All Sorts of June Fun

Our summer started off with a bang between the girls' camp and our cruise.  We've had lots of other fun too though.  Here are a few pictures from some of those fun moments.

Ryan took Lily and her friend, Avery, to a Braves' game one evening.  It was a beautiful evening and they had a lot of fun.

 Our friends, the Harvey family, were also at the game, so Ryan connected with their dad and visited their seats.  Liam is in class with the girls, so it was cool to hang out with him some.  They made it on to the big screen!

 Ryan made our family a brisket one day and OH MY GOODNESS it was amazing.  Seriously one of the best things we've ever eaten.

 Mia (in her awesome Lane's BBQ hat) agreed the brisket was amazing.  We enjoyed Lily's mermaid cupcakes for dessert afterward too.  What a great food evening!

 Happy Father's Day to Ryan!  Mia and Lily (and Decker) are so fortunate to have this amazing guy as their dad.  He is the glue that holds our family together.  We are so thankful for him.

 Liz, Josh, Amy, Liam, and Linley came for a visit over Father's Day weekend.  We went to the aquarium and enjoyed hanging out with one another.  On Sunday, our family joined Mom and Dad at First Baptist Chattahoochee for service which was lovely.  It still feels like home to me there.  Afterward, we ran home to change, grab the rest of the family, and headed over to Mom and Dad's house for a cookout.  Randy and Georgia met us there too.  It was fun to have everyone together to celebrate some great dads.

 I was so excited to host a baby shower recently for Alex Yapel, the daughter of our good friends Slade and Kim Casey.  It's been several years since my peer group was having showers all the time.  It was fun to do this again!  I enjoyed getting everything set up and ready, so we could help Alex get ready for the new blessing that's headed her way.

 The girls and I went to the library recently and found they have a whole section where you can check out musical instruments; we had no idea.  We found this awesome floor piano!  The girls had a great time playing with it for the week we borrowed it.  Mia learned to play Baby Shark on it while Lily figured out Hedwig's Theme.

 Last weekend, the Fox family invited several families over for dinner and hanging out.  It was wonderful to be in fellowship with them.  Not only did we have delicious food and lots of great catch-up conversation, but we had a wonderful time of singing praise music and talking through fear and what the Bible says about it as Brian is getting ready for a lesson he's teaching.  The kids all had fun hanging out together too.  What a fantastic evening.

 Ryan took the girls to Whittier Mill Park one morning for a breakfast picnic and some playtime.  Decker came too, and I think they all had fun.

 We made these Lemon Passionfruit Blackberry popsicles from one of the Piquant Post boxes I received with Hawaiian flavors (what a great Mother's Day present!).  They were actually pretty tasty and were definitely a fun way to end the evening.

I think it's safe to say we're all enjoying our summer!

Fun While the Kids are Away!

Ryan and I had so much fun while the girls were at camp.  We helped them get settled in, and then we headed out to drive to Port Canaveral.  The next morning we boarded the Norwegian Sun bound for Key West and Havana.  Ryan had visited Key West when he was a child, but I had never been before.  Key lime pie is one of my most favorite desserts, so I couldn't wait to get a slice.  We were both excited to visit Havana too since that's a relatively newer place to be a tourist.  We had a list of people that we wanted to bring back real Cuban cigars and rum for.  It was set to be a great cruise!

Here we are on our balcony just as it was time to push away and start cruising.

 It was a beautiful day.  We both love cruising.

 On Tuesday morning we arrived in Key West.  It was a gorgeous, though incredibly hot, day.  We took the little tram into town and started our sightseeing.  We found Mile Zero on Highway 1 which is a fun little marker to see.

 We walked until we reached the famous landmark for the Southernmost Point of the Continental US.  What a cool place to be!

 We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the quaint town.  It didn't seem too busy but it definitely had things going on.  It was neat to visit.

 Woo who!  We got some key lime pie and some limeaide to drink.  It was all fabulous!

 Pretty soon we got back on the boat and enjoyed a lovely sunset as we left Key West.

 Unfortunately, a few minutes after leaving Key West, the captain came over the loudspeaker to announce that earlier in the day the US announced an immediate embargo on Cuba.  He told us the ship was unable to communicate with Havana, and they would be re-routing us to the Bahamas instead.  We were definitely disappointed to hear this.  The next morning we arrived in Nassau.  We decided to go explore the port a little bit even though we have been here before.  It was a pretty day, and we wanted to get off the boat for a bit.  We were a little surprised when an AP reported was interviewing people to get their opinions on the embark and rerouting.  It was fun to see Ryan interviewed. 

 We stayed docked overnight in Nassau.  The next day, we bought a day pass to Atlantis.  We've always wanted to see this resort, so this was a great opportunity.  We spent most of the day at one of their gorgeous beaches.  It was so incredibly beautiful!

 The water was amazing!

Really, there's no way we can complain about spending two beautiful days here.

Finally, it was time to sail away and head back to Port Canaveral.  Norwegian announced they would refund half the cost of everyone's cruise, so that was an incredible gesture by them.  Thank you!  

We typically sail with Royal Caribbean, but it was fun to try Norwegian.  We thoroughly enjoyed the evening entertainment each night.  There was a piano man who had everyone singing, Drake Allen was guitarist that played a huge variety of music we loved, and a theater performance with music from around the world.  The food was pretty tasty.  We absolutely loved the Brazilian steakhouse on board and ate way too much there.  We each had a spa treatment too which was pretty fun.  Even though everything didn't go as originally planned, we really enjoyed our cruise.  

After getting back to the port, we headed over to Orlando for a couple days.  We checked in to the Yacht Club hotel; we'd never stayed there before so it was fun to be in a cool new hotel.  We spent the afternoon in their sand bottom pool; it was wonderful.  That evening we headed in to Orlando to have dinner at Giordano's.  Delicious!

The next morning we started the day out at Epcot.  We rode Soarin' Around the World which is such a cool ride.  Then we rode Mission Earth which is iconic since it's inside the big ball.  

 A little later they opened the World Showcase which we love.  Disney does such a wonderful job in each country.  We explored China a ton and enjoyed a fabulous lunch here.  We loved watching the drummers in Japan too; they are so cool!

 We had fun walking through the United Kingdom and Norway.  We enjoyed various treats in Morocco, Italy, and France too, so that was yummy.

 By mid-afternoon, the skies were getting really dark and our feet were tired after walking literally for miles all around the park.  We walked back to the Yacht Club and took an afternoon nap.  What a luxury that was, especially as it started to pour.  It stopped a little while later so we headed back over.  We finally settled in to a great spot in Canada (enjoying some poutine for dinner) so we'd be ready for the fantastic Illuminations fireworks show.  Disney is discontinuing this show in a couple of months, and it's one of our favorites.  We were so glad we got to see it one more time.  It was beautiful.

After the fireworks show, we took the long way around the lake which was fun.  Everyone was clearing out so it felt like we had the place to ourselves.  As we passed through Germany, they were handing out free bags of caramel popcorn since they wouldn't be able to sell it the next day.  What a nice little treat to end the evening!  

We got up Sunday morning and headed back to Atlanta.  This was such a wonderful vacation with my most favorite person in the world!

We had a few more days before heading back to Asheville to get the girls from camp.  One day we had a day date to go see the movie Rocketman which was fun.  Ryan went to a Braves game with an old friend from college named James Robinson.  While he was there I had my friend Katherine Fox over for dinner and to hang out.  It was a wonderful few days, but I'll be honest, I was excited to go and get my girls.  I love when my family is together!

Camp Crestridge - Cheyenne and Chickasaw

Nothing says "welcome summer" like going to camp!  The girls were so excited to return to Camp Crestridge for the fourth summer in a row.  We drove up to Asheville the day before and enjoyed some time in the city.  We always love visiting Malaprop's Bookstore and doing their "blind date with a book."  Books are wrapped in butcher paper and given staff reviews; you don't know what book it is until you unwrap it.  It's such a fun surprise!  Of course we also stopped by The Chocolate Fetish for some of our most favorite chocolates anywhere.  Then we did some window shopping before enjoying a fabulous dinner at Tupelo Honey.

The next morning, it was time for drop off!

 This year, Lily moved into the Cheyenne village while Mia became a Chickasaw.

 Lily loved her cabin, cabinmates, and counselors (Sydney and Rumbi).  

 Mia enjoyed meeting her new cabinmates and her counselors (Elise and Charissa).

 I love checking online each evening to see what's been going on at camp.  I get so excited when I see a picture of the girls; these two were great!

 It's always fun to see them with friends, participating in all the fun activities, and learning new skills.  This year, Lily took cooking, crafts, walk 'n talk, sewing, jewelry making, and woodworking.  Mia took needlecraft, health and fitness, horsemanship, crafts, archery, and a new skill being offered this year: puppy skills!  Here's lots of pictures that we saw during the two weeks.

 

 Meet Ivey, one of the six puppies Mia got to work with during puppy skills.  How adorable is she?

 This picture absolutely thrilled my heart when I saw it!

Finally, after two weeks, it was time to pick them up.  It's always so good to be back together again!

We enjoyed getting to hear tons of stories about all the fun they'd had and all the new friends they had made.

After the closing ceremonies and lots of hugs with friends, it was time to head back home.  Until next summer Crestridge!