~ Masons ~: A Grand August!

Ok, if I mentioned I had a doozy of a post back in July due to an over-abundance of pictures, then this post is a double doozy... And then some! A grand August indeed, with lots of precious time with grandparents AND great grandparents! Not to mention, great aunts & uncles, and even a great great aunt & uncle to boot.

We spent an awesome weekend in the middle of the month up in DE again. This time included the super sweet treat of seeing Too-Dad's brother and sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, followed by Lilee's first visit to the beach, and then Maelee's first time fishing! It was a full weekend. And a fun weekend :)

The last weekend of the month, we had the treat of a visit by grandparents Mee-Maw & Grandpa! It was another full and very fun weekend that included a trip to the zoo, yummy food, and pool time.

And of course, we all continue to enjoy being closer to grandparents Nana & Pop-Pop with all the help (!) and FUN that brings!

Onto the pictures!

Sweet time meeting Too-Daddy's 96 (!) year old brother, Uncle Noel.

Sweet face :)

Meeting Brent-
Too-Dad's sister, Dare and her husband, Hartsell's son

Lilee sure loved "cousin" Lane!

What a group-
Too-dad with his siblings, children, and half of his grand children and great grandchildren!

Such sweet, special people :)
Too-daddy with sister, Dare, and brother, Noel
Lilee melted a lot of hearts!

Sweet siblings

Firefly Fun with Too-dad :)

The next day was filled with sand, sun, water, and more fun. We lucked out with amazing weather, easy traffic, and most important, two very happy, little girls!

Hard to tell from the pics, but this little lady went way out in the water with daddy!

Happy as can be!

Stealing hearts in that precious hat and swimsuit!

Yummy yummy lunch at one of our favorite pizza places- Grotto's!

Nana couldn't resist this shot with her shark-loving girl!

I have many memories of Grotto's at the beach and fun at Fun Land from when I was younger (Steve & I had to ride the infamous "Gravitron" in honor of my brother!) so it was so fun to be able to watch Maelee enjoying it now and I can't wait to take Lilee again when she's older. Such a special place! After playing hard in the sand, sun, and water, it was time to sit back and take in the rides with daddy!

Steve's version of the "selfie" :)

More pics from Rehoboth:

We attempted to end the day with dinner with the whole gang at the clubhouse in TD & MC's neighborhood, but boy did that end up being a disaster with two very worn out little ones! We finally called it a night and headed out after Maelee came crashing to the floor, covered in ketchup, after sitting a bit too perilously on her chair, while Lilee screamed bloody murder in exhaustion. So, needless to say, no pics from that evening! We can at least laugh about it now though. We were quite a sight! :)

With a full house at Too-Dad & Too-Mom's, we stayed at my Uncle Tom & Aunt Viv's for the weekend and loved getting to spend some time with them and enjoy their beautiful home with lots of tractor/fishing fun! Our trip ended with little adventures around their place that morning.

Had to try the tractor that "cousin" Caleb loves, even if it was a bit "bumpy" for this girl:)

Time to go fishing!
On the beautiful pond next to their house.

Proudly holding the worms!

Enjoying the super fresh air

Here's a worm!

And off to another site to have a better chance at catching something!

Getting some great tips from true fisherman, Papa-Tom!

Caught one!!!

So proud :)

And a cute video of the action, too:

Maelee LOVED fishing with her Uncle Tom (Papa-Tom!), Pop-Pop, and daddy and very bravely and proudly held the worms and fish. What a fun, first fishing experience!

And Lilee enjoyed time with Jake :)
As did Maelee... so much so that she actually cried on our trip home cause she missed him!
Too sweet.

Some final sweet moments with Too-Dad & Too-Mom before heading home.

What a great weekend.

More pics from DE weekend:

The last weekend of the month, we enjoyed having Mee-Maw & Grandpa visit for several days. Maelee was tickled when she opened the mini-fishing rod gift, especially after having experienced fishing first hand! (She has since "fished" several times in our living room for small dinos and My Little Ponies:)

Playing Sudoku together :)

Off to the zoo on a packed, but beautiful, Saturday!

Touching a buffalo tail

Making friends with otters :)

Enjoying time with Grandpa

Lilee was a champ all day!

While I fed Lilee, everyone else visited the Reptile Hall that ended up being Maelee's favorite stop. She loved seeing all the slithering creatures and had to look at each exhibit, even going back if she missed one. That's our girl!

Snakes are cool!

(says the girl in the dino-riding princess shirt!)

Excitedly pointing out the alligator :)

Had to choose one of her new favorite creatures to ride on!

So cute!

It was a great day and we got to see lots of animals in action. Spent quite a bit of time watching the lions, including those adorable cubs above and their majestic papa, too.

Delicious brunch at The Carlyle down the street- we all enjoyed the yummy food!

Worn out from the big weekend :)

And a pic of the whole fam!

We stopped at Nana & Pop's to drop off Lilee while the five of us enjoyed a new restaurant in Old Town, featuring food and decor from the medieval ages!