Summer in Louisiana

The boys and I needed a change of scenery, and a change of pace so we loaded up and drove to Louisiana to see their cousins and grandparents.  Chris is still under COVID restrictions from the Navy so he can't travel, but since I did the drive by myself in November, I felt pretty confident. They have become wonderful travelers. We stop at the rest stops to run off some energy, we pass around snacks and everyone gets a chance to pick out a movie.  We almost don't mind our time in the car.  We usually split up the ride into two days. We stop in Mobile for some dinner and a swim at the hotel pool and then we drive the rest of the way the next morning.  It works out pretty well. 

We  just had to stop and sit in the gigantic watermelon!

Taking a quick swim at the hotel.

I can sum up our time in Louisiana with one word... WATER! Our boys become little fish when summer comes.  We were either in the pool at my sister's house, at a water park or in the lake at my cousin's house. They had a blast!!

We enjoyed my sister's pool probably every other day. So fun and so easy!

One weekend, my mom and grandma (the boys' great grandma) surprised all the cousins with an inflatable water slide, popsicles, pizza and watermelon. What a fun afternoon!!

We did take one break from the water one morning... we went blueberry picking with my mom.  It was the perfect morning and the boys had fun searching for blueberries and birds' nest.  

One of the highlights of our trip every time we go to Shreveport is to visit my cousin's house at the lake.  The boys remember it so fondly and they love going back every summer.  The jump off the deck (every one did it this year and they were so proud), ride the jet ski with Jared, and play on the turtle trampoline.  I love seeing all of them play together.  This year they even got to fish- they loved it! 

Abram

Jack 

Luke 

Also, this year my sister and I ventured out and took the boys to the local waterpark.  Jack and Luke have gotten so brave and they kept right up with Abram, going down every slide he did! They had the best time and talked about it for days. 

A really neat part of our trip this year was watching Abram bond with my dad.  Abram doesn't make connections easily with people- especially adults. He is careful who he gives his heart to. But this trip he spent endless hours with my dad from running errands with him, to helping him in the yard, to building legos and playing Monopoly. It was so sweet to watch. We knew Abram enjoyed the time he spent with my dad, but we didn't know exactly how much until Abram had to tell my dad goodbye. After their goodbyes, Abram just sat and cried. This is a first for Abram.  It was so touching to see and it just melted my heart. 

I am so glad we decided to venture out, even in the middle of COVID, to go see my family. It was such an exciting, busy, fun, and sweet time.  Memories were made and we came home with lots of stories for Chris! 

Promotion Ceremony

We were so incredibly proud of Chris... he was promoted to Commander in the U.S. Navy.  Usually, this important milestone is celebrated with a ceremony on base, but because of COVID, we couldn't.  But, we did want to celebrate somehow. We wanted to not only celebrate Chris for his achievements but also because we knew this would be his last promotion in the Navy. We had the idea of doing a Zoom call and inviting our neighbors over to celebrate in person.  It turned out to be wonderful and so very special! Because of the Zoom call, way more people were able to watch than what would have been.  We literally had friends across the world watching! It was so very special and moving to us!

The boys opened the ceremony by saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  They did a great job!

Then, Chris took the oath.  His mentor, Tom Falconer, who gave him his very first oath at the Air Force Academy also gave him his last one. We thought it was pretty neat!

The boys and I got to take off Chris' old bars and put on his new ones. They loved doing this!

We celebrated with our neighbors after the Zoom ceremony. 

I thought this picture was so great that one of our friends took for us... it is of all the people that logged in to watch the ceremony. This picture is filled with so many very important people in our lives!

So... six years ago we took this picture of Chris and Abram at his last promotion to Lieutenant Commander and we just loved it-  

So we wanted to recreate it at this promotion ceremony! 

And of course Luke and Jack needed to take a picture with their Papa, too!! 

And I needed one with my honey!

We had such a wonderful day celebrating Chris with our neighbors and friends across the world! 

Sunflowers!

During the quarantine season we were always looking for new things to do that would be fun for our whole family, but also stay safe.  Our neighbors visited this sunflower farm and told us we had to go! So one evening after Chris got home from work, we ate a picnic in the car and went to see the beautiful sunflowers. We were all amazed at how many there were and how huge they were. It was such an amazing sight!

I love that these next three pictures capture our boys' personalities so well... Jack was so excited when he found the red sunflower (he's simple), Luke loved hiding behind a sunflower (he's silly) and Abram is learning how to use my camera and had a great time taking different pictures of the sunflowers (he's contemplative). 

We had such a fun time out here for the evening... it got us out of the house, we did something new, and we got to see, appreciate and marvel in God's beautiful creation. I'm so glad we went!