Blueberry picking

It is nearing the end of blueberry season here in Alabama.

So we went to a local farm to pick some berries.

I must say we really enjoyed it.

And we gathered more than enough for a cobbler or two.

The owner told us to eat our fill, we only pay for what we take home.

So we ate quite a few and they were delicious!  

They were slightly tart but still sweet and very juicy.

We only picked for about 20 minutes and just went down one row of the fives acres of bushes.

We would have stayed longer but it was just too hot and humid.  But we still ended up with around 2 pounds of berries that only cost us $2.00.  Grace and Faith enjoyed it immensely and I plan for us to be some of the first pickers next season.

Happy Independence Day

We love celebrating Independence Day.

This year we loaded up the golf cart and drove down to a friend's house just down the street.

They like to blow things up just like we do.

We started the afternoon off with sparklers.

And silly faces.

Even Benjamin got to play with a few.

His first roman candle!

We enjoyed a snack of watermelon.

And some sparkly fountains.

Then we started with the mortars.

Sparkly mortars.

Multiple tiny things simultaneously.

Rockets.

Single shots.

Larger singles.

HUGE singles.

It took us over 4 hours with 3 men lightening them up before we shot off all our fireworks.

The triple shots were some of my favorite.

But it took us so long, that Faith eventually passed out on the golf cart while watching the show.  We had so much fun this year that we've already started planning for next.

It's Independence Day

This morning I woke up and realized the girls didn't have anything red, white, or blue.

So I whipped out two pillowcase dresses in  navy and white seersucker with red trim and bows.

Benjamin squeezed into his seersucker tie shirt.  I'm afraid this is the last time he'll get to wear it.

The girls waved their flags.

And I forced them into a couple more photos.

And one final picture with Chloe.  She's been part of the family for 7 years today.  

Moo Che Che

Today I took the children to Moo Che Che. 

Our favorite yogurt shop!

Grace loves the toppings.

As does Faith.

But I think Benjamin loves it most of all.

A house for some birds

Today the girls wanted to paint.

So we painted some birdhouses.

One painted purple and the other painted pink.

Then we hung them outside on the fence with the hope that a family of birds will like a pretty home.

We've got firecrackers!

In preparation for Independence Day, we purchased some fireworks.

One package for each girl.  And lots of little things for Benjamin.

Then we set a few off for fun.

And we battled with sparklers.

Before setting off some mortars.

Now we can hardly wait to explode the really big ones!

Exploreum again

Today we all went to the Exploreum.  It's such a fun way to beat the summer heat.

We spent most of our time in the Hands On Hall.

We made pinwheels.

And blew them with the fan.

We played in the wind tunnel.

Then we headed back to the Wharf of Wonder.

Faith climbed aboard the ship.

While Benjamin went swimming in the sea.

Then Faith found her "fayv-wit fiss" (favorite fish).

And she rescued them one at a time from the fish market and returned them to the sea.

Then Benjamin wanted to go down the slide.

So Faith showed him how.

And he figured it out, kind of.

All in all, it was another fantastic day.