end of summer

well, we have been back for a while now, and i was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the pictures to go through, laundry to do, rooms to organize before heading back to school, dogs to wash, exercises to start doing, bills to pay, friends to get together with...

for the most part, we have accomplished all of that since we returned home from virginia. i could write a book about our trip away, but i don't have that much time. i will let you see how much fun we had by way of photos instead.

here's a brief summary: rhys turned 2 (can you believe it?! i can't!), we spent a few days with my sister and her family (she has a baby who is 4 days older than rhys and a whole head taller it seems), then we met my parents at a park in virginia to go camping for 3 1/2 days (thankfully they have a camper, so we weren't sleeping on the ground in tents!!), then we headed to my parents' house for a few days, where i celebrated my birthday with family at a mexican restaurant eating totally greasy and cheesy and yummy food. after this we drove 17 hours (yes, SEVENTEEN) home, where we have since been involved in the aforementioned activities to settle back into our routine and gear up for back to school, which is today (and i will blog about that tomorrow so i don't totally overwhelm you...)

can i just tell you how much i love virginia and north carolina? every time we go home, i ache to move back there. i love the beauty of where we live in florida, but it just doesn't make me feel inside like those two states do. i'm sure a lot of it is that my family is there. i met my husband there. i feel like i spent my most formative years there (upper high school, college, and first years teaching after college, plus first years of marriage). so that probably has something to do with it.

and also, while i was at the lake with my parents, i felt like i was a kid again, because i grew up going to the lake every summer for family vacation. can you believe all three of my kids actually rode in an innertube? yep. check out the pictures. i had to take them for proof, because i wouldn't have even believed it myself afterward if i hadn't documented the occasion.

i hope your summer has been magical and that you are finding some moments for peace and joy!

xo

in winston-salem: an old abandoned house near where my sister lives

jesus saves, right next to the saloon

rhys is attempting to blow out his candle here, in case you couldn't tell.

on date night at a yummy restaurant in winston-salem that you should all rush to, except i can't remember the name of it...i just remember they had half-price wine on sunday nights!

gillian and aedan tubing together

rhys "driving" the boat with my dad. once he got to do this once, he wouldn't stop bugging my dad to keep letting him do it. he even tried to push every button in the captain's seat...

i love how aedan thought it was necessary to wear a lifejacket while sitting around the campfire. i also love how they insisted on having a campfire even though it was 80-something degrees. what fun would camping be without marshmallows?!

aedan showing off his lifejacket (again, at least this time on the water) and his muscles...oh, and his dinosaur face.

rhys is not too happy that we subjected him to the sombrero at my birthday dinner...

look closely at the details of this picture. this pretty much sums up my dining experience on my birthday. but the food was YUMMY!

this is one of my favorite pictures taken all summer!