June Days

Oh June!  You are usually one of my favorite months of the year because you are when summer really begins.  That is one of the reasons I chose to get married on the first day of summer.  June days are supposed to be lovely and not too hot yet.  After a hot and dry May, June was even hotter.  July is turning out to be a lot more wet but still pretty hot.  This June felt so short because of all our traveling and being away from home for over half of it.  Nothing will shorten a month quite like traveling!  June was also a little sad because it was both the beginning and the end of Evan's summer break.  I know we will get used to this new schedule and come to love it, but for now, it just feels like we didn't get enough time off with Evan.  I hope we packed enough into his month off to make it feel like a full summer though.  I am sure there will still be more summer fun for us all, but it will just have to happen in the evenings and on the weekends now.  So with all our traveling across the state, June was a very busy and productive month.  I think we accomplished all I hoped we would and made some great memories.  Of course, this is just a collection of the random in between moments that don't warrant a full post of their own.

Silly boys.  Brody loves posing for pictures.  He was enjoying dancing to a band playing for a festival in the town of Fuquay-Varina after dinner one evening.  Evan was being silly playing with Baby Mattox's toys. 

One of our first outings of summer was breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.  Evan had missed a visit that I had made with Brody and Mattox so he wanted to go.  I don't know why I have been craving coffee a lot more this year, and I am developing a taste for iced coffee. 

We also went to the park and let Mattox try out the swings.  It is hard to tell whether he liked it, but he wasn't crying so I guess we'll call it a win. 

Brody gave Mattox a ride in the sidecar of his motorcycle.  Brody loved that a train went by across the street from this little park. 

Lots of sweet time with this sweet baby boy. 

I needed new pictures of the boys since they turned 8 and 4.  We forgot to take individuals for our Spring pictures. 

This kid was a character.  First, he would barely smile so I told him to laugh.  I think we should get this kid in acting because he fake  laughed on cue perfectly.  

Fun on the slide. We even whooshed Mattox down the slide, but I couldn't photograph that. 

I just love this baby's smiles! 

It was a hot day at Evan's and Brody's end of season baseball awards party.   My advice is to not bring cupcakes to an outdoor event in 100 degree temperatures.  Yuck!  Ice cream would be much better if you have a way to keep it from melting. 

The first time all boys wore matching shirts!  No, these are not from Janie & Jack, but I do need a visit there soon.  

Me and my best high school pal, Regina.  We were so happy to see her and her son, Cooper, while we were in New Bern.  Then, she surprised us with a visit to our home last week.  This girl totally got me out of my shell and taught me to have fun! 

Lots of geocaching on our adventures.  Most of our caches were simple park and grabs where you can park close and don't have to walk far.  We did have to venture into a little wooded area beside a ball field for one, and the mosquitoes were terrible.  Oh, the perils of geocaching.  Some geocaches are also amazingly small and hidden with magnets under park benches, light posts, and other small spaces.  

We found one in Asheville close to our hotel with a nice view of the mountains around Asheville.  We also found some official historical geocaches.  This one frustrated me because I couldn't get it open.  Sigh. I will have to start keeping tools in my car if we are going to keep doing this.  

Yay for waterfalls and cool mountain streams!  This is Looking Glass Falls in the Pisgah National Forest. 

The boys and I enjoyed eating at Pack's Tavern in Downtown Asheville.  We didn't know we would be going back for dinner with Daddy and the teachers.  Ha!  I loved my BLT with fried green tomato and my cool summer cucumber and tomato salad.  

Then, the boys enjoyed playing in the splash pad in Pack Square.  

Brody and Cocoa definitely perfected the art of traveling.  Brody loved pulling his own suitcase.  He is one cool dude in his shades too. 

Mattox paid a visit to Grandma's and Great-Grandpa's.  

Fun at Pullen Park

Soon after Evan got out of school, we made a special visit back to Pullen Park one evening after meeting Daddy for dinner.  Daddy had not been with us to the park yet so he was due for a visit.  

Of course, we rode the train.  Brody even came prepared with his choo choo engineer hat. 

Brody loved driving a boat, and we all enjoyed walking around the pond and watching the ducks and geese. 

The carousel is always a favorite.  Brody was looking a little scared, but he was okay when I held his hand. 

Just some family pictures to end our evening at the park. 

Fun at the Library

Brody has been enjoying going to story time at the library and picking out his own library books.  Yes, the story time area is decorated like the room from Goodnight Moon.  

They learned the letter D, read a book about Dad, and danced to some fun music.  I read him The Giving Tree while we were at the library so he wanted to hug a tree when we left.  Ha! 

We made a good start to our summer reading with these choices.  Evan read Charlotte's Web and his first Boxcar Children mystery.  I read Barnum's Bones, Alexander, and Knuffle Bunny Too to Brody.  

Cocoa's Birthday

We also celebrated Cocoa's first birthday on the 27th.  Brody helped me make her a birthday hat, and she got a special treat of vanilla ice cream with a milkbone on it.  And the boys sang to her. 

Happy Birthday, Cocoa!