Dive-in Movie time

Our pool had its first Dive-in movie of the summer and it was showing Frozen. That pretty much made our attendance mandatory! To top off the fun we won a cool raffle prize!

We have to take about 25 pictures like this before we get a good one. Jokers.

Laugh, cry, or both?

Here are some of the reactions to the pickle baby news....

Happy, happy days.......

Just sweet, no dill

And it is official! This Christmas season we will be celebrating the birth of our Savior and eagerly awaiting the birth of our first grandbaby! It is now on Facebook, so that makes it real. 

There are lots of sweet things to buy and plans to make between now and then. I'm counting the days til I can hold that sweet babe in my arms. We're going to be grandparents! 

Summer Reading....

One of the great things about summer, even summers with international moves mixed in, is the extra time there is for READING. Extra time in the mornings, in the hot afternoons, and on muggy nights when it's not so necessary to get to bed early.

This week, while the Middles had both cars, the Whistler and I decided to walk to the library to see about signing up for summer reading club. It was a balmy 97 degrees that day. Thank goodness for big shady magnolia trees on the way or I don't think we would have survived. :)

Joshua didn't have any trouble finding a pile of books he was interested in reading. I think it's going to be a mystery-filled summer for him!

He is also reading Elizabeth Enright's series, the Melendy Quartet.

He is on the second book right now and is LOVING it. Also on his radar is the Mysterious Benedict Society series. I love that he loves reading....

Too good to put down

He and I are reading together The Julian Chapter, which is a follow up to an excellent book we read last month called Wonder.

I am not usually too big on reading "new" books. We tend to prefer the classics around here. But these two books are DEFINITELY worth reading.

As for me, I am really enjoying the break that summer reading is giving me, as well as the challenges some of my books are presenting.
Currently on my nightstand:

I'm reading a couple books on my Kindle app, too. Normally I love holding a real book in my hands, but sometimes the convenience of not having to lug one more thing with me supersedes the need to feel pages.

 Pursue the Intentional Life, by Jean Fleming is a book I got on Kindle that I am going to order a real copy of. I have used the highlight tool excessively in it but want to have my own, marked up, dog-eared copy I can drag around. This is a book I will come back to again and again.

How People Change is another good one. It is a challenging book to me. To look beyond my circumstances at the bigger picture and the role that the Cross plays in every situation. 

I have to finish The Silver Chair this week so I can move on to The Last Battle and I'll be done with all the Narnia books. There is also a Debbie Macomber book I'd like to read for fun. My goal is to finish all 8 of these books this summer BEFORE we get on the plane. 

Coming up with new ones for the flight will be a project for a later date. :) Send some recommendations if you have them!

Happy summer!

Last day

Today is the Soldier's last day in the good old USA for a while. The kids decided to surprise him with an early Father's breakfast, courtesy of Chick Fil-a. That and an iTunes gift card for a movie for his long flight.

Also, here are a few more pictures from the change of command last month. Not too many, but I wanted to make sure to have them saved. :)

What we've been up to

since we got back from the beach.

Nick and I took a whirlwind trip up to Virginia for an appointment. Got to see this sky as the sun came up.

Hung out at the pool a while.....did the limbo.

Had a bonfire late enough to hear Taps playing...

Made some brownies from scratch using the 100 Days of Real Food recipe. Yum!

Hung out on the hammock after church

And did a lot of this:

And this:

Just a couple days til the Soldier heads to his new assignment. Time is getting short....

A time to rest....

Our beach week has come and gone. Sometimes when we go we have big plans about all the fun stuff we're going to do and adventures we're going to take. This year, though, we all just needed REST. Everything has been so busy here that being away for a few days was just what the doctor ordered. We didn't canoe or kayak, we didn't go on any big hikes. We didn't even rent bikes-instead opted for a golf cart to ferry our tired bodies to and fro. 

Lots of time was spent laying in the sun and some time was spent laying on the couch, watching SpongeBob. (Different people relax in different ways....) ;)

The soldier joined us partway through after he got back from a TDY trip. Nick and Alyson came back home for a few days in the middle-him to work and her for a job interview. (She got the job-yay!) The married ones couldn't join us this year at all. 

But there was fishing (somewhat successful), shark-tooth hunting (also successful), ice cream eating, and lots of nap taking. Joshua and I did find some time to do some geocaching and a lot of ping pong was played. We also spotted a many-toothed visitor in the waters near the pier. 

The last vacation at Fort Fisher for a few years. It lived up to the pressure it had of being on the North Carolina bucket list. Can't wait to be back there one day....

Packed to the roof and ready to go!

Found in the first hour on the beach....

You can imagine how big this hole was since he fit his entire body in it!

Joshie bought himself some sunglasses after this. :)

Look! Twinsies!

Time for some treasure hunting...

We found a super-cool hidden world...

They were thrilled about sharing a booth.

Corn nuggets. Yummmmm.

The hole wasn't quite as deep for this guy....

We weren't risking the canoes with this thing!

Good-bye, Kure Beach. See you later....