Father's Day and Fourth of July

So this post is a bit out of order, but I didn't want to forget these fun days.

Father's Day 2011

Jeff is a great Daddy. He loves John and Shannon and they absolutely know it, feel it and love him right back! We wanted to make sure he felt loved on his special day so we did just what he wanted to do.

We decided to have any early morning trip to the Naples Zoo. Even though we were there early in the morning it was still SO darn hot!

Walking in and looking at the Koi and the turtles.


Look Papa, there are the birdies!


John, Daddy and Papa


Here are the giraffe's. We thought we would try and get John to feed them again, it was a great idea again, and right at the last minute John changed his mind . . . again. :)


Mommy feeding the giraffes and John trying to hide in Daddy's arms.


Papa made sure baby Shannon was keeping cool in the shade


We moved over to the playground and then Daddy had to make sure Shannon was okay and not too over heated.


After we saw all of the animals, fed the giraffes and the fish, played on all of the playgrounds and made two new pennies, we called it a day. We were there for a little over an hour and we were all hot, sweaty and ready for a nap!

A few hours later, we met up at the Sponseller's for a fun BBQ!

Shannon was wearing the perfect outfit for the day "I (heart) my DADDY!!"


John and Jeff were playing a "find it" in a magazine.


We had fun cooling off in the pool . . . .


And really enjoyed swimming around.


Then back inside, read for dinner, Daddy and "Nonners" photo. I love this one!


Jeff and his two kiddos, the best photo I could come up with!


After dinner, Aunt "Toria" read John a few books, I love seeing these two together!!


Baby Scarlett was showing off that she can sit up now and I just had to jump in and play with her. What a cutie patootie!! (Scarlett not me!)


Fourth of July

We drove down to 5th avenue for the 4th of July parade and bumped into a bunch of friends, I love how these happy get togethers just happen!  We found a nice shady place and set up camp. It was another scorcher of a day and by the end of the parade we were all ready for some ice cold air conditioning! Shannon did really well, we kept her cool by soaking a burp cloth in cold water and wiping her down often. John LOVED the parade with all the fire trucks, police cars and motorcycles but what he really loved was all the candy every one threw out. We had a blast and will definitely plan on going back next year!

Here are the four of us ready for the parade!


Mommy and Shannon!


John and Jeff, and Emma and Chris watching the parade go by.


John and Caden picking up some candy in between floats.


John, Emma and Emma's Grandma Sue enjoying the parade. You can't tell but John was dancing to "Sweet Home Alabama" which was blaring out of loud speakers on a float. So funny!


Later that night we met up with more friends to watch the fireworks on Naples Beach. It's a fun tradition we started last year with a fun group of people. We realized that we added three new babies to the mix within the year, something none of us plan on for next year though! :)

Here's Shannon and Jordyn, two of the new babies . . .


And then Shannon and Kinsley, the other new baby!


One of my cutie pie!


All set up and ready for the fun to begin


John waited for the other kids to play with something else and then jumped in to play with all of the sand toys.


All four of us! :)


I was trying to make her smile.


Once the sunset we got out the sparklers, John loved them last year but was a little nervous this year so he let Daddy hold it.


After the fireworks we made the long walk back to the car remembering the fun we had the year before. This is definitely a tradition we plan on continuing!