soakin' it up!

the last few days of summer, that is! 

staying up late, sleeping in, friends, being outside, we're working it!

this morning we did something we've talked about doing for a loooong time. we finally went out to fort washington to see the fort and check out the cute little lighthouse. first though, this eagle scout had to pick up some litter. someone had a party in the parking lot and had thrown 2 empty cases of beer and bottles in the grass nearby. so matt cleaned it up. :)

cute little lighthouse! cute little kids!

i just love how unique each lighthouse is.

they only open this guy up like, 3 times a year, so we had to jump!

 we weren't sure we'd be able to make it but i'm glad we did!

they let us inside, but not to climb. :(

 laura and i are pretending like we're climbing up, cause we're sneaky, sneaky.

originally the "lighthouse" was just a light post. there's actually a light post "lighthouse" on a street corner in savannah, georgia that is still technically a lighthouse. i will see it someday.

another angle. i love the windows! and the red "80" is the day marking for this guy. this is still a functioning automated lighthouse for the potomac river.

a nice man was getting ready to go fishing, so addie and frankie made friends with him. by the time i got over there, (matt was with them, so it was all safe) addie was counting his lures. he was so nice and patient with them, and then before we left he let them each pick a worm. very sweet!

joseph and laney were buds. laney says "water, fun!" she wants to go swimming everywhere.

the frog was amazed at this large tour boat that turned around right in front of us. she couldn't be bothered to look at me.

after thoroughly admiring the lighthouse, we let the kids loose on the fort. they ran up these hills, all sound of music style. i love joseph's pose here! what?

close up of kiddos on hill. and thanks for posing, ads!

the fort was really cool! it dates back to the early 1800's.

it's huge and very intricate.

and just when did joseph get taller than me? 

ps - the hostess was busy hostessing and the lifeguard was busy sleeping in (he's worked a lot lately!) and then cleaning the house. i told him he could either come with us, or clean. and he chose to clean. i'm okay with it because i know how nice it is to be home alone every once in awhile. and, who am i fooling, a clean house is nice. ;) i think he would have really loved the fort though!

i mean, just think of all the things you could do here in a zombie apocalypse!

gorgeous views and a gorgeous day! high 70°'s! couldn't ask for better weather!

oh, joseph...

cute little lighthouse again.

i really wanted laney to get down and run and get some energy out.

 but when matt put her down she just sat and pouted.

silly, grump!

 

david really wanted to tip the cannon over, but alas, he didn't weigh enough. that's always my problem too. 

(not weighing enough ;)

and in a true case of monkey see, monkey do...

the brig!

we are at a huge, cool fort, and the girls play with the oven. such girlies!

taking a page out of addie's book, "take a picture of me!"

not to be outdone...

 

not to be outdone either...

after climbing and exploring the fort, it was time to hit the cute yellow gift shop and the passport stamps! 

the little specks on the hill are the girls running.

we got all stamped and magnet'ed and it was off to the cars to eat. i would have preferred a more traditional picnic setting, but you do what you gotta do.

grandpa was free spirited at the fort, so i wasn't able to get any pics of him until lunch.

joseph hitched a ride with us on the way home, so we stopped for ice cream.

so, take joseph's face from the above picture, and frankie's face from the below picture, and you'd have 1 cute picture!

we <3 br="" sprinkles="">

and root beer floats.

this beluga was so tired on the way home. she put her hands behind her head and laid back.

"i'm large and in charge with ice cream on my face. whadd'ya gonna do about it?"

we came home to this: a picked up house and a happy boy playing ps3.

no rest for the fun! we put on our suits and it was off to lily's 5th birthday party! it was at the wildwood pool and the kids always love it there.

the water was cold and it wasn't very warm today, so lil' miss didn't swim long. but she did enjoy the pool chairs and she'd go in and splash when she deemed it necessary.

addie and frankie were very excited when lily opened their gift to her. it's nice to have nice kids that love to give. there was a little bit of, "but i really like this toy and i want it," but mostly it was just "i think lily will love this!"

i like the ww pool, but it's so big and there are so many different pools that it's a little overwhelming. matt stayed home to do homework (2 more quarters, we can totally do 2 more quarters!) so i was flying solo, which means i had to rely on my good friends to help out! 3 different girls with 3 different swimming levels and wants makes it tough to manage. addie discovered the diving board and wanted to stay there the whole time. i think we worked it so that everyone was happy.

singing happy birthday = always fun.

cute friends

we came home for warm baths, quick coupon trip to cvs, and it's off to bed we go!