The Whaleys: Summer 2014 with a LOT of pictures!

Oh man, I have so much to catch up on..I think I'll divide this up into two posts: what we have been up to this summer, and Jackson's 5 YEAR update! Here we go-

-Jackson graduated 4K! He had a graduation ceremony for his preschool and received his very own "big boy" Bible with his name on it. He is so proud of it! The ceremony was so cute. The kids sang songs and were presented with their bibles. I am so proud of my baby and I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten soon. Graduation from 4K was bittersweet because he and his friends are all going to be split up at different schools for kindergarten. I don't know of any 2 kids going the same place.

-Mother's Day was so much fun and my boys really spoiled me. I got some beautiful flowers and an edible arrangement, along with the cutest handmade gifts from the boys!

-We spend a good bit of time at the beach and water park this summer. Both boys preferred the water park and Jackson was finally big enough to go down the "big slides". Rhett enjoys the pool and the lazy river. Both love the waves at the beach, although they always try and push us to go deeper in the ocean. Speaking of the beach, Folly Beach turned the most beautiful blue this summer. They think it has to do with the beach re-nourishment project and dredging, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. For my whole life, the water has always been pretty greenish/brown but it was so gorgeous and clear blue!

-The highlight of my summer: I MET ADAM DURITZ and the Counting Crows!! It was a long time dream realized and most certainly one of the best days of my life. We saw the band in Greenville, SC and got VIP tickets, which included a meet and greet with the band, attending sound check, autographed posters, and concert tickets. I managed to snag us 2nd row center seats! What can I say, it was perfect from start to finish. We attended sound check and were there for an hour watching the band interact with each other, play some new songs, and basically watch how they work through different songs getting ready for the concert. Then, the moment finally came...I was so nervous and excited to meet Adam and the band that i was shaking. When it was our turn, we walked up to the band and shook their hands. I stood next to Adam who had his hands behind his back and slid my arm around his waist and said "Can we...??" and he smiled and said "sure". I was in heaven!! Then before we walked away, I looked at Adam and all I could say was "I love you" to which he smiled again and said "thank you". For so long I had tried to think of the perfect thing to say to him and that's all I could say when I was in the moment. haha :) Then we had dinner and headed back to the concert. Toad the Wet Sprocket opened and they were fantastic!! Oh man it was just so great. Then when it was time for Counting Crows set, I couldn't believe how close were were. We were surrounded by other die hard counting crows fans and IT WAS MY HAPPY PLACE! The concert was nothing short of amazing and Adam and the boys are just so freaking great live. We were so close, I could have reached out and touched Adam (again!). Anyway, the next couple of days I spent coming down off the high of meeting the band and overcoming my post concert blues...I was just sad that that perfect moment was over. Needless to say, I can't wait to do it all over again as soon as possible!!

I should also mention that the concert was on Father's Day and Justin was a champ for letting me have my dream come true on his day! The boys and I picked out some special gifts for Justin and hand made some as well. I'm pretty sure that Justin had a good day, though!

-Jackson started summer camp at our local YMCA. They had arts and crafts, gymnastics, and swimming. He absolutely loved it. He also did camp one day a week at the Little Gym, which was a lot of fun.

-Rhett also attended the Little Gym one day a week and honestly I think his time in class was the best hour of his entire week! He LOVED it! He was adorable smiling, dancing, and acting crazy with all of the other sweet babies in class.

-We ended up having to get a new nanny to watch Rhett this summer and she was simply FANTASTIC!! She had to go back to college a couple of weeks ago and so we have another wonderful babysitter who we just love.
It's funny the way things work out sometimes...we unexpectedly had to switch nannies and it was such a blessing to us and our boys. I am amazed at how just the right people were put in front of us at just the right times!

-Our next door neighbor's house was struck by lightening. I was home along with the boys and a nasty storm came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, our power blipped and we heard a huge crack and flash of light...our alarm system started going off as well as a bunch of the boys' toys. I called Justin and told him that I though that our house had just been struck by lightening. A few minutes later, I heard sirens and they parked right in front of my house. When I went out side, my neighbor's house was smoking from the attic. Thank God our neighbor across the street noticed the smoke. The neighbors who own the house that was hit were out of town and I was supposed to be watching the house...needless to say it was a crazy day! The firemen came through our house and checked the walls, which were fine. The boys were in awe watching the firemen work on the neighbor's house. I told him that those guys (and gals) are real heroes. Unfortunately we had to replace about $1000 dollars in lost electronics (alarm system, bose speakers, all phones, computer modem, router, etc). Several of my neighbors lost the same things and we all had about the same amount of damage. The firefighters determined that the lightening went in one side of my neighbors house and out the other. Scary!

-We had so much fun playing tourist in our own town this summer and did things like: visited the USS Yorktown on Memorial Day and spoke to the sweetest WW2 Veteran, Harbor Cruise in Charleston, Flying Kites at Charlestowne Landing, Go Kart Riding and playing video games at Blackbeard's Cove, fireworks at home for July 4th, Jumping at Monkey Joes, AND the boys went to their first Charleston Riverdogs baseball game. They did great and loved doing the chants and eating popcorn.

-Justin and I went to an Edwin McCain concert at the Windjammer, which happened to be10 years after our first one together when we were still dating. It was so great! We put the boys down to bed and left them with our awesome nanny/babysitter. We actually stayed out late and they didn't wake up once. We haven't stayed out that late since before we had kids!

-It was truly a fantastic summer, capped off by Jackson's 5th birthday (more on that soon). We have had so much fun with both boys and they have grown so much. It's most noticeable in Rhett and he is talking up a storm and his personality continues to shine through more and more. I can't believe the summer is over and that both boys are starting school soon. Time has surely flown.

-We have our annual trip to Disney World scheduled for the end of September and have been able to snag some amazing dinner reservations...I can't wait! We are staying at the Contemporary Resort again. We are counting down the days and hoping for nice weather.

Next up: Jackson's 5 yr update and an update on Rhett!

Here are some photos from our wonderful summer!