Land of Lancaster

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Our Soccer Star!

This summer, Carter has been playing indoor soccer each Wednesday evening at Cool Sports. He has been wanting to play soccer (like his older cousins) for quite some time so we finally found somewhere that 3 year olds can play. He was so excited to go pick out his very own soccer ball, shin guards, and soccer shoes! The first few classes were a little rough but by the end of the session, he was a soccer star! He did so well, we decided to sign him up for the Fall session! The last class of each session is award day. After their "game", they each get presented with a medal. Carter was so proud of his medal! We are so proud of you, Carter Joseph Lancaster!

Carter loves to kick the ball as hard as he can!

Practicing soccer skills with his team!

Clean up time!

Carter receiving his 1st soccer medal!

Cool Sports Soccer Team (Ages 3-5)

All smiles!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Circle G Ranch

Since Monday, July 16th was Courtney's birthday, we wanted to do something fun as a family. We enjoy spending as much time together as we can during the summers before school starts back in August! Joe had purchased a Groupon for Circle G Ranch in Strawberry Plains, TN so we thought we would go. It was the funniest experience we've had in a long time! Circle G Ranch is a drive-thru zoo/safari area. You get buckets of food and then drive at your own pace throughout the zoo. The animals are so comfortable with cars and people that they practically GET IN YOUR CAR!!! Joe and Camden were totally fine with this but Carter and Courtney were definitely NOT! To this day, everytime Carter sees an Ostrich or Emu he says, "I DO NOT like those things!". It's too funny!

The Emu slowly making it's way into our car! This was our 1st animal experience on our safari!

The animals did a great job of posing for us!

Camden got so comfortable that she started petting anything that came up to the window...

and then was sad when they would walk away! She would have gone after them if we would have let her!

Every time a new animal came up to the window she would say "Whas tha?". (Translation: What's that?)

Who needs Disney's Animal Kingdom when we have Circle G Ranch?

The herd of zebras all wanted to climb in our car!

This one practially had his head from one side of the car all the way through to the other!

As you can see, Carter got as far away from the animals as he could!

He got brave at the very end and helped Joe feed a camel!

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Our Little Rock Stars!

Before heading to bed on Saturday, July 14th, we set up High School Muscial on the Wii. Carter and Camden absolutely LOVE to sing into the microphones and hear themselves over the tv. It's quite entertaining! Obviously they have no idea what the lyrics are but that doesn't stop either one of them from singing their heart out! We love our little rock stars!

Carter and his sunglasses...

he has a million pairs and loves each and every one of them!

Singing a duet!

Camden has been singing since she was 10 months old!

She actually sings real songs, too!

Too cute for words!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Family Beach Pictures

After our last day at the beach, we got dressed to take family pictures! The kids weren't really the most cooperative this time but we still managed to get a few good ones! We had a wonderful trip and made great memories! We are so blessed to have careers that allow us to have so much time together throughout the year! Thank you, Grammy, for going with us! We hope you had as much fun as we did! We love you!

Our little family picture!

Family picture with Grammy!

Mommy with her precious babies!

Daddy with his little kiddos!

Grammy with Carter and Camden!

Carter (as you can see) decided that he would play in the ocean just one more time before we headed home!

Like brother, like sister! Camden thought Carter had a great idea!

Camden was not a happy camper when it was time to go back to the condo!

Happy Fourth of July: 2012!

We had such a busy and fun Fourth of July, even without a real fireworks show! Each morning while at the beach, we tried to take a bike trip around our favorite area of Hilton Head... Coligny Plaza. There is a cupcake store in Coligny that makes the most delicious triple berry muffins! The cupcakes are to die for as well! We decided to bike over and get a fresh, hot muffin, a few cupcakes for later, and bike on back to get ready for the beach! The kiddos absolutely LOVED going for the bike rides each day! We spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful weather on the sand! When we got back from the beach, we got ready and headed out... on bikes... to find something yummy for dinner. After a nice meal at Coligny, we walked around the trinket shops. Everything started closing by 8pm since it was the 4th of July. We thought we'd try to watch the fireworks on the beach but the kiddos had other plans in mind! By the time we got settled in for our bike ride back to the condo, they were both ASLEEP!!! So much for fireworks this 4th of July but we still had a great family day together!

Enjoying the bike ride!

Happy 4th of July!

Asleep before the fireworks even started!

Our Trip to Savannah!

On Tuesday, July 3rd, we drove the short distance (about 45 mintues) to Savannah, Georgia. Joe had never been there before (and neither had the kiddos) so we thought it would be a nice break from the daily beach excursion. Growing up, Courtney's family tried to go to Savannah whenever they went to Hilton Head for vacation. They always ate at a restaurant called "The Pirate's House" and had Shirley Temple drinks in pirate boots! The Pirate's House is an actual building where pirates are known to have stayed! Since Carter is really into pirates, we thought this would be a fun experience for him. We did the touristy trolley tour, ate at The Pirate's House, toured down Main Street by the water, ate yummy pralines, and sweat off lots of weight! It was so incredibly hot but the kids were real troopers! When we got back to our condo later that afternoon, we had a laid back evening staying in and going to the pool.

Ding, Ding, Ding went the trolley (more like putt, putt, putt went the trolley)! The behind-the-scenes story: We had to get off our trolley and wait for a new trolley to pick us up after this one shut down!

Arrrrgggghhhh Matey! Isn't this the cutest little pirate you've ever seen?

Carter was a little unsure of the "pirate" walking around talking to everyone! He kept his eye on him the ENTIRE TIME at lunch!

Our picture with Captain Hook!

(Carter and Camden are enjoying their treasure... a Dum-Dum sucker!

This was Camden's first and she thoroughly enjoyed it!)

Enjoying the cool pool after a super hot day outside!

Hilton Head: July 2012

We went to Hitlon Head Island for our summer vacation before the start of school... which was fast approaching for Joe! We left Knoxville on Saturday, June 30th and returned home on Saturday, July 7th. Grammy went with us and we all had a nice, relaxing trip (as relaxing as it can be with 2 little ones!). We made plans tentatively each day and had to be very flexible with changing them since Camden WOULD NOT nap at all for us on the beach! Carter ran 100 miles an hour as soon as his feet hit the floor each morning and Camden was right behind him! They both absolutely LOVED the beach even more so now than probably ever before! Camden loved running wild on the sand and Carter was so happy to have her as a little playmate!