Day to Day in May

Last May was a wonderful month for our family mostly because it brought us all back together again.  The beginning of May usually marks the end of busy season for Dallas, which means we get our DADDY back!  It was such a fun month spending time as a family and reconnecting with dear friends.
Here are some of the highlights from this incredible month last spring...

Daxton was reunited with his best little buddy, Ayla!
Due to Ayla traveling and then later Daxton traveling, these two little peas in a pod had not seen each other in almost 3 weeks.  When they met up again, after being away, they couldn't help but show their joy for each other.  I swear that hug lasted forever :)  They had a blast at their swim lessons and immediately made a request for their post swim lesson tradition...smoothies and cookies at Flamingo Nursery.  

Loving their smiley cookies

Aubrey and I loved our weekly visits to Flamingo nursery as well.  They kids were totally occupied with each other, their smoothies, and exploring that they gave us mommies lots of time to chat.  Plus I loved the snuggle time I got from baby Reef!

In May, we also joined a babysitting group with three other families.  Each of us would take a Friday night watching all the kids while the rest of the adults would have date nights.  It was great to have a set date night for three out of the four Fridays during the month!  Daxton also became a major fan of the iPad.  I need to be better about the amount of time he is on it, but I have to admit, I LOVE the snuggles I get while he's on it.

Some of our favorite highlights from May were our adventures at Hollywood Beach.  One Saturday night, we met up with our good friends, the Kohfelds (Ayla's family) for dinner on the boardwalk.  While we were waiting for the Kohfeld family to arrive I was able to convince this little sweetheart of ours to take some family pictures...

Daxton was in rare form!

Sunglasses and family selfies!

Love this beautiful man of mine!

Daxton looks like a total beach bum and I absolutely love it!

As you can tell, Daxton was ecstatic to be reunited with his daddy after traveling and Dallas's work schedule.  These two have such a unique and tender bond.  I love watching them interact and how they constantly make the other laugh.

When we saw Ayla and her family walking towards us, both Daxton and Ayla squealed loudly and ran into each other's arms.  It was literally one of the sweetest things we'd ever seen.  They love each other so much!  They were quite the characters at dinner as well.

Dallas and I had a blast catching up with Aubrey and Chris and were SO grateful they introduced us to the Taco Spot!  We ate the yummiest carnitas tacos, grilled corn, rice and beans.  At one point we looked over at the kids and they were feeding each other!  Seriously, those two together were such characters.

After dinner we changed the kids into their swimsuits and let them play in the waves as the sun went down.  They continued to laugh, hug, splash, and jump in and out of the waves until it was dark.  It literally could not have been a more perfect evening with incredible friends!  We love them so much.

One of my favorite things about Hollywood beach is the big splash pad right next to the boardwalk.  It was the perfect spot to strip down the kiddos and let them run in the water to get off all the sand.  There are few things cuter than little white bums running around.

The month of May brought on other big changes for our family...namely no more diapers.  Daxton and I had been having lots of talks about wearing underwear instead of diapers while we were traveling through Washington.  I told him that when we got back home we would say goodbye to diapers.

After hearing so many horror stories about potty training little ones, I was shocked at how well it went!  He was ready and only had one accident within the first day and then he was trained.  Not bad!  He was a little nervous at first (as you can see from the below picture) but he quickly became adjusted and loved all his new Disney undies.

The boys were also extra sweet with me on Mother's day, making me a special dinner and decorating a cake.

We also LOVED all our play dates in May.

Daxton had a blast meeting up with his buddies, Joey and Julian, for a morning of Ziggle races.  Julian taught Daxton some awesome tricks on the ziggle and the boys were sweethearts and played so well together.

Daxton also loved meeting up with his buddy, Dean, at the local splash pad.  The boys were hilarious together and loved pretending they were alligators while crawling on their bellies.

One afternoon we were supposed to meet up with Ayla for a playdate, but sadly Daxton wasn't feeling well, so we had to cancel.  This didn't stop this adorable duo from face timing each other!  I wish I could put into words how hilarious it was to listen and watch their conversation unfold.  They were both so excited to see the other's face and ended up laughing hysterically through most of the conversation.

Other fun highlights from May...

Renting a Uhaul to move in new bedroom furniture

Weekly pool groups with friends, yummy Tuesday night food truck dinners, sleeping on his new bed and sheets (plus falling asleep with Daddy's calculator.)

More swim lessons with his buddies, Ayla and Emily, and our weekly tradition at Flamingo nursery...

We had so much fun exploring all the different plants and insects around Flamingo Nursery.  Both Ayla and Daxton were so excited to experience new things.

We also had lots of fun babysitting Ayla at our house, which included dance parties, games, blocks, popsicles, and lots of hugging. They are such Florida babies and hated keeping their clothes on...not to mention both were getting used to being potty trained.  Gotta love pantless toddlers!

Dallas and I LOVED meeting up with our dear friends, Tiffany and Adam, for a double date night.  We were excited to take them to the Taco Spot, the same location Aubrey and Chris had recently shown us.  We had a blast that night filling ourselves with yummy food and then talking on the beach for hours.  We really have some incredible friends.

Some of our favorites, were the late evening walks around our neighborhood as the sun was setting.  Daxton showed off his ziggle skills and we had fun watching all the ducks.

May also brought with it the RAINY season.

Heavy thunder and lightning storms would roll through almost every afternoon dumping some of the heaviest rain we had seen.  Daxton loved the excuse to sing and dance in the rain.  We also found an umbrella that actually matched his ugly rain boots.

One of Daxton's favorite places is visiting his buddy, Joey's, house. They have the most amazing play structure and ball pit inside their home.  The boys had so much fun playing, swinging, climbing, and jumping all over the place.

The big accomplishment was finishing another session of swim lessons.  Daxton did amazing that session with his buddies, Ayla and Emily.  Having close friends in his class helped push him and feel more comfortable in the water.  He grew so much being in swim together.  Not to mention the three of them were so stinking CUTE!

Getting their medals with Coach Nicole

A few pics their swim coach took during class.  Daxton needed to work on his tight hugs...

May was an incredible month full of much needed time with our family and friends!

Trip to Washington--Fox Hollow Farms

Our last full day in Seattle area, was spent exploring a super cute little farm out in Issaquah called Fox Hollow Farm.  Katrina and Sadie were super excited to show Daxton all the fun animals and activities.

I love how Daxton's hugging Katrina in the picture below!

Heather was such a sweetheart to spend another day taking Daxton and I on adventures!   She chose the best spot for sure!  Fox Hollow Farm was absolutely adorable with everything centered around hands on activities for children.  We had so much fun and Daxton couldn't have been happier!

Before we entered the farm, we saw the cutest little pony that was about the height of Daxton.  It even came over to the fence and stuck it's nose between the wood while Daxton was watching it.

The kids loved watching all the different animals eat and play around in their pins.  Daxton thought the pigs were pretty funny.

The location could not have been more beautiful!

It was nestled up against the most beautiful green mountains, with lush trees, and interesting animals everywhere.

Our favorite were all the free roaming peacocks showing off their gorgeous feathers.  They even had a stunning albino peacock, which I didn't even know existed.

One of the kids' favorite spots was the chicken coop.  There were so many baby chicks for the kids to interact with!

We quickly found out that the chicks were really friendly and all we had to do was sit still.  Pretty soon we were covered in baby chicks!  I LOVED how sweet Katrina and Sadie were with Daxton.  They were so patient and helped him interact with each of the animals.

So many baby chicks!

There were also adorable kittens and bunnies for the kids to hold.

Petting the different goats along the walking paths...

They even had a little pony for all the kids to ride!  It was so much fun watching each of them take their turn riding the pony.

Katrina was first...

Then a VERY excited Daxton...

Followed by an adorable Sadie...

The part that made Daxton almost lose his mind, was finding a whole section just for driving!  There were several jeeps for kids to drive along the circular driveway.  Both Sadie and Katrina were so sweet to help Daxton not drive off into the bushes.  The kids circled multiple times and had a BLAST.

We then explored the path down to the little river behind the farm, where the kids had fun throwing rocks and jumping in the creek.  They found a funny chair along the way and pretended that Daxton was the king with Katrina and Sadie his guards.  It was so funny to see them try to not smile while I was taking their picture!

There was also a super fun corn pit that kids had a blast playing in. They spent a long time jumping, rolling, and making "corn" angels.  I loved watching them laugh hysterically with each other.

You know it's been a magical day when a meltdown occurs when you're trying to leave.  Daxton could have stayed there forever and been perfectly content.  It was such a cute little place and full of so many fun things for the kids to do.

The next day, Daxton and I made the sad, long journey back home to Florida.  The 6 hour flight went by quickly with this sweetheart traveler by my side!  We played games, ate snacks, read books, and even built a little fort under the folding tray which made a perfect hiding spot for him to watch his movies.  This seasoned traveler was an absolute dream!

Our last view of the mountains as we left Washington...
Man, how I miss mountains!

Daxton and I had such an incredible trip visiting family in Washington.  It was so great seeing him interact with his grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  The absolute hardest thing about living in Florida is being so far away from my side of the family.  It was so wonderful being able to spend such quality time with all of them.
Hopefully we'll be able to visit home again, sooner rather than later.