We took our annual trip to Virginia Beach for the 4th of July this year.  A few snags came up with plans because the evening we arrived, a hurricane came through.  It was minor and mostly just windy rain but things were still closed and it is hard to bbq or do fireworks with that kind of weather.  We still had a great time.  Big bonus, I had no idea I really like Jamaican food!  As always our gracious hosts, The Brazier's showed us a great time and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

We did get to visit the Botanical Gardens.  It was beautiful and had a bonus water area for the kids.  

The big boys had to show the littles how it was done.

It worked.  Taedon finally tried it.

We took a ride on the train/tram at the end to take us back to our car.  Kyan really enjoyed the ride.

We took the boys to a local farm one weekend with some friends.  They had so much fun.  There were a lot of things to do.

Taedon did soccer again this year.  He likes it most days.  The coaches are fantastic with kids and it's always fun having a reason to get out and run around for an hour on Saturday mornings.  Here he is on the last day when they all wear their shirts.  He looks so grown up with his new real haircut.

Niko, the beloved first born celebrated his eighth birthday this year.  He had quite the helpers with his cupcake.  As always, he wasn't sure about it but once he tasted it, he really enjoyed it.

Kyan decided he needed to show Niko how it was done.  Thankfully the cupcake is completely edible.  I even make it with soy peanut butter just incase anyone felt the need to taste one.

Pests...we have had our fair share of experiences since moving into this house.  After having a lot of snakes, black widows (scary yuck) and way more than our share of unwanted pests, we were very on top of pest control this year.  Or so we thought.  We haven't had the spiders like last year and defiantly less snakes but we still had this little guy plus his distant relative that was about 20 times bigger than him.  The boys had fun "taking care" of this little guy though.  Apparently squirting it with water is how to tell a baby snake who is boss.

He was so excited about the snake. 

Not even sure what to say about this one.  He was dead serious that spraying it with water would scare it away.

Taedon just had to help.

Here is the huge distant relative that appeared in the yard one day.  I opened the front door to go outside to discuss our future landscaping plans and quickly shut the door.

We also get the occasional cute pest.  I can handle a ladybug any day of the week.

One day we are in the house and I hear someone talking in our backyard.  I look out to see our next door neighbor standing near the trees looking at something.  I go out and see what she is doing and see that she has found this gigantic turtle just hanging out.  It was almost three feet long.  The boys were napping or else they would have loved to see it.