Myrtle Beach 2012

Back in July, we took a Paradise family trip to Myrtle Beach.  We rented a house right on the beach and it was the whole Paradise clan along with Uncle Danny, Aunt Linda, Kacie and Trevor from Texas all staying at the house.  We also had our friends from Florida and some more Aunts, Uncles and Cousins from NY and NJ staying in nearby hotels.  It was such a fun time and so great to see everyone! We spent most of the time at the ocean, jumping the waves, boogie-boarding, and just playing in the sand. It was such good times!

Sierra loved playing in the sand!  She especially enjoyed grabbing fistfuls of wet sand and bringing it up to dry sand, not the most effecient method, but fun nonetheless!

 

 



Avery & Nana riding the waves

 

 



 

Avery catching a good wave all the way in

 

 

 

One morning while all the Dads were golfing we took the kids to Boardwalk on the Beach. It was a huge complex with lots of shops, restaurants, rides, museums, and all sorts of things to do. We walked around a little, had lunch at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and the kids went on a couple of rides, including the Bungee Jump (it's not what you think...check out the video!).  It was lots of fun but it was also very hot so we couldn't wait to get back to the nice ocean breeze!  



Sierra & Luke on the Motorcylces

 

 



Avery & Jack

 



The Bungee Jump!

At our house relaxing in the hammock.  Check out our fantastic view!

 

 



Of course, you can't go to Myrtle Beach without playing some miniature golf.  Here's Uncle Bobby giving the kids some pointers at one of the courses they played. 

 

 



A cousins picture back at the house

 

 

 

The kids also got to go on a pirate adventure.  They got all dressed up like pirates and got on board the pirate ship. They had to follow the map to find the buried treasure!  Along the way they had to fight off the mean pirate with water cannons.  Then they found the tresaure chest in the water.  They each got a handful of the treasure and some grog to celebrate..."Down the hatch".



Checking out the pirate map

 

 



Out on the pirate ship...they really did have a good time!

 

 



The pirate ship was docked at The Crazy Sister marina, so we had to get a picture

 

 

 

Of course, we had to get as many family pictures as we could!



The kids being silly with Uncle Danny

 

 



The Paradise Family

 

 



A cousins picture with Kacie & Trevor

 

 



Cute cousins on the beach

 

 



Family Photo

 



Another round of miniature golf inside a volcano!

 

 



We made it out of the volcano so it was time for some Icee's

 

 



Jack, Sierra & Avery at their "Spa"

 

 

 

 

One day, a group went out parasailing.  Cory had never been so he went along to try it.  The boat ride was a little bumpy but they had a great time anyway!



 Trevor, Kacie & Cory up in the air (Cory is on the right)

 

 

 

Coming in for a landing!

Some Summer Fun

We have had such a busy and fun summer.  Here are some of the things we did at the beginning of summer. The day after Sierra's birthday party was Father's Day so we had Gramma and Grampa and Nana and Grandpa here.  We all went to Breezy Waterslide Park.  It was a lot of fun even though it was a little chilly, we quickly figured out why it was called "Breezy"!    

 Avery coming down the slide

 Daddy & Sierra

 Swimming in the lake with Daddy & Grandpa

 Then we went back home for our Annual Father's Day Lobster and Crab Dinner, Yummy!!

 Daddy and his girls

 The two Grandpa's and their girls


 

A bedazzled Avery on her last day of Kindergarten

 

 



Sierra & Nana at the playground

 

While Nana and Grandpa were here, they took us to Lake Compounce Amusement Park.  The girls went on a bunch of rides, which was lots of fun.  Then we went over to the waterpark which was great because I think it was the hottest day of the summer!  Here are some pictures of the rides but I didn't get any pictures at the waterpark because Avery had me on all of the waterslides!    

 

 



Sierra and Avery on the bumper cars

 

 



The girls had this little roller coaster all to themselves!

 

 



And here we are on the swings.

 

 

 



The last day of soccer posing with their awesome trophies!

 

 

 

 

For the last year or so, Nana has been asking Avery if she wanted to get her ears pierced.  I think she wanted to, but wasn't quite ready....until now.  And now Sierra was ready, too.  So Avery, Sierra, and Nana all went to get their ears pierced.  They were both a little upset because it hurt getting it done, but now they love it because they can go shopping for earrings!



Avery getting ready

 

 



And Sierra's turn

 

 



The three girls with their newly pierced ears

 

 



Sierra & Avery outside of Camp Marshall, which is a 4H Horse Camp that Avery went to for a week and loved!

 

 

 

The girls and I spent a weekend in Philly at Kailey, Ryan & Brady's for Kailey's 7th Birthday.  The girls had lots of fun playing with some of their cousins.  Once again, it was really hot so they spent a good part of the weekend on the Slip and Slide!

 



Stacy, Kailey & Avery

 

 



Brady did not quite get the concpet of the slip and slide, but all of the big kids waited patiently while he got cooled off!

 

 



A cousins picture! (From the left is Sierra, Emma, Brady, Avery, Stacy, Kailey, Connor, Alex, and Ryan)

 

 



Ryan, Kailey, Sierra and Avery posing in Kailey's new chair

 

Sierra's 4th Birthday

Sierra's birthday party back in June was so much fun!  It was a beautiful day, perfect for a backyard BBQ and Pool party.  Sierra and all of her friends had a blast swimming, runnning in the sprinkler, playing with water ballooons and having a good time!  

 Water balloons! 

 All the girls went swimming...

...while all the boys ran in the sprinkler.

 Sierra with her beautiful Barbie cake and cupcakes.

Making a Wish

Sierra's Last Day of School

 Here are some pictures from Sierra's last day of school.  Her class put on a little program of songs they sang in class.  Sierra did a great job singing and dancing!  And she got a certificate for completing her first year of pre-school.  And then we had a little party in her classroom with all of her friends and teachers to celebrate.  It was so much fun!

 Sierra was front and center with her friend, Reid (The cute one in the tie)

Sierra getting her certificate from Mrs. Hubacz



Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very fun and busy Memorial Day Weekend!  It started Friday morning at Avery's school.  They put on a Memorial Day Celebration.  Each class sang a patriotic song. It was a great show and Avery did a great job.  And she and Sierra got to enjoy some ice pops after the show!

Avery's class putting on a great show! (Avery is 3rd from the right standing)

 Enjoying our ice pops with Daddy

On both Saturday and Sunday, we had cookouts with our neighbors at our friends' houses.  We all had so much fun swimming, playing and hanging out with our friends and eating lots of yummy food.  We all had so much fun!

Then, on Monday we went into Boston to visit our friends Tamala and Ben.  We had a nice cookout with them and Tamala's parents, Deb and Tom, and Ben's mom Stephanie.  Tam and Ben live in The North End of Boston and they have a rooftop deck where we had our cookout.  It is so amazing overlooking the city!  After dinner, we walked down the street to some beautiful parks.  It was a great time! 

 Avery & Sierra being silly at Tam & Ben's place



Having some fun swinging with Tam

Walking through some water in one of Boston's beautiful parks

Life in Spencer, Mass

I just had to share this picture because I think it is so cute.  A couple weeks ago we were walking around the neighborhood with some of our friends after school.   We decided to walk up to the farm up the road to see the cows.  Along the way, we picked up a few more kids for the walk.  This is a picture of all of the kids sitting on the fence "mooing" at the cows.  Sierra is 4th from the left and Avery is 4th from the right.

Sierra's Pond Walk

Last week, Mad Brook Academy had their annual Pond Walk.  Luckily, it turned out to be a beautiful day, which we haven't been able to say very much lately!  Sierra and all of her school friends had a great time, even though they only caught one frog.  The pond had a lot of slime in it so we saw lots of frogs but they were hiding in and amonst the slime so we couldn't catch them.  Sierra caught a huge crayfish and lots of kids caught bugs and one even caught a leech (yuck!).  It was a fun morning out at the pond!

 Ready to go!

 Sierra getting a little help from Ms. Nancy

Checking out the crayfish she caught