Remember?

Remember when I was going to post all my update posts about the summer back in October.  Oops.  Oh well. I am still do some crazy update posts.  Now that we are in our post-Christmas, winter blues phase we can look at these pictures and look forward to next summer.  These pictures were taken at the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer. 

Gavin's Kindergarten graduation

Beach Days

Eli took a Gardening class at the botanical gardens

Grandma Miggy came for Gavin's Birthday

Strawberry Picking

Beach days

More strawberry Picking

For Gavin's birthday this year we went to Victoria Gardens with a small little group.  They had a blast.

Much of the beginning of the summer was spent trying to spend quality time with Lucas, Mackenzie, and Sam.  We learned that they were going to be moving to Texas.  It was a huge loss for us.  We tried to spend as much time together as we could before they left. 

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The kid in all of us

Who needs Disneyland? For one last summer rendezvous we went to Victoria Gardens in Central Park. It is a summer amusement park in Central Park. It was a perfect evening. The weather was cool, there were almost no lines, and all the rides were geared towards the boys' age. They all loved it. Their favorite rides were the roller coaster, the swing, the slide, and the buggies.

Swimsuit required

I had hoped to take a beach vacation this summer since the boys were going to be a great ages to enjoy the beach. We didn't end up going anywhere, but we had lots of staycations!

Boyd's one request for the summer was to go to Jones' beach on Long Island. Luckily we got to go their 2X. We discovered that if we leave by 9:00 AM and head back into the city around 2:00 we don't hit traffic at all

The weather and beach was so beautiful both times. The first time we went the waves were not to big and you could walk past them and still be standing and be past the break. The kids loved that. The second time we went the waves were huge. There was a huge sandbar about 50 feet off the shore that we could swim to and then be able to stand and play in the waves. We had a great time with that and the pool that it creates. There was quite a bit of sea life though. We saw lots of clams and crabs. There was one jellyfish. Our favorite part was a huge fish that had been stuck in the sandbar. You could only see its mouth and it was huge! Someone dug it out of the sand to set it free and once it got free a big ugly fish came out and scared everyone! Adeline showed Gavin how fun it is to be buried in the sand!

We also made it to the North shore of Long Island where the beaches are facing the sound, so there are very few waves. We took Lynda and Brandon with us to meet up with Monica, Abby, Grace, Miles, and their family. We had a great time. Of course I failed to get any pictures from that outing.

We tried to avoid Hurricane Bill one Saturday and drove to the Connecticut sound. We were able to swim for about an hour. The rain started and we got scared off, but it only lasted long enough for us to pack up. We had a great time anyway. Brandon was with us again and the kids had a great time.

We also made it to a Lake Beach in upstate New York. We went to visit some friends in our ward, Sariah's family. Mackenzie, Lucas, and Sam joined us. We had a great time..

We also were able to swim a few places.. Monica took us to their community pool when we were visiting them. The boys took a swim class. Gavin took one by himself while Eli and I did a mommy and me. And we took the bus up to Riverbank State Park with Lucas and company!

The water is perfect!

It was 97 degrees today on the thermometer, but it felt like about 120 degrees to me. It is June 10th. It isn't supposed to be this hot and humid! It makes me nervous for the summer yet to come. I am trying not to psych myself out, because then I will never get out and do anything and then we really will be miserable!

So, a little less than a week ago we went to the most beautiful beach I have been to here in New York. Who would have thought it would be in Queens? There is this place called Ft. Tilden that Monica heard about through her neighbor. She had explained that it was a beautiful beach that not very many people visit. WHAT? A New York beach that is not full of thousands of New Yorkers? It was pretty hard to believe until we saw it. It was so amazing. It turns out that you have to have a permit to go to this beach, but not until after June 15Th! So, we can enjoy this beach all we want until that day. We had a wonderful day! Gavin wanted to spend most of the day with his feet in the water with the waves crashing against him. He was still too nervous to go by himself and insisted on holding my hand. When I got tired of doing it, he enlisted his little friend Grace. They would run up to the water holding hands and then run away screaming! It was really quite cute. Eli even managed to stay out of too much trouble. (I think it helped that he slept for a good part of the day!).

One of my favorite quotes of the day is when Gavin, Monica, and I were all walking towards the water. Monica says that she wants to get in the water and Gavin looks back at her and says "come on in, the water is perfect." It was so cute and the excitement was obvious. I will add that the water was so cold. My feet and legs were numb after about a minute and they never warmed up!

I would have given anything to jump in that "perfect" water today!