Spring Break

I'm about a week late in posting, but we had such a fun spring break this year.  I actually started the break off a little early thanks to the help of my in-laws and my awesome husband and took off for Sandestin for my good friend Amanda's bachelorette party.  It was a little chilly when we arrived, but thankfully it warmed up on Saturday so we got to have a nice day at the pool and some fun celebrating that evening!  Her fiancee surprised the group when we all got there with strawberries and champagne for everyone.  Perfect way to start off the weekend!

Most of my college friends were able to make it and there is nothing better than getting to spend a weekend with some old friends!!

It was so fun and we can't wait to celebrate the big day in June!
I got back that Sunday, did some laundry and then left on Monday morning with Oakley and the boys to head to Tuscaloosa since they were out of school for the week.  This was the first trip that we have made to Tuscaloosa since my parents bought their house where we actually had nice weather, so we spent most of our time outside on the docks.
As soon as we got there, Harrison and Davis headed straight for the water.  The previous owners of the house left a boat at the house when they moved out.  They said they were going to come back for it, but they never did, so my dad put some work into it to get it back in working condition, so the boys immediately wanted to go for a ride. (We only had adult life jackets at first, but thankfully the next day, Julie brought over some children life jackets that they no longer use 

As soon as they headed out, someone got a little upset and decided to follow them!

After she got in, I figured, I might as well let her enjoy the water, so she found a good stick and retrieved it over and over and over and....
Before we had kids, we used to take her to a lake by our house to go swimming all the time, but sadly that faded out once we got busy.

She was in heaven...and a little sore by the evenings, but she would sneak in the water the next day and do it all over again!

On the second day that we were there, we headed out with my dad to get some small cane poles for the boys to fish with and some crickets.  Harrison got to fish with a real hook, but we just attached a fish, minus the hook onto Davis' pole.  They both loved it and waited patiently for a fish to jump on.  We weren't having much luck, but during Davis' nap time that day, grandmommy took Harrison back out to the dock to practice fishing some more.  Two fishermen pulled over while they were fishing and asked if they had caught anything yet.  They had caught quite a few fish that day and asked if Harrison wanted any help. 

They said that they had some "special bait" on their boat, so they took his pole, put the "bait" on and then put it back in the water for Harrison.  They handed him the pole and almost immediately, he felt a tug on his line.  He pulled it up, and low and behold, he caught his first little fish!!

Grandmommy was so proud!

Grandmommy also took Harrison out for a boat ride to do a bit of exploring.

Each morning, we would get up, get dressed and head right here

but mostly they like to make me nervous, and stand here, throwing pine cones, rocks and acorns into the lake

We also went to eat lunch with Jack and Trey at their school throughout the week.  This was a big highlight, especially since Harrison will be starting Kindergarten next year.  After our lunch with Jack, we got to go to his classroom and listen to grandmommy read a story to the class.  Harrison joined right in with the class.

It began to feel like groundhogs day after a few days...

It was so nice to be able to enjoy the beautiful view

I decided to sit in the boat with my feet on the dock while drinking my coffee one morning...guess who wasn't a fan of me getting in the boat...

that would be my little nervous nelly.  I had to have my mom keep her on a leash when I took the boys out because she kept trying to follow us into the water.
She was so happy all week and loved being outside with us all day.  At one point, we were sitting on the upper deck and I saw her walk off.  I stood up to see where she went, and she was just sitting on the side of the house, enjoying the scenery!  It is such a quiet street, so its nice that I don't have to worry about her chasing anyone or getting close to the road.

Lance ended up coming to Tuscaloosa for a last minute work trip, so we stayed a day longer than we had anticipated.  It was perfect, because we were able to spend more time with our cousins and grandparents.  On our last day, we got up for an early boat ride (Davis!  The camera is this way!)...

Then had lunch with Trey

then picked up Lance from his meeting and headed back home.  Poor Lance had to work that night until around 2 am for a software deployment, so he had a very long day. 
We had a busy week once we got back, that started out with getting all of our vegetables planted.  We are venturing into some new ones this year, but I had two big helpers throughout the week!

It was spirit week at the boys' school, so they had fun wearing silly socks, having silly hair and getting to play on jumping castles throughout the week.

 

Next up was our first swimming lesson for the boys.  

 I am undecided on how long we will keep it up.  I really just want to make sure Harrison gets back to being comfortable swimming.  He did great last year and it would be nice if Davis can learn a little, but he wasn't a big fan of the first lesson.  I think they were pushing him to far too fast and it scared him.  I am going to ask them to go a little slower during our next lesson, but if he doesn't get into it, I may hold off for a while longer with him.  A few of our friends will be in our lesson this week, so hopefully that will help him feel more at ease.

Yesterday was a long day that started with the Big Shanty Festival

 and ended with a baseball game.  We are enjoying the mild weather that we have been having and hope it sticks around for a while!