Amelia Island 1

It is nap time at the beach.  Abram and Katie are in their beds, Daddy is on the couch, and the house is very quiet.  I am sitting at the computer looking out over the sand dune to the ocean with the waves rolling in and out and I realized this is the life.  So while you are not here to enjoy (although we wish each of you could visit), I will try to share some of this with you.
We arrived on Saturday evening to a welcoming crew of some of our favorite cousins, aunt and uncle.  Everyone was very eager to get to the beach...

 but it was dinnertime so we took one quick peek and then headed down the street for some seafood.

After dinner the books came out and Aunt Dot was in heaven.  All of her babies pile on top for some reading like only she can do.

 The next morning started bright and early.  The kids were up and ready to head out.  Aunt Dottie made a yummy filling breakfast and we lotioned up to head for the beach (all except Daddy who throughly enjoyed his morning catching up on some sleep!). 

Abram tried out wake board surfing.  He liked it until a wave hit him in the face and then he was happy to just lay on the board in the shallow water .

 Aunt Dottie got her little girl fix playing with Katie.  I also think she got her arm workout helping her jump waves for a long time.
Will tried to show Abram how to ride the board.

 Katie spent a lot of time just running back and forth to try to keep out of the waves. 

 Then the weather started clouding up and a storm started rolling in.  We took that chance to take the kids for a little Aunt Dot shopping.  While we are gone Aunt Dottie fixed some awesome snacks in new buckets.  We went to the top deck for our yummy snack.  The kids played and the adults just relaxed and listened to the ocean we could hear over the screams.

Snack time!

 After what seemed like forever, the storm passed enough for us to head back out.  It was much cooler and overcast but there was still water and sand to be enjoyed.  Uncle Chad showed us his skills with a throw net, something we learned from our Papa in the Inlet Waterways of NC.  We didn't have much luck that night.

 Daddy showed off his kite flying skills with the great kites Aunt Cynthia sent down. 

What beach trip would be complete without something written in the sand!

 So that was day 1.  We have 6 more to go and lots of fun to share...hopefully sooner than later, depends on how well naptimes work.

Ice Cream

Aunt Maria let us borrow her very cool ice cream maker the other day.  We made several different kinds of ice cream.  Of course, when Mommy had scooped it out and put it in the freezer there was a little left so the kids got to clean up the leftovers.  They put the bowl on the stool in the floor and went to town. 

Although it looks like Abram is about to stab Katie with his spoon, they were actually getting along and taking turns.  As the kids have grown we have noticed more and more of how they play together great or make great sparring partners, the trick is that you never know when things are going to change from best friends to worst enemies.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Well, ours is growing fine right now and we are very excited!  We have been extremely lucky this year to have Grandma Reid sharing her garden plot with us.  She has not been able to use it for several years and so we decided to try our hand at gardening.  It is a lot of work, but we are having fun doing all the work.  The kids picked some things they wanted to plant.  They have greatly enjoyed running to their row each time to see what has grown. 

Abram loves to measure and see just how tall his sunflowers are growing and checking for squash on his plants.

 Katie enjoys seeing what color zinnias are growing each time (and often picking one or two for Mommy's hair and hers).  She is also keeping a close eye on her carrots with hopes they will get big soon.

It is hard to see but we have squash, onions, potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, okra, beans, corn and freshly planted watermelon that we are working hard to keep alive.  The squash are coming in quickly and we are soon to be overwhelmed with them (any suggestions?).  But more than all of the wonderful produce we have coming in is all of the fresh air and family time we are getting this summer.  As well as the dirt covered fingernails and new discoveries we have with each visit.  If you feel the need to pull some weeds or get some dirt under your fingernails come on over, we have plenty to share.

Happy Father's Day

As always we like to spread our holidays around.  This Father's Day was no different.  We got to see almost all our favorite dads and even better we got to play with them. 
We spent Saturday night with Mommy's family, celebrating birthdays and Father's Day.  After some frisbee throwing and a few airplane flights, a game of cornhole broke out.  Daddy, Richard, and Papaw got in on the fun, while Abram and Katie ran back and forth shuttling beanbags.  If nothing else, they wore themselves out.

Daddy and Papaw spent a lot of time talking trash to each other.

Abram got in on the action a little bit, while Katie and her baby served as spectators.

On Sunday night, we went to Aunt Mandi's house to celebrate with Daddy's family.  After a yummy dinner, we all went outside for some great games of Simon Says, Red Light-Green Light, and finally the Daddys were pulled in for a game of Freeze Tag!  It was fun to watch some "old" men trying to keep up with they "kids."  In this pictures you can see Daddy and Uncle Jeremy trying to get away from Abram who was putting up a force field to keep from getting frozen.
We love spending time with family but it is always more fun when we get to celebrate somebody special.  Today we celebrated all the very special Daddys in our lives.  Where would we be without them?

April Showers bring May Flowers

These are pictures from early May
Papa Ted has a beautiful tree in his backyard.  So we decided to get the kids all together to take pictures. 

 Abram and Katie doing a nice shot.

 Abram and Katie doing what they do best...being silly!

 The Girls

Katie and Brookie

The Whole Crew

David, Katie, Brooke, Abram and Wayne

We are back and ready for Summertime Adventures!

Summertime has arrived at the Fletcher house and we hope that means we will get back on the blog bandwagon.  Please excuse us for the brief break...life happens and we can't keep up sometimes!

So Summertime has arrived and what better way to start a new summer than with the last day of school and a birthday.  Daddy celebrated his birthday today and Mommy decided we needed a party.  So in true Fletcher (actually this is a Morgan gene), we pulled together a party.  Many of our favorite people came to help us kick off, what we hope will be a great summer of memories.  As you can see Abram has moved in on Aunt Maria and can't wait to spend lots of time with her in the garden this summer.

Katie on the other hand is making the moves on Papaw in her styling ballerina outfit.  She and Papaw had some quality time checking out how much her hand has grown throughout the year by looking over her wonderful memory book from preschool.
So hopefully we are back, so check back often!