Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Summer to Remember! (Part 2)

Our last trip of the summer was a family vacation through Josh's work to Naples, Florida!  We went with the same family, the Turks, who we'd gone with the year before and were so excited to spend another week with them!  We had a wonderfully relaxing week of hitting the beach, swimming in the pool, enjoying good food, doing some sight-seeing, and visiting with my Aunt Susan and her husband Ron, who live right by Naples!  We had lots of fun with the Turks, and the kids spent a lot of time playing with their two kids and a couple of older kids on the trip, who did a great job entertaining them while we enjoyed some peaceful dinners with the grown-ups!




















We also had some wonderful visitors come this summer!  Our dear friends from college, Kim and Adam, were making a trip to South Texas, so they stopped at our house on the way for dinner!  It was so good as always to see them and their adorable kiddos!  We had a great time together, and it had me wanting for more time with them!









One of the highlights of our summers is always the Beasley visit!  Josh's sister and family came out for a week, and we enjoyed getting to have them in our new house this time and swim in our pool together!  The trip was made extra special this year, because our niece, Josie, got to come with them and spend the week with us, too!  It was such a joy having her come out this time, and we wish she could come every time.  She and Hannah have grown up so much, and we had so much fun talking, playing with hair and make-up, and shopping together!  Billy, as always, cooked most of our (delicious) meals for us, which is such a treat, and we just enjoyed lots of time relaxing, and watching the kids play.









A Summer to Remember! (Part 1)

We had quite an eventful summer this year!  It started with putting our house on the market and selling it 6 days later!  In the meantime, James and I went on a very fun trip to Disney World with Nana, Bibi, Mary Beth, Aunt Susan, and Blair!  We surprised Mary Beth and James the morning of, and had a wonderful few days together!  I hadn't been since I was a kid, so it was so much fun to go back and share it with James.  James loved it and became super attached to Blair while we were there.  He wouldn't let her out of his sight, wanted to sit by her everywhere, and wanted her to hold him everywhere we went.  The only other time I've seen him get attached to someone other than Josh and me was with my other cousin, Deirdre!  Blair was such a trouper and carried him all around Disney World for much of the time!  James' favorite part of the trip was the Monorail.  He still talks about it!  As soon as we got home, he got a piece of paper and drew the Disney castle from memory.  I was surprised at how much it looked like the real thing!  I could tell he had really taken it all in.
(more pics to come)





My Aunt Carolyn was celebrating fifty years of becoming a nun, so our whole family went to Cape Cod to help her celebrate!  It was like a mini family reunion with our wonderful Northeast family!  Our Robinson family made a vacation out of it and stayed a week in a rental house afterwards.  We had a great week together between hanging out, shopping, going to the beach, sightseeing, and visiting with our extended family, just a mile away!  Oh, and eating as much New England clam chowder as possible!
Mom and Aunt Barbara

2nd cousins having fun!





Aunt Carolyn with all of her nieces and nephews

cousins with spouses



Deirdre and Jack






Touring Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass.  Everyone was in character, and it was like stepping back in time!  Very neat!




where the original American settlers actually lived



The kids LOVED the Mayflower

Plymouth Rock!
BOSTON!
We had a wonderful ending to our week by going to Boston and staying with my cousin, Deirdre, and her husband Eero!  I was so happy to get to see where they lived.  We thoroughly enjoyed eating good pizza, staying up late talking, and then going on a terrific tour of Boston, courtesy of Eero, who loves history and knows a lot about Boston.  He also managed to carry and entertain Mr. Jack all throughout the streets of Boston while giving our tour.  We suggested that he start a business call "Toddler Tours"!  


                                                   

Part 2: Naples and some fun visitors coming up!