Summer Bucket List Days 29-35

*The captions are taken directly from my original Instagram posts.

Day 29: Another whirlwind of a day...Golf and swimming this morning, lunch, AREA 51 with Tinsley and Jameson, and tonight we visited Kaelyn. Eli and I were exhausted by the end of the day, but we're glad we got to see all of his cousins today and have fun! #thewilsonssummer2016

Day 29: I was asked tonight by Caleb and Kailey (my youngest brother and sis-in-law) to be Kaelyn's godmother. I'm not going to lie; I got all weepy about it and heartily agreed. I'm so thankful for this sweet angel and I can't wait to watch her grow up. I'm blessed to be her "Manna" and her Godmother 😊 #proudaunt#proudgodmother

Day 30: It was a golf playing, pool swimming, playground swinging, splash pad splashing, fort building, and having fun with cousins kind of day. #thewilsonssummer2016

Day 31: And that's a wrap for LSU Golf Camp! Eli had a blast this week and begged to go back next week as well. I can't say enough good things about the coaches, the facilities, the instruction, the activities, everything. Eli loved it all! He even won in the putting and driving competition in his group today! After a full week of golf camp, we were ready to be home and see Josh :) We ate at Newk's and then hit the road. It was a wonderful week full of fun!

#thewilsonssummer2016

Day 32: Saturday at home...Family movie, grocery shopping, grilling, baseball, washing cars and most importantly...SNOBALLS from @thesnoco. We needed a restful day at home and today was perfect :) #thewilsonssummer2016

Day 33: Four wheeler riding to a fishing pond and spending about 3 hours catching more fish than we ever could have imagined. Watching Eli catch fish after fish was so much fun, especially when he reeled in the only big bass of the night! What a fun summer evening! #thewilsonssummer2016

Day 34: The highlight of our day was certainly making homemade ice cream. Yum-O!! Magformers and Snap Circuits have also been huge hits around our house lately. Eli amazes me daily with what he's able to build and create with both of these :) #thewilsonssummer2016

Day 35: Magic Show at the library this morning, which prompted Eli to check out 4 magic books 😳 I can confidently say he's not going to be the next David Copperfield, but he did perform two magic tricks successfully for his dad when he arrived home for work 👏🏼 After lunch we spent our afternoon at the bowling alley with our friends The Atkins. It was a great summer day! #thewilsonssummer2016

Summer Bucket List Days 22-28

*The captions are taken directly from my original Instagram posts.

Day 22: We went to Eli's school so he could test on some books he read. He's working hard towards his summer reading goal. Then it was off to the doctor for a well visit. He survived the finger stick and had a great checkup!

Day 23: Eli had a dentist appointment and what says "Yay, no cavities!" like getting cupcakes to eat after supper and snowballs to eat immediately. YOLO! Hope his dentist doesn't see this 😳

Day 24: Board games, swimming, and a front porch picnic lunch were on our agenda today. Even Barkley joined in the fun!

Day 25: Coffee and Battleship this morning followed by swimming later this afternoon. It was a lazy Saturday, with the exception of the hour we worked in the garden, but we all enjoyed the downtime!

Day 26: Today we celebrated my hubby! He does so much for me and for our family and I am incredibly grateful! He takes care of us, provides for us, leads us, and makes us laugh every single day. Watching him father Eli has brought so much joy to my life! We appreciate him every day but especially today! Happy Father's Day!! We love you!!

Day 27: Excited about spending the week with family :) We stopped at the mall before leaving town and finally found Eli a hat he liked...he's such a cutie! When we made it to Tinsley and Jameson's house, Eli couldn't wait to teach them how to play UNO Moo. He's too old for it now so he decided to pass it down to them :) These three are precious together and I'm glad they are going to get some cousin time this week!

Day 28: Today was a busy but very fun day! Golf, swimming, playing with Tinsley and Jameson, watching Finding Dory, and we ended the night with ice cream! We ❤️ summer!!

Summer Bucket List Days 8-14

Our second week of summer included our first trip to the Farmer's Market, more trips to the library, movies with a friend, golf, water balloons, swimming, and a birthday celebration for Josh. Summer was shaping up to be lots of fun! 

Day 8: Bike riding to the farmer's market for some fresh blackberries, jam, and peaches and then seeing Angry Birds with Eli's friend, Hayden, later that afternoon. 

Day 9: Rode our bikes to the library again and while I was browsing for some books for me, this kid finds his books and checks out all on his own. He is getting so independent! 

Day 10: Eli cashed his checks from his lawn mowing business (Eli's Tiger Mowing Service), played Legos and other games, and donated old toys and clothes to the shelter. 

Day 11: Celebrated Cooper's 7th birthday with a swim party at his house and then got a treat from the ice cream truck later that afternoon. 

Day 12: My two favorite boys decided to go play a round of golf together.

Day 13: VBS with Hayden and Stephen, more treats from the ice cream truck, and water balloon games in the backyard. 

Day 14: We celebrated Josh's 37th birthday by baking him a strawberry cake (his favorite) and spending the day with him. 

Spring Break Beach Trip-Day 3

We woke up Tuesday morning and the first thing Eli and I did was talk a morning beach stroll. Morning strolls on the beach are one of my favorite things to do. Growing up, whenever we would go to North Carolina to visit my grandparents, my grandmother and I would always walk the beach in the morning looking for shells. Every time I take a walk on the beach looking for shells I think of her. This morning, tons of seashells had washed up on the shore so we had such a great time looking through them and collecting the ones that were special to us. 

We passed a few fishermen who had gone out early to set their lines and they had lots of company from these herons(?). I said something to one of the fishermen and he said that they love the shrimp they use as bait. I bet so! They were hanging around hoping they'd get some scraps.

By the time we got back to our condo, Josh was awake so we laid out all our shells we'd found for him to see. I think we found some that were really interesting! Now to figure out what to do with them :)

We ate breakfast and Josh and I had coffee out on the balcony. We all decided that we could probably use a break from the sun (all of us had gotten a little sunburn) so we went into town instead to have some fun. We ate lunch at the Shrimp Basket and then stopped to get Dippin' Dots for Eli. He loves to have Dippin' Dots when we go to the beach. 

I chose to hold out for TCBY which was a little further in town, but the wait was worth it! One white chocolate mousse and peanut butter swirl in a waffle cone please :) Yummy!

We kept driving until we arrived at Pirate Island Adventure Golf. Even though there are many other miniature golf locations in the area this is the ONLY place Eli wants to golf. I think we've played here  every year for the past four years we've been coming to the beach. It's a Wilson tradition now. 

The weather was perfect, not blazing hot and not freezing cold. I wore a 3/4 length shirt and I was very comfortable the entire time. That's unheard of during the summer season. Usually when we finish golf we're a sweaty mess!

Family pirate selfie

We left miniature golf and went to the outlet mall to spend the rest of the afternoon there. Since we weren't doing to the beach, we (I) figured we (I) might as well shop! We didn't stay too long. We all got a few things from some of the stores and then it was time to head back to the condo for family beach pictures :)

Summer Fun-Father's Day Weekend and More

We left the beach Friday morning and got home late Friday evening. Whew! There's nothing like coming home after being away for a week. I was so ready to sleep in my own bed, drink our coffee, and just enjoy being in our space. 

Before we left for the beach, we boarded Barkley at our local vet's office. We also scheduled for him to be neutered while he was at the vet's office because "ain't nobody got time for puppy business over here". I called to check on Barkley on our way home from the beach and they reported that he was having a blast and that he was full of energy. Tell me something I don't know...haha! Our vet's office was closed when we got home Friday so Eli and I picked him up Saturday morning. Barkley was quite thrilled to be back with his family :) I took this picture of the two of them when we got home. Barkley doesn't understand how to ride in the back of my car like a normal dog. He feels he's got to be touching you at all times. I'd say these two boys were quite happy to be back together :)

Sunday was Father's Day and we enjoyed celebrating Josh all day long. I posted this picture on Instagram of all the fathers in Eli's life. He is one blessed little boy! Each one of these men have poured themselves into Eli's life and he adores them all!

Sunday afternoon Josh, Eli, and I went to the golf course so they could play some Father's Day golf. I went along for the ride and had fun spending time with my boys. 

On Monday life went back to normal-Josh went to work and Eli and I hung out at the house. While I was out in the garden working, Eli had a movie date with all his Toy Story friends. He loves to set them up while he watches the movie so they can watch with him. I came in to check on him and this was what I saw. It was too cute to not take a picture of it. 

After the movie, it was time for us to run some errands in town. First up was the pool store. Our pool decided to turn green on us while we were at the beach so we needed to fix that ASAP. It turns out that our flow sensor on our salt system stopped working so it wasn't producing chlorine like it was supposed to be. Rather than spend hundreds of dollars replacing that sensor, we decided to just add the chlorine to our pool manually until we decide what to do about the salt system. 

I wanted to get a pedicure, so I called Tammy to see if she wanted a "Mammy Day" with Eli after lunch. She said yes so after our lunch I dropped Eli off with Tammy. She's kept him since he was 3 months old and he loves going over to her house to spend time with her and Uncle Clare. 

Tammy and Clare have a couple cats in the house and Eli loves playing with a calico named Matilda. Matilda is B-A-D! She won't let you rub her or pet her and if you try she's going to attack you. She is as mean as a hornet! Eli uses the laser pointer and gets her to chase it around the house. It makes him laugh to see her chase after that tiny red ball of light. When I came to pick up Eli, Matilda was laying across his bag of toys and wasn't budging. I ended up moving her with my foot because I was scared she was going to claw my hand to death. Badness!

When we got back to the house, Eli asked me to draw a new picture of Buzz, Woody, and a martian so he could color it and hang it on his wall. It wasn't perfect but I sketched something out quickly for him to color. He seemed pleased :)

Tuesday I made an impromptu decision to go visit my family for a couple of days, so we woke up and packed our bags for Grammy and Pop's house. We didn't leave until after lunch though because the Snakeman was coming to the library that day and we had to go see him! Our friends, the Atkins, (there's too many of them now to list, haha) were there too and Eli sat with him during the show. The Snakeman showed the kids tons of snakes that are native to Louisiana like the corn snake, the pine snake, the king snake, and more. He taught them about respecting snakes in the wild and he encouraged the kids to use the resources at the library to learn about the things that interest them, like snakes, bugs, space, horses, etc. I sure hope snakes aren't one of the things that interest Eli. Momma can't have a snake in her house!

Cooper and Eli

The Snakeman is always a huge hit at the library and tons of kids come. I weeded my way through the kids after the show to get a picture of him with the kids. I grabbed Eli and two of the four Atkins' kids (Avery and Clayton) and they took a picture with the Snakeman. I love how Avery is looking at him...too cute!!

We left the library and met Josh at a restaurant for lunch. Then we loaded up and made the drive to see Grammy and Pop. We were excited about having a fun rest of the week.