Pine Cove Family Camp Wednesday- Friday

Here comes a lot more pictures from our fabulous week at Pine Cove Family Camp!

Enjoy!:)

This was probably one of Austin's favorite moments of camp and one that he still talks about - riding Goldie Locks (or just Goldie for short as our little man has informed me;). Austin loves animals and he was of course the 1st one to go for a ride. Look at his proud face! Adorable!

Austin and Audrey walking around the cabin in Daddy and Mommy's shoes. (This is one of Audrey's favorite things to do... in fact, my closet at home always has shoes all over the floor thanks to her trying them all on!;)

We were so proud of our sweet little girl. She slept in this "big girl bed" all by herself all week long! Guess it's time to move her out of her crib at home... sniff, sniff.

Here we are riding the fun banana boats on the lake (Ainsley was in the boat being held by another mom). So fun!

Audrey has loved the water this summer!

This is pretty much how the girls traveled all week. Thank goodness for the double stroller and for Daddy!

Austin got a chance to visit the bubble princess during the week like Audrey. I love this sweet pic of him and one of his buds for the week. :)

Austin is always in the middle of the action...

Austin's group performed a couple of songs that they learned during the week and he did such a great job!

So great in fact that he stole the show!

Don't ask... haha!

On Wednesday night, the theme was 'Where in the World', so Austin dressed up as a race car driver. He LOVED wearing this outfit! (Thanks Boring family!)

Andrew and I got to spend the whole day in Tyler where we at yummy Mexican food and went bowling. We had a great day "away"! That night we dressed up as camp counselors and for those of you who have ever been a part of Pine Cove know, every one has funny names that explain you in some way. So, we got creative and named ourselves Pampers and Huggies. :) Pretty much sums up our last 3 years! Love this life stage of diapers galore!

Audrey and Ainsley as Minnie and a Dalmatian puppy. The kids loved dressing up every night!

On Thursday night, the parents had a formal dinner with steak and salmon while the kiddos played with their camp counselors. Sorry - no pics from that night. :)

Friday's theme was '4th of July Apple Pie' and it was our favorite night! We had all-American food and apple pie and then played some fun games outside - like this lovely pic of Andrew and I racing other groups of parents.

We didn't win, but it was a lot of fun!!

Austin is getting ready to race. It was so cute to see how serious he took it (Daddy was funny about it too!;) I think we have a little competitor on our hands!

His favorite part was tackling Skully at the end!

At the end of each night right before we would pick up the girls, there would be a time of family praise and worship. Our boy loves to dance and that is what he would do during this time. (He has some natural rhythm and good moves!) We call him our little king David.

Austin loved this swing. And we loved Pine Cove!

This was one of our only family pics from the week. we are about to load up into the car and drive home - tired from a full week of fun, but restored. Like I have said before, the week we spend at Pine Cove impacted us forever and we are so grateful to the Lord for the incredible experience we had!

Pine Cove Family Camp Sunday- Tuesday

Our family had the privilege of attending Family Camp at Pine Cove Christian Camps in Tyler, TX a couple of weeks ago. I was such an incredible time of refreshment, renewal, restoration and family time with no distractions. We are still trying to unpack what the week did for us as far as goals we have for our family spiritually and the many ways it impacted us forever. When we got home, we definitely had the "camp blues" doing many of the fun camp cheers and wishing we were still there instead of the "real world". There are so many pictures of our week that I have to do several blogs to get them all in. I do apologize for the large number of pics. Don't feel that you have to look at all of them. :)

Every night of camp there is a "theme" that all the dress, food and activities are based on. (Thanks to all you wonderful people who helped us come up with outfits for the week by letting us borrow your stuff!) Monday night was the Oregon Trail. How cute are my little Cowboy and Indian?!

Mommy and Ainsley all dressed up for a rodeo.

Daddy and our sweet little girl.

Right before dinner - I love this pic b/c they had no idea why they were dressed up or what was in store for them! We looked forward to dinnertime and the fun activities every night! So fun!

I love my cowboys! We went to a real live rodeo that night and Austin had the time of his life! It was such a fun experience! The girls were dropped off in Cove Kids for the evening and the three of us with Aunt ZuZu could enjoy the show.

Austin loved all the animals of course but his favorite was.....

the CLOWNS!!

These two college students were so much fun and Austin informed me that he wanted to be a clown when he grew up. (He already is!!;)

Aunt ZuZu was the whole reason we got to experience this incredible place! This summer was her 9th summer at Pine Cove! We loved getting to see her every day of the week!

Ainsley at Cove Kids: the fun place where all three of the kiddos spent their days. (We even took them there for nap time!!)

This was the bubble princess who the kids visited several times during the week.

She was Audrey's favorite. :)

On Tuesday night we dropped the kids off and the staff had a picnic basket filled and ready for each couple for a romantic dinner. We found a spot overlooking the lake and had a wonderful evening that ended with a sunset boat ride. I am telling you! This place was amazing!! Praise God for Pine Cove! More pics to come...

On the Boomerang Express - It All Comes Back to Jesus!

This summer was our first time to be a part of Vacation Bible School at our Church. Last summer Ainsley was itty-bitty, so we had to miss it. We had such a fun week! Here are some pics from our experience:

We traveled to the Outback of Australia for the week.

I taught about 20 3rd graders all week and it was awesome! It made me miss teaching!

more 3rd graders...

Here are the 2 sweet ladies that I had the privilege of working with for the week.

Austin had his first VBS experience and I am telling you...It was quite a week both for him and the amazing ladies who tried to keep up with him. ;)

This picture cracks me up! These 3 girls "loved" on Austin all week. Do we have trouble in our future or what?!



Andrew struck a deal with all the kiddos during the week: If they raised $250 to by a goat, some chickens, stock a pond and save a child from slavery overseas - he would kiss a goat...

And the kids met their end of the deal! Here he is about to lay a wet one on this sweet little goat!

Love it! Such fun memories! Thanks again to all the many incredible people in our Church who helped pull off such a great week! Can't wait until we do it again next year!

We just got back from a week at Pine Cove Family Camp in Tyler, TX. I will be posting pictures of our amazingly wonderful week soon...

Hurricane Harbor and Play Date fun!

We have had such a fun summer and are sad that it is coming to an end! Here are some fun pics of our day at Hurricane Harbor. Our youth group went and we just tagged along. ;) We all had a blast and hopefully will make it a tradition to go every summer. Our favorite was the lazy river (of course!) Austin and Audrey were so cute bopping along with their life jackets on! It was hard to take a lot of pictures b/c that place is so crazy busy and you have to be ON as parents of 3 toddlers! Ainsley isn't in any of the pics either b/c she is always on my hip when I am taking them. It's okay though, because I will be posting a video real soon of her CRAWLING!! We are so excited about the progress she has made in the last few weeks! More to come on that later... Here are our two darlings having the time of their lives!

Look at that diaper bottom! Ran out of swim diapers...:)

Austin was non-stop moving ALL DAY!! His kind of place/pace for sure!

Big deal for Audrey to go down this slide by herself. She is getting to be a brave girlie!

We also have a play group that meets every other Wednesday through the summer for fun playing times. Here are some pics of our most recent Jumping Land adventure. This was a favorite for Austin and Audrey ventured out of her comfort zone more than she ever has at a place like this. (Again, no pics of Ainsley, but she was there rolling/crawling around! :)

They really do love each other and have fun playing together. I am so thankful!!

Austin was so cute encouraging his lil' sis all the way up. :)

These girls are 2 of Audrey's favorite friends - sweet Ava, our youth minister's daughter and Anika who is much like a big sis to Audrey. Love it!

Sweet friends!

These are days I don't want to forget...