First Week of Vacation-Recap

Our first week of vacation was a delight! The boys and I dropped the girls off in Fayetteville on Monday morning where they quickly set up their camps. Although there were a few long, teary hugs before I left, they soon settled in their crafts and shopping excursions. The boys and I headed over to my friend Amanda's house to watch her children for a couple of hours. We had a lot of fun, but my sons missed any kind of nap--which was really a blessing because I put them to bed at 6:45 p.m. and they slept for 12 hours straight! A quiet evening was a delight in and of itself.

Tuesday, my friends Annie and Lydia came for the day. We hit the Goodwill, Petsmart (for the boys to see the dogs playing), Old Navy and Chick-Fil-A. It was really nice to be able to pop in and out of a dressing room without hustling 4 children along with me!

Wednesday, the girls came back mid-morning and my parents took Philip to a local golf course for him to ride in/drive the cart and use his putter for a bit of practice. The girls were very busy with my mom working on some Christmas crafts. Here's my prototype gift which Lydia made.

Thursday, we met our friends Melissa and Ethan for a morning and lunch of swimming at their neighborhood pool. The day was extremely hot, but the pool made our lives much more bearable. We enjoyed catching up with them.

Friday featured the appraiser (for a house re-fi) and the piano tuner. We put our freshly tuned piano to good use with piano lessons later in the afternoon with our friends, the Bakers. In the evening, Kevin decided to get out our ailing riding mower to cut the grass. As I was bathing Simeon, Philip appeared at the top of the stairs with very wide eyes. "I cannot fix Dad's mower and there are HUGE plumps of smoke coming out of it." I ran to a window, and well, you can see the rest!

Saturday we went swimming at the cousin's pool and then headed north for a surprise 60th birthday party for our friend Ray. We had a wonderful, enjoyable first week.