Seabase

Matt went to Seabase down in the Florida Keys 4 years ago. He loved it! Christian was thrilled when he got to go 2 years ago. Our stake goes every 2 years, and matt was kind of bummer he wasn't going back again. 

So neighbor Dan got kidney stones a few days before the Scouts Seabase departure. Matt flippantly said he'd take Dan's place if he was still sick. Fast forward to Friday, the day before departure, and poor Dan was still sick. I was out shopping, around 7pm when matt called and asked if he could go. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, so we did some juggling and Matt threw together a backpack full of stuff, and by 2pm Saturday he was on his way to Florida. 

They weren't able to transfer Dan's airline ticket, but he was able to get a last minute ticket on the same flight as the rest of the group and then they were really off!

They flew down to Miami? I actually don't know, but they stayed the night there, went to sacrament meeting the next morning, and then boarded this swanky bus down to the Keys.  

Jared posted a bunch of pictures, so I was able to swipe them. 

From there they stay a night at base camp (or something?) and do fun Boy Scout stuff before boarding kayaks out to the island. 

Matt's concentrating on his food right next to Jared. There was a nice group from our ward - bishop and Eric, Jon, and Jared and his two boys. 

I don't understand the ways of the Boy Scouts. I only had one, so... 

Seems like they do lots of eating?

They sleep out in the open in hammocks. Matt was an old pro, so he put his hammock in a good spot and was totally comfortable. There are no clocks, watches, or phones on the island, it's all island time. And the time spent there is all about what the boys want to do. They spent a lot of time fishing and saw sharks and dolphins (not the bottleneck variety). 

Last time he went to Seabase I wanted him to write this post, but we never got around to it. Hence my unknowledgeable post here. 

Matt took a backpack and a shopping bag of stuff. He said everyone was amazed at how little he brought. I said boys are gross. Underwear don't take that much space, and I shared this idea, but buys will be boys, I suppose. He even borrowed a hat from the lost and found. Gross, right?

Bishop sent me this one and I'm realizing now that I never did get the story. 

Because their flight home was delayed, they were able to take an Everglades tour. That's an alligator out in front of their boat. 

Not sure about this one either, but cool, right?!

Their tour boats! I've always wanted to do this!

And finally, this! 

Also, I found out moms can go to Seabase and I feel super jipped. Just kidding, I don't want to go hang out with stinky boys that only pack a backpack for a week of camping. 

Bubba comes to town!

I was sitting at church before sacrament meeting one day when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to see who it was, and imagine my surprise when it was baby boy! I was so surprised! But then not as much because he had talked to me about coming home for Brenna's graduation a few months ago. I should have known he'd try to make it and surprise me. He was only here for a long weekend and we didn't get to see much of him, so we don't have many pics together. But he did join us at the pool one day. 

Never easy to get a selfie of the fam. 

He got to spend the graduation in the overflow gym, his second time enjoying that fun experience. He was glad to get to be here for brenna and it was fun to see him for a few days. 

And all these kids are graduating and beginning their adult lives. It's so crazy. 

Brenna got a scholarship to attend nursing school in Ohio. Her whole family is in Maryland and thought she'd stay here for school, so she's being really brave! Go B, go!

Randomness

We've been to the wharf several times lately. The girls love to play at the playground and then throw rocks into the water. It's so pretty and a fav Sunday spot. 

Frankie's class enjoyed some karaoke fun the last week of school. 

And also did some science experiments. 

And more karaoke, because why would my pictures be in order?

That day they also had an ice cream party. That was also the day of Delaney's pre-k grad though, so we only caught the very end of the party. 

We love our library. It will be sooo nice when they build our new one right near our school. Walking to the library will be dreamy!

we went to see Captain Underpants for Addie's birthday. It was actually the day of the graduation and Darlaina's babysitter had cancelled, so we brought her two littles along with us too. 

Silly girls and silly movie!

We love staying in the theater till everyone leaves and playing in the seats. 

Totally out of order, but here we are on the way to the movies! Jolly green giant full of fun!

That morning matt and I took Addie's birthday treat to school. This sweet little heart of gold girl wanted to make sure every child could enjoy her birthday treat. There are several gluten and nut allergies, so we came up with strawberries and whipped cream cups. 

Her teacher was so impressed by Addie's  thoughtfulness on her birthday. She's so precious. It was cute, because most of the girls in class washed out their fancy plastic cups and took them home. Girls are so fancy. 

That day we also watched sweet baby Kora. She loves matt and he's pretty smitten too. He walked her around the house patting her and gently singing, just like he used to with our babies. 

Delaney was so excited to feed her. That's always a favorite activity for our girls. 

All the heart eyes. 

D was reading and playing with kora. Lucky baby!

Also that day (busy day) breakfast daydreams. 

Sometimes I just like to take pictures of these kids. 

Sometimes they get tired and request no more pictures. 

And a bonus shot from the Idaho crew. As part of Lexi's birthday week, cade took her to feed baby bears. She loved it! And there's probably not many people that can say they've bottlefed a baby bear cub. That will be a fun game of Never have I ever. 

Baby Isla!

On June 4th I got to play doula for Sarah as she and Tony welcomed sweet baby Isla into the world. I need to write out my part of the story still, but it was amazing. 
We are all madly in love with her, especially Frankie G. 

Joni was able to be there too and take pictures. We'd make a pretty good birth team if we didn't have so many littles between all of us complicating things. 🙂

Lexi is 21!

Addie can't have a birthday without Lexi-lu! She turned 21 in rexburg this year. A big grown up married lady. Cade did fun things all week leading up to her birthday. We got her the very grown up, non-fun gift of contacts and another month of car insurance and cell phone coverage. Adulting is the best!

We love these June 3rd girls of ours!

Addie's birthday & AMEWAS party

The girls had just a few minutes to play before we headed out for Matt's fun work party. 

This year they had it at the Solomons Rec Center. 

It was a carnival with cotton candy and snow cones. 

And the most professional face painter evah. 

We opted for arm painting since it was so hot and it was awesome!

They served yummy BBQ and a fried Oreo and funnel cake station. Sadly it wasn't as good as I'd wanted it to be. 

More professional arm painting. 

Addie couldn't be bothered with face or arm painting. Once the games started, she was game crazy. And since it was her birthday we let her win all the cheesy prizes her little heart desired 

And then little sisters wanted some of the same fun prizes. 

They could have played for hours!

Addie thought she was hot stuff with all of this fun on her birthday!

After we played and ate it was time for some mini golf. 

We've lived here 8 years and never played miniature golf, so it was super fun. 

Frankie was the only one out of all 5 of us to get a hole in one. Lucky girl!

D's form left a lot to be desired, but she had fun so I guess it doesn't really matter. We still tried. 

Addie got a three in one. 😂

D and F both quit, but A kept playing the whole way through. 

And I won. 

After the mini golf we went swimming. They've got several water slides and diving boards and we all had fun playing and swimming. Delaney, even though she is completely capable, got nervous and failed her swim test, and then didn't want to try again. So then she didn't have as much fun as she could have. Bubba came and met us there, he'd been out with brenna all day. 

The work party ended and we headed to the Martines for Chelseas graduation party. Addie was pretty stoked to party all day. We had fun visiting and eating, and the kids running around. We played and partied as late as we could. I cuddled with Ads for the first time as a 9 year old. Love this big girl and we had so much fun celebrating her!!!