First Month of Summer Break

 We are halfway through our summer vacation and it has been a whirlwind of travels and fun with family and friends.  Here are the photos:

Susannah went to church camp for a week.  

The sisterly goodbye was fraught with sadness from SA. :)

But these three were excited for their last year at Centrikid.

While Susannah was away, SA participated in our church's music camp.  The last day was a performance--SA sang a duet and played a camel.  

The girls and I headed for Hilton Head as soon as their camps wrapped up.  

We were so excited for a week with cousins at the beach.  

Reunited and it feels so good!  

We immediately hit the sand.  

And the water.  

And the tiki bar.  :) 

These two had a blast together all week.  

As did these tweens-almost teens. 

It was hot, but the water was calm all week and the perfect refreshing temperature.  

We biked all over the island, but our sunset beach rides were my favorite.  

My beauties. 

The resort had many fun activities, including meeting a mermaid poolside.  

And a photo scavenger hunt that required all sorts of antics like this.  

We had a beautiful dinner on the marsh one night.  

The Lowcountry is so beautiful. 

Now that Poppy is gone, these cousin memories feel even more special.  

Sometimes the heat made it necessary to accept a golf cart ride to the beach.  

Beth and I talked for 6 days straight and still had things left to say.  

We cooked a low country boil one night and ate in our PJs. 

And had a delicious lunch at this spot on one of our last days.  

Souvenir shopping

And one last evening beach walk ended a fantastic week.  Thank you, Aunt Beth, Sidney, and Emma!! 

We were home for just a few days before heading out again.  It makes me happy the girls are still climbing the GM pyramid.  

We celebrated the 4th poolside at The Paulsons.  

Sparklers!  

Our next trip took us to Knoxville to visit Grammy.  Here we are at "skip rock island." 

We were ecstatic to meet our newest cousin, Natalie.  

And it was so fun to see how much Emma had grown.  

Natalie's big brothers were as cute as ever. 

And the biscuit-making tradition with Grandmama continued as well.  

Grammy treated us to the girl's favorite lunch spot--Red Lobster.  

And we took Grammy for an early birthday pedicure too.  

We spend a fun-filled day with my oldest and dearest friend, Lyndsey, and her family.  

Bringing the girls to this house that meant so much to me growing up is just one of my favorite things.  Thank you for the delicious lunch, Betty!  :) 

The paddleboard was a big hit with the kiddos. 

We spent one day up in Dandridge and Newport, visiting all the cousins.  

Meanwhile, Peter was on an epic weeklong fishing trip with his college friends in Montana.  He will probably make a separate post with those photos, but this one of his welcome wagon at the Bozeman Airport makes me giggle.  

It was a great week with Grammy.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to our next spot, Mimi's house where we baked and swam and caught up with Mimi!  

And got to meet the new litter of puppies at Sidney and Emma's house. 

We were happy to keep our tradition of a day at the farm with Peter's cousins.  

And Mimi treated us all to a delicious dinner on the square in LaGrange. 

And then, it was time to head to our annual weekend in Nashville. 

Love this traditional poolside photo.  

The ladies escaped the chaos one day for brunch and shopping.  

The other obligatory photo that makes me smile.  

And now we are all home and reunited.  A great big thank you to all of our friends and family that make our summer visits fun and special.  We love you all.  We head to Boston and Acadia in a few days.  Can't wait to explore a new part of the country.