The Rest of the Summer

The summer flew by as it always does, and it was a busy one. Between the cross-country trips and home renovations, the kids seemed to have had a good summer overall. Grandpa Jim and Uncle Josh came down for a long weekend to help hang drywall, and of course we hit the beach. Here's a few more summer memories:

Had some Mexican food with these gentlemen...

Did some sort of yoga on the beach.

Terminated some fried chicken at Zaxbys somewhere on the road.

Took more than a few trips to Lowe's.

Went back to the beach on the last day of summer!

Had a sand battle.

Got ready for football season! Here we go Brownies!!

Rocked out while buying school supplies... I guess?

Went back to school...

It was a summer to remember, but then it was back to reality... oh well, it'll be back again!

Back to Texas (Again)

After a long journey through the month of June into July, we finally came back to Texas for the rest of the summer. The drive back from Florida on I-10 was pretty familiar to us, as it's the route we took the first time we came to Texas. All the way at the farthest eastern point of that highway in this state is a rest stop, which is near the largest mile marker in the country (Texas is a big state, it's a lot of miles to get from one side to the other). Anyway, we'd been here before, so it was interesting to see how things have changed in 6 years...

The Lone Star State welcomes us back...

And that was the first time we came this way...

Just a little older.

Just a little younger.

Adam wasn't thrilled the first time he came to Texas.

And he's still not excited about it. I think he'd be a cold weather kid if he could choose... and Nolan is just a little harder to carry around than he used to be. Fun fact... that's the same semi driving by on the highway. How we pulled that off... I'll never tell.

East Coast Adventures

While on the east coast again for the first time in a while, we made sure to stop a few places we hadn't been, and a few places we'd been many times. In South Carolina we went to Congaree National Park because I randomly saw it on the map and realized it was one we'd never been to! There wasn't a lot to do, especially since it was miserably hot and humid, but we visited the park headquarters and took a short hike down the elevated walkway. 

Paul was thrilled.

In Charleston we stopped at a fort we'd never been to and took a picture by a few cannons we'd never seen! It was amazing!

Fort Sumter's fallen! Fort Sumter's fallen! I'd been to most of the major Civil War battlefields, so it was nice to check this one off the list.

And the boys enjoyed the ferry ride out to the fort.

After the wedding we went south to a familiar place. Jacksonville will always hold a special place in our hearts... because it's where we got this kid! It was good to be back, even if just for the day.

 

Always fun getting Nolan to pose for a picture with his brothers.

Too close to Jacksonville Beach to not go... and the sun was out, the water was nice, gotta get in!

 

Suns out, guns out. Awesome trip to Florida... I'm sure we'll be back.

A Miller Wedding

The first of this generation got married in July, as my sister's oldest boy had a wedding in Charleston, South Carolina! We took the long drive to the east coast to be there, and it didn't disappoint. Another huge congrats to Wyatt and Jackie! Here's how it all went down:

They cleaned up nice.

Josie guarded the door to the bride's room...

Even Morgan looked spiffy.

I'm guessing this kid always looks this good.

Parents of the groom!

Where's the cake?!?

Elias hitting it kind of hard...

The newly weds!

  Had a great time and glad we could make it!