Things I don't have pictures of

Vacation Bible School
Nick and Alex LOVED VBS this year!!!!! Since I taught preschool music, I got to have Alex in class everyday. The theme this year was High Sea Adventure, so that really appealed to Nick and Alex.
Swimming
We have been doing a lot of swimming in our friends pool. I am amazed at how great the boys are doing.

And the big thing...

We celebrated Alex's Gotcha Day! On June 21st, we had to do our 12-month post-placement home visit. It was funny that we did it on the exact one-year mark of having Alex. I guess I can sneak one picture in of the day we got Alex. He is an amazing kid!

We interrupt this blog...

Ok, I try to keep this blog about the boys and they were not with us in Hawaii, but I'm going to post a little about our trip anyway. Sorry! We stayed at the Moana Surfrider Hotel in Waikiki. It was amazing. The picture above is taken the day we arrived in Hawaii. We walked out the back of our hotel onto the beach and couldn't believe it looked like this. Diamond Head is in the background.

We did two great hikes. You can't go to Hawaii and skip the hike to the top of Diamond Head. It was a nice hike and the views were great although it was crowded at the top. We also hiked to Manoa Falls. It was a beautiful hike in the rainforest.

Above: Michael and Kerry invited us to come with them to Hawaii. They were really good traveling mates. Mostly because they let me plan the itinerary and boss everyone around!

Below: So, I knew all about Michael's plan to surprise Kerry with a vow renewal ceremony on the beach. I didn't know that Ryan was planning to surprise me, too. We had a wonderful night.

Here is the whole Nickelson family enjoying Hawaii. Even Zane was there! Kaitlyn and Hannah were good travelers, too! Every time we talked to the boys on the phone, they would want to know what Kaitlyn and Hannah were doing.

What happened to June?

June was a great month. It just went way too fast. Apparently, I was too busy to blog!
Nick and Alex had a great time vacationing in Branson with Grandma and Grandpa Bradley while we headed off to Hawaii. The boys spent the second half of our time away with Grandma and Grandpa Pruett who took them to Cape Girardeau for a few days.
Nick and Alex had a great time. Nick discovered he loves the log flume at Silver Dollar City and Alex discovered that if he tells Grandma Pruett he doesn't want pancakes that morning, she will send Grandpa to the store to buy sausage to make biscuits and gravy instead.
Ryan and I had a wonderful, amazing time being together and with our friends in Hawaii. We were happy to get home and see the boys and felt re-energized after the time away!
The boys thought it was funny to stuff dirty shirts down Ryan's back and then he would act all grossed out- or maybe he really was grossed out!

We bought the boys Hawaiin outfits complete with shark tooth necklaces.