June was our first full month of summer, and we definitely packed a lot in! Swim lessons (detailed in my previous post) took up a lot of time during the first two weeks of the month, and we stayed busy with two weddings, a weekend trip, and plenty of swimming during the remaining time. Here’s the recap:
I came out of our room after getting up on the morning of June 1st to find Abigail coloring at the table wearing nothing on her lower half…haha! These are priceless times, and I’m trying to soak them all up ;)
On June 2nd, Abigail went with me to take Gabby to the vet after her make-up swim lesson. Gabby has been having a lot of digestive issues over the last few years, and we have struggled to find the right combination of food and meds to help her keep her food down and stay at a healthy weight. Abigail enjoyed giving her stuffed animal a pretend checkup with the toys they had in the room.
On June 3rd, we went to Hans and Anna’s wedding in Lacey’s Spring. It was our second time to go to a wedding at the Riverside Event Venue, and it’s such a pretty location right next to the river.
We had just taken a weekend trip with John and Sylvia a few days prior to the wedding, but it was great to see them one more time before they headed back to Maryland!
I thought this picture of Michael and Brooklyn was so sweet! He entertained Brooklyn and Savannah down by the river catching fireflies after they were finished eating.
The sky was so beautiful that night!! Mikayla sent me these pictures that she and Rachel took with Brooklyn and Savannah. They love Mikayla and Rachel so much, and so do we!
I loved how these pictures turned out! It was a fun evening.
On June 4th, Brooklyn and Savannah helped me make a blackberry pie using some of the fresh blackberries they’d picked with Paw and Rae Rae the week before.
June 5th was Travis’s 35th birthday!! (Hard to believe…it feels like we were in college not that long ago). The girls made it special by surprising him with a birthday party when he got up that morning. They rearranged the coffee table and blanket and decorated the living room with balloons…
They brought out their stuffed animals to attend the party, and then the girls hid behind the furniture as soon as they heard him finish getting ready.
“Happy birthday, Daddy!”
Part of the entertainment at the party was a light saber battle :)
They also gave him some homemade gifts. I think he felt very loved!
Daddy lucked out and also got some peace and quiet on his birthday when I took Brooklyn and Savannah to a birthday party that afternoon. Caroline, one of Savannah’s kindergarten classmates, was turning 6, and she had a waterslide party in her backyard. Her mom invited Brooklyn to tag along, and they both had fun!
The waterslide was a huge hit with the kids. I will have to remember that when Abigail gets a little older. It would be fun to have one for her birthday since she’s the only one of the girls with a summer birthday.
Sweet sisters :)
Savannah made me a puppy dog bookmark to keep in my bible. Melted my heart!
Out of the three girls, Savannah definitely shows the most interest in helping me in the kitchen. She especially likes to bake, but is usually interested in helping no matter what I’m making.
We picked up some take-home crafts at the library, and Brooklyn and Savannah enjoyed making these fish bowls.
Game time!
Gabby was just making herself at home at the breakfast table ;)
Ralph and Beth were so sweet to babysit for us for a little while that evening. They put a puzzle together and played hide and seek at their house.
We headed to Dothan on June 11th after swim lessons to go to Jake and Bethany’s wedding. We had to get the last few things packed, the car loaded, and eat lunch before we hit the road, so by that point it was 2:15 PM. (Yes, the giant polar bear was a necessity…according to Savannah).
At one point during the trip, I noticed that Abigail had marker all over the tops of her hands. I asked her if she colored all over her hands. “Yes!” she proudly announced. “Why??” I asked. “Because I wanted tattoos!” ;) After a lot of traffic around Birmingham and stopping for dinner, we finally made it to our AirBnb at 9 PM! Whew! When we were almost there, Abigail informed us, “I don’t want to go to Dothans. I’m too tired.” Haha…it was a long day!
The next morning, June 12th, we decided to do something fun before the wedding later that afternoon. We played mini golf for the first time as a family. I’m not even sure Travis and I had ever played together before. This was the girls’ first time too. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun!
Each of the girls alternated between hating it (getting frustrated because they were having a hard time) and loving it. I almost beat Travis but had a bad hole toward the end and ended up losing by 4 strokes. Maybe I’ll get him next time!
Abigail was hilarious. She kept saying she didn’t want any help, and she was holding the club all wrong. She liked having me help her hit it hard for the first stroke and then picking up the ball and putting it right near the hole to putt it in after that.
Savannah did a good job and hit several in 2 shots! Brooklyn was frustrated toward the end because Savannah was doing better than her, and then we saw the sign that on the 18th hole you got 4 free tokens to the arcade if you got a hole in one, and Brooklyn got all pumped about that. She was the last one of us to play the 18th hole, and she actually got a legit hole-in-one! The only one of us to get one the whole day. We all started cheering and jumping up and down…haha. She was so excited!!
We bought $5 worth of arcade tokens and then Brooklyn used her 4 free tokens, so the kids played a few games before we left to go home. It was fun!
Brooklyn proceeded to tell everyone who would listen at the wedding later, even strangers, (plus Paw and Rae Rae on the phone) about her “one-in-hole”…haha. She was so proud of herself!
The wedding was beautiful and will probably go down as the nicest wedding we’ll ever attend. All the little details, the flowers, the food…everything was perfect. When we got to the reception at Bethany’s parents house, I was just blown away. We walked up to the main tent, and they had homemade cookies for everyone that Bethany had made. There were different types of lemonade (blueberry, strawberry, and regular), and appetizers while we were waiting to eat the main meal. There was an oyster bar and waiters coming around with different appetizers on platters. The food was all delicious! Travis loved the jambalaya.
We all drank lots of lemonade that night! It was delicious :)
They had wedding cake, cheesecakes, and an ice cream bar with toppings. There was also a Frank Sinatra type guy singing…he actually came over to our table at one point and told us to call him when the girls were planning their weddings…haha. Abigail loved talking to him. She was in rare form all night and was giving big bear hugs to people she barely knew or had never met, including the preacher at Bethany’s church…haha. We sat in front of a lady named Ms. T at the ceremony, and she basically adopted us for the night. She found us at the reception and wanted to sit with us there too :)
Between the lemonade and desserts, we had 3 happy little girls!
We were happy to get to spend some time with Baugay too!
We had a blast! It was one of the most fun weddings we’ve ever attended.
Rather than driving back home on Sunday, we decided when booking our Airbnb to stretch the trip one extra day and stay until Monday. I looked around online when we were planning the weekend for other fun things to do in Dothan and learned that they have a water park there in town called Water World. The girls had never been to a water park before, so we decided to take them there after church and lunch that morning. They couldn’t wait!
We got there a few minutes after 1 PM and stayed until almost 5 PM when it started thundering/lightning nearby. (They were closing at 5 anyway). The girls all loved the wave pool the best. We spent a lot of time there just jumping waves and swimming. The waves got really big!!
Travis and Brooklyn went down the purple enclosed slide and both said it was faster than they thought it would be. Brooklyn said it was dark and a little scary. After that, she and I rode the green and yellow slide which was open to air and not as fast. I loved it! That was my first time on a water slide since I was a kid…haha. Brooklyn really liked it too!
The rest of the day we spent in the wave pool or in the Kids Cove. Abigail loved splashing and jumping waves. She didn’t want to ride the little slide in the kids area.
Savannah loved the kids’ slide and rode it 3 times.
The girls were all exhausted by the time we left. Abigail and Savannah fell asleep on the way back to the Airbnb. We stopped at Krispy Kreme for some free doughnuts on the way home. It was a super fun afternoon! We got back to the Airbnb and realized that the owner had changed the keycode on us (they thought we had checked out that morning!!), but we were thankfully able to get in touch with them to get that fixed after waiting out at the front door for a few minutes. I am not very impressed with Airbnb at all after using them three times this year and having issues every single trip.
On Monday, June 14th, we checked out of the Airbnb around 9:30 AM and got home around 4:30 pm. We stopped at Chappy’s Deli in Montgomery for lunch, a place we’d never tried before. It was really crowded, so we had to wait a while for a table. The food was good, and the girls loved the ice cream at the end. It was a great trip overall! Abigail told us afterward, “I had fun at Dothan’s house!” Haha. We realized that this was our first overnight trip with the kids without anyone else traveling with us (grandparents or friends). The kids are getting easier to travel with! We drove all the way from Montgomery to our house without stopping. I have realized that although vacations/travel are a lot of work to get ready for, those are the only times when I can truly relax…when I’m away from home. It’s hard for me to relax at home because there are always a million things that need to get done. I enjoy traveling and I hope we can take more trips together as a family just the 5 of us in the future.
When we got home that afternoon, we saw a girl in the neighborhood selling pink lemonade, so the first thing we did was walk down there with our quarters for some lemonade. It was a fun and unexpected treat!
Brooklyn missed the lesson on food in bible times in her class at church while we were out of town, so Cici came over and prepared a special bible times meal for the girls. (She was Brooklyn’s teacher during that session). They enjoyed trying many different foods that we don’t normally eat. It was so sweet of Cici to bring all of that to our house!
Gabby isn’t supposed to get on the living room furniture, but it’s hard to train a cat ;) She loves to perch up on the back on the couch and take a nap.
On June 16th, we went to the greenway with Sarah and her girls. I think this was the first time we’d seen them since the end of the school year in May. The girls all rode their scooters and hunted for bugs along the way.
They enjoyed splashing around in the creek and playing together.
Scooter brigade! We had fun together :)
On June 17th, we met Alisha and her boys at our neighborhood pool for some swim time together.
Apparently all that swimming wore them out!
They caught their second wind when we got back to our house and played outside together for a few more minutes. I love this picture because it caught all 6 kids having fun. We are thankful to have cousins that live nearby!
Cici had a belated “spring fling” for the kids on June 18th at her house. I don’t remember for sure why we didn’t have it in the spring, but I’m guessing it was too hard to fit in around our crazy soccer schedule. Brooklyn had been really looking forward to it, so Cici made it happen….it was just more of a summer fling!
It sounded like they had a great time!
That afternoon, we drove to Trussville to spend some time with Paw for Father’s Day.
We spent the night, and Saturday was a rainy day, so the girls found ways to entertain themselves inside…like making a fort out of blankets and pillows!
Cuddles with Charlie are always popular too. We had a short but good visit!
June 20th was Father’s Day, and I wanted to get a quick pic of Daddy with his girls before church :)
I thought this one of Savannah and Abigail turned out really cute! They were wearing the matching dresses that Jenn and I wore when we were little girls :)
After lunch, Brooklyn and Savannah rubbed Daddy’s feet while he relaxed on the couch. He appreciates foot and back rubs just about more than any other type of gift.
“Take my picture, Mommy”
On June 21st, Brooklyn and I met Mrs. Borys at Zen Beri for frozen yogurt, and Brooklyn was so happy. She smiled almost the whole time we were there!! She has missed Mrs. Borys so much since the end of 2nd grade.
We got home to find that Savannah had fallen asleep on the couch. She must’ve been tired because she rarely takes a nap anymore!
On June 22nd, we met Emily and her girls at the pool…
Savannah and Bristol especially enjoyed playing together that day.
We discovered something they have in common…they can both touch their nose with their tongue! Savannah is the only one in our family who can do that…I guess it’s her hidden talent ;)
After we left the pool, the girls played on our swingset for a few more minutes before we needed to go inside to eat lunch. We always enjoy spending time with Emily and her girls.
I went through all the girls’ schoolwork this month to decide what to keep and what to throw away, and I came across this note that Brooklyn drew on her last day of school. She was NOT ready for 2nd grade to end!
I love catching Savannah reading to herself :)
We don’t usually sit on the same row at church as the Loveless fam, but we did on this particular Wednesday night. A special treat for the cousins!
Abigail was big into dot markers this month…
…and wanted to show off all her artwork!
After watching all the “How to Train Your Dragon” movies, Brooklyn made this fun poster with everything she had learned about dragons ;)
“Dragon Facts”
“Dragons are very cool! Dragons are fun. Never try to play with a baby dragon unless the dragon’s parents say so. (You might think that’s funny, but trust me…it’s not!)” :)
She also made a poster about salmon, which are “bubbly amazing” :)
I love how creative she is!
Brooklyn pulled out one of her science experiment kits on June 26th. Art and science are two of her favorite subjects so far in school.
The girls were always excited to see Mikayla at church and give her a big hug, especially since we knew she was leaving for college soon.
We celebrated Melissa’s birthday on June 27th!
We went back to the neighborhood pool on the 28th with Emily and her girls…
Savannah enjoyed making artwork with water on this particular day :)
I’ve been trying to run 2-3 mornings per week lately, and I like to go before it gets too hot…around 6:30 or 7 AM. Abigail is usually always up before I leave, and when I get back, she will “stretch” with me by touching her toes and stretching her legs :)
On June 29th, we met Sarah and Alison and their kids at the neighborhood pool for some swimming fun. The girls enjoy having so many friends that live close by!
Later that afternoon, the girls played a Lion Guard board game together…
…and then we went on a family walk/scooter ride around the neighborhood!
Somone in our neighborhood has a small lending library in their front yard, and we like to check it out whenever we go on a walk. The girls will usually exchange a book they have for a new one. It’s a fun thing to look forward to!
It doesn’t get much cuter than this! Gabby loves to sit in my lap or nearby in the evenings after the kids go to bed.
We have some lilies in our flower beds that bloom every summer around the end of June. I love how pretty they are!
I liked this drawing that Savannah made of all different kinds of food :)
Of course when Abigail sees me take a picture of one of her sisters, she asks to be in a picture too ;)
Brooklyn made her own “blog” this month! :) Like mother, like daughter…
She is full of great ideas, but doesn’t always follow through on them. This ended up being her only blog post :) It was so cute and creative though!
Notes and Quotes from June:
- 6/7/21 – I was holding Gabby this morning, and Abigail was right by me. She said out of the blue, “Her toe smells good!”
- 6/8/21 – Abigail (carrying a bunch of blankets): “Mommy, guess what I’m having! A camp out…with FIRE! And don’t mess up my camp out cause then I’ll be really upset and really angry, and I won’t get you any presents.” :)
- 6/13/21 – Abigail: “How will we get up to heaven if we don’t have a ladder or wings to fly??”
- 6/19/21 – Rae Rae asked the girls if they wanted to go get pedicures this morning. They didn’t even know what a pedicure was at first. After we explained what it was, Brooklyn said, “No, that’s for people with bad feet!”
- 6/22/21 – Abigail wanted to read a book before naptime, and she chose a story about Daniel Tiger getting a new baby sister. I asked Abigail after we were done reading, “Do you wish you had a baby sister?” And she sighed and said, “Yes, I still want one. You need to buy one.” I asked her, “Where do you get a new baby?” And she said, “From the baby store! If I had a new baby, I would name it Sparkles.” :)
- 6/30/21 – Brooklyn: “When we get home, will it be lunchtime? My belly is hungry.” Savannah: “Yeah, my belly might be rumbling.” Abigail: “My belly might have toilet paper in it!” Haha!
Thanks for reading!!
