Whoosh.....Summer's Gone!

It's time to get back into blogging -- I've missed it!

Sooo much to say. Too many things happened over the summer to write them all so here are a few of highlights.

1. Nauvoo. Mom and Dad have finished their mission there and it is once again a 20 hour drive to visit them. The three hour drive to Nauvoo was such a blessing. We spent a lot of time there this summer, playing Quirkle, measuring historic homes (you should see my hubder's sketches!), giggling and being together.

2. Triathlon. I didn't meet my goal of beating last years time, but as I didn't train as hard and I'm a year older, nine seconds added to last year's time is more than respectable. This year's trialthon was sponsored by my Big Bro (thanks, Bro!)

3. Utah trip. We took the kids out of school for a week to go to Utah to my little sister's wedding. It was beautiful and made me happy. We also spent a couple of nights at our favorite place on the planet with Hubder's family. We giggled and ate too much and slept very little. Seeing family is a boon to my soul.

And now, for the low light:

Long story, short (trust me, I could write pages). On the way home from Utah, car troubles stranded us in Laramie, Wyoming for three days. $500 later (towing, hotels and food) we learned that the car was essentially totalled, bought a brand new Toyota Rav4 and drove home. Yeah, we exceeded our vacation budget! As we unloaded the car, Banana-Girl (12) said, "This is the coolest souvenir we've EVER bought!"

North Carolina!

Our family just got back from a trip to North Carolina to see our son, Tough Guy and his sweet wife, Cutie-Pie. It was a fabulous trip and it got us to the ocean with our kids (something, I must admit we've never done before).

The sixteen hour car ride was a bit extreme for the five of us in our trusty Camry. But the kids (age 15, 12 and 6) were amazingly patient and it took only a quiet word from Dad to pull them back when things got out of hand. (Can someone tell me why Dad's word is law and Mom's word is ignored?)

We stayed on the military base (Cherry Point), which was cheap and an adventure! We gabbed and played with our fun son and daughter-in-law. We ate too much. We got sunburned at the beach, gathered lot's of shells, and made a spectacular sand castle (no pics of the beach, 'cuz there's no cheap way to get pictures off of my cell phone and I wasn't gonna get my camera full of sand).

We ate Carolina BBQ. Yum!

We explored a Civil War Fort.

We visited an aquarium. Where we:

pet the rays,

and a sea turtle,

and spent lots of time in front of the shark tank.

A brief look at one of the many things that kept the kids entertained during the 32 hours on the road. Who knew that carrots could be so entertaining!

And yes, we stopped in Metropolis on our way home!

We've only been home for three days and I already miss Tough Guy and Cutie-pie.

Good thing they're coming in July!!

Don'tcha just love summer!?