Two Little Hensons

I helped lead a 2 week professional development for teachers from rural SC. Thanks to Devin, Melanie, Caity, Cortney, and my Momma, my babies were in excellent hands! The first week, Devin took Charlie to football camp at USC. He had a great time! Aunt Melanie took him the rest of the week since Devin was at a conference. While Charlie was at football, AC worked hard at gymnastics!The Bonesteels were at the beach, so we took care of Sophie.This was AC one morning…I think we all felt that way by the middle of the week! 🙂 Heading off to another day of football and gymnastics!One day they headed to the zoo (trip 1 of 2 during these two weeks). Keeping with our Dr. Seuss theme, we read Put Me In The Zoo. 🙂 For four nights in a row these kids slept on this pallet in Charlie’s room. Oh how I love them!!One day after football and gymnastics they went swimming with Aunt Mel at granny and papa’s pool. Another day they went to storytime at the library and saw the magician!Thursday evening we had a mother/son and father/daughter date night! Boys and moms went to Grouchos, watched Reece’s karate class, then to Pelicans. Girls and dads went to Chick-fil-A and got a limo ride!!Here we are again at the Bonesteels…playing outside and with Sophie. Oh my boy was so tired one afternoon. He fell asleep on the couch reading. I picked him up and let him sleep in my lap for 30 minutes. Love love love!We built a simple motor using a battery, some copper wire, and a magnet. So cool!Look at this sweet little kitten one of our fellows rescued during our professional development week in Calhoun!Friday night we took Daddy out to dinner at Longhorn and dessert at Kaminsky’s to celebrate Father’s Day. Oh we sure do love him!Saturday we celebrated Father’s Day with my Daddy, Pa, and Papa. So blessed!!Sunday we went to church and then celebrated Father’s day with Devin’s dad. I’m so thankful for such a wonderful father-in-law! And check out this adorable cake my sister-in-law made!Monday started the second week of my professional development which means the second week of my village helping out! Keeping with our Dr. Seuss theme, we read “Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose”…because these people helping me out sure do have big hearts! Devin took the kids to play disc golf. They had so much fun!Then to the zoo…Then, y’all, they cooked supper! Ahh! It was so good!Tuesday, AC headed to gymnastics and Charlie headed to hang out with Aunt Caity and his cousins. They had so much fun! They picked up AC at noon and headed to eat and play at McDonalds. When I got to their house, the kids were having so much fun…outside in the rain finding bugs. Seriously…love these cousins!Here’s the group I was with during those two weeks. 🙂 Wednesday, they both went to Aunt Caity’s and had a blast! Coloring, puzzles, slip-n-slide, pizza lunch, watching Rio, and playing! They didn’t want to leave when I got there.Thursday, they spent the day with the Broadwells. They played a lot, painted, jumped on the trampoline, ate popsicles, enjoyed lunch, watched Storks, and played some more!Thursday night they spent the night with Granny and Papa. The next morning they headed to the State Museum, out to lunch, and back to Granny’s house to watch the new Beauty and the Beast. After that, Devin and I met them at Pelican’s then we went out to dinner. Granny and Papa kept up with the tradition that my Ma and Pa started and gave AC a new charm for her bracelet and Charlie a new tool for his toolbox for doing so well in 2nd grade.

That night when we got home, the kids went for a run with me. We were all so happy to be finished with such a fun but busy week.Saturday was glorious. I didn’t leave my house. We cleaned, relaxed, cleaned, relaxed…and then my man cooked supper. Y’all, I’m telling you, I could get used to this! 😉 After dinner we had a family lego night. The challenge was to build a motorcycle. Charlie is holding his, I don’t think I ended up getting a pic of AC’s, mine is the next picture, and D’s is the last. We were all dying laughing because we thought Devin’s looked like Rudolph. Love you honey! And supposedly mine was built upside down…shows what I know! Ha!Sunday we went to church, out to lunch, played disc golf again, then went to see Cars 3 in the theater. Whew! I sure am thankful for my village.

Over the years I have had fun doing a theme for our summer. Some of them have been colors, letters, fruits of the spirit, countries…this summer is Dr. Seuss. As you saw in my previous post, the cruise we took the first five days of summer break had a Dr. Seuss theme. So the kids and I have decided we are going to read as many Dr. Seuss books as we can get our hands on this summer. The first three we read when we got back from our cruise were “Oh the Places You’ll Go”, “Summer”, and “Fred and Ted Go Camping” which I thought were perfect as we are looking forward to the places we’ll go and the things we’ll do this summer.

We got back to town on a Monday, so the next day we headed to gymnastics for AC. She missed her team end of the year party while we were gone, so she got her trophy, tshirt, and award for most improved when she got to practice. She was so excited! After practice we went home to bake goodies and take them to our friends at Oakleaf. That evening Charlie ran with Daddy for the first time and did great!Wednesday Mommy and Charlie ran while AC was at gymnastics.That afternoon we headed to the library for the summer reading kickoff!That night we went to the Blowfish baseball game with their school for the reading parade!The next day was errand day and they were troopers…stopped by USC to get stuff from Mommy’s office, Honda dealership for an oil change, Lowes, then home to play the rest of the day!Friday was a day of relaxation at Granny and Papa’s pool!Saturday morning we headed out early to Dreher Island at Lake Murray. PawPaw and Grandma were camping (like in our Fred and Ted book by Dr. Seuss 😉 ) We had a wonderful day and didn’t get home until way past bedtime!Sunday we went to church and Chipotle with the Broadwells. After that, Daddy took the kids to play putt putt at Frankie’s Fun Park while Mommy got things ready for our next week. (no pics from putt putt, but both kids got a hole in one so they got a sweet treat afterwards…that’s their deal with daddy…anytime they play putt putt, if someone gets a hole in one, they get a sweet treat!) And here are a few pictures from around our home! Love our flowers and veggies!

Saturday morning we were still out at sea traveling to Cozumel. We ate breakfast then the kids participated in the Dr. Seuss parade. Then we went to a play and they chose Charlie to be Thing 1. 🙂 After the play, we ate an early lunch at 11 and then we were ready to get off the ship at noon. We took a boat out to 3 different reefs to go snorkeling. It was SO MUCH FUN! Check out some of the pictures…After snorkeling, we ate at this amazing Mexican restaurant. It was the BEST. Oh my! Y’all, I seriously want to go back for the food.Then we did some more sightseeing and shopping and headed back to the ship that evening.Here we are at dinner…After dinner we played putt putt while the sun set.Then went for a night time swim!The next morning we headed to the Dr. Seuss character breakfast. 🙂 Then we went to a towel animal puppet show. After that we went swimming…for hours. It was actually so so nice. The kids are at a great age where they play and find other kids. Mommy even had fun on the three water slides!Ice carving…That evening we got cleaned up, went to dinner, and another show. It was so good!And of course one more trip to the candy store. 🙂 The next morning we woke up around 8, packed up, went to the dining room for breakfast, and were ready to get off the ship at 10am. It was such a wonderful time away just the four of us. I’m so thankful for my family. 🙂 We used these last year to travel to the Bahamas and this year to Cozumel. I’m hoping for many more uses in the near future! 🙂 

Wednesday, May 31 was the last day of school for Anna Claire and Charlie. Second grade was wonderful! Here are pictures from their last day: They had a half day that day and got out at 11. We hit the road after school and headed towards Miami, FL! We made it to Vero Beach and stopped for the day. The next morning we got up, had breakfast at the hotel, and hopped in the car to get to Miami. By 12:30 we were eating lunch on our cruise ship!And of course since it was so nice out, the kids were so ready to change and get in the water! At 4:00 the ship set sail. We enjoyed ice cream, chess, dancing, and music. Afterwards we headed to our first dinner. Our waiters Gusti and Katya were wonderful! 🙂 After dinner, we went to a game show, then played ping pong, ate more ice cream, played bingo, then headed back to our room for the night to get ready for a fun day in Key West the next day!

KEY WEST!! We ordered room service because it was an early morning and we wanted to make the most of our time in Key West. We had so much fun! On our trolley ride, the driver gave the kids a water gun to shoot people as we drove past. They thought it was hilarious!Ernest Hemingway’s house:Y’all, chickens are everywhere! It’s so crazy.Gotta have some key lime pie!The kids went swimming when we got back on the ship, then we showered, played some cards in the room, and headed to dinner.After dinner we saw a great show, stopped by the candy store, and came back to the room to watch a movie and head to bed. We had a great day!

Next post will have our adventures in Cozumel and our day at sea!