Summer Days, Driftin' Away

We have had an awesome summer! Before school starts back on Monday, I thought I would post an update of all our summer activities. (Don't worry, it's just the highlights...)


We headed north at the beginning of the summer, driving to NC for a wedding and then on to Williamsburg, VA for some vacation time. We enjoyed visiting Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens and Water Country. We also got to spend some time with Ken's sister Melinda & her family. We then spent a couple of days with Ken's parents before heading back to AL.

Lauren & Catherine enjoyed going to VBS and swim lessons one week in June...and then the next week they both had camp and more swimming lessons. They both had a ball - I felt a little over- scheduled for summer!! ;)

Then in July we headed to Panama City for our annual family beach trip. It was great spending time with my parents, my brother, my sister and brother-in-law and my new nephew Jackson.

After the beach trip we were home for THREE days and then we headed back up to Kingsport, TN for Fun Fest! We saw hot air balloons, ate, swam, ate some more, sat around and ate...you get the idea. Very relaxing...

After Fun Fest, Ken & I left the girls with mom and dad for a few days and headed to Asheville, NC. We decided we were taking our 10th anniversary trip. (We celebrated 11 years in May, but we didn't go anywhere last year!!) We visited Biltmore, hiked Chimney Rock and visited the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Mount Mitchell, which is the highest point east of the Mississppi. (It was very foggy the day we visited Mount Mitchell, so we had to rely on the signs to tell us what we should have been able to see...)

Highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Mount Mitchell


Hope you enjoyed the whirlwind tour of our summer!!

Spring Break

The girls & I traveled to Illinois for spring break to meet my new nephew Jackson Monroe. We left on Friday March 13th and spent the night with my aunt in Nashville, TN. The girls had a blast playing with Aunt Barbara's jewelry.

Then we drove to Illinois on Saturday. Lauren & Catherine were so excited to meet "baby Jackson." They couldn't wait to hold him!

My birthday was on Sunday the 15th and the girls helped Sugie make brownies for my birthday treat.

We had such a great week with Katie & Bob and Sugie & Pops, and I was so glad that we got to stay with Aunt Barbara on both ends of the trip. It was so nice to break up the drive since I was driving by myself.

OH and one other funny story: Katie's cats are not that fond of my wild girls and generally try to hide. However, Ellie will "judo-chop" Lauren when Lauren gets in her personal space - it's hilarious!

Beach Trip!

On Sunday we returned from our annual family beach trip. The girls & I spent the week with my parents, my sister Katie and brother-in-law Bob and my brother Jay. Ken was able to come down for both weekends, which was great! We enjoyed feeding the turtles and fish in the lake behind the condo, going to the beach, going to the water park, a day at Crystal Lake with Nan & Dick and lots of seafood eating and margarita drinking. One fun highlight was on July 4th - Katie, Bob, Jay, Ken and I drove to Seaside to sightsee. Well, we ended up seeing Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo! I was hanging out of the van window taking pictures...I really played it cool. :) I will post more pictures soon.