Surprise party

Today we had a surprise pool party for Julia. Her birthday was in June, but we were so very busy getting ready to go camping, that we decided to plan the party for when we got home. She thought she was coming with Kristi to my house to swim for the afternoon.

We gathered all of the little girls and everyone hid behind a bush along our driveway. Which is very long, by the way. Anyway, I stood outside and watched them drive up the lane, and counted to three and all the little girls jumped out and yelled surprise. We warned Kristi they were going to jump out in front of her car. Julia was in shock, as she didn't say anything at first. After the shock wore off, she was very excited that she was going to get to swim with her friends, not just her sisters.

Even though it is July, the sun was hiding for most of the afternoon, and the girls didn't stay in the pool very long. They were freezing! Mikayla went in the pool with her Aunt Krago or Kristi, and loved it! She didn't love the cold water at first, but once she got used to it...she loved it.

Once Mikayla got out, she stood next to the pool, chatting with her Aunt Kristi. She is such a little chatter box. I wish I could understand at least half of what is coming out of her mouth, then I would feel like we were really communicating. It was a fun day...but I am beat.

Home time fun

So we have been home for a few days now, and life is beginning to get back to normal. If there is such a thing as normal. Today we were outside for about 2 hours. Mikayla loves to be outside, and the weather was so beautiful, we couldn't pass up this opportunity.

Even though we had all that time outside, Mikayla still only slept for about and hour and a half at nap time. I didn't sleep when she was asleep, and now I am regretting it. She did take an hour nap around 5pm though. Kind of an odd time to nap, but it seems to be ok so far. We may pay for it at bedtime though.

I had to bake a birthday cake for my sister tonight, so Matt took Mikayla out to run some errands with him. She was sooo excited. She absolutely loves to spend time with daddy. It is unbelievable how much she loves her daddy. I love her daddy so much too. We are such a blessed family.

Camping in the Adirondacks

Well, we just got home from a week of camping in the mountains of New York. We arrived Friday night and set up our tent and then crashed. We were able to attend Bible Conferences, as well as Teens Involved competitions while we were there.

Mikayla loved being outdoors all the time. She played hard everyday, and has the mud stains to prove it. She ran everywhere, and fell just about every time she ran. She never skipped a beat though, she just kept on playing. She jumped in a bounce house one afternoon, and cried when we took her out.

Tuesday it rained...well...poured. Our tents got flooded and the campground was gracious enough to let us sleep in a cabin while our tents dried out. It was a little stressful, but we had a great time together.

Now we are home, trying to fill our time so we don't get too bored. I am hoping to get out Mikayla's kiddie pool soon, so she can enjoy some relaxation in the hot weather.

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day! After church we came home and napped so we had energy for the fun evening planned.

We went to Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk. We began with the traditional Grotto Pizza. We don't only go because we like the pizza, but because it is a tradition. Even though Mikayla is allergic to dairy, we let her have a piece of pizza. She LOVES pizza! While we were there, we saw a helicopter fly by. It came down close enough to the boardwalk that we could see the person waving. It got really close! We loved it!

After pizza, we walked to Funland. Mikayla loved rides at Carowinds, so we figured she would love them at Funland. We were right! She laughed and loved the rides. As each ride would slow down to stop, she would begin to cry because she didn't want to get off. The only way we could get her off was to tell her there was another ride she could enjoy. By the end of the time though, she was done with rides. We took her on a few fast rides, and we aren't sure she really liked them. Although, she did laugh on those rides too.

After the rides, we got french fries and ice cream! We had to take those to go though. Our parking meter was about out of time, so we rushed back and packed back into the van for the trip home. It was a fun time together for Father's Day.

I know everyone loves to see pics on here, but my computer tends to take a long time uploading them onto blogger. I am trying to get a link up. Click for pictures.

Week at home

We have finally had a week at home! It feels like it has been forever since we have just been able to be home. Mikayla has also enjoyed being home in her own bed for most of her naps and every night. She seems to be getting used to sleeping in the living room with us around. We are going to have a huge adjustment when we move into a house and she has her own room.

We have been going through all of our "old" stuff and getting it ready for a yard sale on Saturday. We find that we mostly have clothes to sell, but we are going to try that anyway. We don't have much room to accumulate much else, so for that we are fortunate.

I did also have a day of organization at church. My mom and I spent a whole day organizing the Sparks supplies closet. We really have one section left, but we were too beat to tackle that in the same day. We are excited now that it is all organized! Hopefully we can keep it that way this year.

Now we are gearing up for a week at Word of Life Family Campground. My mom and I are taking our respective children up to camp for the week. This has become another annual tradition for the kids. It is some work to get things set up, but such a relaxing week of Spiritual refreshment. One more week at home and then we are off again. We like to keep busy, but have a little down time in between. Although, Mikayla could probably just keep going and have no down time.

Vacation

We had such a great time on our vacation. Mikayla loved all of the adventure involved in playing at a water park! She was very timid at first, but by the last day...she was literally diving right in! I can't wait to see how she does in our pool this year.

It was also a good time visiting my grandparents. They enjoyed having Mikayla there, and she enjoyed having an extra Mom Mom and Pop Pop for a week. We spent the beginning of the week missing Daddy and trying to talk him into joining us at the end of the week. All of the coaxing paid off too! Matt came to join us at the end of the week. It was fun for me to show him where I have spent so many of my most memorable summers.

Matt is not a roller coaster person, but I dragged him on a big one to make him try it. I paid for that. He left the park with a major headache and went strait to bed when we got home. Needless to say, he didn't try any more rides that I talked about. He did ride several smaller rides with Mikayla. He also tried everyone's favorite ride...The Phantom Flyers. We all love the feeling of that ride and it's not too crazy for Matt to try. He liked it so much that he took Mikayla on with him. I wasn't sure she would like the ride though. It was a little big for her, but she ended up laughing the whole time.

On the trip home, we were able to stop in and see some friends from waaay back. It was a neat time to fellowship with old friends and their children. Although it was a fun time of being away, I am glad to be home for a few weeks to just relax. We leave again to camp at the end of the month, but then our summer is pretty much free. Maybe we will be able to spend that "free" time moving into a house....if we could only convince Matt.

Click here to enjoy our photos.

Carowinds

It has been a week since I have posted, but we have been vacationing. We had a great trip down to South Carolina. Mikayla was so well behaved for the entire trip. We arrived close to midnight and she was even so good to go to sleep when we got here.

We started the week by going to the local Amusement Park called Carowinds. We went to the water park to cool off in the 90 degree weather. Mikayla was unsure about the water at first. I had to take her into the small pool and sit on the bottom to get her to even come close. She finally decided it was fun to play in the pool. We spent a little time each day at the water park, and each day she became more daring.

We also took her to the kids rides. She again was unsure, but in the end loved riding them. Matt was able to join us on Friday and Mikayla and I have loved having him here. Hopefully I will be able to give a little more detail and update more when we get home.

In the end, we have had a great time, but I am ready to finally get home and stay there for a few weeks at least.