The last few weeks have been a whirl wind! After Adam's parents came to visit, the kids had a week of swim lessons. Adam and I hosted an adult game night and the girls had play dates too. Then we were all off to Dallas the following week.
Things were a little hectic when we found out my Grandpa Odell had suddenly fallen ill and then passed away on July 4th. Thankfully my Dad managed to keep the kids entertained, fed and to bed on time while we went to St. Lucia for our 10 year wedding anniversary! He took them to the movies, a museum, swimming, Build-A-Bear at the mall, and out to dinner. Lots of quality time with Papa! Amy really stepped up too and took time off work to help watch them.
This trip was the longest we've ever been away from the kids, but something we were really looking forward to. We've had a lot of up and downs the last 10 years and deserved this time away to regroup together. St. Lucia was beautiful. We were really impressed with our hotel and private suite/pool. We enjoyed some beaches, snorkeling, trying new foods, lots of drinks and lounging around. There was a slight hurricane scare in there somewhere too haha!
On our way back, I flew to Illinois for my Granpda's funeral and Adam headed to TX to relieve Amy. We had one more day in Dallas to spend with everyone before coming home. This also happened to be Lucas's birthday. The kids had already baked a cake and gotten balloons. Everyone drew pictures and wrote messages to Lucas on the balloons. Then we all went outside and released them to heaven.
It wasn't more than a day that we were back in CA before we hopped in the car and drove up to the Russian River! This is our 3rd summer hanging out with friends at the river. It's a nice, low-key time. Now we're home and have one last week to spend with Adam before he goes back to work. His 5 weeks off flew by and we're going to miss our family time. Soaking it all up along with as much sun as we can too! Going to try to squeeze in a couple more fun things too!
All our pics from St. Lucia HERE.
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| Lazy summer mornings at home are our favorite. |
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| Summer of classic movies. Loved Karate Kid. |
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| River rats floating with the ducks. |
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| Airport picture! |
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| Convincing Maura she loves me the most. |
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| Everyone looking cute in the 4th of July outfits. |
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| Waited and waited for fireworks that eventually got cancelled because of high winds. |
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| Always my airplane buddy. Being silly. |
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| Being goofy in the car. |
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| Summer playdates = popsicles and pools. |
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| Adult game night. We got last place. Booo. |
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| Trying to master the different strokes. |
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| Tim distracting all the other kids in class haha. |
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| Writing their birthday notes to Lucas. |
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| They chose a lemon cake this year. |
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| Glad we were finally home. Hanging in our bed at Nama and Papa's. |
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| Entertaining them at the airport. |
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| Outdoor mass in Guerneville. |
