Safety Check

The summer is going by much to fast but Tracy and Kyle got to take a couple days off from it all and sit around the house... Kyle spent the last part of the weekend and the first part of this week fighting another virus... he is doing great now, but struggled with a high temp and sore legs. It was strange, he would complain of his legs hurting when he first woke up, but after a hour or so, he was running around as fast as ever. The sore legs went away with the fever and all are healthy at the Surratt household! During all of this, Kyle discovered the movie "Cars" and now asks 3000 times a day to watch, "race cars on TV"!

On Friday, we spent the morning with Cerys and then off to playgroup at Duffy & Kates house. The kids had a blast - in fact they had so much fun, they both napped! Which was great b/c after naps we went to the inflatable palace for some jumping birthday fun for Ruthie and Madeline! To top off the night, Bebe came over to hang with the kids while Eric, Tracy, and Darcy went to see the Wailers - fun night for everyone!

Saturday was just as much fun beginning with a family pool outing and then over to the O'Sullivans for dinner. Enjoy the pix!

Cerys, Kyle, Riley, Kaitlyn, and Caleb watching... you guessed it, CARS!

Kyle and Cerys enjoying a beer, I mean dessert!

Some of us found the accidental placement of the empties amusing:-)
Ri working on a master piece on her new whiteboard
The final product - the Birthday Girls!

Kyle hanging with an orange fish

Crazy face! She had soooo much fun at the Inflatable Palace and wants to have her birthday party there as well.

Josh, Kyle, and Riley - these three had to have gone down the slide together 20 times!

Up, Up, Up he goes!

Helping Hands

Such a fun week again! Aside from Riley getting her "very first splinter" tonight, the week has been great! First, we got an unexpected visit from Papa as he set off for his first disaster with FEMA! But when we left off last week, we were in the middle of "kids give back" week with our church.... Riley had a blast all week at VBS and playing with Caroline in the morning and going back to school with Cerys in the afternoon. Tracy is very thankful to her wonderful friends for helping ship Ri around for the three days Tracy was at work - Ri would have missed out on a lot of fun without all of them!! On friday Tracy, Kyle, and Riley joined the entire "kids give back group" at Ashland Convalescent Home to deliver their wonderful hand print paintings and sing songs. After visiting, which all the kids really enjoyed, we had a fun picnic at a playground near by.

The day wasn't over...after naps we went to the Childrens Museum with the Bests! On Saturday the kids hit the pool with Eric and then Riley, Tracy, Darcy, and Lexa spent the afternoon at Kings Dominion riding the "big rides"! The girls LOVE the Flying Eagle and the ScoobyDoo! That night Darcy and Lexa spent the night and hung out with our kids while we went to the neighborhood adult pool party!

We also visited Eric at work and had lunch with him and swung by Tracy's office to say Hi too! Loads of fun, but not many pix...

Kyle and his buddy Ruthie at CMoR

Riley hatching from an egg
Little Butt!

Dog Days of Summer

We are loving the dog days of summer! The kids still can't get enough of the pool or Kings Dominion! This week we played with our friends in the Gills back yard as well as in our back yard with slip-n-slides, baby pools, sand boxes, and swing sets. We also visited our pool and Bebe's pool and the park.

Also, this week is Grace's vacation bible school and the theme is "Kids Give Back". Kyle, Riley and Tracy attended on Monday and only Riley though the rest of the week and she has had a blast! Aside from fun activities including coloring, singing, dancing, obstacle courses, bubbles, painting, and of course bible stories, each day the kids do a project to help someone else (the American troops, Ashland Convalescent Home, Kids Community Outreach group, the Food Bank) Great Job Ladies!
Enjoy the pix:

Riley rollerskating in the garage

painting rocks outside

TAZ!! Every one's favorite cat

Kyle loved the slip-n-slide but his pants wouldn't stay up!

Riley is over her fear of the water and even loves the slip-n-slide

(that fear was sooo last year!)

Riley dancing at "kids give back"

(notice: no dress... I got her to wear shorts all week since

the kids run around outside for 2 hours!)

The entire KGB crew! excluding all the amazing organizers and Hank the Handyman

Kyle getting his groove on:

Splishin-n-splashin

I should have learned my lesson already, but once again I'm behind by a couple weeks and they have been FUN weeks! We have gone to Kings Dominion a few times - once with Darcy and Lexa, once on our own, and once with the Best's and Haley's and had TONs of fun each time! Kyle talks about roller coasters constantly and both kids have gotten crazy in the water!

We have also frequented our pool and Bebe's pool - both kids are little fish and love jumping in. We also visited our friend Caroline's pool and volunteered with the MOM's club to work our won Anthem Lemon-Aid stand at the club house. Riley loved getting "customers" and our club raised over $200!

Of course we also had playgroup a couple times with all our buddies and had playdates at our house with a few different friends and Lexa. Riley also had a pool birthday party, we had our friends the O'Sullians over for dinner, and we all visited Lewis Ginter with the Sproulls to see the butterflies! But all of this can better be told in pix! Enjoy!

Lexa, Kyle, & Riley in the wave pool

Riley at the water area of Lewis Ginter

Riley, Molly, and Kyle at LG

Riley and Molly exploring the gardens at LG

Kyle checking out all the butter flies at Lewis Ginter

Riley checking out a butterfly!

Jeffery, Molly, Emory, Kyle (with football) and Riley at LG

Kyle at KD - Kyle hung with Tracy and the babies (Ben 9months and Jake 1.5 years) while the "big kids" rode the flume ride with all the other moms and dads.

Kyle, Eric, and Riley

Ri is up front with her hands up - Kyle (also hands up)

and Eric in the next row and Julie and Ruthie behind them!

This is Cerys holding her Kyle manikin doll... LOL!!

Kyle, Ivy, Riley, and Aiden working the Anthem Lemon-Aid stand

Ivy and Kyle on the see-saw out back

Kyle and Riley finally got that plane in the air!!

On the Eiffel Tower

Cerys and Kyle being silly

One more time!

Happy Birthday America! The Surratt's had a great weekend in NC with Grandma, Papa, Darcy, and Lexa. We took the boat out several times, spent hours at the pool, ate great food, saw wonderful fireworks, and even did some tubing! The girls loved to tube and can't wait to go back for some more!

Aside from a great weekend in NC, we also went to Kings Dominion with some friends last week and had swim lessons all of last week. Riley is totally smitten with her swim instructor, Zach, and is willing to do anything swim related once Zach is present or we threaten that he is watching. Her crush is a glimpse into the future, and we aren't sure how much we are going to enjoy the teen years:-) Riley continues to love wearing dresses and requests to wear a dress DAILY and now loves to have her hair french braided. Again, a bit of a look into the future...

Kyle is nearly healthy and has continued to love the water. His skin rebelled last week and he was covered in eczema but is nearly back to normal now. Today at the pool he stepped on a bee (possibly a hornet) and got a nasty sting. He hung strong and was quickly back in the water acting like a mad man!
Enjoy the pix!

The Surratts on Papa's boat waiting for the fireworks display

Grandma and the kids

Papa and Kyle

The trio before the fireworks

Kyle in his never ending desire to fly!

Riley snuggling with Grandma!

Riley on the tube with Tracy

Uncle Mike playing with Kyle at the pool

Riley and Lexa paying close attention to their swim instructor, Zach.

Little Fish!

Ugh! I'm not sure where to begin... the last 2 1/2 weeks have been packed with fun! We spent last weekend in NC with Grandma and Papa for Eric to play with Papa in his Member/Guest tournament. Their three year run of victory ended this year, but they still had fun! Golf is definitely a humbling game:-) The kids had a blast playing in the pool and going to Music in the Streets and Riley and Lexa stayed for the rest of the week!

This was Riley's first adventure away from home (5 days!) and she had a BLAST! They played at the pool for hours each day, went on the boat daily and ate lots of icecream! They played at Deadwood (dinner/park for kids) and even dug for fossils in Aurora. Each night we spoke to our little adult on the phone and she'd happily tell us the daily adventures. It was all very surreal for Eric and Tracy... it seems like yesterday that she was just learning to talk! And according to Ri, "Grandma and Papa even let me (her) have soda... twice!" It was a VERY exciting week!

During this time, E & T relaxed with only one child back home... however, as always, Kyle came down with croup! He is better now, just fighting a secondary cold from the croup:-(

During all this time, both kids have become water bugs!! They have spent countless hours at the pool and are both swimming! Riley really has it down and Kyle, just keeps on trying - which impresses us to no end considering he just turned 2 and has had not lessons.

We have also had a couple of great dinners with great friends, visited Bebe (our fabulous patient!), gone to Kings Dominion several times, and had playgroup several times!
The kids LOVE school and are enjoying all the summer fun, including splash day. Kyle's teaches continue to crack us up... they claim that they want an entire class room of "Kyles"! They say his vocab is fabulous and that he is adorable and funny... we want to know which child they are sending home with us then - since once home he is a tiny terror! Just kidding, he is a sweetheart (with a little devil in him) and we are so happy his teachers love him as much as we do! OK, enough kid love... on to the pix!

Lexa and Ri waiting for adult swim to end... look at those little bottoms!

Cerys, Riley, and Kyle enjoying Diamond Castle (for the hundredth time)
Kings Dominion!

Kyle at the golf Tournament (in grandmas glasses)

Ri & Lexa in matching suits from Bebe

swim bugs

Ri feeding the turtles during her NC adventure

Chillin with lunch during the NC adventure

On the ferry with Papa ("even CARS go on this boat", per Riley)

Digging with Grandma - Ri found a little sharks tooth in her shoe!

Riley and her favorite past-time

Lexa, Ri, and Papa at Deadwood

Eric and Tracy at the Member/Guest dinner

Grandma and Papa's view

Grandma & Kyle sharing icecream that ended in LOTs of giggles!

Crazy Kid!

The trio!

Riley has learned to swim!!!

Kyle and Papa playing during their last visit to Richmond

Kyle swimming: