Summer Vacation 2008 Pictures

Summer Vacation 2008 -- Back home....

It was wonderful to go home this summer and just spend some time with our families and friends. We were able to go to an amusement and water park with my mom, brother, and aunt and that was a load of fun and we did actually make it down to the Jersey shore (Ocean City) but only for the boardwalk and a short walk on the beach. We do thoroughly miss the boardwalk - there is so much to do!! We did not go swimming in the ocean - the water temp there was 58 degrees -- yikes!!! We figured we would wait to go in the ocean when we got home to South Carolina where the water temp is like 85+ degrees. We had a lot of fun swimming in mom and dad B's pool and enjoying the ritual of wiffle ball at my aunt and uncle's house. It was also nice to be able to head back to our old church on Sunday and enjoy spending time with some friends there! All in all, it was a nice trip and always a great time to be with family but it is also nice to come home again to South Carolina. I honestly think one of the best times we had on our vacation was the ride home. We were singing praise and sunday school songs as a family and just were realizing how blessed we truly are!!!! God is so good and we pray that all of you can see His awesomeness in your lives too!!!! Enjoy some of the pics in the upcoming posts :)

The Countdown Begins....

Well, we have 2 weeks left until we see the kids. We are just ecstatic!!! Don't get me wrong, it has been a wonderful thing to have my husband all to myself but we just love Andrew and Kira so much - God has truly blessed us so much with these two amazing lives! We are grateful everyday for them -- 2 weeks Andrew and Kira and then super humongous gigantic hugs and kisses - we love you guys!!!!!

Kayaking

Holy cow, Dave and I had the most awesome time yesterday kayaking in Shem Creek and the Charleston Harbor.
It was the MOST WONDERFUL TIME my husband and I have had in such a long time. It is so awesome to be outdoors and just truly enjoy what God has created. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first but it was so much fun!!!!!!!!!
We left Shem Creek (where I would like to build my dream house one day -- any donations gladly accepted - ) and headed for the Charleston harbor. We saw the most beautiful animals ever (for those of you who don't know, I absolutely love dolphins!!!) and they were swimming right beside us. One brought it's head up right next to us and I got to see such a beautiful profile complete with an eye that I swear was looking right at me We then went out further into the harbor and made it all the way to Fort Sumter - I must say there was one time there where we were in the middle of about 4 motorized boats, one happening to be the humongous freight boat that carries stuff to the port, and we were a wee bit worried since the waves were getting pretty choppy thanks to all our large, could run us over in heartbeat, friends. We just paddled through some tough surf and it was such a smooth amazing experience - even the owners of the place where we rented the gear were impressed that 2 first-timers went out as far as we did. After the harbor, we made it back into Shem Creek and leisurely paddled through the marsh - I will say I have much more of an appreciation for the beauty of it now!!
We made our way back to the rental place and had a great lunch at the Shem Creek Bar and Grill and headed home to the most comfortable bed (at least it seemed to be after that) ever and slept peacefully reminded and rocked to sleep by the waves of our memories of the day (LOLOL - yeah, that was pretty sappy but good, huh???)
This was such a perfect day - It is so amazing to me that God truly blessed me with the most awesome best friend/husband ever!! We just enjoy spending time together no matter what we are doing but we both agreed this was the best!!

Missing Them...

Well, I think I am finally caught up. After the wedding, Dave and I left the kids up north to spend time with their grandparent, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. It has been a bittersweet time for Dave and I as we miss them terribly but are very much enjoying some private, quality time together. Daily and sometimes twice daily phone calls have become the highlights of our day. We miss them so much! We love you Andrew and Kira!!!!!!

J and Bek's Wedding

And The Two Shall Become One...

May 24th was a day I am sure Jonathan Russell and Rebecca Maccarelli will never forget since it is the day the two of them became united together in Christ through marriage. I must say for me the highlight was seeing the 2 most adorable kids as ring bearer and flower girl ;) Yes, my children were in the wedding and what an honor it was for us to play a part in this beautiful union. Andrew made us kinda laugh because he did not understand why he had to hold a "girly pillow". We explained to him that this was a very special part and that all boys (including Uncle Free who did it at mommy and daddy's wedding) hold a pillow like this. He felt much better knowing that my brother had done it for us - hehe. Kira Rose, as usual, stole a piece of the show. Last year at my cousin Krystal's wedding Kira was walking down the aisle and throwing the petals beautifully. The problem was that she ran out of petals. About 2/3 of the way down the aisle, she threw her hands up in the air turned around and yelled that she was all out of petals and had to go back for more. We actually coaxed her to come the rest of the way down the aisle and that it was ok. She remembered this when she was asked to play the part of flower girl again at J's wedding. She even told me that she would be careful to not throw so many petals that she would run out. This wedding was going to be different! No way would she add a little extra flair to this wedding. Well, if you know my daughter, she always has a way of grabbing some of the attention. This time she did beautiful, walked down the aisle, throwing her petals beautifully. I thought we did it, we made it down the aisle and no funny shenanigans had taken placel. Well not so with my daughter, this time she had extra petals left in the basket and she decided to turn her basket over at the end of the aisle and dump them. Yes, there were many laughs once again at the pretty little flower girl.
We had such a good time heading home and visiting with our families. It is always such a special time to go home and see the people you love. Here are some of the fun pics of the great time we had while we were there.