J is for...

ust because.....

When Eric came home work the other day he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I asked hime what they were for and he said "just because I love you...."

Eric, you are my everything!

The weekend after we got back from Orlando, we went with some friends, Brandon and Carrie to Myrtle Beach! It was such a great time! The weather was wonderful too which made it even better! The days were spent reading the front porch in the morning, riding the golf carts to the pool and boogie boarding on the ocean waves. Eric even won an all-day pass to ride the "worlds largest inflatable slide" from placing 1st in a ping-pong tournament. Tyler had a blast sliding down it over and over and OVER again! AND I finished my new favorite book My Sister's Keeper (if you haven't read it I TOTALLY recommend it!)
Caiden sure loves the beach, as opposed to Tyler when he was Caiden's age! Tyler hated the sand on his feet (he still does, but he just deals with it a little better). We came back Sunday night a little sad that are summer vacations are now over for the year and happy for the exciting things that are up and coming. Such as, Caiden's 1st Birthday, Eric starts his new job with Bizjournals and Tyler starting Kindergarten!!
Thanks Brandon and Carrie for a wonderful weekend!

Is that a snake hole?

Nope, it's a Cicada Killer Wasp burrow! I thought this was so fascinating I had to post some pictures about it!!

welcome

Collin Gregg Sykes!

Congratulations Morgan, Justin and Peyton to your newest addition to the family!! We are very happy for you guys!

Collin was born last Monday, July 7, 2008 at 9:55 AM. He was a healthy 11 lbs. 1 oz and 20 inches long! They are all back home now and are doing wonderful! We love you guys!! (ps- I'm SO excited that I'm going to be Collins daycare teacher! How awesome is that!)

glitter-graphics.com

We had a wonderful 4th of July!! We were still in Orlando, and they have really good fireworks there ALL the time! Eric and I took the boys to Downtown Disney for the afternoon to walk around and go into the shops, saw Lego Land, and enjoyed some ice cream. Their fireworks show didn't start until 1030, so we headed over to Celebration's show that started at 9. We were running late and ended up missing the begining BUT Eric turned down a side street and we got to park right next to a lake and had a perfect view of the fireworks!! We didn't have to deal with any traffic or crowds, which was nice! This was also Tylers 1st REAL fireworks show that he enjoyed because all the past years he's been afraid of the loud noise and last year we kinda "missed" them... Caiden loved it too. We were also too far away to hear the really loud booms!

For vacation this summer we went to Orlando, Florida! Dave (Eric's dad) has a Timeshare there so we were able to stay in his condo at Summer Bay Resorts and booooyyy was it nice! (Thanks Dave!) We each had our own room and each building had it's own pool. There was also a "mini" kiddie water park there and a lake where you could rent jet skies, and jump on water trampolines! We were there for about a week and had a blast. We had a lot of family for both sides there also so we were able to spend time with everyone which was really nice. Eric, Caiden and I left Saturday morning (Tyler was already in Florida spending a week with Mimi and Papa) and drove to Jacksonville, Florida. We got there around 11 AM and checked in our hotel and then headed to the beach!! Caiden got to ride his very first Ferry across the water! (I can't believe it cost $5 for such a short trip!) This was also Caiden's "first" trip to the beach (I say "first" because it's actually his 2nd.. he went when he was about 8 weeks old but didn't really do much..)

YAY SAND! "I just want to pick it up in my hand and throw it so it gets ALL in my hair!)

Our beautiful niece, Bella. It was so wonderful to get to spend some more time with her! I just we could see each other more often. It's crazy to think that just next year her and Caiden will be running around playing together! Good 'Ol Samu at Sea World! We sat in the splash zone and did NOT get wet! I was kinda bumbed because it was SO hot that day!
We ran into Chris Richardson from season 6 of American Idol!!!
A little family shot at Sea World. (Tyler is M.I.A.- he went back to the pool with Grandpa!) Just before this we were at the Anheusar Busch building doing a "Beer Tasting!" We had never been to one before and it was actually pretty cool and we learned a lot- Budweiser is an acronym meaning Because U Deserve What Every Individual Should Enjoy Regularly I promised Kay I'd take a picture with all 3 grandchildren- this was the best I could do! I didn't think it would be so difficult to get them all together at one time! LOL- it's still cute though. This picture was taken at Aquatica- Sea World's water park. We spent the WHOLE day there beginning at 8 AM! Tyler LOVED the water slides and the rapids. Eric said he went so many times around he got a headache!
For the 4th of July we took the boys to Downtown Disney and Celebration to watch Fireworks. We went in the gift shop and tried on just about every Mickey hat they had!



The resort had these really cool trampolines on the lake that we could go on too!
Bella and Tish have birthdays' close together so we had a little celebration while we were there! Happy Birthday you guys!! Also, Kay's birthday falls around the same time too, so Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Love you!