Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!! We would most especially like to thank all of our brave service men and women for protecting our rights and freedoms while we have enjoyed ourselves this weekend. It has been one of those wonderful weekends that leaves you kind of bummed it's over. It's ok thought because it just means that we spent it with people we love in a place we truly enjoy.

We started our weekend out with some work first, before we got to play. We are fortunate that Colin's physical therapist actually lives closer to my parent's beach house than our house, so often in the summer, she will meet us there so that we can head up to the beach when it is over. Since the house is rather tight, and we are in a bit of a lull with our progress, we try and change things up when possible. So, what better place to do physical therapy than at the bay! It was such a great session because Miss Kathy was able to use curbs, steps, "hand rails", etc. for her and Colin's advantage. Colin truly enjoyed it to the point of crying when he was put back in his stroller at the end before we walked back to the house.

We are really hoping to do this again as Colin got so much out of it and it was a beautiful morning!

I've been wanting to do a post on this for some time now, and probably will once I gather a bunch of things together for it, but when Colin was born and we shared his diagnosis with everyone, we only got an outpouring of love and full support from all of our friends and family. I have heard stories and experiences where people have lost friends or had strained relationships with family members after sharing a child's diagnosis. I think some people have a hard time because they are not sure how to handle this with knowing what they should say or do. I'm sure it wasn't always easy for our friends and family to always know the right things to say, but instead of backing away, they all grew stronger in their unwavering support.

One of those special friends are the Gallagher family. We are so thankful for their friendship and I particularly enjoy the budding relationship among our kids as they are all so close in age. This weekend we had a house full of four kids under 5 along with 4 adults. It was a fun weekend and despite some rain on Sunday, we still managed to have a great time. We had a day and a half of beautiful beach weather and even played on the beach in some rain showers. We bbq'd, went for walks for ice cream, went on some rides at the boardwalk, and took pictures at sunset at the bay. You couldn't ask for better memories...

...pre-walk for an all time favorite...ice cream! The girls rode in the stroller and the boys rode in the wagon...

Snuggling with Daddy...

Look at those beautiful blue eyes with long eye lashes!

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream!

We had a beautiful sunset both nights. This is the place where Chris proposed to me over 4 years ago...

This is my favorite stretch of pictures. We just wanted a quick shot of the 3 kids together. However, they weren't quite feeling the moment, so the faces are priceless...I can only imagine what Colin is thinking in this picture...

Colin looks like he is deciding here whether or not he is going to keep the smile, but still clearly unhappy since he's got his arms crossed.

Where did Kaia go and why are we still sitting here?

Both of my kids are very loved...

Another attempt at a group photo, but this one isn't too bad considering...at least we have them all in one spot.

...Colin and Kaia getting into trouble...

I love pictures at the bay at sunset. They are always so beautiful!

We had a fabulous weekend...thanks guys! We love you! Happy 4th of July!!