Sweet Summertime

I know I have been bad about updating the blog while Ashley has been here. We have been super-busy and having tons of fun. I will say, that this summer we have done less "stuff" than usual. We try to pack in all kinds of fun entertainment when Ashley was here, and this time we just tried to live our normal lives with her as a part of it. It has been great! I have taken off a few days so that we could sew, play games and take a trip to the water park, but all-in-all we have just had fun being a family.

In July we did fireworks, twice. Once in Opelika with MaMa and cousin Courtney and once in Auburn with MeMe and Hoppy. Both were great, but I think Auburn had the edge this year.

We also introduced Ashley to the "bassetball boyz" and since they are all around her age, she actually had "friends" here this year. She has had fun getting to know them and helping dad with basketball practice.

Last week, we took a trip to Alabaster to have our family portraits done by an amazing photographer, Grethel Van Epps. More on that later.

We also coerced Unc into going to the Auburn Waterpark, Surfside, with us. MikeyT gets free tickets through work, so it was a great afternoon. We even ran into some "bassetball boyz!"

Ashley and Mikey T headed to Georgia last weekend for basketball and me and Emma Kate stayed behind. She had a fun-filled night with her best-friend Mary McKinnon and I headed to a "grown-up" party with my friends Allyson and Allen to celebrate another set of friends' upcoming baby! It was great! I met a bunch of new friends and saw some old college pals as well.

So, now we aer winding back down. It is Ashley's last week and EK goes back to school next Monday. MeMe and Hoppy will come visit this weekend and we have the final basketball tourney of the season. Ashley will go home on Sunday and while EK (and Mikey T and ME) will be devastated to see her go, we are excited for her. She is starting a whole new chapter in her life, Middle School. She will return to her life as a dancer and Floridian. We will talk to her on the phone and text message her and facebook her, but we will be counting down the days until she returns to us again.