A Knoxville 4th!

Our Knoxville 4th could be broken up into a few posts, but I'm trying to be better about condensing these weekend getaways into one post for posterity sake. So get ready for a picture heavy post reflecting on the most wonderful Independence Day at Omi and Papa's house in Knoxville. It involved everything that a summer reunion trip should be:)

We swam a lot at their neighborhood community pool. Since these two started off so cute in their swimsuits, I posed them with our festive flags. I swoon for kids in red, white, and navy:)

These patriotic cuties were oozing brother and sisterly love for a split second, so why not capture it.? I'm sure 30 years from now, I'll only reminisce on these sweet moments and have momnesia about their fighting:)

We celebrated our July birthdays with Omi's famous Southern Living Strawberry Cake. It is my very favorite summer dessert.

The next morning we packed up sack lunches and headed north to Sweetwater, TN to tour The Lost Sea.  It's been on our bucket list for a few years and Eliza Kate was finally old enough to walk the 3/4 mile sloping hike. Our guide, was entertaining and explained the cavern's history. We also learned about the geological development of the cavern rooms and rare formations. Miller got to observe both stalactites, stalagmites and cave flowers in person. He was in cave exploration heaven:) Not thinking, I didn't prepare for the much cooler temperatures down below the earth. Temps in the cave remain at a cool 58 degrees. Miller could have used a pullover. EK's swim cover up doubled as a sweater!

I could really bore you with all of our scientific photographs. Miller wanted to remember all of the stops along the way. Miller couldn't get over the fact that the cavern is listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as America's largest underground lake.

Who knows what Miller the spelunker was thinking?:)

Colorful spotlights illuminated special formations and commanded a lot of ohhs & ahhs down below. At the bottom of our hike, we boarded up a glass bottom boat in the dark for an exciting trip on the lake . They added rainbow trout to the waters in the cave years ago and because of the pitch blackness, the fish have all become blind. The trout are also albino--new word for Miller. They get their beautiful colors from sunlight. So, if you want to see thousands of teeming white trout--this boat trip is for you;) We got to reach in and feel the mineral water, but made sure not to put our hands anywhere near our faces.  Dripping stalactites also splashed minerals on our head during the boat tour. This really was right up a little boy's alley!

The Sweetwater village was so cute to explore. These kiddos worked up an appetite. I'm thankful we loaded up a picnic lunch.

Meridith joined us later on for a 4th of July dinner at Omi and Papa's house. The cousins were up to all kind of crazy chasing shenanigans in no time.

The weather was unseasonably cool--almost fall like and perfect for playing an adult game of bad mitten:)

Of course, the littles were up for more swimming action before the street fireworks show.

Ek's Sophia goggles created quite a fashion splash this summer. She adore her water accessories. Look at Miller taking off in perfect freestyle form;)

The boys ventured out to "Bimbo's Fireworks" to snag some driveway fireworks. Little did I know, that the word bimbo would be uttered 99 times that evening in Miller's excitement about the dude field trip to the firework's warehouse. All I could do was cringe every time that awesome word rolled off the lips on my classy dude:) 

He could not contain his absolute joy over the fireworks show. His heart was pounding and words rambling all kinds of fireworks vocabulary educating us on all of the names and colors. Oh my!

Eliza Kate was  little timid after a few sparks touched her toes!

And, here's Landon. He forgot his hanging patriotic swag at home. Forgive his green. Although, we think daddy looks handsome in anything.

It was a fabulous trip to visit family. It was the perfect burst of activity that we needed in the middle of our summer slow down. It's weekends like these that I feel so thankful for my family:)

Patriotic Sunday

One of our very favorite 4th of July traditions as a family is the patriotic service at church. I'm always wowed between the music, flag waving, and home town feel celebrating America. So many local servicemen attend in uniform and are honored in the most special of ways on stage. We love exposing the littles to patriotism and American pride using an opportunity like this to foster reverence for the sacrifices made for our freedom.  The kiddos loved the festival with food trucks after church with inflatables, a girl's tapping group, and shaved ice. Eliza Kate always avoids face painting for some reason, so we avoided that attraction like the plague. EK commented that it feels messy on her face. Ha! Only a girl would not like a mess.

It was a sweltering hot July afternoon, so we didn't stay too long celebrating. Miller agreed to wear his "church clothes". Pants that zip and collared shirts are deemed only church worthy in our house these days. Sadly, Miller's only requesting athletic wear these days.... He's getting way too cool for school too fast.

Thumbs up "hang loose" signs are showing up in poses. This cool dude 7 year old still easily obliges for a picture stained lips and all:) Happy Birthday America! 

Boys Book Club

The rising second grade boys in our hood participated in the  Cobb County summer reading program this summer. To make it more enticing,  we started a boys of summer book club. Each clubber chose the book and activities for their hosting turn. We rotated between six houses in June and July. It definitely got the boys excited about reading and recording their chapters.

I helped Miller choose one of my favorites , I Wanna Iguana. I was already using the book with my tutoring students teaching persuasive writing , so why not make it work for our book club too. I knew it would lend itself to fun reptile activities and snacks boys would love:)

Green jello reptile jigglers were Miller's special request and commanded oohs & ahhs from the clubbers. I found "reptile kits" from the dollar store for our back yard scavenger hunt. The little sisters got to keep the pink kits and catching nets of course.

Look how friendly the iguanas looked waiting to be adopted as a pet.

Veggie straws were dubbed Lizard Tails. Leaping lizards, they were delicious:) It always helps to hide a few plastic iguanas in the serving bowl to get the boys  to freak out a little.

Grapes snakes were served on skewers. You get the point.. We got a little creative on our reptile snacks for the meeting. Then it was knee to knee discussion time on the back deck using question cards to dig a little deeper with their partner. 

Using chart paper, we played a Guess the Reptile game that the boys recorded on paper. They used their answers to hunt for the hidden items in our jungle of a backyard:) 

The little sister waited out their turn and went on a reptile hunt that included a little shrieking and screaming dodging the older brothers reptile teasing. The girly crowd isn't really into critter catching. 

Wiggling reptiles, snake eyes, and chocolate snake eggs were all found around our yard. In fact, we're still finding lost reptile friends. Some of the items were so small that I used plastic eggs as storage:)

Eliza Kate made sure that I showed you our pond water. I got a few crazy looks when taking drink orders when I offered pond water as a choice. Iguana punch was the most popular refreshment until the boys discovered that the pond water was safe to drink after all.

We're filling up our book logs and having fun with our noses in books around here. Here's to our 20 plus minutes of DEAR a day. Our club was all the rave that we're continuing it quarterly throughout the winter.  Now to brainstorm a different theme! In the meantime, I'm loving the boys of summer.

Girl Time

Balancing playdates between the littles gets a little tricky with so much free time in the summer. I will say that shipping Miller off to another friend's house works out better to host the girls. He wants to join in, but he's way to rough for the younger, female friend crowd:) Claire and Emery came over on swim team mornings while the boys were at the 8U practices every morning on our rotation. We kept hopping around from house to house keeping everyone busy. 

These three girls always play nicely for about an hour, then there is usually a quick spat with tears before they end up playing sweetly again. It's great playdate practice learning friendship skills. There's nothing like giggling girls to cheer up your house. 

Another girly outing was attending Katelynn's 4th birthday party at her house. It was a much needed reunion with her preschool pals and our 2nd Frozen party of the summer. We're on a roll with the Elsa theme:) 

Sweet Anna and EK found a cozy spot to dive into all the candy after taking turns batting the piñata. I loved this creative party with her preschool friends. Eliza Kate soaks up every ounce of outings with just us girls.

Dolphin Swimmer

School was still in session while we were hopping back into swim practices in the afternoons. Miller signed up for his second summer season of swim team in our neighborhood on the 8U team. He continues to love swimming. And,  I love the routine of summer practice at our pool every morning. The added social time with his neighborhood pals is a great incentive to exercise. With 2 kids in swimming lessons, I could have literally been at practice every morning in June. We worked out a little boys/girls carpool system to switch kids all around so one sibling could have a playdate built in while the other sibling practiced.

Our first meet was an away meet at Chadd's Walk. Miller's first away meet ever. We only participated in the home meets as a rising first grader last summer.  Miller obsessed over the depth of the deep end as the meet got closer and closer. It's not like Miller to have fears, but one of his phobia's is unknown water depth. He got over it, and we wouldn't let him give up. 

He swam in 3 events. Thunder was clapping in the distance so there was a 30 minute delay. Miller's last event {number 78} was spent doing backstroke towards the deep end in an unknown pool in the dark of night. Only the pool lights illuminated his moves. His comment when he crawled out of the pool was ," How'd I do? I was too busy looking at all those stars to hear you shout my name." "Who was cheering for me?" Gotta love his need for affirmation:)

While his back stroke started off a little rusty, we polished it over the weeks with private afternoon lessons. It's by far his best stroke. He did work hard on it and finished first place in his heat quite a few meets.

It's all about the concession stand snacks. Smoothie King was rated his favorite treat at home meets.

Sharpie tattoos got these three in the dolphin spirit. I love the green space at our pool..it's perfect for pre meet chasing games and shenanigans. The little sisters were on the pre competitive team again this year, but were only spectators at the meets.

These cuties met their candy quota waiting out the meets.

Swimmers take you mark...

I love watching his push off the blocks for backstroke.

Chin up, goggles up, rainbow arms. We loved seeing Miller develop this season.

Yeah-That right there is my tattoo artistry skills drawing a dolphin. I can't help that my client is one wiggly dude:) Someone needs to invent a stencil:)

The pre competitive group had a practice meet one morning. I wasn't until the very last week of swim that Eliza Kate mastered swimming longer lengths out on her own.

These dudes were so proud to earn their trophies. The awards party didn't disappoint the dolphins. We capped off the season at the club with a catered BBQ dinner.

Check out the Cokes {gasp} that Miller schmoozed his way into. It's only once or twice a year that I allow this obnoxious amount of sugary calories to enter Miller's bloodstream. He's high on life without caffeine.

I must add that I was ready to wrap up our season and sail into July. But, we're so happy that we conquered another successful summer of swim team.