Farewell to Summer

This summer has literally flown by.  It's been about a month since we have last blogged, but it has been a busy month.  The kids and I have had a great time hanging out at the beach, looking for shells, and Todd has even learned how to swim.

Our little "fish" ready to go

Since I last posted, Carl was able to come and visit us for a weekend and I was able to visit him sans kids.  We packed up the car last week and drove over to Georgia to attend Carl's graduation from FLETC.  After 12 weeks of intensive training, he not only graduated, but received the Academic Award and an award for Distinguished Expert Marksman (he shot a perfect score).

Receiving his awards

Family picture after graduation

My parents also came to the graduation and we all stayed at a house on St. Simons Island.  It was so nice to relax for a few days and hang out as a family.  It is such a beautiful area and the weather was absolutely gorgeous.   After attending Carl's graduation, we went back to his room and Carl had a huge surprise waiting for Todd - a brand new "big boy" bike.  Todd and Carl had so much fun riding around in the quiet neighborhood where we were staying.  Katelynn was even able to tag along in the comfort of a bike trailer behind Carl.

Riding his new bike

A family outing

I had the privilege of walking/running beside Todd while he was riding the bike to make sure he did not fall too hard.  It was hard for me to keep up with him at times.

Carl and I were able to celebrate our 8th anniversary and we drove down to Jacksonville to eat at one of our favorite restaurants - Maggianos.  To make a perfect meal even better, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert!  We had a great time together, just the two of us.  Our anniversary is today, but we knew that we would not be able to be together on the actual day.  Sadly, our time together eventually had to come to an end and Carl had to begin his 2 day journey up to DC.  Katelynn started to cry when Carl left and Todd sweetly came up to her and said, "It's OK, we will see Daddy at his next graduation."  It was so sweet and cute.  We are hoping to be able to see Carl again before November, but it depends on flight schedules.

On the day that Carl left, the kids, my parents, and I embarked on a shrimp boat cruise.  My mom came across the excursion on TripAdvisor for things to do in Brunswick, GA.  We had an absolute awesome time aboard the Lady Jane.  Not only did they feed us fresh, just caught boiled shrimp, but we were able to be up close to all sorts of sea creatures.  During our 2 hour cruise, the fishermen threw out the net three times and we caught everything from shrimp to squid to sharks to horseshoe crabs to sting rays and all sorts of fish.  The kids were able to hold these sea creatures and explore to their hearts' content.  It was truly a memorable excursion.

The shrimp boat

Playing with a fish

She has no idea what she's touching, but she likes it!

All good things must come to an end and we drove back to Pensacola on Sunday making sure that we kept our gas tanks full thanks to Isaac and stopped by the condo at the beach to make sure it was all ready to welcome Hurricane Isaac.  Todd and I were able to do a little searching for shells but the water was rather rough so we did not go in the Gulf.  As it looks right now, we should be avoiding the bad part of the storm and are hoping to find no damage after Wednesday.

This week is an exciting one at our house.  Our 8th wedding anniversary is today and both Katelynn and Todd start school this week.  Todd will be starting kindergarten on Thursday and Katelynn will be starting preschool at a local church in Pensacola.  It's hard to believe that we have a kindergartener but we are thrilled and Todd is very excited.  Sorry for the delay in blog posts, but that hopefully catches you all up to speed.  Until next time...