Our Summer, in pictures...

It all started when B skipped the last 2 days of school to go on a road trip to Indy with Pap and Mase. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took on this Indy trip. The trip was fun filled with stomach bugs and puking at the race. We did a lot of swimming and got to meet our newest cousin on the Chitwood side, baby Finn.
Home from Indy the boys moved in together and bunked the beds.

Mom left the boys at home and went on a fabulous girls' trip to Cancun.

We took a walk and got caught in the rain. We also spent a lot of time with our awesome neighbors.

We developed an addiction to all things Nintendo...

We took a long family road trip vacation where we:

stayed in hotels,

waded the Mississippi River at Mud Island,

crossed the real Mississippi River, twice,

spent time with Mimi and Landon in the Smokey Mountain National Park,

learned about mammals in the Smokies at a Jr. Ranger class,

picnicked by a mountain stream,

played in the mountain stream,

learned to skip stones,

hiked,

took time out from hiking to hold up the mountain,

bribed the boys with the promise of cold Capri Suns if they would take this picture,

hiked part of the Appalachian Trail,

picnicked in a downpour,

saw a rainbow as a result of the downpour that ruined our dinner,

slept well,

hiked some more to see a waterfall,

made friends with a bear,

and headed East out of the park to start part 2 of the family vacation.

Part 2 of the family vacation included seeing Grandma and Grandpa in North Carolina,

climbing around on Chimney Rock,

buying cool hats and breaking a snow globe in the gift store,

taking a boat tour of Lake Lure,

hiking to another waterfall on our way to Grandfather Mountain,

eating a plain cone and an ice cream cone,

going to the top of Grandfather Mountain,

where the boys made mom queasy climbing around on high rocks.

We also crossed a mile high swinging bridge. The name is a bit misleading because the bridge in not a mile above the ground, it is a mile above sea level. Even so, it was a very high bridge with a long drop to the ground below.

How high did you say this was?

We had an early birthday party before we drove 2 days to get home.

At home we were excited to have our MO cousins already at our house and waiting to play with us!

We had another birthday party with friends at the pool.

Mom and Dad celebrated 11 years of marriage with a trip to Kansas City to see Tom Petty in concert. When they got home from KC, Mom left for Austin, TX on a trip with some of the girl cousins. (It's amazing the lack of pictures taken when kids aren't involved.)

Now we are home for the duration of the summer. We will be getting ready for school and trying to detox from our all things Nintendo addiction.

I'm exhausted!