Cramming in the last of summer.....

Wow, only 11 days left until school starts back! We have been trying to take advantage of the last little bit of summer break by cramming in more fun than we can stand over the past few weeks!

Jacob and Mary Rose had a great time at Kamp Kennessee. They loved.....seeing old friends and making new ones, getting freaked out on the 60 foot high zip line, the daily Bible devos and spiritual atmosphere, the grand-daddy of all "slip and slides", (which incorporates dish-washing detergent, shaving cream and industrial strength fire hoses down a very steep hill--whoa!!)
....just to name a few of their favorites.

Here is Mary Rose with some of her camp friends and bunk mates:















And Jacob with his good buddy, Tanner:















After picking the kids up at camp, we headed to Texas for our annual trip to the Lonestar state. It was awesome, as always.....lazy days, humid nights, dear friends and loads of fun! We thoroughly enjoyed staying in Conrad & Mary's beautiful new home, a modern marvel perched in the treetops.




Here is a view from their living room...










And we finally got to meet their newest addition, Cora Mae, who is 5 months old already!!





Here is a snuggly, swaddled baby Cora with Jacob What a sweetheart!









Kevin played with his "boys" in the Tyler golf tournament and put up some respectable numbers. His buddy, Reagan, talked the guys into having a "retro" dress up day, so they showed up on the course modeling some happenin' vintage golf wear. OOOOweeee, I know they were having to fight those cart girls off!! No, I'm not posting a picture of them......I don't want all of you viewers to be blinded by their male beauty.....just trust me when I say they were SMOKIN'!

We headed out of Dallas and spent a couple of days visiting other friends and relatives on the way back home. Spent an afternoon with my Aunt Anne & Uncle John in their "retirement" home in Bryan/College Station. They were so good to us when we lived in College Station while Kevin was finishing school at A&M. We love them dearly and wish they weren't so far away!





The kids with Uncle John & Aunt Anne











Then we headed to Centerville, TX for a great (but too short) overnight visit at the home of Brian & Rebekah Klutz and their 4 kids, Magnus, Titus, Justus & Rayah. What a wonderful family...we wish we could see them more often!

We spent the night with my sweet Uncle Andrew and Aunt Polly in Bradley, Ark on the last night before heading home. Going to Bradley is always an adventure...we love to hear Uncle Andrew's stories and see his "souvenirs" from all of his world travels. And he always takes us on a tour of the farm............acres upon acres of soybeans, cotton and sometimes wheat. The kids get to ride for miles in the back of his pickup down dusty dirt roads and if they get too hot, he lets them drink out of the irrigation pipes. How fun is that?! Sometimes we go up the road to where the Amish farmers raise catfish and the kids get to watch thousands of catfish leaping up out of the surface of the pond during feeding time. Talk about exciting! Who needs Disneyworld when we've got Uncle Andrew and his farm?!!




Jacob taking a swig from the irrigation pipe....



















Uncle Andrew teaching Kevin how to calculate yield per acre.



















Riding country roads in the back of Uncle Andrew's truck


















It's a great year for Uncle Andrew's cotton....it's already taller than Mary Rose and still a month away from harvest!!















"Farm livin' is the life for me!"














SO, that's our "western" trip in a nutshell!

Home again, but still on the go! The day after we got home, Mary Rose headed north to Bowling Green for violin camp at Western Kentucky University. She and her friend Emily had a great week at camp and she enjoyed seeing her relatives and friends in BG.





Emily and Rosie at violin camp with cousin Claire, who came to see their final performance.










This past week everyone has been back home for good, and we've enjoyed having my sister, Sharon, and her kids here from Atlanta for a few days, as well as Kevin's parents for a short visit.
Busy enough for ya?? Like I said, we're cramming in the fun while we can!! Only 11 days and counting down...........

Well, the last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Company in town, weekend trip to Louisville, kids to Atlanta with my mom, then me to Atlanta, then everybody home for a couple of days, hosted a Fourth of July get-together at our house, then we took 2 kids to Kamp Kennessee, whew! And we're just getting started! July is our crazy month every summer, and this one is no different.


Kevin and I had a great weekend in Louisville last weekend. Stayed at a beautiful historic B&B in "Old Louiville" for our anniversary, then to my cousin's wedding reception at the Galt House in downtown Louisville Saturday. Had a fun night staying up late and playing cards in the hotel lobby that night with other couples from church in Nashville that had come up for the festivities.

Here's our required "anniversary weekend" shot, outside the fountains at the Galt House:

Mom took our kids to Atlanta for the weekend, and was brave enough to treat all 16 grandkids (everybody was in town that week visiting) to a fun day at the Georgia Aquarium. It sounds like an amazing place! They all had a blast and our kids had a great time hanging out with Papa & Mimi for a few days. I drove down Monday and enjoyed myself tremendously in my old home town (i.e. shopping, shopping, and more shopping!). Here's a picture of Papa and the kiddos:

Tuesday, the girls and I went to see the new American Girl movie, while my mom took the boys to see "Wall-E." She thinks I got the better end of that deal.

We all headed home Thursday afternoon. We had hoped to make it home by dinner, but the highway had other plans for us. A terrible accident on I-24W had us stopped on the interstate for 3 hours, along with lots of other people. We made the best of it...visited with truckers, played football in the median, sweated and grumbled, and finally made it home by bedtime....

Here's Jacob, taking advantage of the

"free time" to play football...

And here's Isaac, not too happy about the delay.

Check out the STUFFED van, full of the fruits of my labors.

(aka: shopping)

Then Friday night, we had a our "group" from church over for a 4th of July celebration. Lots of good food, fun and of course, fireworks. My hubby, the pyro, had his hands full trying not to dash the hopes of 10 or more little ones who were sure they could hold the Roman candles safely in their hands, too, and not put an eye out. They eventually settled for some very tame sparklers and left the heavy duty stuff to the adult male pyros. What is is about guys and fire??? I guess it's like woman and shoes. Here's some of the gang from Friday night, camped out in the back yard during the pyrotechnics.....

Whew! What a week! Yesterday, we dropped Jacob and Mary Rose off in Dickson (about an hour west of Nashville) at Kamp Kennessee. This is Mary Rose's first year to go...she was pretty excited, and not TOO anxious about sleeping in a cabin, going without hand sanitizer or books for a whole week, and using PUBLIC SHOWERS. Despite all that, I know she'll have a great time and Jacob, of course, always loves camp life. Sports competitions every day, all-you-can eat cafeteria bar at every meal (the food is actually very good), and no mom around to nag him about taking showers or practicing piano! Yeah, life is sweet for him this week! But we are missing them already! We will pick them up from camp Friday evening and leave straight from there to go to Dallas for our week in Texas. More on that trip later.....