A long goodbye...

The calendar says it's been fall for almost a week, but the weather last weekend said that summer was holding on for dear life. And I'm okay with that because I'm a girl of summer. I love summer. I love everything about summer. I love the beach, popsicles on the porch, being barefoot in the yard and the fact that the sun stays out longer. When Labor day rolls around, I always get this slight feeling of dread. Dread of the cold, dreary days of winter that are just around the corner. And the dread of saying goodbye to my beloved summer. Don't get me wrong, I like the coolness of a fall morning when I go for my run. And I LOVE college football. Honestly, if it weren't for football, I might just ball up in the fetal position after Labor day.

So, since it was still warm enough last Saturday, I decided we should have a beach day. After all, it could be the last until next year! It was icing on the cake that my parents came down for the day to join us. We packed up, all crammed into our car, and set out to enjoy one last hoorah in the sand.

One last sandcastle...

One more chance to try and teach our baby brother how to build a sandcastle...

One more hunt for the perfect shell...

One more game of "can you guess what I'm making out of sand?"...

One more day of beach bumming...

One more time to watch the kite surfers...

One more stroll...

One more- well, I'm not really sure...

One more chance for Bella to see who's faster- her or the wave...

One more chance to play in the sand with Daddy...

One more time to bury our feet in the sand...

One more frolic in the ocean...

Goodbye summer, see you next year! We'll miss you for sure!

Arboretum

Sunday afternoon Scott and I took Bella and Austin to the Arboretum. It's a fun place to go and explore. I enjoy seeing the different plants and getting ideas for our yard. Bella enjoys scouting out butterflies and feeding the goldfish. Austin just loves being outside. And the best part is- it's free! We only spent 25 cents for some fish food. Talk about cheap entertainment! We spent a good while meandering around the grounds. It was a little hot, but we still had a good time!

Here's Bella in the butterfly garden. It seemed like there were hundreds of butterflies on these little pink flowers!

While Bella was on the search for butterflies, Austin enjoyed playing with the gate leading into the butterfly garden. I think he would've stayed there opening and closing the gate for hours...

There's a children's garden that has a little playhouse. It's always one of Bella's favorite parts of the arboretum.

Still at the gate...

Relaxing in the little chairs behind the playhouse.

Bella was eager to feed the fish...

Those were some of the biggest goldfish I've ever seen!

I think this is my favorite picture of the day...

Austin is walking more and more- but you can tell by his dirty knees, he still crawls from time to time!

We enjoyed our outing to the arboretum. It's a beautiful little piece of land right in the middle of Wilmington and we don't make it out there as often as I'd like. Next time we'll remember to take more quarters for the fish food machine. Bella was convinced the fish were still hungry when it was time for us to go home.

Impromptu Dance Recital

The world is Bella's stage. Literally. The girl will dance when the music strikes her, no matter where she is. And lately, one of her favorites is to put on a recital for her family. She instructs Scott, Austin and I to sit and watch. She finds her "stage", which is usually in front of some kind of door. The laundry room door in the kitchen and closet doors in her and Austin's room usually serve as the backdrops for these priceless impromptu dance recitals. Then she plays some music and entertains us with her dancing.

The other day, Bella, Austin and I were playing in Austin's room when the mood struck Bella to dance. She instructed Austin and I to have a seat and enjoy the show. And enjoy we did.

Here's Austin heading for his prime front row seat.

Austin's little John Deere radio served as the music for Bella's recital. Austin was in charge of the sound. Hit it maestro.

She even put on her ballet shoes for this performance.

There was plenty of twirling and jumping...

Although Bella loves to dance, sometimes her moves resemble those of Elaine on Seinfeld.

"Ta-da!"

At the end, Bella knows you need to curtsy!

AND take a bow!

AND blow kisses to the audience!

Daddy's day off

Scott took this past Tuesday off work to spend the day with Bella, Austin and I. Sure, we have the weekends, but we wanted a day during the week to devote to family fun. While the weekends are surely fun, it seems like there are always obligations that interfere with a full day of nothing but family time. There is grass to be mowed, laundry to be done and many other chores that can distract us from just focusing on being with each other.

Plus, places are less crowded on the weekdays. So, on Tuesday, we loaded up and headed to the aquarium. Bella and Austin really enjoyed themselves! We even packed a lunch so that mid-day hunger wouldn't get in the way of spending as much time as we wanted looking at fish, alligators and frogs...

Uh oh, looks like the alligator got one of Bella's fingers.

Austin really enjoyed the fish. He also really enjoyed banging on the tanks. I doubt the fish enjoyed that as much as he did.

I hate snakes, even when they're behind glass. I'm still not sure why I even took a picture of them.

"Hey you there! Do you mind if I bang on this glass?!"

Austin found the stairs to be just as much fun as the rest of the aquarium.

"Look Mom! No hands!"

I love this. Austin was so excited looking at the shark tank that he kept going from banging on the glass to yelling something at Bella. I like to think he was telling her all about the fish in the tank.

We took a break for lunch. We were hungry!

"That peanut butter sandwich and goldfish rocked!"

Then it was back inside to explore some more. Here they are checking out the poisonous frogs.

Then we headed outside to go on some of the nature walks.

Austin wanted to practice his new skill a little while we were out there. He took his first steps a few days ago!

Hey Bella, I think I see an alligator in the water behind you...

Giant frogs need love too.

"Hey Mommy, are frogs ticklish?"

Austin wanted to check out the frog too.

We really enjoyed Daddy's day off. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we can enjoy another one!