Bringing Up The Brands: June 2012--Summer, Sweet Summer

We wanted to treat Adam to a fantastic Father's Day this year, so we got to work early. We had a trip planned with the Brands for Father's Day weekend, so we celebrated with Adam a bit early. Kenly and I made a book about what she loves about her Daddy. It is priceless. She did her own art and she answered all of the questions I asked about Adam with pride. Then I made some shirts for our Father's Day celebration. I knew that we were taking him out to breakfast and to bowl a few games, so I wanted us to dress like his own personally entourage. This is what I came up with.

I also made a shirt for Adam. My Dad is hands above the rest. I had to cheat with Corah's hand print. I couldn't make the shirt without helps, and I wanted it to be a surprise. So, I traced Corah's hands on card stock and painted it so that I could preserve her prints.

We also made a shirt for Papa. His is supposed to read...My Papa is a 10 out of 10.

We took Adam to eat at Mean Mr. Mustards wearing our outfits. We gave him his shirt at breakfast, and he put it on immediately. He earned so many cool Daddy points with that move; I think he's still working off the surplus points.

A little later in the afternoon, we took him bowling.

I even let him win. It was Father's Day!

Just before Kenly was born, Adam and I celebrated our anniversary at Courthouse Falls. I wanted to take Adam there for Father's Day. I knew it was a short hike to the falls, and I thought it would be a great place for us to have a picnic and for Adam to do a little fishing.

I didn't remember that Courthouse Falls didn't have a good place for a picnic. We managed to find a small perch, but it wasn't an ideal spot. We watched Daddy do a little fishing.

Kenly finally worked her way down to the water's edge with Daddy's help.

Seeing Kenly in this little bikini makes me panic just a bit. She looks so grown up. Up until this point, I've only bought her one piece suits, but somehow we have a draw full of hand-me-down suits that are two pieces.

Adam managed to catch a few trout on Father's Day. The trout here are small, but they are wild and beautiful.

Our picnic perch.

Eating lunch listening to the falls. I made chicken salad for the grown ups and PBJ for Kenly.

Corah loves being outside. She finally smiled big enough for me to capture her two new teeth. See those two pearly whites on the bottom?

Those blue eyes are amazing.

Kenly caught her first every "rainbow fish." I don't know who was more excited--Kenly or Adam. Adam hooked the trout, but then Kenly used the fly rod to land the fish.

One proud little girl.

Trout on!

The afternoon ended with Adam looking like a Sherpa as we made a hasty exit to the van. A storm came up and we had to get quickly back the the van. When we arrived, Kenly announced that she had to poop, so we completed our first "poop in the woods." Kenly was so tired that she fell asleep in the van. It has been at least a year since she's slept in the car.

From here, things get a bit out of order. I tried to fix it, but I'm just too tired to fight Blogger on this one. So, I slowly get caught up on the blog or I can stay behind forever trying to make it perfect. I choose to get caught up.

We took a trip to Augusta for a week. We had many wonderful adventures; one of those adventures was "rolling down the river." Papa loaded us all up for a ride down the Savannah River. We started out near the airport and ended up in downtown Augusta. It was a day full of fun. After eating lunch at a Mexican restaurant, Kenly played in the fountain. She attracted the attention of an Augusta Chronicle photographer, and before we knew it, Adam, Kenly, and I were frolicking in the fountain. Picture of Kenly and Adam were in the paper, and pictures of all of us were on the paper's website.

Uncle Travis and Adam discovered a rope swing on the river that looked like it had been engineered by 14 year old boys. This rope swing looked seriously sketchy. They both mustered up the courage to throw themselves into the river by trusting a series of scary looking ropes. Kenly watched the whole thing, so I'm praying now that her frontal lobe will develop rapidly so that she will know this sort of thing is scary.

Adam on the swing of death.

Can you see that he had to swing over quite a bit of land before he even saw water?

Uncle Travis in action. They both lived to tell, and everyone had a good time. Except for the wives standing on shore.

We spent a bit of time on a sandbar letting Kenly swim before we headed back toward home.

Nana and Corah rolling on the river.

Kenly loved helping Papa drive the boat.

Pretty blue eyes.

And yes, I was there too.

The whole family, minus the dogs, cruising down the river.

Kenly loved her new Barbie life jacket.

Helping Papa drive again. This time we went to lake to see some boat races and to beat the heat.

She might not know how to dig in the sand, but she can sure chew on the shovel. I love how her cheeks get really red when she's hot.

Papa took Corah out into the lake. She wasn't sure how she felt about it.

Look at that face. Can't you hear her thought process? What is this? Do I want Papa to take me away from Mama? I don't think I'm going to like this.

Kenly loves hanging out with Papa at the lake.

It turns out that Corah loves the water. She splashed and played and had a great time.

Corah took a little nap on the boat and then she needed some water. Papa got her to drink some out of a water bottle. Cute stuff.

Kenly and Adam did a bit more tubing on the lake. Kenly wanted to go over the wake, but Adam and I decided that wouldn't be a good idea. Papa is so gentle when pulling Kenly behind the boat, but we know if she fell of that tube she would freak out.

Now when I get behind the boat on a tube, my Daddy has a different agenda. I wish I could make these next photos a flip book.

I'm a complete glutton for punishment. I got back on the tube.

Daddy had some fun feeding Corah Beth.

Adam and Papa went on a boy's night. The went fishing on Deep Step. They came back with these beauties. The girls went to dinner and to have their toenails done at T & Tran Nails.

Kenly had a good time playing with marbles and buttons with Papa. I love these pictures that Adam took.

Then we went over to Travis and Carrie's house to celebrate Papa's birthday.

Adam tried to cozy up with Bubba. Bubba is awesome, but Adam just can't embrace the little dog.

Kenly is trying to convince him that Bubba is awesome.

Bubba enjoyed exploring Corah.

Kenly had some fun blowing bubbles with this gooey stuff that Aunt Carrie gave her.

I love this picture. Crossed eyes and bubble blowing--PRICELESS!

Singing to Papa.

Kenly had to help Papa blow out his candles.

Taking a second breath to blow out the last few.

Corah Beth spending a little time with Grandma.

We also took a trip to see Rock City. Pops really wanted to take the girls to see the attractions, so we made it happen. We rented a cabin named The Mill House just outside of Chattanooga, TN. We had a good time fishing and exploring Rock City.

We used hot dogs, corn from a jar of salsa, and cheese to catch fish. It was a great time.

Kenly enjoyed meeting Rocky at the entrance to Rock City.

She even taught him to pound it!

We explored the Enchanted Trail.

Corah rode in the Ergo. I thought she would nap, but she was too busy looking around.

The Needle's Eye was a tight squeeze.

We enjoyed a bird show.

The views were spectacular.

Kenly and Adam enjoyed the swinging bridge. I nearly threw up walking across once. So, I decided to take pictures from a safe distance when they went back for more.

We enjoyed some refreshments at the top of the world.

Pops bought Kenly some Dippin' Dots. To say she enjoyed them would be the understatement of the year.

Pops hammed it up in the "Fat Man's Squeeze".

We came back to the cabin for a bit more fishing, and Adam caught a HUGE catfish.

Kenly enjoyed doing a "fisher woman dance" after every fish. She really celebrated after the catfish.

The back porch was a great place to hang out.

The hot tub was an added bonus. Kenly liked to swim and "blue light" (go completely under water).

Pops caught a few monsters too.

Corah is just adorable. Couldn't you just eat her up?

We did a bit of shooting too. These guns look fierce, but they only shoot BBs.

Kenly started practicing making her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We decided to make some homemade strawberry jam. Kenly and Corah did the smashing and stirring. I did the rest. We are saving one last jar. It's so good. If heaven had a taste, this is what it would taste like.