Jackson's New Room

I had been thinking that this summer might be a good time to redo Jackson's room, and it kind of just worked out for this one weekend!  I really wanted it to be something he picked and loved, buuuutttt.... I still wanted it to look good!!!  LOL 

We settled on two shades of blue on alternating walls.  A bit of a logistical challenge, but it really wasn't that bad.

 

Jackson LOVES painting!  He did almost the whole wall of what he could reach!

Finished product from the doorway

"Star Wars" prints purchased from Etsy

Dinosaur prints over the dresser

Kind of sad, but I think my favorite parts are the navy hamper, navy Go Hoos sign, and navy "Star Wars" clock against the light blue wall!  It just is such a crisp contrast!

New comforter!  He LOVED the colors :)

First night reading in his new room!  Reading in bed on his own after Graham gets tucked in has been such a special treat this summer and gives Mommy a little breathing room even though Jackson isn't ready to go to sleep yet.  #winning

Virginia Summer Begins

Well!  We arrived back to Virginia just in time to celebrate a very rainy 4th of July!  Fireworks were rained out, but we were really quite happy to just stay home and keep unwinding from our vacation!  LOL  

The brand-new mini-bats we got at the Slugger Museum made a great addition to our photo!

Red, white and blue dessert!

We had an awesome summer morning out in the yard with Eden over to play.  We hooked up the Slip 'n Slide for it's first go this summer, and they kids had such a fun time!

A little popsicle break!  Then we did held a toy/car wash.  While all of this fun playing was happening, I vacuumed all unwanted souvenirs from vacation out of the car, swept out, cleaned out and organized the garage and supervised the car washing.  I also convinced the kids it was a super fun idea to "paint" the porch with water, and they got it so much cleaner!  HA!

Well, summer is going to be a bit of a workout around here this summer... :/  The boys are living the saying of, "The days are long, but the years are short..."  They are up SO early, and the disagreements start just as early.  There will be a lot of breathing in and breathing out...  So, to celebrate surviving my first week of summer, we had a date night to go out kayaking!  It was lovely and the water felt so peaceful!

A morning visit to the Zoo, and we discovered a wonderful selection of temporary art pieces made completely out of trash taken out of bodies of water and beaches!

He's SO big...!!!

We always love a trip to the Zoo, but this one was a little bittersweet, because the Carrillos are our SECOND set of friends THIS SUMMER to leave us for Texas :(  It's a pretty great new adventure, though, and we are happy for them even though we'll miss having them close.

So well trained!!!

Cheesy photo op

The 4th of July is always a great start to summer tradition followed closely by FREE SLURPEE DAY on 7-11...

...and Cow Day at Chick fil a!!!

We had such a great time with our Super Cow costumes last year that we modified them just a smidge and used them again!

Those three faces are alarmingly cute... ;)

LOVE movie dates with this fella! 

Water beads keep us happy

Good friends take you to the beach and provide not only good conversation, but also friends to occupy your children and this view :)

Louisville "Layover"

Sadly, it was time to think about heading back to Virginia, but we weren't quite ready to go ALL the way back just yet...  Josh had a great suggestion to stop in Louisville for a night to see some new things and have fun in a pool!  We got a great rate on Hotwire for a hotel downtown with a pool and booked it!  We checked in and the boys went straight for the pool while I did a little unpacking, investigated some early dinner choices for the boys and figured out how far away we were from the Louisville Slugger Museum.  

We fed the boys an early dinner in the hotel room before heading to the museum.  During the summer, there is a special twilight rate as they stay open a bit later, and we were happy to take advantage of that!

The HUGE bat out front!

Making new friends ;)

We had some time before our tour time to wander around the museum, and Jackson took a turn with a pro bat!

Josh tried out Ken Griffey, Jr's bat!

The tour was really fun and interesting!  It was neat to hear about how the process of making the bats has changed over the years and the players' preferences.  Jackson was really into it...Graham not so much.  But, it was past bedtime at the end of vacation, so that wasn't too surprising.  At the end of the tour everyone gets a mini-bat to keep!  Such a fun souvenir!

A cool pitching game that measured the speed of your ball!

A little taste of home!

Wrigley Field seats!

Graham INSISTED he was milking the horse...  

After we finished up at the museum, we saw a little more of Louisville by finding a few caches and walking around.

On my way back from picking up dinner for Josh and me, I saw this funny sign for all the ways folks pronounce the city name!

The boys went to bed, and Josh and I relaxed in the hotel room before heading out for the rest of the drive home in the morning!  This stop-over was a GREAT idea, and we'd love to come back and see more of Louisville another time!