Farewell to Summer...

Today is officially my last day of summer vacation. It has been a WONDERFUL summer. The Brinkleys did not travel far from home this year to find adventure. Instead, we had a "staycation". The most difficult decision facing each day was "Which porch shall we have our coffee on this morning?" and "What book shall we start next?". We spent countless hours at the pool and playing tennis. We read dozens of books and enjoyed our fabulous new library. We entertained many play dates and sleep over guests, even throwing a tea party on one occasion. We piddled in the yard, endured six hours of gymnastics each week (Sophie), visited the free movies each week, enjoyed a great VBS, had a screaming great time at Six Flags, and loved seeing my brother's children from Montana. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable summer that we have had in some time. I am so very thankful that we were all together, healthy, and for most of every day truly enjoyed one another's company.

I was so lazy this summer that I didn't get the camera out very much, but here are a few shots that I did capture.

Our visit with Morgan and Garet- My aunt Anita hosted a party for the children to visit with all the extended family. Below are a small number of the great-grandchildren represented on my mother's side.

Morgan and Garet spent one night at our house. I asked Garet if he would like pancakes for breakfast, and he informed me "only if they're homemade". Here they're enjoying their homemade pancakes.

Reagan helping me bake homemade blueberry muffins. We picked blueberries on two different occasions this summer. YUM!

Reagan and her friend Carsten enjoying some pool time

Sophie and her pal Elise

It's a wonder the girls didn't grow fins and webbed feet this summer!

Reagan planned an American Girl tea party at our house and invited the Huster girls over. She got the recipes for the party from an American Girl book that she has. The four girls and I spent the morning baking and had the tea party afterward.

Sophie and Rebecca

Reagan and Laurel

The menu included petit fors, wedding cookies, candied pecans, and PB&J sandwiches.

Dad and Sophie easing into the morning on the back porch

Lily found that she could watch the squirrels from this chair.

It's back to the five a.m. routine starting tomorrow!

4th of July cont'd

Friday evening my parents brought the girls home so that we could all go to the fireworks and Partner's Pizza in PTC. Unfortunately, Reagan wasn't feeling up to it, so she went to grandma's instead. We met up with Chris and Melanie and their girls and Mark and Mandy and their cutie pies and Ms. Charlotte on the lawn. The kids had a great time running around waiting for the fireworks to start. Here are a few snap shots.

Sophie, Allie, and Avery

Romeo and me sporting our road race shirts

Mark, Ethan, and Nina

Ms. Charlotte and Mandy

Ethan

Sophie Bug

Mimi and Poppy

Chris and Avery

Somehow I didn't manage to take a single picture of Melanie. Sorry girl!

Happy Birthday America

Happy Independence Day friends! This morning I experienced the Peachtree Road Race for the the first time. It was fantastic! Romeo and I met Sandy W. this morning bright and early to make our way downtown for the world's largest 10k. Sandy was in group 2, and Rome and I were in group 3. Lucky draw for us! What an awesome experience! I'm not a serious runner although I have been working at the whole exercise thing for a few months now. I was very pleased to run about 2-2.5 miles altogether of the 6.2, and kept a steady pace for the remainder. Thinking it would take me an hour and a half to finish, I was excited to come in at 1 hour 19 minutes. Romeo finished in just over 1 hour 4 minutes. Sandy has bragging rights this year. You'll have to look at her blog for the details. It was such fun! Wonder if we're in the sea of people in this picture. The girls were watching the race at my parent's house, and both of them insist they saw us on t.v. I tend to believe they did since they told us what we were both wearing.

This was our third year having friends over on the 3rd for the "pre-race carb meal"-spaghetti. It was also Todd and Sandy's daughter, Kate's, birthday. In addition, the Hamby's joined us for the fun. I got some really cute shots of the kiddos playing.

Dean and Houston entertained themselves with Lily's doggie door.

Happy 6th Birthday to Kate!

Hey, is Dean stuck?

Playing on the gym set

This past Wednesday, Romeo and I took Reagan and her friend Juliana to a U-Pick It farm to pick blueberries and blackberries. Sophie was at a friend's house for a couple days. The girls had so much fun-as did I. We've had homemade blueberry pancakes and blackberry cobbler-YUM!

Reagan said, "Mom, please promise that we'll come back next year."

VBS 08

Last week was our VBS at church. The theme was "Castaway Bay". I had no idea just how much preparation a VBS really took until now. It turned out wonderfully thanks to the MANY MANY volunteers that we had. Our kids and their friends, Nikki and Rebecca, had a great time and learned important lessons from the Bible.

The group picture from the last night

Romeo and Jason performed a skit each evening. They were the two castaways, Izzy and Dewy. The kids thought they were great. I got quite a chuckle myself seeing my hubby in full character.
This is the 2-3 year old room. I taught two of the lessons in here during the week when Ms. Mary couldn't make it. I had no idea how difficult it can be to capture the attention of nine 2 and 3 year olds, but it was loads of fun.

The last evening craft was decorating sugar cookies. Sophie didn't waste any time eating her creation, and you see Reagan in the background with the hat on still laboring over hers.

The kids absolutely loved song time. Here they are doing "If the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack." My two are still belting out this one in car everyday.
Reagan wore this hat every single night.

With VBS behind us, our summer is now wide open. We're filling our time with an almost daily trip to the pool, 6 hours of gymnastics per week, library time, free movies, working in the yard, and lots of reading. Each evening I'm reading Where the Red Fern Grows to the girls and Romeo. I remember my mom reading it to my dad, brother, and myself about 25 years ago, and I wanted to do the same for my family. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful summer. It'll be over all too soon!

The Cousins Are Here!

The "cousin countdown" has finally ended. The girls have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of their cousins, Morgan and Garet, from Montana. They've been counting down the days for about the last two months. Finally, they arrived tonight around 9:30. Mimi left the airport around seven this morning to fly out and accompany them to GA. After about 14 hours, she made it back with two kiddos that we barely recognized. It's been a year and a half since Reagan, Sophie, and I have seen them, and almost three years since Romeo has seen them. Needless to say, they've grown a foot it seems.

Morgan stops to give hugs to the girls.

But, Garet made a bee line for his Poppy!
The cousins, my brother's children by the way, wanted to head straight to the Varsity for dinner.

Garet never stops smiling! He's the happiest little fellow I've ever known.

All four kiddos-They're headed to Mimi and Poppy's for a sleepover.

Wedding Bells

Today was our niece's wedding. Ashley is Romeo's sister's daughter. Both our girls were in the wedding. Reagan was a junior bridesmaid, and Sophie was the flower girl. They both did a nice job. The wedding was very sweet, and the reception was lots of fun. It was held at a cir. 1850 home that is used as a special events center. Congratulations to Mark and Ashley. May you enjoy many happy years together. BTW-I have to brag...I made the cake!

The girls both looked so grown up in their dresses. It made me wonder about the day when our girls will marry.
I was so thankful to have the cake out of my house. I was terrified of some sort of disaster. There is NO way I would decorate cakes for a living. I'd constantly be a nervous wreck!

The girls with Shae, Romeo's cousin's daughter. She was so sweet to let the girls "hang out" with her for two days. Sophie was especially smitten with her.

Romeo's crazy Aunt Rachel-She is so much fun to be around!

Girl Scouts to Savannah

Last Thursday, Reagan and I took a trip to Savannah with her Girl Scout troup- twenty-nine of us (17 girls) in all. The girls earned the entire trip through their cookie sales. So, thanks to all of you out there who bought from us. We stayed at a hotel that caters to the Girls Scouts. There was a "Girl Scout suite" where all the kids slept with the leaders, and the other moms slept in rooms on the same hall. I've got to admit, I wasn't super keen on the idea of going with the troup, but it ended up being GREAT fun!

Thursay morning ready to depart

We stopped in Meter, GA, for a fill-up at a service station that had all these farm animals.
This guy was our favorite. You cannot look at this creature without smiling.


Day one we went down to River St. and took the ghost tour. Savannah's history is rich with ghost stories.

Reagan with our "tour guides"

The girls before the tour-The after picture of some of them wasn't so pretty. A few got "spooked".

Ok-I know this is dark, but if you look very closely on the right middle of this shot, you'll see a white circle. According to the tour guide, these are called orbs (spirits). It's a bit creepy when you know that to the right of the vehicle in the picture is a grave yard. You be the judge.

Day two was slam packed! We first visited the Juliette Gordon Low House. All you Girl Scouts will know that she is the founder of Girl Scouts. Next, we visited the Andrew Low House, her husband's homeplace. Then, we took a Pirate Walking Tour. Finally, we went to the Savannah History Museum.

Reagan at Juliette's birthplace

This plant is in the courtyard of the J.G.L. House. It's called a Century Cactus. It is 19 years old and blooms only one time each year. It was MASSIVE. The reason I found it so interesting is because I just planted one in my flower bed not knowing how big it would get. It made me think of the plant from Little Shop of Horrors. FEED ME!

The whole crew at the J.G.L House

Reagan and Calico Jack-This guy would not come out of character for anything. The girls were smitten with him.

Day three- The girls went to the Marine Science Center at Tybee Island. Only five chaperones were allowed to join the group, so the remainder of us HAD to sit on the beach. Darn!

While the girls were exploring marine life with Jordan, the marine biologist, they found a sharp nosed shark that washed up on the beach. Of course, Reagan is now considering a career in marine biology.

After the beach, we went to Fort Pulaski. It was a Civil War fort. They actually fired the cannons and muskets.

Reagan and Lauren, her bunkmate for the trip

After Fort Pulaski, we got dressed up to go on a mother/daughter date on River Street. We ate a wonderful dinner at Fiddler's, shopped for souvenirs, and strolled along the waterfront. A funny note for those who've been to Savannah, and especially those who went with us last October, the guy in the green cut off shorts and white shirt was down there. I thought I would crack up.

The fourth day was the best in my opinion, but unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to capture the fun. Hopefully, one of the other moms will send me pics soon that I'll post. We went on a dolphin sight seeing cruise. The dolphins came right up to the boat! It was amazing! Also, Reagan got to feeling a little sea sick, so she got to sit with the captain and drive the boat.