Family

My uncle loves this

It's his cherry red 66 Nova he has restored. It's his baby. :)

For the past few years, my uncle Tom and his daughter, Jen have come from Minnesota to the car show at Rising Sun and they make a stop here to stay the night and visit with us. This year, the whole family met at Rocky's for pizza (YUM) and then went back to my moms to chat. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of the kids faces when they pulled into Papa's driveway and saw the Nova!! You could see the excitement in their eyes and the terror in Uncle Tom's! LOL

Here are Tom & Jenny at Rocky's

Tom, Jen and Emmy - Emmy has never met a stranger she didn't love!! :)

Had a great visit!! Maybe next year all the kids can ride in the Nova to the car show!! Wouldn't that be fun??

Daddy Time

I've been a little under the weather this week and Eric is always good about stepping up and taking charge at home! He's a great dad and husband!!! :) The boys have had a lot of boy time together while I just kind of chilled on the couch. Here is what "boy time" looks like:

Watching "Mighty Machines" together in the toy room
It also consists of building puzzles together

And don't forget the bike rides! I think this is the cutest thing EVER! Levi loves riding on the back of Daddy's bike.

Thanks, Honey for being such a great daddy! We love you!!

Down at the Waterfront

Sunday was such a gorgeous day. It was a cool day...very unusual for July! Several of our friends decided to take advantage of the weather and head down to the waterfront for an evening picnic and some outdoor time. I tried to get a picture of each child so I could post it on the blog, but I didn't get Cooper! :( So, Jami, if you took any pictures, send one my way!!!

A shot I thought was neat
It's a big world out there!!

Corbin playin' ball Levi climbing through the play area

Ian....looks like he's sitting in time out! LOL

Melanie and Addie - she's precious!

Janie and Levi trying to see who can go higher...

Kaitlyn, Janie's cousin...glad they could join us!! She's a doll :)Ashlyn & Luke making a "go" of it on the weird teeter totter Corbin again...he's quite hilarious!

Luke & Levi...I think they were having a conversation about the future of transportation in schools...

More playing

We had such a nice evening. :) I'm just sorry I didn't get to visit with all the adults a little more. But, I guess that is what happens when kids enter our lives! Hopefully we can plan an ADULT ONLY night soon and do some real visiting! Thanks for sharing in our fun evening!!!

Here we go! I stole this pic from Jami's blog!! Cooper was there, too. :) He's such a cutie!!!!

Cardinal Harbor Triathlon

1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, 13.1 mile run...that's what my brother did on Saturday and I am SO proud of him!! He's been training for a long time and it was neat to finally see the end product.

Eric & Levi watching the swim
Jenny and the kids

Griffin & Emmy

We finally spotted Travis making his way back in

He emerges!

Headed up to the bike

After kissing the kids, he got on his bike and headed off for the 56 mile ride - oh my!

Dad & Jenny with Trav right after he crossed the finish line. His time was 7:00:12 - amazing to me! He had hoped for around 6 hours, but I think 7 is pretty incredible.

I'm very proud of you Travis! Way to go! :)

Oh, and I had to include this pic of the kids helping papa push the bike to the car! ;)

Thank you God

Just a little update...on Monday, my sister-in-law, Jenny was admitted into the hospital. She contracted viral meningitis. She had a really rough time, but thankfully was released from the hospital today. This was especially scary to our family as we lost my 18 year old cousin to meningitis 10 years ago. Jenny, I just want to tell you again how blessed we are to have you in our family!! You are able to do the one thing no one else can - keep Travis in line! LOL

To all of you who have called, emailed and facebooked asking about Jenny - THANK YOU! It means so much to me and my family to have such close friends. God has blessed our family so much. He didn't have to bless me with such a wonderful family, but HE DID and I will eternally be grateful.

Please and Thank You

We took Levi to visit “Mamaw” (Eric’s mom) last night. Before we left to go home, she gave him every treat known to man. On the car ride home, he was eating peanut butter crackers. I asked if I could have one. He said, “Say ‘please’, Momma.” I laughed and said “Pleeeease!” He laid the cracker in my hand and as I was opening my mouth to thank him, he said “Um, say ‘Thank you’” and then sighed like I was so rude. :)

More Vacation

As promised...some of the professional pictures we had taken on the beach. I haven't gotten them all uploaded to my computer yet, so I "stole" these from my sister & sister-in-law's facebook pages!! :) I'll post more later when I get them.

The whole family:
Back: Daniel, Tricia, Papa, Granny, Dad, Mom, Travis, Jenny
Front: Casey, Bailey, me, Levi, Eric, Griffin, Emily
Levi, Eric and me (a storm is a brewin' in the background!!)

The kids: Bailey, Levi, Casey, Griffin & Emmy

Tricia, Daniel, Casey & Bailey

Jenny, Travis, Griffin & Emmy

More of us

Mom & Dad with the kids

The whole family with Sophia (our sitter) this time!

The innocence of a child

Last night, Eric & I were getting Levi ready for bed. He had to go “poo” on the potty, so we were waiting for him to finish. As he finished and stood up, there was a certain, ahem, excitement with his privates. ;) He pointed to his private area and said “Mommy, look! My pee-pee is stronger!” I thought Eric was going to lose it. He had to walk outside so that Levi didn’t see him dying from laughing so hard! Oh geez...the fun of raising a boy!!

Last day of vacation

It seems like the last day of vacation is always so depressing!! But, this year, we planned a sunset cruise for the evening, so it gave us something to look forward to. When we woke up, it was storming - again! - but God heard our prayers and it turned out to be a beautiful day! :) We spent the morning at the ocean again and the kids had a blast.

Breakfast - if you think Levi got dirty from chocolate donuts...

...check out Emily Grace!!! LOL

Papa and the boys chilling before hitting the ocean waves.
The rest of the pictures are pictures we took on our sunset cruise. We had such a great time together and I think it is officially a new tradition! Our boat was called Pau Hana and it seemed like the evening was perfect. :)

This was a private island owned by a New Yorker. He decided to sell his stocks and move to this island. We are secretly hoping that's what Mom & Dad will do!!! ;)One of the dolphins we saw! Very cool.

Our captain John

The first mate, Jeanie - she was wonderful and full of island information!

The sails going up!

The six of us: Eric, me, Jenny, Daniel, Tricia & Travis

Daniel & my sis, Tricia

Me & Eric

My brother, Travis, me, and my sister, Tricia

The tip of a small peninsula...can you see the hammock? Perfect place for one!!

A sail boat passing by

My hubby taking it all in
Jenny & Travis right before sunset

Me & Eric with the sun setting in the back ground.

The sunset

Hope you have enjoyed my week of blogging about vacation. It really was a great week and we are so thankful to my mom and dad for making it possible for all of us. I can't imagine two better parents and two more giving people! God has totally blessed our family and we are so grateful for all of the memories that we've already made. I can't wait to see what the years continue to bring!! Thanks Mom & Dad!!