Lagoon with the other cousins

 Lagoon is usually a Richards cousin thing but this summer the Pace cousins came all together.   I love that everyone has a friend.   The 4 older girl cousins are besties and go kind to all the littles.   Dayson, William and Aaron got a long great with no hesitations on any rides.   The little girls  Avaya, Hazel, Clara nd Bergun are so kind to each other.   Spencer rotates between being besties with the Clara and Bergun and Roy and Maddix.     

Prior to Lagoon we all spent some summer time in Teasdale.  I honestly had no idea what the kids were doing because I was busy putting the house together.  We also stopped by Sarah's house so the kids got some horse riding in.  

Lets Play lots of music

Spring means of concerts for all my kids.   Emily's chambers orchestra was finally able to perform in person.   She loved performing with the other philharmonic orchestras which meant hanging with her friends.  

She's a good friend to others and in return they are good to her.   They came and supported her concert with flowers at the end.  

Emily also participating in solo ensemble with the school. It was all done virtually.   She made it to regions receiving superiors all around.  Thanks Grandma Becky for accompanying her.  

Jane and Emily's piano recital 

Aaron rocked the Let's play music "Bridges" program.  The lets play music program is top notch but this bridges program blows it out of the water.   Let's just say he occasionally helped his sisters with their "theory" worksheets.    I ran into Aaron's teacher at a restaurant and she commented that he is always prepared, conscientious  and one of her best students.   

  

Spencer finished his first year of lets play music!   He caught on to the catchy songs quickly although he seldom sand in class but often shared his beautiful voice with us at home.   

Spencer often fought with me and in class to practice his bells part.  Thank heavens for his sparkly understanding teacher who patiently showed him and me the love we needed to stick with it.  When it was his turn he walked right up there and without skipping a beat nailed it with such confidence.   It gave me the motivation I needed to not give up and keep him in the program.  

Onward and upward they all continue to grow with their music skills.  I'm proud of each one of them!

 

cookies to florida by Emily

Once upon a time....  

Emily's best friend alix mentioned that her parents had bought a condo In panama city beach, Florida. Emily then said "Oh my gosh we will have to go there together sometime!" They both laughed it off and forgot about the idea until a few months later as they sat in one of there classes the idea was brought back up. This time it wasn't as much of a joke as it was before and they quickly began coming up with ideas to convince their parents to let this happen. After much begging they gave in and said as long as they paid for there plane ticket themselves they could go. They quickly let Ruby and Kassie in on this plane and the saving started. Emily was given a wonderful idea to sell decorating kits for sugar  cookies. So 75 bags of frosting, 300 bunny, egg, and flower shaped cookies later she had enough money for her plane ticket.

A little less than two months later I found myself waking at 4:30 am and heading to the airport. At the airport Alix gave me a belated birthday present.   It was a child's camera which helped document more than half of the trip.

  

The first thing we did when we got there was walk to walmart to buy food to eat throughout the week. Then we headed straight to the beach where the water was warm and the sand was soft. We spent a couples hours there before returning to the condo to make cookies and go to sleep. 

The next day we woke up not very earlier and headed back to the beach for a majority of the day. And don't worry we didn't forget the sunscreen. We then went back to the condo to each lunch and shower before going to Pier Park. While at Pier Park we rode the ferris wheel to get a perfect view of the sunset. We then walked around and shopped a little before stopping by at a giant candy store. We then got fancy pineapple drinks that were super yummy. Then returned back to the condo. 

The second day we woke up bright an early so we wouldn't miss our parasailing adventure. When we got there they gave us some instructions on what to do.  Alix and I were the first to go. We weren't as high in the air as we thought we were going to be. It was definitely my favorite part about the trip and I would totally do it again if given the chance. But this time I will know that the giant dark spot in the water below us was the shadow from the parachute not a dangerous animal.  

The next morning we woke up early yet again to go to shell Island. We drove a couple minutes to a pier where we waiting about half an hour for a shuttle to boat us to the island. While we were waiting we saw many fish and we also say a baby dolphin and its mother! When we arrived at Shell Island we were snorkeling and looking for shells for quite sometime before shuttling back the the pier. We then headed back to the condo to shower and went to go grab dinner. We went back to pier park for a little bit to try some fancy shakes and took pictures on the pier and on the beach below it. We then caught a late night showing of A quite place 2 in a theater nearby and getting some rolled ice cream. We then headed back to the condo for the last time to pack our bags and leave early the next morning.