The Best Part of Summer

A couple weeks ago now (wow this summer flew by!), Megan, Corey, Josslyn, and Felix all came up to Ohio to visit us!

Once again, it was hectic, noisy, slightly stressful, and absolutely jam-packed-filled-to-the-brim-we'll-all-just-sleep-later FULL, while we tried to squeeze both lost time and new memories out of every.single.second.


And, once again now, the Best Part of the Summer has come and gone.


(I hate geography. I hate that we only get to see the people that are probably our best friends only once or twice a year. And I hate that I can't seem to figure out how to be more grateful for the time we actually DO have together.... but I'll work on it.)

 And until then...  we'll always have the memories♥

Finally some Cousin Time♥ Playing at the park one of their first mornings here.

And then we all went to the Wilderness Center one day

(and made a new kitty friend!)

Found lots of little toads and even a salamander!

Buds♥

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

More playing outside and hunting the creepy crawlies of Ohio... at the Kidron Park one day
They were on the hunt for toads.
Joss could have passed. Ha.

Got one! Dirty, toad-lovin' boys.

And then we played in the woods.. and hunted some more toads.

Lookin' for crayfish

Meggy caught a frog with her bare hands!!
Still got it.
(It must be an athlete thing ;) )

So so pumped to hold a frog!



We also had many sleepovers - and even 2 camp outs in our yard!
They even brought their tent!
It was awesome.

Some of the boys.
Swingin' with Pap Pap in the garden and soaking up the morning sun after one of our sleepovers at Mimi's.

Watching morning cartoons after a camp out♥






And we were SO SO blessed with absolutely perfect weather for like a whole week of their visit.

So, of course, there was lots of family pool time at Papa's.

Bridger Dean!

The Daddies throwing the kids in the pool

 Joss!

Flying (DARING) Felix!


Aaaaand then they big boys had to play, too....

Tyler's turn

There goes Jared!

And Corey!

And then, because she's a tiny little trooper, Emily took her turn, too....

Bryce pattin' Mommy's tummy like, "It's gonna be ok!" haha

There she goes!!

:) !!!

 

And of course, Meg.
 Because... this is how ATHLETES enter the pool.

Hahaha :)




And we also had a zoo day!!!

Waiting in the car for the rain to stop!

 Brycie and Felix

 And my own silly penguins






Mimi spotted something!!





Checking out the cheetah (I think)




Pretty girls♥





They got to see a snake up close!






I think Joss was ok with the "No Touching" rule. haha!




My boys and my favorite ♥ I absolutely adore the giant tortoises.







Graham watching the komodo dragons.
They told us they were sisters!
(I think they are just a smidge more fierce than us!)





Group Shot!

We saw some fish and some silly (one guy was just hanging out upside down), creepy eels.

An awesome octopus

And we even got to touch some sting rays!

They growled like bears with the statue :)

And all smiled so nice with their Mimi♥

And we even got a shot of them all on the giant caterpillar!

We fed and petted a few cute goats

And then came one of the absolute best parts... the otter slide!!

She was so CUTE!

She loved them and would literally swim over and follow them down the slide.

She was playing with them!

And it was adorable.














Us big girls loved playing with her, too♥












I'm pretty positive she didn't want us to go ;)

Having fun!!




And then the zoo keeper told us that if we wanted to see the bears, now was a good time because they were playing in the water.

We didn't really know what that meant... but we were in for an enormous treat...

They were RIGHT there.

And it was awesome.

We watched them play together.

And show off :)

And appear to size up a few of the kiddos for a snack. Haha!

They were definitely one of the best parts of the day!

Then we also spotted a lazy lion

Got a few souvenirs

Took some more pictures

Courtesy of Meg♥

And ended our trip with a Carousel Ride!

Fun fun!

 Carousel selfies!!

All in all, a truly great day!

Thank you, Akron Zoo!

And then it was on to the annual Sunday boat ride!

Best group shot I could get!

Holding down the rear, shadier seats with my handsome husband

Time for a swim!

Cute little lake ladies

Graham and I weren't quiet as adventurous... but he did get in!





Buds♥ The bigger version.




Fed some wildlife

And we even tried to fish.. but alas, the only thing we caught was Tyler's expensive sunglasses..
after they dropped off the side and he ended up basically diving in after them.

Another gorgeous summer day!

And finally, we ended their vacation with a luau themed party at Mom's. 

Complete with ribs, corn on the cob, and a fishy pinata!

 All the kiddos

 Tyler and Emily

Corey and Megan

Jared and I
(and my coconut bra... because, I mean, I'm nothing if not dedicated to a party theme.)

Luau!

The point.
It's tradition.

 Girlies



And just because we were feelin' nutty ;) haha








Pinata time!!!





And after it fell off the branch, Uncle Tyler held it up.


Cuz, ya know, he's basically as big as a tree. ;)

Candy!!!

 And even Miss Bea got to join the festivities... for minute....
.... on her leash.
Because, safety first.
Obvs.

 I can't even describe how much these weirdos mean to me.

And there we were.

Having fun.

And all together.

All together.

And it was good.♥