Swim lessons!

We are having such a fun time w/ swimming lessons this year. I cannot believe how good Jackson & Addison are! The pictures below say it all. Jackson is leaping (with poses) off the diving board and going down the water slide and swimming to the edge (without a lifeguard catching him), Addison is jumping off the diving board and is now going down the HUGE waterslide by herself. Not to mention they are both swimming so great in their classes. They both enjoy Friday Fun Day the best! And about 1/2 the time we stay after lessons, have a picnic, Gram joins us all and we continue to play at the pool.

Addison just moved from level 1 to level 2- the big kids (Parker's class). The big boys are in level 3 and doing awesome swimming all by themselves a long ways! I'm just amazed at their progress.

It has been such a fun summer!

Our Garden is Growing!

We finally have vegetables in our garden! The tomatoes have been around for awhile (still not ready yet- but VERY big!) and this week we noticed adorable green peppers, green beans and jalopeno. We love seeing everything grow!

yes, this is addison in ashton's cowboy boots and panties!

Family Reunion in Wichita

We spent the weekend with Nathan's side of the family (Joan's brother & sister and families) in Wichita. It was a fun weekend filled with a lot of relaxing (for adults) and a lot of playing (for kids). Cora (9) and Kayden (2) came from Tuscan and the kids played and played. Cora & Jackson were inseparable and adorable together.

We stayed at the Country Club that we stayed at last year. We got it amazingly cheap this year and the kids loved it. All the way home Addison kept asking to go back to the "castle". The kids are missing Wichita & Cora SO much since we got home. Next year we're going to bring Kayden & Cora home with us!!

What a great weekend! Thank you so much to Jay & Suzanne for being such great hosts!

Jay (Joan's brother) & Suzanne's home- their backyard is a shady haven! We spent a lot of time out there.

the four cousins (missing Dominic who is at his mom & grandma's this month).

playing at a great park

jackson & kayden on the "bullet" slide

While the little people (and mommies & grandma's) slept- Jackson, Cora, Nate, Robb & Bob checked out the aviation museum. I think the kids had the most fun.

Cora & Jackson flying

Jay & Suzanne have a neighborhood pool two houses down from them. They rented the party room out for a little reunion on Sat. night. Grandpa & Addison had fun in the pool.

Cooper clan

bestest buds.

Rhett's Run

Nathan has always loved to mountain bike.  We used to do it quite a lot when we lived in Chattanooga and he got into it again about a year ago.  Today was his first race!  It was so different from what we've been doing- triathlon.  The race started at 11am!  Usually we're at our races at 545am and race always begins before 8am.  Today, Nate had to complete an hour of racing.  If he completed a lap in 59 minutes he had to do another lap (about 40 minutes)!!  It was a fun, laid-back event.  He enjoyed it- for the most part.  It was raining this morning so it was very sloppy and frustrating at first.  However, he's already talking about the next race.

Enjoying the snacks - waiting to see Daddy.

Go Daddy Go!

VERY dirty Daddy.

Gone Fishin'

Yesterday Ashton was begging to go fishing.  So, today we packed up the fishin' poles, dusted them off and headed for a lake.  We had a great time.... however.... we didn't catch ANY fish!!! The kids were a little disappointed but had a fun time- and were actually VERY patient with no action!  Lots of nibbles and they ate all of our worms.  Before we went Nathan took the kids out to catch the worms.

Addison was totally flirting w/ the camera.  SO cute.  She was enjoying the snacks.

Memorial Day Weekend

I'm late with posting these pictures.  We had a very fun Memorial Day weekend.  Uncle Robb came and it was (mostly) beautiful weather.  We enjoyed the airshow, a great bonfire roasting hotdogs and smores and building HUGE towers at home with Uncle Robb.  We also taught 

Addison how to play duck, duck goose & musical chairs.  It was so hilarious- she caught on so fast and I'm not sure I've ever seen her more excited!  If she got to her chair before anyone else she would start laughing and pointing to them telling them that they were out...  not sure where she got that competitive spirit...

Rainy memorial day took us to the mall & carousel.

Lovin' the summer!

Here are a few pictures of our summer fun this morning.  We invited the boys (Ashton & Parker) to stop by and splash around with us.  No matter the toys- if there is sun & water they are happy and occupied for a long time!  I sat back on my lounger and caught some rays. Addison wanted to lay in the sun with me- and we ended up painting her toes & fingers.   Ashton laid down on the lounger beside me and after a minute he said "this is the life.... auntie, could you get me some iced tea!".  oh, I cracked up for a while on that one.  however, ashton was serious!!

here are the boys- taking a break.  probably waiting on their iced tea :)