Back on the radar: A not-so-little travel log

We have had wonderful visits with both of our families these past few weeks. The kids and I were able to attend Uncle Josh's graduation from high school and his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. He finished with a bang and was able to sing at the ceremony. Mom and Dad worked VERY hard on the All-Night Grad party and it was a hit. We also got to see a program for Hadley; she graduated from the 6th grade. Other than that we ventured to the National Zoo and fun parks around VA. We also went to the pool several times, which was a hit.

Following our first week and a half in VA at my parents house, we all headed down to the Outer Banks for a week at the beach. Kevin met us there and it was a beautiful week. We went when Jillian was a little younger than Peter and it was an excrutiatingly hot week! We were much luckier this time and the weather was perfect. The house we stayed at was great and even Jillian got her own room- which was great practice for the upcoming big girl bed. It was a pretty low-key week compared to some of our other trips down there and we all thoroughly enjoyed some intense relaxation. (As much as one can relax as a mother of a two year old at the beach:) Pete even ventured into the pool a few times. Jill let Pops take her into the ocean water too! While we were there Josh celebrated his 19th birthday and Jillian turned two. A few days after our trip Aunt Hadley turned 12 and next Saturday Katie will be 21. Big year for the fam! Mom made us all some great seafood, and Dad grilled up some delicious salmon. All in all, OBX 2008 was a success. Funny to think we've been going there for summer vacation for almost 20 years. The first time we went Josh was Peter's age!

We left our week at the beach a tad bit early so that Kevin could bless Peter in the church he grew up in, in Raleigh. That afternoon Gayle made us a delicious dinner and we shared some birthday cake for Jillian, and everyone else with birthdays. We swam every chance we got in Grandma's new and improved backyard. (She put in a hot tub, gazebo and rockbed creek.) Jason and Alisa and Evan came over the morning of July 4th and we also got to spend an afternoon with some good family friends. Matt and Doreen are all moved into their apartment at UNC and we visited their place, which is SO nice. Next time we'll have Matt show us around his new campus. Hunter and Jillian got along tons better than they did at Christmas and after Hunter left Jill kept looking around for him. It's going to be so fun watching them grow up together.

After being gone a month, we were anticipating our return home. Our flight got in late and we were lucky a good friend could pick us up. I about cried when we got home to our apartment though. It smelled so badly of smoke and there was junk all over the floor from the window that was supposed to be replaced, that wasn't. Instead it was screwed shut. I'm sure there is an explanation but when you're running on empty everything seems like a worst case scenario. I'm pretty sure we've just adjusted to the smell here because at my parents' house all of our clothes smelled like smoke before I washed them there for the first time. I must have been really tired though because this morning everything didn't seem so desperate:) We can do anything for a few more months, right?

The next few weeks in St. Louis should be fun! Kevin's next rotation is supposed to be pretty intense so we've got to come up with some fun things to keep us occupied:) I've got some goals for myself and some fun things to do with Jillian. Summertime is so fun! We'll try and post some photos tomorrow.