The rest of summer

Dearest Boys,

These memories are coming to you from December - late December, at that - so to say they're no longer crystal clear would be kind.  These are the pictures I have to help me remember what was happening on our final weeks of summer break:

 Colt, your buddies arranged a meetup at one of the neighborhood's pools.

The ponds is Grandpa & Grandma's neighborhood were perfect for basic fishing.

Marcus hosted a soccer camp and it was fun to play with friends from both your soccer team and your baseball team!! 

You weren't lacking on Team Spirit Day at camp.

Reality set in and we spent time together setting up my new classroom - in the 4th grade hallway!

We hosted friends for one of our final swim "hangouts".

We barely fit in our annual trip to Six Flags.

I guess you were running out of ideas for summer fun  - because you turned to nail painting!

And a pool party turned into a costume party.?.?.

A few more trips to Hawaiian Falls were squeezed in...

 

 Summer wrapped up with a triple date night 

 

And a family date night too!

And then August 28th came and we all had to head back to the real world!
 

7th Birthday

Dearest Colton,

You woke up on August 4th ready to celebrate!  Your breakfast was extra yummy that morning!

You had a party at a local trampoline park that afternoon.  So many of your favorites came to celebrate with you!

 

Just like that - you quickly became my very favorite 7-year-old!

Summer VACATION

Dearest Boys,

Dad & I got away for a long weekend with our friends, Lindsey & Salam.  We decided on Anguilla, an island in the British West Indies, based on the suggestion from one of Lindsey's friends.  We'd never heard of the island but our research showed that it was pretty small (16 miles long and 3 miles wide) yet home to many award-winning beaches - so we were game!

We arrived at our beautiful villa and spent a lot of time taking in the gorgeous views!

 

The views got even better the next day when we took the short walk down to the beach.

The sand was as white as I'd ever seen and the water was like being in the biggest salt-water pool imaginable.

One definition of perfection:

We hung out in the water about as much as we hung out in the sand.

We walked along the beach and kept saying, "Is this for real?!" 

The next day was a repeat!

We used the rental car to drive on the wrong side of the road all the way to the Four Seasons.  We had cigars and cocktails as we watched the sun set and the palm trees sway. 

The island is so noncommercialized (which is part of why we loved it!) that there weren't many excursion options so we created our own adventure one day!

We asked a local about his favorite beach shack and he directed us towards Nat's.

  Here we are, their only customers, enjoying their "patio" : )

Nat came out and spoke with us and confirmed what we'd already suspected - Anguillan men are the nicest on the planet!

Then, your dad looked at a map and decided to follow a sandy road for a few miles along the coast.  Not only did we not see a single soul as we drove along, but we were still completely alone when we arrived at these tide pools at the end of the road.

We discussed the logistics of our return trip to this slice of heaven before going our separate ways in Atlanta.

A huge shout out to Grandpa and Grandma for hosting you two at their house for 5 nights!!!