June 22 = Anniversary Celebration Day

Zachary's first real day back after this break is our anniversary- Friday.  I was so excited that our anniversary was on a Friday because I thought it'll be so fun to have an anniversary weekend!  Then the news came that all leave had to be taken before the 26th.  And so, as a military wife knows to do, I adjusted my expectations and we put the kids in the CDC today and had a day to ourselves.  We went to a place we'd never been for breakfast and it was delicious.

And then, Zachary planned a kayaking adventure for us!  We went to Quiet Waters Park and walked down a trail to this kayak rental shack and spent about an hour paddling around.

We saw a snake in the water, a couple of jumping fish and a few ducks.  There were some other people out paddleboarding but it was pretty quiet- it wasn't to busy on a Monday late morning.  Zachary would paddle us along for a while and then invite me to join in and we'd paddle as fast as we could for a few minutes just for fun and then we'd just go with the flow.  We talked about our memories and of course our kids.  We walked through some woods on the way back instead of taking the trail and then we came home and did nothing for an hour and then went and got our adorable little rascals.  It was a great day!

June 5 = Kilgore Falls Day

Well we have been bitten by the green trees and rocks and trails bug and headed to Kilgore Falls today about an hour and a half away.  We got the double jogging stroller last night for this trip and for walking/running around our house- Liam doesn't look thrilled:

But he cheered up quickly.  Here's the beginning of our trail.  Beautiful!

I ran ahead and turned around to get a picture of Zachary pushing the kiddos:

Liam got a little restless in the stroller so Zachary let him get out and walk a little with a helping hand:

After a lot less walking than we anticipated we got to the waterfall!  Here I am trying to get a good picture of the view from the top:

Here's one of the pictures I got:

And here's a picture of the four of us with the waterfall in the background- we were not on the edge for this picture.  Promise.

  

Right after taking this picture, we walked back across to safety but before doing so, I slipped on a rock, carrying Malia and fell in the water at the top of the waterfall.  Thankfully it wasn't a strong current but momma bear mode kicked in and I fell straight down- Malia barely got wet.  But I did jam my finger.  I was so relieved that we didn't fall down the waterfall and that Malia was okay that I didn't really realize the extent of the pain my finger was in for a few minutes but then I got it loud and clear. 

So even though Zachary and I have been together for quite a while, I still learn new things about him every once in a while.  Standing under a waterfall is something he's always wanted to do.  So we went down a different trail and walked across the stream so that he could have his dream come true!   If you look super, super closely, he's on the very right of the falling water.  I didn't get great pictures because I was holding Malia and trying to keep Liam from moving too much.

 Here's a view of the waterfall from the bottom:

Here I am carrying Malia back across the stream:

On the way back to the car, we found some honeysuckle so I had to share one of my childhood joys with my little ones:

Once we got to where the trail was pretty flat, we let Liam loose again:

Daddy and his little girl:

Doesn't this look like a preloaded Windows background?!

And I just love this picture:

We had so much fun- beautiful sights and wonderful quality time together.  And a dirty pair of shoes...

May 25 = Hiking Day!

Woo-hoo! Today's the day!  I will miss my kids but Zachary and I are overdue for a little alone time.  We headed to Philadelphia mid-morning- we enjoyed car ride conversations- something that only occurs when no kids are in the car.  We casually made pit stops for bathroom breaks, picking up sunscreen and getting snacks.  We made a couple wrong turns but it was okay because we weren't in a huge hurry counting down the minutes until a backseat breakdown. We made it to the park and set out on the closest trail.  Here are some pictures from our 6 mile hike:

We saw a deer!

After the hike, we headed to the hotel to check-in.  We showered, got dressed, and headed to dinner.  We went to Cantina Laredo- one of Zachary's favorite places to eat- there's one in Jacksonville and it's actually the last place we ate out in Jacksonville because it is his favorite so when I was looking for somewhere for dinner and saw this, I was so excited to tell him!  This picture was sneakily taken by my husband after I had consumed a margarita or two...

The restaurant was in a mall so we walked off the tequila and looked around a little bit.  We headed back to the hotel and had a quiet night in.  A great first day of vacation!

Aaaaaand Grandma was very thoughtful and shared pictures of the kids with us- this was my favorite from the day: