June happenings

Ok, I'm here for yet another attempt at keeping up with this blog a little better. The days are so busy that I have trouble remembering what we did last week, so I know I'll love to look back on this blog one day to recall what we were up to in this crazy beautiful season of life.

June was such a busy month! I turned the big 3-5 on June 1st and the first weekend was the boys' joint birthday party. Gray had been asking for a pirate party since August of last year. He has never taken an interest to pirates until we really started planning a pirate themed party. Last summer we went to a birthday party where Captain Jim (a REAL pirate, as Gray says) was there entertaining and Gray has talked about him nonstop ever since. Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Laura were so generous to pay for Captain Jim to be at the boys' party this year. Although he knew we were doing a pirate party, we kept it a surprise from Gray that Captain Jim was actually going to be coming to THEIR party! It was a hot day but the party was so much fun. We had about 25 kids, some of both boys' closest buddies, at our house to celebrate our big two and four year olds.

Gray loving his new pirate costume from "aunt" Lindsey.

My precious, precious Gram.

We skipped church Sunday and spent time with Nanny and Papa before they had to head back home.

Sweet boy excited about riding the paddle boats at Tanglewood.

The shirt does not lie y'all!

Best buds.

Walker was not a fan of the life jacket.

Gray started swim lessons again. He is such a little fish! He doesn't seem to have regressed from last year at all. He's completely fearless, which is good and bad. Thankfully he is such a rule follower that it helps me to be more comfortable with him in the water but I will be glad when he can officially swim. Walker is so much happier at the pool this summer than last year. He loves the baby pool and is content to splash and jump around in there for an hour or more. He got in big pool last week with his puddle jumper on but didn't quite know what to think of that yet.

The weekend of Gray's actual birthday we surprised him (and Walker, though he didn't really know what was going on) and took them on their first airplane ride! One of our friends Elliot is a pilot and graciously offered to make Gray's dreams come true. We met Elliot in Lexington where we watched him land from bringing a couple back home from New York. The plane had to fly from there to Greensboro for scheduled maintenance so it worked out great for us to come along. Elliot's precious wife, Daniela, wanted us to all be able to experience it together, so she met us in Lexington and drove my car to Greensboro. Before and after the flight, Elliot let the boys sit in the cockpit and check out all the buttons. It was seriously like a dream for our big boy. Walker didn't really know what was going on but he was excited nonetheless. Neither boy was the least bit hesitant or afraid. It was such an amazing experience and we are so grateful to Elliot and Daniela!

The boys and Pilot Elliot ready for flight!

My sweet hubs is notorious for coupons and finding good deals. He signs everyone in our family up for any and every birthday special, etc. I got a text from a friend the morning of Gray's birthday saying we'd better call and claim the birthday bundle that our local Christian radio station gives to ONE lucky winner every Friday. We were so surprised and excited! Tami from WBFJ hand delivered a huge Ketchie Creek cake, tons of CDs, a t-shirt, four tickets to a Dash game and lots more little fun surprises.

In between weekends we spent a lot of time in the pool to beat the upper 90 degree heat.

Father's Day weekend we had a Hicks family reunion in Raleigh. Gray and Walker had 20 cousins to play with and they had an absolute ball!

Dash game....

The last full week in June was VBS at our church, which is actually called Kid's Camp. This is the first year we have done it. Walker wouldn't have been old enough to attend, but since I was teaching he was able to go to. The program they did this year was called Submerged at it was awesome! The lobby, sanctuary and every classroom was decorated with a sea theme and it was just amazing. Even the golf carts used to bring people in from the parking lot were decorated with fish, sharks, submarines, etc. I'm so thankful for our wonderful church and that the boys already have so many opportunities to learn about Jesus and fellowship with their little friends.

June 27th Paul and I celebrated seven years of marriage. I can truly say it's been an awesome seven years, and I am so humbled and thankful for our strong (not perfect!) marriage. My brother and sister-in-law gave us a very genrous gift card to Ruth's Chris and watched the boys while we enjoyed the best steak of OUR LIVES!!!!