We have been running around like crazy this Summer, and that means I have an epic photo update to share with y’all. I’ve taken even more photos than “normal” because I’ve been experimenting with my new camera.
We celebrated the Fourth of July at our house by barbequing. We let the kids do sparklers and Ronnie set off a few bigger fireworks. I caught this one of Miss Jordan in the midst of her sparkler smoke.

After the sparklers were finished, I asked the kids to let me take a photo of the three of them together. Jordan wanted to kiss Brandon. Gosh, he looks SO thrilled! He usually tolerates all of the “love” she gives him. Every now and then he’ll get fed up and tell her, “That’s ENOUGH love, Mine!”

Jordan ran through the sprinkler in her new bathing suit. I snapped this photo during the one nanosecond she was still. She is ALWAYS on the go. I didn’t take many photos while the kids were in the sprinkler. I’m still nervous about the new camera if there’s water in the vicinity.

A few days later, Alexis came outside to watch me cut Ronnie’s hair. I cut it every Sunday for him because he can’t stand if it gets too long. While we were out there, I noticed the way the light reflected in her eyes. I had to take a camera break for a quick photo! She’s always been my most willing model.

I drove down to my grandparents’ house a few weekends ago. We weren’t sure until the last minute if we would be going, so I threw everything in a bag and we left Friday around lunch. Ronnie stayed home to watch Daytona. (NASCAR… The man has his priorities!)

We drove past my grandparents’ house so they could finish their nap. I’m 32 years old, and let’s just say I learned the hard way when I was little that you DO NOT DISTURB NAP TIME! We drove down to Fort Jackson because I’d heard that it was open. I used to play there all the time as a little girl, so I was really excited to take my kids there. (Remember: It was #19 on my 32 in 32 Project.)

We got there at 2:30 and there was a sign that said, “Open Monday-Friday until 3:30”. The only problem with that? It was closed! The gates were locked, and we couldn’t get in. We were all really bummed. The kids climbed around on some of the oak tree stumps around the exterior of the fort, and Brandon got bitten by a spider. The fort portion of the trip was definitely a bust. (Brandon’s bite is fine now.)

I did manage to get a photo of the roots of a HUGE oak tree. Pretty, but definitely not worth the 30 minutes of additional drive time.

When we got to my grandma’s house, we unpacked the van right away. Then we all sat on the porch and looked at the new baby goats. Maw Maw had an activity for the kids when we got there. She had them color cans to look like Angry Birds. Once they were done, she gave them a ball to knock the cans down. They were quite entertained!

It rained while we were there, and girls wanted to walk up the side of the levee. We couldn’t see the river because the trees and foliage were so overgrown. Alexis got bored, so I suggested that she jump so I could play with my camera settings. This is what we ended up with… She loved it!

We took time for a pretty portrait too. She’s sitting on the side of the levee in a bunch of tiny white wildflowers.

When we got back from walking on the levee, my Uncle drove us to the property next door so we could see this HUGE bee hive. Workers discovered it when they were clearing the land behind my grandparents’ house. I was more than a little nervous that we would end up ticking them off!

Later that evening, I got the World’s Most ROTTEN dog to pose for a quick portrait. She thinks she’s a person, and my grandpa refuses to tell her any different. I’m thinking I’ll get a large print and frame this one for him.

We spent the night down there, and the original plan was to go out on my grandparents’ house boat. Unfortunately, the boat wouldn’t start due to electrical issues. My grandpa was really bummed about it, but we got on the boat anyway so we could see the improvements he’d made since our last visit.
While we were hanging out and exploring, Brandon decided to sit between me and my Mom. He’s got the cutest chubby cheeks, so we couldn’t resist making a “Brandon Sandwich”. Poor kid!

It was a gloomy, grey day. I walked out on the back of the boat to snap a few photos of some shrimp boats that were docked across from my grandpa’s boat. It was eerie to see how calm the water was out there.

Brandon was trying to look innocent. It didn’t last long. He climbed under and over everything on the boat. He kept asking questions about how things worked.

Earlier this week, I brought all three of my kids with me to Target so we could buy school supplies. It was an adventure to say the least! I let them each pick something out of the dollar bins to keep them busy while I shopped. Jordan and Alexis chose cheetah print eye masks. They now look like complete divas when they go to bed. It’s pretty cute!

I’ve been doing a photo prompt series from Fat Mum Slim so I can practice with my new camera. I’m not posting all of the photos here on my blog, but if you’re interested you can see them in my Scrapbook.com gallery here. This photo of Alexis was from the prompt “letter”. I asked her to make letters out of her body. Our favorite was the letter “x”, she got the biggest kick out of that project!

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back soon with some recent scrappy projects to share.
