Summer Reading

How are we almost to the end of August?! Since most of our time has been spent at home since March & we haven't been able to break up our days with little outings to the library or the park, the days can sometimes feel very long. But on the flip side of that, I feel like it's still April. I can't fathom that we're almost to September! I saw a post on social media recently where someone mentioned "five months of quarantine," and as I was reading that I thought to myself: "Stop being so dramatic, it hasn't been five months." Then I had to stop and count the months, and my jaw about hit the floor. We've been living this pandemic life for five months, which seems so surreal. How has it been that long?! But we've had plenty of time to read with all of our time at home :)

 

Apparently this was the summer of Elin Hilderbrand for me! I didn't realize I'd read that many of her books recently until I went to write this post, ha! Her novels definitely make for good summer reads though! And The Read-Aloud Family is absolutely phenomenal! I have followed Sarah Mackenzie {the author of the The Read-Aloud Family} on social media and regularly utilized her book lists from her website for the past few years. I had obviously heard of her book before, but I didn't think I would get that much out of it/enjoy it that much since I already knew so much of her work. Boy, was I wrong! I absolutely loved the book & highly recommend it! And I've loved every Kelly Rimmer book I've read thus far!

And last but not least...

This was not only our favorite read-aloud of the summer, but quite possibly our favorite family read-aloud of all time! I feel like that is a little bit of a dramatic statement, but it's true! I had never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz before nor had I seen the movie, and it was just SO, SO fun for the kids and I to experience this one for the first time together! And the kids absolutely loved watching the movie on our weekly Friday movie night after we finished the book together. :)

South Padre Island

In lieu of Ormond Beach, we planned a little trip to South Padre Island just the five us. We missed Ormond Beach and Grammy & Grampy something fierce, but it was still nice to have a little change of scenery and feel the sand between our toes for a few days without having to travel too far from home.

We took a little eco tour on a boat one morning & got to see lots of dolphins and a few other cool things! It was a fun experience.

I didn't document it very well, but we spent one morning at the SPI Birding and Nature Center & it was such a neat place! We even got to feed tortoises and alligators! We would definitely go here again.

I think Brady's favorite part of the trip was showering off after the beach every day...he would have stood under the shower head all day if we'd let him! He said it was "so relaxing." ;)

The picture below is of Brady on our drive home to San Antonio--this is what four days of no naps, staying up late, and lots of time on the beach looks like when you're four....this guy was worn out! 

We really enjoyed South Padre Island & we're anxious to visit again when life is more "normal." We were surprised with how many tourists there were/people on the beach, yet sooooo many places/restaurants were still closed or not fully open yet. But we had picture-perfect beach weather for the entirety of our trip, we made drip-drop sand castles aplenty, Brady finally learned to love putt-putt, and we made lots of memories as a family! We'll definitely be back, South Padre Island!

Summer Trip to Georgia, Part Two

Here's a few more pictures of our trip to Georgia to visit family....what a blessing it was to spend so much time with our people during such a crazy time! 

{the top bunk at BooBoo's house!} 

Derek's mom took the picture below of the 4 big cousins at the "kids table," and we were all laughing at how they've pretty much outgrown this table. So I went back through the archives and found a picture of Elly & Shelby at the same kids table in the summer of 2013 as a comparison. :)

{kids table in 2013}

{Crazy 8s with Grampy!} 

{We rarely get to celebrate birthdays with extended family, so it was extra special to get to spend BooBoo's special day with her this year!} 

{tea {aka chocolate milk!} party courtesy of Grandma & Granddad

{Kids' first time kayaking--they loved it!}

{Free Cell lessons with Grampy}

And just like that, ten days came & went and we were back at the Atlanta airport waiting to board our first of two flights back to San Antonio...these kids are the best travelers!

As a side note, I would {selfishly} totally be okay with the airlines continuing to leave middle seats open...it was so nice for all of us to have a little extra space! :)

Conveniently enough, the gate for our second flight was located directly across from a Baskin' Robbins..we couldn't not get a chocolate milkshake!!!

Thanks for all the memories, Georgia! Until next time....