Rollins Family Talent Show

I am so behind in my blogging. This post has been on my to do list for months now. So, here is the last of our family reunion posts. The Talent show! We had a lot of fun this night, especially the kids.

Uncle Jason

Cousin Sydney

 

Cousin Bailey

 

Cousins Avenly and Paisley

 

Cousin Logan

 

Cousin Gabe

 

Uncle Beau

 

Cousins Lexie and Ashlynne

 

Uncle Corey

 

Samm and James

 

Macy

 

Our Family

 

Cousins Mayson, Jordan, and Ashlynne

 

Grandma and Grandpa

 

Cousin dance party



I'm always the outfielder

Cross your fingers, knock on wood, and hold your breath. I think James has found his sport. He loves Baseball! Well, he loves batting. That's why I'm holding my breath. We've been playing in the backyard non stop all week but he doesn't start his official practice at the YMCA until Tuesday. I'm hoping he still loves it even when he has to stand out in the field.

With all the ball retrieving I'm doing, I really should have a glove. I'm not a bad pitcher though either!

Oklahoma

It's past midnight, but I am willing myself to get everything done on my list for today. That means getting some of our trip to Oklahoma up on this here blog. I only wish this was the last thing on my list for the night. I saved the best for last and that means cleaning up a pretty little disaster in the kitchen. Woohoo!

OK, here are just a few of my favorite shots from our recent family reunion in Oklahoma and short stop in Missouri on the way home.

 

 

To be continued...

Apparently expensive taste is genetic

When Samm was two years old she refused to eat macaroni and cheese (and still does) but would inhale shrimp alfredo (and still does). I should have known then that she wasn't going to settle for things like dance lessons. She has always loved animals and riding horses has always been a dream of hers. A few months ago a lady a church mentioned to me that she teaches horseback riding lessons so I mentioned it to Samm and it has been the only thing she has talked about ever since. I should have asked how much it costs before I promised Samm she could do it, but watching the smile on her face today made it all worth it!

 

Everyone was mesmerized by the horse, even Laila. She had a trampoline for the kids to jump on while we waited, but they kept ending up back at the fence.

I must admit, even I was a little jealous. I would have loved having a horse as a kid.

Sun Goddess

Last summer I took the kids to the lake at least 3 times a week. This summer I think we have gone 5 times total. I feel bad that the kids are having such a boring summer, but I just haven't had the energy to do much. These days turning on the sprinkler in the backyard is about as good as it gets. The kids have been pretty good sports about it though and have tried to make the best of it.



Press Here

One of our favorite activities during the summer is weekly trips to the library.

Honestly, they are mostly excited about checking out new movies, until we get there and sit down with new books. This particular one is probably in their top 10 favorites. You press the yellow dot on the first page and see what happens to it on the next page. It was exciting enough that they read it 3 times in a row!

So far our summer is off to a cool, rainy start. I'm hoping by July we have nice enough weather for outdoor activities.

Rollins Family vacation 2011

Growing up my family summer vacations always involved camping and/or a trip to Portland to visit our cousins. Both of which we loved and looked forward to every year. Josh's family though was big into going places and seeing things like historical sites. Unfortunately, neither camping or site seeing is big on my excitement list these days. Don't get me wrong, I love beautiful scenery, but driving for hours just to see some old buildings is not my kind of seeing things. My husband knows this about me and after dragging me all over Philadelphia in the freezing cold two years ago I think he figured a Sally family vacation was in order.

So, what is a Sally vacation? Um, pretty much the beach. It's beautiful to look at. It's relaxing. and the kids love it. You pretty much can't go wrong. So we hopped in the car and took a little 2 1/2 hour drive to Lake Michigan.

On Monday evening after we checked into our hotel we decided to scope out the beach and let the kids run around for a while. The water was way too cold for me to set foot in, but it didn't stop the kids. By the way, these pictures were all taken with Josh's phone since mine is still getting fixed. His phone apparently has a much better camera than mine!


The next morning we discovered that the hotel did not in fact offer a free continental breakfast like we thought. (Since when does Holiday Inn not have a plate of waffles for you to eat in the morning?) So we ended up at the golden arches for hot cakes, which I was not thrilled about, but the kids were in heaven.


After breakfast we headed off for the main event of our little vacation which was a day at Michigan's Adventure. It was a fun little amusement park/ water park that was very reasonably priced for that sort of thing. The kids had an absolute blast. James was game for any ride that he was tall enough for and can't wait to be tall enough for the other ones. Macy was seriously ticked that she couldn't ride the big rides and Samm didn't want to ride anything but the kiddy rides. Josh made her go on one big roller coaster and all we heard about for two days after was how freaky it was. And of course these are the only two pictures we got of our entire day there.


This little car ride and the carousel were the only two things I was allowed to ride and even then there was a big sign strongly cautioning that I didn't. Good thing I didn't go into labor from all the excitement!


Wednesday was supposed to be my big relaxing day at the beach, but when we left the hotel it was so cold and windy that we decided to stop and buy kites just so we would have something to do at the beach since swimming was definitely out.



The girls were pretty excited about flying kites, but it was so windy that James refused because he was worried that he would blow away. Instead he buried his feet in the sand.


After the five minutes of kite flying excitement was over Mom got to have a turn.


Then I bundled up in a blanket while the kids played on the playground and cried because sand was blowing in their eyes.


After 10 minutes Josh and I were done with the beach so we gave the kids the option of staying and having sand in their eyes or driving back home where the weather was unusually hot and going to to lake by our house. They had a little sibling huddle to talk it over.

And in the end they decided to go back home where they would actually be able to get in the water. Josh and I were very happy about their decision, but I was a little depressed at how ugly our beach suddenly seemed. Oh well. The kids were happy, Josh was with us, and we had a fantastic time!