Memorial Day Weekend

{May 25-27}

We had a fun weekend planned. Saturday morning we drove about an hour north to Jupiter, FL to go canoeing at the Riverbend Park. We went with our friends the Trockels. This place was great. We rented a canoe for the whole day for only $35.00. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was completely blown away. The scenery was absolutely breath taking & beautiful.

 My view

 I kept singing the Pocahontas song, "Just around the riverbend...beyond the shore." 

 The Trockel Family

{Christ, Wren, Enzo, Solo, Rozannah & baby Evelyn}

We got to a little dock & pulled the boats out to have some lunch & swim. 

 Great minds think alike! Silly faces.

 

 Wren & her juice box

 The water was deep enough so the boys had a ball jumping in over & over off the dock.

  Gavin being brave walking across.

 Even little Wren wanted to jump in. She was up on the ledge ready to go if we would have let her.

 These two munchkins had a blast splashing around & watching their big brothers swim & jump.

Doug is such a good dad. Always willing to make it work for the kids to feel included.  Liam loved being out on the little bridge.

 

 

 

 Ya gotta love life jackets & what they do to your face. Ha ha!

  After swimming for a couple hours we decided it was time to canoe back. 

Liam was losing it & soooo past ready to have a nap. He nestled right on down in my lap & slept the whole 45 minute ride back. Which was great for him & me, but poor Doug had to paddle the entire way UP stream all by himself. I'm sure glad I have a strong husband. :)

    

 This was the funnest family outing & I cannot wait to do it again.

But the fun didn't stop. The Trockels & Doug & Gavin stayed up north to camp overnight. I had to be at Primary the next day so me & Liam hit the road to head back home. I was bummed that we couldn't stay, but I'll be honest, once I found me a Sonic Drive-In, my spirits were lifted...a LOT!

So I had Doug & Rozannah take pictures of their time camping & they really had a great time.

 Hiking around the campsite

 Shooting guns & bows & arrows.

 I love this picture of Chris with Gavin.

Tin foil dinners

 Wren & Gavin snugglin up on Doug.

 Roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

Doug making his delicious dutch oven peach cobbler. So sad I missed out on this.

Doug said they slept ok, but the air mattress must have a hole in it as it deflated on them. I felt bad for them, but secretly I was a little happy that I didn't stay after all. :) After breakfast they took down the tent/camp.

 Gavin helping Dad take down the tent. I don't know why it was kind of hard to see these pictures. He is growing up so fast & before I know it, he'll be off to scout camp all by himself. Oh please time, please slow down.

After cleaning up they played around some more with the guns & knives. Yes, you read that right. Doug let Gavin throw knives. *sigh* Another reason it was probably good I left. I would NEVER have let him do that.

 Boys & their toys.

 I guess Gavin did a pretty good job with the knife throwing. Love these action shots that Doug got.

 My very own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Back where we got the canoes is a bike trail that they went to for a couple hours. There were some pretty awesome jumps & ramps to go off of that the boys had a ball doing. But because Gavin doesn't ride a two wheeler yet he just chose to run up & off the ramps & jumps. I asked Doug if he was sad or bothered by the fact that he didn't/couldn't ride a bike like Solo & Enzo, but apparently, he couldn't have cared less. Gavin had the time of his life running around.

 But he has been practicing with the balance bike for the past few months, so he borrowed Solo's two wheeler to test it out.

{What's up with the man on the right with no pants on?! Too funny}

Gavin got it very quickly & in fact this was his first try. When Doug sent me the video I was sooo excited, but then quickly sad/bugged that I wasn't there to see it in person.

 Like mentioned above, stop growing up so fast kiddo!

They came home that Sunday afternoon & were completely exhausted from having so much fun. This was the perfect way to start off our holiday weekend.

On Monday, actual Memorial Day, we made a trip to the beach. We got there around 9:30ish & spent a couple hours playing in the sun.

Liam getting buried for the first time. He loved it!

 

 

I love this picture. I love that Gavin is screaming his head off probably about the wind or having sand in his eyes.

It did get quite crowded, but we had a great time as always coming to the beach.

That afternoon after naps we went over to the Steel's place to go swimming & have a BBQ.

The boys had a lot of fun playing around on the boogie boards.

Gavin surfing

The mommas

{Me, Michele Steel & Brittany Rhodes}

It was the best holiday weekend in a long time. It was packed full of fun, food & friends.