridge Park, in northern Greenville county.  Grady and I had a great hike to a waterfall and then stopped to get lunch together on the way home.

Some cool mushrooms

The water is rushing behind him

Mama at the moonshine still remains

And Grady too

It was such a fun day!  Grady loves to hike and never complains.  The trail was pretty difficult at the beginning, so it was nice to get to do it with him on a big boy day!

Our New Additions!

Several weeks ago we came across a turtle while hiking.  The boys loved the little guy, and Grady became enamored with the idea of getting a pet turtle (or tortoise).  We researched them a bit, visited some in the pet store, and finally decided that a tortoise would make a great pet.  Anson has wanted a fish for quite some time now, so he also got a new pet.

Anson and "Paintey" the female blue beta fish

Grady and "Stretchy"

We take him out for exercise from time to time

Welcome, Paintey and Stretchy!

Cat In the Hat Comes to Town

We were lucky enough to find out about a very cool FREE event a couple weeks ago - brunch and story time with the Cat in the Hat!  Anson is a HUGE fan, and we all love Dr. Seuss, so we had to go.  The boys loved it, but Camille was deathly afraid of the Cat (a first for any of my kids to be scared of any strange creature)!

First, we ate

Then, The Cat came in to visit!  My boys ran to him!

Then they had a proper visit

Then they read his story while he sat and listened!  So much fun!

Anson's Date with Mama

I have been trying to do a special day alone with one child each week over the summer.  First up was Anson!  We enjoyed a morning downtown and boy did he love it!

Leading me all over the place!

A snack at Starbucks!

At a "secret" waterfall

Stopping to smell the (very unusual) flowers

Splashy time!

Thanks for the memories AB!

Random Fun

The second week of summer break Grady had a Lego camp in the morning.  He had a fantastic time, and I found lots of ways to keep the small guys busy.  We had story time at the bookstore where they read "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and gave out fresh baked cookies from the cafe.  They also read "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" and decorated (paper) cupcakes.  Anson was very proud of his!

One evening that week Grady made berry muffins with me!

We had a cool pretend ice cream shop outside one day.  The ice cream was frozen scented shaving cream!  So realistic.  They loved it, but it did not last very long since it was so hot outside!

I colored rice for sprinkles!

Later that week the kids went to a kazoo concert at the library.  It was super fun!

Anson got to dance on "stage"

All the kids got nice kazoos!

Then it was a quick trip to the park before getting Grady from camp

He was so proud because he did this with no help

Here is Grady on the last day of camp.  The theme for Lego camp was superheroes, so they dressed up the last day and brought in a creation they were proud of

Video from the kazoo concert

http://youtu.be/11COeTnAg2k

Good times!