Wow, typing that title feels sad and scary and exciting. Imagining that our next blog post will be typed in Kyiv doesn't feel possible, but our plane tickets and empty house tell me otherwise. We have had a fun and busy end of May and beginning of June. After celebrating Peter's 40th, we headed South to visit family for a couple of weeks. We are back in Alexandria now and wrapping up all the loose ends. Here are the pictures from the last few weeks.....
 |
| We finished online school a few weeks early so we could be ready for the movers and spend time in the South with family. |
 |
| This bubble experiment was one of our last science assignments. |
 |
| Pre-COVID I had planned on doing something big and fun for Peter's 40th, but alas, we celebrated with a family party at home and he had a little backyard happy hour with some neighborhood friends. |
 |
| We watched the space launch, had carrot cake and pizza and opened presents. |
 |
| The girls were in charge of decorations. |
 |
| Susannah was so excited to give him the Star Wars card she had picked out and payed for with her allowance money. |
 |
| He got new running shoes, new workout bands and a couple of custom t-shirts from the girls. |
 |
| These girls love their Daddy. |
 |
| It wasn't fancy but it was fun. :) |
The next day, the movers came and packed up all of our things that will be going to Kyiv with us. And then it was time to leave the half-empty house and head south to see family.
 |
| First stop was Peachtree City to see Clara Kate, Jack, Luke, Aunt Liz and Uncle Will. |
 |
| Presley and Uncle Hollis came in from Charleston. The cousins had a blast together. |
 |
| Aunt Nancy brought her boyfriend Ryan from Asheville and we all celebrated having Papa with us. |
 |
| The obligatory cousins in age order photo. |
 |
| Uncle Will took the girls on a golf cart ride and they saw lots of geese and a baby deer. |
 |
| Next stop was Lake Martin for a family vacation with Mimi and Poppy and our other cousins. Uncle Dexter brought his boat and Sarah Avery was ready for her first ride the minute we arrived and put on swim suits. She and Emma are the same age and had so much fun together. |
 |
| The lake house was full of fun toys like this paddleboard. |
 |
| And perfectly situated for amazing sunsets like this one. |
 |
| Aunt Beth teaches Pilates and Barre in her spare time and she kicked my booty every single morning with killer workouts. |
 |
| Mimi and all the grand-kids having a big time. |
 |
| The paddle-board was a favorite of Mommy's too. |
 |
| Big Mable was the tube that came with the lake house. |
 |
| The kids LOVED riding on it. |
 |
| One morning Claire joined us for our workout. |
 |
| We had a few storms blow through so checkers made for the perfect lake break. |
 |
| As did movies. |
 |
| I had so much fun with Aunt Beth. Margaritas were a nightly ritual during the dinner prep hour. |
 |
| Sarah Avery loved fishing with her Daddy. She was so proud of this one she caught. |
 |
| We did s'mores under the stars a couple of nights which was a hit. |
 |
| The property was really perfect for a large family vacation like ours. |
 |
| SA and I took many paddle-board rides around the cove. |
 |
| And a couple of canoe rides with Daddy. |
 |
| Spending time with Poppy was a highlight of our time for sure. |
 |
| Fishing with him on the dock was like being in a time capsule. The smell of the crickets took me back to West Point Lake in the early 90's when we would fish every summer. |
 |
| We saved all the fish we caught all week and had a big fish fry on our last night. Poppy cleaned all the fish for us. |
 |
| Sarah Avery loved lake life and was quite the little daredevil. |
 |
| The Yates family came over from Auburn on our last day. Here all the kids are having a watermelon break. |
 |
| Ready for a boat ride! |
 |
| Aunt Beth is a saint and stayed in the lake for hours, patiently teaching each kid to ski and knee board. |
 |
| Sarah Avery loved knee-boarding. She didn't want that last ride to end. ;) |
 |
| Mimi and Poppy had t-shirts made for everybody so we had to get some family photos on the last night. |
 |
| Thank you Mimi and Poppy for all these happy memories!! |
 |
| These two loved the lake and already asked when we could return. |
 |
| We squeezed in a family picture right as the light was dwindling. |
And then the next day we headed back north, stopping for a couple more nights in Peachtree City. Thank you to Liz and Will and Mimi and Poppy and everybody else who we were able to see. Thanks to all of you, we are leaving for our next adventure with our hearts full.
