Isaac's Birthday and Family Fun!

Isaac's birthday is midway--to the last half of September.  And this birthday was a BIG one.  I mean, turned 8!  In the LDS (Mormon) Church turning 8 means the opportunity to be baptized.

Age 8 is the earliest age to be baptized, is done by full immersion in water, and usually performed by the child's father or close relative.

Anyway, it's a really great age to turn.  And luckily and happily a lot of family came to celebrate this special time with him!
Nana and Mume came from Boise Idaho
Grammie and Gramps from B'ham Bama
Ashley and Dave with Luke and Piper from Aubrun Bama

Nana and Mume stayed from a Wednesday to the following Tuesday.   They were awesome to have!  Each child took a turn or two out from school and had a special day with their grandparents out on the town.  Which equated to going to Chick-Fil-A and then to a store to pick out a toy, and a movie too!  Super fun for the boys.

Grammie and Gramps arrived Friday night and stayed in a hotel (celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary!  Wow!).   And Ashley and Dave with Luke and Piper came over late Friday night.

Wednesday was THE day of Isaac's birthday.  He wanted to wait till Saturday with all the family to open presents and have the cake, so with Nana and Mume newly arrived we just had a good home cooked meal and the celebrated his birthday with the leftover cupcakes that he had taken to school.

Saturday we woke up early, and started getting everyone ready.  The baptism was to start at 10:30am, and Isaac wasn't the only kid being baptized that morning.  There were two other 8 year old girls from his church class.  So they were all able to share the day together!  (None of us moms wanted to do a big formal reception afterwards, so we decided that donuts and chocolate milk was the way to go.  Worked great!)
All the different responsibilities were shared between the three families and it worked great.  Nana played the piano, Grammie was the music leader, and the grandfather's were able to be the witnesses.  Matt performed the ordinance of baptism with Isaac.  Just one dunk!  (I think Isaac was the 2nd kid to be baptized).  Dave, Gramps, Mume, and Matt along with the bishop blessed Isaac with the holy ghost.

After the refreshments we all changed (some having to go a store, others back home for clothes), and headed to Tybee Island.  It was a cloudy and "cool" day in Savannah!  We stayed at the beach for a total of an hour.  It was windy, and rainy, and the ocean was rough!  But so much fun nonetheless.  The water was actually really warm, considering.
Once home from the ocean and all rinsed off we had cake and ice cream and birthday presents for Isaac.  Oh man, he loved it all.  Especially all the money!  The toys were cool too, don't get us wrong, but money is starting to be a really prized possession.
Saturday night the kids stayed up till 9, and the adults even later.  There were some really great football games, including a FSU game and a BSU game.  Yay!

My side of the family left Sunday morning.  The rest of our time with Nana and Mume was filled with just great family time.  Food and fun and laughter!

*** A side note about FOOD LEARNING that happened that weekend.    

One,  when tripling a batch of rolls, the rising rate will be amazing.  The pic below is only 30 minutes in and it had an hour to go!  It ended up being alright, but it was amazing! 

Two, the first time I worked and made fondant.  It's a beast!  I learned a lot, so hopefully next time (if there is a next time) it will go easier. 

Let's Wrap this Up :: Idaho/Canada Vacay, Part 4

We started our drive from Canada on Tuesday, July 29, around 9 or 10 in the morning.   Before leaving the plains of southern Alberta, we HAD to stock up on our Canadian candy, easily spending over 50 (Canada) dollars.  Worth it, I'm sure.

Once again, the boys didn't want to ride with me and Matt.  So our car (out of the 3) became the "needs a break from kids" car, and "I need a nap" car, for any of the adults.  It was really easy for me to drive and listen to a pod-cast via one ear bud, while a passenger took a nap.  Matt rode the last half the drive with Tyson to help with kids and such.  Me and Marcie had a fab time in our kid-free sharing tunes. She has really fun music and I do not.  But that wasn't a great surprise, was it?

Our last full day in Boise was spent having some park-time with a great friend and her awesome kids.  I've been very fortunate to make a good buddy or two where ever I've lived.  But why do we all have to live so far apart?  That's frustrating.
We spent the last half of the day with Boise family, swimming and talking and eating and having fun.  Seriously, Matt has some cool relatives!  And there was cake and ice-cream to celebrate Matt's upcoming 31st birthday, along with an aunt's and a cousin's too.

We woke up bright and early Thursday, July 31, and headed for the Boise airport.
It was a long day full of travel.  Once we made it across the country via airplane to Atlanta, we had to drive to our home which is 3.5 hours away.  We didn't make it back to coastal GA till like 10 at night our time.

We were ZOMBIES the next few days.  However, we couldn't be totally lazy since the boys were starting school on the following monday. PLUS Matt had to pick out a birthday gift!  Since the "going shooting" with the boys back in the first part of the Idaho vacation, Matt had guns on his mind.  I was like, "whatever, man," so he picked one out and bought it.  Apparently getting a new gun for a birthday is really fun?  He's very happy bout it, so I guess it is.

And then Monday happened and the boys started school (a post to come) and Matt had to go back to work, and our vacation and our summer officially ended.  WOW!