Staycation and Vacation

I can't believe that the kids go back to school in less than two weeks. August 8th is their start date. I also can't believe that they will be at the same school and in school the same hours! I guess I have to come to the realization that my baby boy is growing up.

On our trip, Vince slept in bed with me almost every night. And when I say almost, I mean that every night except one when we were together. He told me that he is going to marry me and when he does he will call me Laura Ann and not mom anymore. And that we can download apps for the Ipad that cost money...I guess that's a perk that Jeff gets and he doesn't.

Ok, back to the summer. I started a job in June working for a real estate group in Bonita Springs, FL. It's about 15 miles from Fort Myers, on the way to Naples. My Sequoia got about 13 miles per gallon and had over 160,000 miles on it, so we traded it in for a Nissan Altima. I am enjoying the 35 miles per gallon that I am getting now! The kids enjoyed Vacation Bible School at Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church and Cypress Lake Methodist Church as well as Summer Camp at Bright Beginnings Early School. We also drove over to Sanibel Island for their 4th of July Parade. Savannah got soaked! And loved it!

 We left Fort Myers on July 5th and spent the weekend in Macon. We were able to visit with some friends and we all enjoyed that. Once in Charlotte, we attended Sardis Presbyterian Vacation Bible School, went to a play at CPCC, played with neighborhood friends, ate at Showmars (A family favorite!), went to Monkey Joe's, and so many other great things! The kids and I went to Boone, NC for a week, and along the way we stopped off in Newton and visited with Great Grandaddy Stewart. In Boone we went to Tweetsie, tubing on the Watauga River, swam in Watauga Lake, drove to Tennessee to buy fireworks, sampled wine and played at the Grandfather Vineyard in Banner Elk, toured downtown Blowing Rock and ate at the Mellow Mushroom, and had major water balloon fights!

Back in Charlotte (July 20-21), we hosted a neighborhood party with old friends and families. I think we ended up with over 50 people there! It was great to see my childhood friends and their spouses and children. Savannah loved meeting so many people and coordinating the silly string fights! G-Mama turned 70 on Sunday the 21st, so we had a little party for her that afternoon. Robert had been sick, so Lin stayed home with him. Gary, Wilson, John, Rosalie, Savannah, Vince, G-Mama, and I all went out to lunch at Ghengus Grill and enjoyed that very much. Savannah stayed busy with playdates with neighborhood and church friends and is now "hooked" on Build A Bear!

Vince's Artwork

The kids stayed with Nana and Grandaddy at Lake Norman for 5 days and they swam in the lake, went to the splash park, ate at Stacy's (a family favorite at the lake), played with Cousin Eli, baked Nana a cake, and toured the lake on their new boat.

We cut our trip short-we originally planned to spend the last weekend in Macon to see some others that we missed the first weekend-and went to Amelia Island instead to scout out a place to stay for Thanksgiving this year. Cousin Hal and Mark have just moved there...and when I say just, I mean, they still have boxes to unpack, and the next truck was coming today. But, it was a successful trip-the kids swam in the pool with the dogs, rode on the moped with Hal, and most importantly, we reserved a house for Thanksgiving!

I think that about sums up our trip. I was exhausted today, and was glad that Jeff suggested we come back on Saturday rather than Sunday. At least we have today to relax and get settled back in before camp and work tomorrow!