Cape Cod Summer Vacation!

We had such a fun weekend, just the four of us, in Cape Cod a few weeks ago! It was a busy, fun filled week and the kids were great! We all probably needed a break from each other by the time the week was over, but all went well while we were there! The kids LOVE LOVE LOVE the beach and had a blast playing in the water, making sand "castles" and drip castles, and their fave thing to do (besides eat ice cream almost every day) was collect hermit crabs!  Brayden liked it so much that he kept dumping his bucket of them when he couldn't find anymore, just so he could have more to collect. Tucker was our go-to-guy for the big hermits, and Max caught a bunch of the bigger sand crabs. The kids liked it when he put a bunch of them in a small bucket and they fought and tried to jump out. Here's WAY too many pictures of our trip:)

on our first day there...we headed to the beach after naps to find hermit crabs and play, and watch the sun set

I think Brayden could have survived on ice cream alone for the week!

the fact that he LOVES the water makes it that much more ironic that he was born during one of the biggest hurricanes in our area's history!

staying hydrated while we wait for our dinner

this cutie exploring the streets of Chatham

crabs!

 we took a break from the beach one day to go on a seal watch! We saw a ton!!

love this guy!

hugs!

walking down the "secret" path by our house to a secret beach for some low tide tidal flat action...and lots of CRABS!

the flats literally go out for a mile at least at low tide!

our awesome house had a fire pit...if we didn't get ice cream, we made S'mores!

 We had one gloomy day so we hung with my friend Lauren and her daughter Willa-pancakes for breakfast and a trip to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.

 We hung with Willa, Lauren and dam at their beach one town over for the day too! Their house is super code to the beach so we napped Brayden there-I actually got to spend the WHOLE day at the beach! We'd been hanging until about 2 and then having to head back so the kids could nap, so this was a gift!

We spent our last day at our favorite beach in Brewster, Crosby Landing.

our one and only family picture from the week:)

enjoying Sundae School!

 our final night was filled with special flowers and s'mores

love these two!

Good Night, Cape Cod. Until Next Year!!

August Fun!

 We have been on the GO this summer. I'm not sure we spent more than 1 day at home in the 3-4 weeks leading up to vacation! Lots of fun times and memories:) Needless to say, all I wanted to do today was play at home. I finally needed a break. 

Paint and Sip with our amazing friends/neighbors!

These two have been rekindling their train play lately...goofs!

I love our neighborhood almost solely because of these girls' family! I love the impromptu after dinner fun/stay up late catching lightning bug times. It was too dark for my camera to get a good pic.

This kid is one sweet and spicy funny-man. Can't wait to see his personality continue to develop!

We are so thankful to live near the beach...and that our kids LOVE it!

I ran a 5k race in town and in a shocking turn of events, I got a trophy! 2nd place in my age group...its kinda a joke. It was my fastest 5k, but I don't know that it was trophy material.

This is the only race pic I've ever seen of myself from any race where I'm smiling...waving at the kids:)

Sporting their new VT shirts

I was instructed to "take a picture of us mama!"

We enjoyed a fun last minute visit from the Crews. Tucker and Wesley had fun at camp and Tyler and Brayden loved the pool!

A very fun night at the Easton Carnival with Nama and Papa!

These guys are obsessed with motorcycles. Our neighbor, Matt, has one that is a loud rumbling Harley, and whenever Brayden hears or sees a motorcycle he yells "matt, matt." repetitively!

 We FINALLY got the kids out on the kayaks! The loved it! It was a perfect night....it's been a perfect summer!

Tucker planted this sunflower from a seed at preschool in april/may.  We've been taking care of it diligently, and I'm soo super pumped that we (I) didn't kill it!

They love S'Mores! Mostly just the chocolate, but they've both gotten good at roasting the marshmallows....although max or I usually have to finish roasting Brayden's!

Haha! Pulling Nama and B in the wagon! Can't believe Kare fit in that thing!

 Brayden and I enjoyed a fun day at the lake with William while Tucker was at camp. It was so nice to have one day a week with just B! We never get that:)

We followed up the lake with lunch at Panera...he draws quite the crowd. Little cutie:)

Uncle Chris teaching the boys all about how/where to find the best worms! I'm so glad it was not me! I do not like worms, but refuse to let the kids know:) They had a blast!

Those Hoefer girls are resourceful! That's one way for Brayden to get around!

We went to Cape Cod for a week (later post to come) and the day after we got back, we celebrated Max's 35th birthday!

The boys helped me make the cake and had fun decorating. They put so many sprinkles on that when Max blew out the candles the sprinkles went flying! Tucker picked out a blue velvet cake, and bright blue funfetti frosting! Max said it was his Buffalo Bills cake:)

I think Max's (and the boys') favorite part of his birthday was Uncle Jay coming! These two woke up Monday morning and the first they wanted to know was where Uncle Jay/Shay (as Brayden says) was! They're going to be very sad when he leaves tomorrow:(