Red, White, and Blue

Happy 4th of July!!! What a great Summer Holiday! And it is a Holiday that we, as the Larsen Family, hold dear to our hearts. Ryan is so Patriotic and loves serving his Country. With that Blake and I support him and stand proudly by the Army life that we have had.

Luckily we were able to spend July 4th together as a family. We started the day off with the Wake Forest Children's Parade. I think we were kind of expecting there to be police cars and fire trucks and floats and candy... but really it was just a bunch of kids riding their bikes and wagons down the street. Haha. The best part was watching the parents run after their kids on the bikes. Fun times!! I guess we fit right in with our wagon!! Blake and Hope loved it.

 

 

We then went home and took a nice and much needed family nap. I wish I could make that a regular habit! :) Since Blake is still a little young for the fireworks...and he can't stay up past 7:30... we left him at home with Granny. Ryan and I went the Durham Bulls Baseball game with some new friends! The fireworks weren't too bad either. All in all we had the perfect American day!!! 

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

"Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow....

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

How about you, you, you...."

 

Ryan has been singing this song with Blake for the past few days and today we actually went!! Yay!! It was a great adventure!

 

It takes two hours to get to Asheboro, NC and the weather was a little iffy. In fact, when we arrived into Asheboro there was an awful downpour of rain. Ryan and I just looked at each other and laughed. What a great day for the zoo right?!?! Not!! The weird thing is that after we parked, the rain stopped within 5 minutes. It even held off the whole time we were there. Yes, it was a little humid but we could deal with that. Frizzy hair and all. :)

 

 

 

So where do I start? This is obviously going to be a post that has more pictures that words... Lets start with the Polar Bears and Seals. Blake loved watching them slash in the water!

 

 

 

Next were the elephants. We were surprised to see them out since it had just rained so hard. They were beautiful. Blake was slightly amazed but also a little nervous about them. I don't think he has seen an animal that big! HAHA!

 

 

 

The zebras were pretty neat too. I wanted to see the giraffes, but apparently they couldn't come out because of the weather. Their legs are fragile and they could get hurt with the wet surfaces. You aren't too old to learn something new!! By far my favorite picture!!

 

 

Navigating around the zoo was intense. We had to walk, ride, and carry all of our stuff everywhere! Blake was a champ with the traveling.

 

 

 

I loved the elephants, Ryan enjoyed the lions, and Blake.... well he just wanted to ride the carousel! We ended up riding it twice! So sweet watching him enjoy it so much.

 

 

And at the end of the day... we were worn out!!! Great family day!!!

 













June Pre-Tot Fun

I am staying home with Blake this summer. He goes to have play dates with friends at Mrs. Dawns on some Tuesdays and Thursdays, but for most of the time he is with me! Of course we have to find cheap, cool (literally), things to do. Here is what we have come up with so far!

Sorry for some of the blurry pictures...

 

 



$1 beach ball!!! Oh yeah...



 

"Box Seats" to a few good movies... Tarzan, Horton Hears a Who, and Madagascar!

 

Connect Four

 

Sometimes we just need to chill...



 

Playing with water bowls...

 

Water painting!!

 

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Thank goodness for Pinterest helping me out with some of these Toddler Activities. We will be sharing lots more next month. We will see where our imagines take us! 

Larsen Summer Bucket List

Ok, I hope this isn't cheating since technically Summer has already started...Here is our family Summer Bucket List. Yep, it contains all of the major things that we hope to be able to do. I hope we aren't being too ambitious here...

• Make family 72 hour kits
• Master bedroom makeover - nothing serious!
• Camping Trip in Boone - Just a Ryan and Sarah trip. Our first without Blake!
• Family beach trip
• Sailing Date Day
• Library Story Time with Blake
• Organize our office
• Zoo trip
• Concert
• Family Picnic
• Lake Gaston Trip
• Make a FHE notebook
• Read the BOM - again :)

Wow!! Looks like an awesome Summer to me! Can't wait to start marking these things off our list. Get ready to see some awesome adventure posts in the next few months!

Blake The Builder

For those of you who have children, you obviously know the little show called "Bob The Builder." It is one of Blake's favorites. This past Monday, we got to see BLAKE the Builder! He helped Ryan with a new yard project.

Boy bonding time...

 

 

Learning to use the big boy tools... very important!

 

 

So what are the building you ask?!!? Well remember when we put in sod? Yeah...you see what happened was... it didn't get enough sun in our highly dense forest-of-a-yard and it died. Very sad! We decided to replace it with something that we couldn't kill! A rock and stone walkway with flower bed borders.

 

 

 

I'm in love with the finished product! Blake was a huge fan of the pebbles. :)



Daddy's Day

Happy Fathers Day to all of the wonderful Fathers out there! Blake was able to spend some special time with all of "his men" this week.

We got to spend time with G-Daddy and Papa earlier in the week for some play time. He also got to Skype with Grandpa Larsen today.

More importantly, Blake got to spend the day with his daddy!! Ryan has been out of town for two weeks and he finally came home last night. Just in time for Father's Day! Today we spoiled Ryan with presents and food! We also ran a few errands and got Blake a baby pool. Fun times ahead!

 

Blake has always been a guys guy. He absolutely ADORES his dad. When they are together there is nothing but laughter and playing. They seriously make my heart burst. I fall in love with Ryan every time I see him as a dad. I love our family!!!

Class of '13

Normally Graduation doesn't really apply to us, but this year was special... I got to go to two graduations!!

The first graduation was for Taylor! I can't believe that my little sister has graduated!! So crazy. She will now be working this summer and then going to ECU in the Fall. Right now her current plan is to enter into the Nursing Program. I couldn't be more proud of her. She has always had the best attitude. She has always put family first. She is just amazing...and beautiful!! So proud of her!

 

 

The VERY next night I had another graduation. Since I am a teacher, I have to go to the graduation. I always think its so sweet to see my previous students walk. There is some type of school spirit that comes with graduation that I can't explain. It just makes me so proud of my job. This year was a special year for my school. First of all, I graduated from this school. Second of all this will be the last year that it is called Wake Forest-Rolesville. A new high school will open next year and they will split the name. Next year there will be a Rolesville High and I will still be teaching at Wake Forest High. The students really made an effort to make this graduation special!

 

 

I wouldn't have made it through this school year without these ladies. My English I PLT!! I call them my unofficial mentors! We also had lunch every day together. I don't know what I would have done without that hour of laughter with them.

 

 

It's now Summer Vacation for me!!! Although I will miss my job, I can't wait to spend the Summer with my family! We have lots of fun things planned!