We're Here!

Yeah! I made it to visit my sissy!!!
Auntie and I were all about pictures... Lee, not so much. He is all business.
We are staying at the Crowne Plaza Hamilton, which is a historic old hotel. I absolutely love old buildings!
After we checked into the hotel, we enjoyed some swim time at Auntie's townhome. It just happened that we picked a really HOT weekend to visit!
Handstand contest: Lee?
Or Laura?
About this point in time, my camera bit the dust. It served me well as a "mommy-proof" camera, but it seems that Auntie dealt the final blow. Not to blame her too much, it was in really bad repair. So, her and Lee went to Best Buy and I will have a brand-new camera to try out tomorrow. I am happy that Lee restrained himself and bought a cheap mommy camera for me. He was tempted by 3-D, but honestly, am I going to use it? No.

Time to enjoy some wine service, I mean room service!

Monticello

Today we visited Monticell, the home of Thomas Jefferson. I love visiting old houses and his was full of interesting inventions.
The boys are really sweet and I feel blessed that I have two boys that love each other and are great friends!

Road Trip to Virginia & D.C.

Yesterday we started our road trip to visit Sean in Richmond, VA and Kevin & Erica in Washington, D.C. Yesterday's leg of the trip was the longest driving day that we have planned. We drove all the way from Spartanburg to Richmond and it took about 8 hours.

We stopped for lunch at Quaker State Restaurant in Concord. We thought that it would be a fun treat for the boys and they LOVED it! It was just up their alley.

Lots of cars...

Even hanging from the ceiling!
The boys were very excited that their lunches came in cars!
Caleb is obsessed with "The United States of America!!!" He only uses the full name and says it with enthusiasm. He has been talking for weeks how he was going to go to a new state for the first time, Virginia. As you can imagine, there was a lot of excitement in car when we passed into Virginia for the first time and we had to stop at the welcome center!
After a long day of driving, we arrived in Richmond and got to see Sean!

More Pictures from Camping

Even more pictures can be found on my Facebook page. You don't need a Facebook login to see the pictures.

Caleb and Graysen at the pool

Todd at the pool

Emily at the pool

He would consider his putt for a minute or two like this, then stand up, hold putter backwards, and hit the ball sideways.

A rare moment of rest...

I sincerely hope that this is the most redneck either of my boys will ever look.

At the playground...

Graysen wouldn't let Caleb dance with Emily, so Caleb danced by himself. He didn't get his moves from me.

Night arrives.

Pirate Weekend at Yogi Bear Campground

This year, Lee and Todd were invited to go on Lisa and my annual camping trip to Yogi Bear Marion. I know what you are thinking, "Lucky Lee and Todd!"

The theme for the weekend was "Pirates."

This banner pretty much sums it up:
The three kids were inseparable and had a great time playing together in "nature" all weekend.
I am not sure why I am always the most excited to meet mascots?!
About two hours into the trip a torrential downpour occurred suddenly. The boys, Lisa, and I were on the Friday night "hey ride" when it started. As you can see, Graysen freaked out!
Todd was sweet and manned the grill while we all huddled in the tent. All seven of us ate dinner in our tent and played games. It was very cozy and felt like we were on the show "Survivor."
Lee was a good sport about the weekend and Todd and Lee even completed a treasure hunt for us girls while we stayed cool in the shade. Although, Lee says no more treasure hunts in the future.
A beautiful rainbow crossed the sky after the storm and the rest of the weekend's weather was great!
I stopped taking pictures after Friday since Lee became the official photographer for the trip. Hopefully he will post some of his pictures later.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?

Perhaps if I knew the rest of that nursery rhyme, I would know why my garden will not grow. Although, I am pretty sure that it is due to lack of watering.

My garden has produced nothing this year and, when I went out there this morning, all the plants could be declared dead. After three different people gave us vegetables from their overflowing gardens this week, I decided that "growing season" is in full swing and I can't blame my garden's lack of fruit on it being "early" in the season.

So... I was inspired to "revive" the garden.

This is "Laura's Garden Version 3.0," after spending $100 at Lowes for all new plants.
Version 1.0 (last summer) didn't produce anything because I only bought one of each type of plant so cross-pollination didn't occur to fertilize the flowers.

Version 2.0 (this summer), and my lawn, died from my desire to let Mother Nature take care of my yard and prevent a repeat of last summer's $400 water bill. But, Mother Nature didn't do a good job, so I am on a mission to fix both.

The boys and I also decided that our garden died because we didn't have anyone protecting it at night. So we hired Hop, Skip, and Jump (three frogs) to watch over it at night and help us take care of the garden.

Now that my gardening "opportunities" are corrected, I am expecting an abudant harvest anyday now!

Graysen

This picture pretty much sums up Graysen.