Life as A Wilson: June 2013

June... it was a great month and lot happened so this is a LONG post with tons of pictures!

I am fully aware of how blessed we are to live where we do... everyday is like living on vacation in the summer! This beautiful, white sandy beach as our backyard! Most people here do NOT go on vacation in the summer because we live in a vacation destination spot... so we wait until the cold, winter months hit.

What an amazing place for our 2 beautiful children to grow up in!

So, our caterpillars hatched into butterflies... it was the most amazing experience EVER for the whole family... I am telling you THIS is the best gift EVER!

They even brought their butterflies to church... think about it... some serious Spiritual lessons for us to learn from this!

I LOVE THIS! She is still a thumb sucker (okay, I don't love that part!)

Our view from our dining room/ play room! Ahhhhh!

Another day in paradise!

One of our beach treasures this day!

The DIVA!

This happened almost every day on our walk back from the beach.... it totally wears them out!

Another BIG EVENT we had this month was Katelyn's dance recital.

Her teacher! She was awesome... she remembered they were barely 3 years old and there was lots of tickles and giggles during our long rehearsals!

The Dance Recital took place right at the Boardwalk Pier

The owner

Rehearsal Time!

Lollipops for the walk home!

The owner doesn't like the girls running around in their costumes for the day of the recital so she orders them tshirts to wear over their costumes so they can have the BIG REVEAL on stage!

In the car, the princess on her way to her BIG NIGHT!

Yes, that is hair extensions... each girl had hair extensions that were custom matched to their natural hair color:)

Her program and roses!

Of course, after the program friends met us for frozen custard on the boardwalk!

Next was a SPECIAL OCCASION for Daniel... Kindergarten Graduation!!!

Our Handsome Boy!

Nothing like saluting summer than with ice pops!

Seriously... look at those smiles and that hair on both of them!

The deck was finally getting repaired after all of the winter storms

Wrapping friends in her special blanky that her MiMi made for her

Playing Games! Now that they were both home all day and Daniel was used to having a very planned and very routine day in it with lots of activities, it was my job to have lots of things to do to keep them entertained:)

The house across the street from us was condemned from Hurricane Sandy so Daniel got to watch them tear the whole thing down.... this was amazing to him!

Father's Day! This year we had the ice cream truck that came around Ocean City passing out free ice cream to Hurricane Sandy relief workers and victims to Fusion Church and give out free ice cream to all who were in attendance! What a fun day!

The owner gave Daniel a tshirt that he has an airbrush artist do for him... Daniel LOVES this shirt!

Our Little Eagles Cheerleader!

Then... my parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law and my new nephew came into town!

Walking to the beach... having pizza on the boardwalk

Look at those buns!

Yup! A seagull got my brother's hair! LOL!

Creepy! Where is my son!?!

One day we took my family to the Cape May Zoo (which is FREE!) and to visit other beach towns including the famous Cape May where we had lunch

Boys playing on the playground!

My favorite animal of all--- a peacock!

My second favorite!

Getting a souvenir!

Cape May @ The Lobster House!

Painting with Grandma

Bike Riding

Kayaking!

Family Pictures on the Boardwalk!

Reading to Baby Jack!

Day trip to NYC!

Subway Ride!

The Famous Strand Bookstore!

Posters showing celebrity spottings at Strand

We made it in time for Story Time!

She was so happy as they read one of her favorite books... Harold and Purple Crayon!

Strolling the park with Poppy and Grandma

Park Entertainment!

We even got to meet up with a dear friend from Long Island.... I have known Lourdes since I was a very young teenager! This was her first time meeting our kids!

The Papparazzi for the Wilson Kids!

F.A.O. Schwartz

The sweet shop

The babies actually have their own nurse

The boys waiting on us girls while we shopped at the American Girl Doll Store

Pictures from the Staten Island Ferry

We took our family to a great South Jersey restaurant that is known for their seafood

Katelyn's Preschool Promotion from PK2 to PK3!

Her teacher's - Mrs. Dawn and Mrs. Donna

Her bestie - Corie!

So, we tried to get a family picture but she snapped and went into a bad mood in a hot second and that was it... she was emotionally fried so no nice family picture!

More Beach days!

We also had T-Ball!

My dad preached on Sunday!

Then... THIS happened! My dad wound up in the ICU with double pulmonary embolism! He is a walking miracle... this has a 80% mortality rate... very few people get to live to tell about it! I have to give a HUGE shout out to Dr. Grimm (the ER doctor at Shore Memorial Hospital).... his wife is a friend of mine and I called her to ask if her husband had the ER shift that night and he did (TOTAL GOD THING!) and he met my dad at the ER and took VERY GOOD CARE OF HIM! He is truly our angel!

My brother and mom slept at the hospital for several nights

Something Daniel became very passionate about this summer was fishing... like this kid fished almost every single day!!! This was from the docks on the back of our house!

Those beach days just kept happening!

He is a total PRO on the Boogie Board!

He NEVER comes out of the water!

So, I have one that loves the water and one that loves that sand.... and when I take the kids by myself, there is not much relaxation for me as those rip tides make me VERY NERVOUS and even though there are lifeguards out there.... that is my baby and no one will keep his eyes on him like his mamma will!

Sometimes, I beg Daniel just to come out of the water for a few minutes and play in the sand so that I can just breathe, take a sip of water, have a snack or read a page or two out of my book.... he mostly obliges!

My girl and I on our way to church... love those summer mornings!

We really got into kayaking as a family too!

At the kids summer camp, they did these bead crafts and Daniel was obsessed with it so I bought him some for home.... unfortunately the house has to be cleaned and a meal has to be cooked every once in a while in the summer so activities like these keep them occupied for a while so I can get a couple of things done!