fourth of july door county adventures...

for the 4th of july we decided to go spend a few days up in door county!

we loaded up in "oshkosh" and started the drive.

me and my buddy at the table.

drew and baramee (my rotary club's foreign exchange student who stayed with us for 3 weeks) rode up front.

we headed down to one of our favorite spots in sturgeon bay for lunch - kitty o'reily's irish pub.

ham bone!

what would a fourth of july be without some fireworks!

hannah and i ready to head down to the beach!

max was pretty excited about this silly light up toy that drew got him! :)

ready for the show to begin!

the master of ceremonies!

on friday we got invited for a boat ride with uncle bill!

such a gorgeous day for a boat ride.  the great company made it even better!

from 3 to 4 in the blink of an eye...

to celebrate max's last day being 3, we headed out for some frozen yogurt!

 it was delicious!!

the "official" day finally arrived!

max got a birthday card in the mail from grampa mark!

he was pumped to find more dollars!

for lunch the birthday boy picked stone cellar for some of their great mac n cheese.

next we headed to baseball camp.

it was adorable to watch. 

baseball camp was followed by shopping for the supplies for his fish tank.

we got it all set up and had to wait 3 days before getting fish.

max's ocean birthday party...

so i'm quite a bit delayed with this post. 

maybe i just didn't want to admit max turned 4, maybe if i didn't blog about it then it didn't happen yet!

we had a blast at the party store picking out max's decorations for his ocean themed party!

it was all his idea...an ocean party with a shark cake.

this was my attempt at the "shark cake."

max didn't seem disappointed.

and this mini fish cupcakes were a hit too!

not sure why, but i think that all of these mustache glasses are HILARIOUS!

we were so thankful that so many family members were able to join us for the celebration!

the spread! :)

the handsome birthday boy!

the day was a hot one so max decided to have some fun in the sprinkler between lunch and cake!

thumbs up for dessert!

make a wish!

after cake and ice cream it was time to open presents.

we had asked everyone rather than buying toys to give max a new book and $4.

with the money we were going to get him a fish tank and a few fish.  

he'd been asking for one for quite awhile.

with every gift he opened...he was excited about the book and the dollars.

he did a great job thanking each person!

baby grace and hannah

a couple people even threw in a few extras! :)

ryan and the kids stayed for a bit after the party.

max and hayden were playing super heroes.

i asked max to pose for me.  he was ironman.

i asked hayden to pose...you can see his cape flying in the wind as he ran away!

he was batman!

these two boys were pooped from all of the excitement.

they hunkered down with a snack and watched the little mermaid.

thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate and making the day so special for max!

summer activities...

we decided to sign max up for a few summer activities through park and rec.

since our child loves the water and has no fear...swim lessons were a must.

he was so excited to go on the first day and didn't even care that it was chilly enough for a sweatshirt!

luckily the sun broke through the clouds and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.

he will do two different two week preschool classes.

we are going to look into doing them year round at a local high school pool since he loves being in the water so much.  it would make me much less anxious around the water if he knew what he was doing!

we also signed him up for "baseball camp."

he's not old enough for t-ball, so this was our only option.

it's once a week for four weeks.

just enough to have some fun, play with other kids, and learn a few new skills.

we were a few minutes early so he got to play catch with one of the coaches.

there were about 12 4-5 year old boys out there.  it was HILARIOUS.

they ranged from kids who knew what they were doing to ones who had no idea.

one boy did a pitchers wind up every time he threw the ball.  another kid started shouting, "throw it to me!!!" over and over the second the ball left his hand and was thrown to someone else.

they practiced running the bases.

max did a good job of telling the coach when he needed to take a little break to catch his breath.

at the end, he told the coach, "i'm all done running."  the coach asked if he was tired.  he answered, "no, i'm not tired but we are just running around in circles."  

they also worked on how to field a grounder...

pick it up and throw it back to the coach.

max's group ended with hitting off of a tee.

it's been fun watching him interact with others in a group setting, learn new things, and develop some independence to try these classes.  we are so proud of you buddy!!

take me out to the ballgame...