Happy 4th of July

We kept up our yearly 4th of July traditions - first we headed out to Downtown Arlington on the 3rd to the Light up Arlington festivities.  The girls had so much fun with the bounce houses, the mini train, and even got their faces painted.  Then we got to see the fantastic fireworks from the top of the church's garage.  Jillian had slightly warmed up to fireworks this year - she still isn't in love with them, but it was much better than year's past when we had to close her in the car with headphones blaring something to drown out the noise!

Then, we headed back bright and early to watch the parade!  

 Face Paint is slightly scary on Day 2, but the girls were happy! 

After the parade, there was time for eating and swimming at Gigi's.

 Little Piper is showing off her National Pride!

We ended the 4th with a trip to my parent's neighbor's dock to watch fireworks over the lake.  We got to see tons of different shows going on all over the metroplex!  The best part was that they were so far off, there wasn't any noise to scare Miss Jillian!

 Riding in Papa's truck to the lake is always a bonus!

Just in case the fireworks were loud, Jillian found a good spot!

Family Beach Pictures

Before heading to Gulf Shores, I begged Neal to let me drag us all out to the beach for some professional pics!  I researched area photographers and found one that I really liked, who was reasonably priced and did photos on CD (since I didn't really want to deal with purchasing prints from a distance.) After booking Leslie Davis at Freshly Bold, we then found out that she had done wedding pics for a friend of Neal's the summer before and they gave her a glowing recommendation as well.  I was definitely not disappointed!  Plus, she even put up with us dragging Piper out onto the No Dog beach for a few shots!  Here are just a few highlights - I could have posted about a thousand of them, but these will have to do! 

Beach Time

The finale to our family trip was a few nights at the perfect little beach condo in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Nothing makes me happier than time at the beach - especially when you include the people I love the most!

Meredith was super quick to want to be buried in the sand

We played lots of inflatable baseball on the beach

Our main beach didn't allow dogs, but we spent one of the days in at a beach that did so Piper could join us.  She was super happy we made that choice!

Digging in the sand was a definite highlight

Tired pup

Even though Piper couldn't join us at our normal beach the other days, we still had lots of fun!

Meredith and Daddy were very successful with our kites

I got my wave jumping time too - the girls aren't 100% sure of the waves just yet, but I got a little time out of them at least!

Jillian would have been happy to just play in the sand all day!

The girls got fun hair braids one night - they were the hit of the summer!

Neal and I loved our days with the girls but each night we so looked forward to a little time out on our porch enjoying a nice breeze and some much needed grown-up talk!

More Alabama fun

After our time at Lake Martin, we headed to Anny Annie's house!  The girls love being with her!