Adventures in: July 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Fun in Nova

Grammy and the girls at Big Lots one night :)

The next week we were just here in Northern Virgina - getting things done, school uniforms and other clothes purchased and the dentist visited! We got to help Grammy in her garden, see cousins and get ready for our next road trip :)

Helping Grammy prune her flowers that had died off because of the heat wave

We went over to Mark and Heather's one afternoon and the girls made a yogurt face mask that was good for "sensitive skin" :) Kylie went up and took photos of them - they looked beautiful!

Mary Kate and her fancy face mask

Megan and her fancy mask

We got to go watch and cheer on Abby and her friend Maddy play in a 2 on 2 volleyball tournament!

Good friends and good volleyball players!

Me and my Tweeter

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Road Trip Stats and Fun Points

61 hrs 9 mins / 3533.51 miles - but we put 5000 miles on the car with all the extra driving we did - to see Lake Erie, around to stores, to eat and to explore :) We got an oil change in St. Petersburg - because that's where we hit the 3000 mile mark :) We spent waaaaay more time in the car than the time quoted - with all the food and potty breaks we had :) I only drove 3 hours out of the whole trip! I drove around town, but Dan drove all the time on the road trip - minus 1 1/2 hours in Pennsylvania and 1 1/2 hours in NC to Richmond. Dan rocked it! The kids were amazing in the car. Not perfect, but amazing. They did a good job of looking out the window when Dan said "Hey guys, do you see that....?", reading some, sleeping some, working on workbooks some and switching between ipods, the ipad, a DS, Dan's phone and our dvd player.

We drove through: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina - 12 states in all :)

We started the License Plate game in the Niagara Falls parking lot - and had 34 states by the next day. As of typing this, we have 7 left to go!

I made our "Roadtrip Mix". It starts every road trip for us - with the following songs (and has been added to) - Rolling in the Deep, I Gotta Feeling, Viva la Vida, Down, Love Story, Hold On, Come Sail Away, Friday, Dynamite, Party in the USA and Dancing Queen. We love it :)

We got to see places I didn't think we'd get to: Long Lake, Niagara Falls, Lake Erie and Birmingham Alabama!!!

It was the trip of a lifetime - we loved visiting everyone and everything - Malone, Long Lake, Niagara Falls, Lake Erie, Nashville, Birmingham, Macon, St. Pete, Charleston, Garden City and Richmond! Phew!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Road Trip #5 - Richmond

Dan, Doug, Eric
Me, Carmen, Anne
Ceci, Michael, Doug
Supe, Heather, Megan

Yay for Richmond!!! After leaving Garden City, we stopped in Richmond to visit with good friends. Greg and Melissa and their boys were so kind, hospitable and welcoming in allowing us to stay with them for 2 nights, feed us so well and allow us to just relax! It was soooooo good to see them and talk to them and enjoy being with them!

We got in Saturday late afternoon and had fun just catching up while they grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and kept saying maybe a surprise person would be coming that night! It was Heather!!! She had stayed home in Richmond while her family attended a very important 90th birthday and we got to hang out for hours with her that night, too! Greg and Dan went to see Captain America while the kids watched a kids show and we got to talk!

Sunday we all attended church at Greg and Melissa's church and met up after church for lunch at Chipotle with even more friends! Then we met up at their pool for some great time of kids playing and adults talking! Supe and Ceci and their 3 girls drove in from Harrisonburg, Doug and Megan and their 3 boys from a couple miles away, Doug and Carmen and their sweet new baby girl from a couple miles away, Michael and Heather and their 4 kids, Greg and Melissa and their 2 boys and us! That afternoon at Michael and Heather's we were joined by Anne and Eric and their sweet baby boy - bringing the grand total of adults to kids ratio at 14:17!!!

We had good pockets of conversation and good times to catch up some and pray for each other - these are all friends from Virginia Tech - Doug, Doug, Michael and Dan roomed together at college - Supe was their close friend and honorary roommate and Greg led them in Young Life leadership training! Anne was a friend from college and some of the wives went to college there, too, and have been friends for years (while others married in!)! It was so fun to see the kids have fun swimming together, playing mostly nicely together and having fun!

I loved our weekend there. It was sooooo good to talk to these friends and have known them now for almost 15 years (clearly Dan has known his friends longer, as he's 2 years older than me)! We love them so much, are so thankful for the relationships in Christ we have with them and are so thankful that they are so willing to (a) allow us to stay with them, (b) make such an effort to see us and (c) be willing to bring others or travel to spend time with us there! Thank you so much guys!!!!

The Dad's and kids racing on Cars 2 - a highlight :)

Lunch at Chipotle!

Greg, Michael, Dan, Supe and Meredith enjoying lunch

The kiddos in height order
Jacob (holding Mia), Megan, Eliza, Jack, Sydney, Nathan, Matthew, Kylie, Nathan, Liam, Meredith and Charlotte

The kids in age order
Jacob, Megan, Eliza, Sydney, Jack, Matthew, Meredith, Kylie, Nathan, Liam, Nathan, Charlotte, Benjamin (with Mommy Anne) and Mia (with Daddy Doug)

Incidentally, this is what Doug looked like holding Mia up :)

A time of worship with Doug on the guitar

Then Supe and Dan decided to climb a tree in Michael and Heather's front yard!

Dan and Supe

Supe, Michael, Dan, Doug and Doug

Ceci, Anne, Me, Heather, Megan, Carmen (and Mia)

We had forgotten that both Michael and Heather and Supe and Ceci owned Toyota Sienna's in light blue...so we had the guys take pictures with them :) It's a good car :)

And jumping for joy!

Dan wrestling kiddos...Jacob and Megan loved wrestling him and gave him a run for his money - they outweighed him if they teamed up on him! Liam had fun attacking Mr. Dan, too!

Heather, Melissa and Me

Dan, Greg and Michael

The Mountain Dew boys and their shirts (I love this pic of Jacob...I forget that he just wants to be one of the boys)!

All of the boys

Good friends

Friday, July 22, 2011

Garden City, SC

Our House: Hawksnest in Garden City - great house for 16+ people :)

After a short 2 hour drive from Charleston, we arrived in Garden City, SC just south of Myrtle Beach for a week at the beach with my parents, brothers and their families! Our house was awesome - it was 1 back from the beach, ginormous, on the inlet/bay thing and had a pool! It had 6 bedrooms, 6 1/2 bathrooms, 2 fridges, an ice cube maker, great front and back porches, a great pool, floating dock, huge driveway, an elevator (a highlight of the week for Megan) and an outside shower (my favorite)!

The waves were huge and warm the first day and got smaller as the week wore on - we had fun swimming up there and then back at the pool, as well as in the inlet. I loved that Jack loved the breakers and had tons of fun in the water, that Megan loved being past the breakers and swimming around and that Kylie learned to go under the breakers and have fun! It was a great time!

We had yummy dinners, great desserts, fun times with the xBox and game nights, miniature golf, seeing Jack and Bonnie (my Dad's cousins), flying a kite, coloring with chalk, the guys smoking cigars, Megan and Mary Kate swimming in the pool every morning at 7am, a donut run by Abby, Kylie and Grammy and Megan getting her ears pierced! Oh, and Kylie asked Jesus into her heart while we were there on July 22nd :) It was a great week!

The back of the house

The view from the house towards the inlet

The pool in the back - with everyone (including Grammy!) swimming!

Grammy, Moo and Grandad while we were playing Mad Libs :)

Brian and Cole

Jack and Mary Kate

Hannah and Megan

Aunt Heath and Kylie

Uncle Mark and Dan

Grammy and Max watching the big kids swim in the inlet

Eating ring pops from Grammy
Cole, Megan, Abby, Hannah, Kylie and Mary Kate

Cole
(I love this picture! He looks sooooo cool!)

Right before they went swimming in the inlet

Heather and kiddos (and Dan) went swimming in the back. As there was no ladder back onto the dock, I opted to stay on the dock and haul kids back up!

Jack under a rock
or a bean bag :) Either way, it's funny.

We celebrated Max's 3rd birthday early there! He got lots of great presents and was so cute about opening them! Jack had a remote control car that Max got to try in Florida and kept saying, "That's cool. That's cool"...so we bought him his very own!