Van's 11th, 12th, & 13th Birthdays

How do we have a teenager? How have I missed writing about three birthdays already? I wish these days would sometimes move a little slower like they seemed to when the kids were younger. For Van's 11th birthday, he asked to invite some buddies to go fishing at the Johnny Mercer pier:

                                         

For Van's 12th birthday, he already had a camping trip with scouts to Masonboro Island. He enjoyed that, and then asked if Evans could take a few of his good friends fishing that Sunday they returned home. Evans literally loaded up the camping gear back onto the boat and rode straight to the marina to pick up Van's friends. It was a beautiful day (and only one friend fell into the water!! ;-). 

He decided to break the fishing theme for his 13th birthday and wanted to have a big sleepover after the school fall festival that happened to fall on his birthday. It was a lot of rap music, basketball, Gatorade, donuts, pizza, and fun. The boys rode bikes to the marina and went on a little boat ride. They stayed up most of the night chatting and watching movies. Thirteen years of celebrating a really awesome kid... I cannot believe how much he has accomplished in 13 years. I do miss him being little, but I am equally as excited about the young man he is becoming. 

(A full wipe out nap post sleepover.)