A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

Or 7,116 miles.

AKA the distance from here to there, with 'there' being South Korea and the mancub's soon to be new home.

My friend and neighbor (local peeps-Casual Moments Photography) is a fabulous photographer and since we'll be living 7,116 miles from the mister and his mom and dad too, we asked her to come snap a few pics of hubs and I with our grandson.

Be still my heart.

Baby boy's daddy was holed up in the library studying for his Boards, but his mama and aunt were in the house so they got in on the fun too.

Be still my heart.

Our little man turns two years old at the end of the month, and this time next year will have a baby brother to share life, adventure, and his mama's arms with. These shots with her are extra extra special-

There's a teeny tiny window of willingness to sit for a photo on a warm summer's day when you're almost two years old, but we persevered and are so glad we did.

 Be still my heart.

Easy Peasy

Summertime and the livin' is easy. 

Or easy peasy as the mancub likes to say. 

He and his mama have been at the lake with us for the past week, but he's gone to his other grandparents house this week. Sometimes people ask us if we dislike having to share our time with him when the kids are in town, but we don't mind. 

We might need a nap y'all. 

We're having the time of our lives with this sunny, chatty, busy boy in the house, and we're not thinking at all about the big move happening soon. 

               

Well maybe just a little teensy tiny bit, but mostly we're enjoying this time with our girl and her boy to the nth degree. Soaking up every ounce of sweetness there is and putting it in our pockets to pull out later when they're half a world away and we're missing them. We know how to do this and we are so excited for the incredible opportunity they have before them. 

Besides the mancub and his mama and his aunt we've had extended family coming and going and going and coming starting with hubs family at the end of June. Most of that weekend was spent in one of two places...here-

and here-

That's my mother-in-law in her happy place. Surrounded by all of her grown children which doesn't happen as often as she'd like. They're spread hither and yon so getting them all together requires planning and logistics. 

Or I guess you could just have a granddaughter/niece moving to South Korea. That works too. 

My neighbor has a backyard full of blueberry bushes and since she was going to be away she invited us to come over and pick. 

We've had blueberry waffles, blueberry cobbler, blueberries in our fruit salad, and blueberries by the 

handful. Yum!

Hubs family left on Monday and I did laundry and a quick grocery run before collecting my mom at the airport on Tuesday. 

She spent a couple of days with us at the lake then went on to my sister's for a few days there.

(shirts by Elly and Grace)

We hung out lakeside on the 4th of July and some friends and neighbors came by boat to watch the fireworks from our dock. Our across the cove neighbor puts on the most awesome display and boaters come from all around to see it.

I snapped this picture just as it was getting dark, but more boats made their way over as night fell. It's so much fun!

Boat hair. Don't care.

Actually that's a lie. I do kind of care but I also like the wind in my hair and you can't have it both ways. Baby boy likes the wind in his hair too so it's all good.

We had a couple of low key days swimming and boating and playing in the water which was grand, and then my sister and brother-in-law along with my niece and my mom trekked back to the lake for more family fun and a birthday dinner.

My mom and my brother-in-law share the same birth month and day so daughter2 worked her magic and made two fantabulous desserts to mark the occasion.

Carrot cake cupcakes for my brother-in-law and this super rich chocolate cake with a raspberry filling, chocolate ganache, and fudgy chocolate icing over all which was too scrumptious for words.

The Mister helped his great grandma read her cards and open her presents.

Par-tay!

And now about that nap...

The Sweetness of Summer

I guess I'm catching up here today. Again. That's likely how summer blogging will go and I'm rolling with it.

Daughter1 and her little guy arrived on Father's Day and we had a week of fun in the sun with the two of them before hubs and I headed to Austin to attend a friend's son's wedding. Why do all those apostrophes look wrong?

Anyway, each time the mancub is here he's a little bit better on the boat. He's big enough for a puddle jumper now as opposed to the life jacket and it's much more comfortable. They're Coast Guard approved unless you're skiing, but we don't have him up on skis (yet!) so it's perfect.

He is a huge fan of his aunt, and next to Pawpaw she's his favorite person. Or she might even be the favorite, but don't tell Pawpaw.

I'm third but I've already called dibs on baby number two-ha! Which (insert drum roll) is a BOY!! We're all so excited to have brothers in the house. The boys will be close in age and I hope they're best buds just as their mama and aunt have always been.

Also, baby boy loves his Nana plenty so no worries.

We spent most mornings at our neighborhood pool, and every day he got a little bit braver about leaving the step.

Is he just the cutest or what??!!

Afternoons were spent in the lake and looked mostly like this-

I know. It's a blur, but it's also an accurate reflection of what it's like keeping up with a not quite two year old on a dock beside the water. In he goes with a huge smile on his face, then back up the stairs lightning fast, then almost before you can blink he's launching himself back into the lake. We tag team him with someone on the stairs, someone on the dock, and someone in the water.

It takes a village y'all.

Friday we motored out to one of the little islands on the lake and he loved that. We loved it too because there was a sandy beach that allowed our water baby to walk into the lake hands free.

He splashed and paddled and chased the beach ball and played in the sand and had himself a grand old time. We all did! It was an absolutely gorgeous day so how could we not?

Saturday hubs and I had an early flight to Austin and Daughter1 and the mancub headed to her in-laws for the week. Her hubs is here too, but he spends all day every day in the university library studying for his Boards happening later in July.

This is why I'm not a doctor. Well one of the reasons I'm not a doctor. I lack the super deep well of self-discipline required to say I'll spend all these sunshiny summer days in a library cubicle instead of on the water.

Oh and guess who else is here?

Y'all he's cute. He wears his life jacket with nary a complaint and would happily run off the dock all day every day if we let him. And we might because he has some energy to burn. Hubs purchased a super duper deluxe pet hair dryer we've set up in the lower garage and so far that's working out well.

The pup is headed to a trainers for two weeks starting tomorrow and I think he'll do great. He's a really smart dog and he seems to have settled in. Of course we're wearing him out every day with the walking and the swimming and the ball chasing so he's pretty pooped by the end of the day. Getting into a routine with two is taking a little figuring out, but we'll get there.

Austin. It was hot. But we had a really lovely couple of days away and enjoyed sleeping in, eating queso and sipping margaritas-

visiting the LBJohnson Presidential Library-

and celebrating the wedding of a super sweet couple-

This is not that couple. This is us and we've been married thirty-five years. We are super sweet though.

We flew out Saturday and were back home Monday evening so a quick trip, but just what we needed in the way of rest and recharge. We have family coming in this weekend and the mancub and his mama will be back at the lake to enjoy catching up with everyone. More family will follow and there will be cookouts and bare feet, fireworks and ice cold watermelon, stories told and memories made.

If you need us we'll be right here...soaking up all the sweetness that is summer.

Zilch, Zero, Nada

Z is for Zero

As in how many posts I wrote last week. And in keeping with my theme of things that delight it's also the number of alphabet letters remaining in the April A to Z Blog Challenge so whoohoo!

Let's catch up some, k? Daughter2 had a childhood friend visit the lake last weekend. It rained. And rained and rained and rained. They didn't care even a little bit. They planted themselves on the screened in porch and read through piles of books and talked and read more books and even managed one quick dip in the lake between cloudbursts.

Rainy days and childhood friends are good for the soul. Plus when the rain clears you get a sky that looks like this-

Daughter2's friend flew out Sunday then on Monday friends we made while living in England who now live in Texas but have a lake house in Kentucky came to visit. Did you get all that?

We had glorious weather and spent all day Tuesday on the boat. It's been a strange season so far in terms of boating because it really hasn't been all that hot. Not Carolina hot anyway which means we've been enjoying cool mornings on the porch and cool evenings out there too. I do love me some porch sitting.

Wednesday we played tourist and drove over to Asheville to spend the day with the Vanderbilts. They weren't home but we let ourselves in and toured their house and gardens anyway.

An absolutely gorgeous home in a gorgeous setting not to be missed if you're in the area.

They had a fun display in the conservatory, a model train with tracks running in and out of the plantings, along with miniature models of the estate too. Let me just say their gardener knows what he's doing.

Our friends got on the road early Thursday so we did ordinary life stuff like visit the dentist (me), get a haircut (also me) and take a guitar lesson (definitely the hubs!).

Friday night we went over to a little place we like to eat on the lake and then because the sky was so pretty we took our time cruising home right along with the sun. Pay no attention to my boat hair.

Also, why doesn't my daughter have boat hair? 

Meanwhile...on the west coast my daughter1 and son-in-law celebrated his graduation from a 5-year orthopedic surgical residency and are busy loading up suitcases to make the trek south for a few weeks prior to their move. We absolutely could not be more proud of his drive, his diligence, his patience, and the fortitude he has displayed in getting to this day.

Our girl will be here tomorrow with the mancub to celebrate Father's Day with her father in person, and we're all just a little bit excited about that. The Dr. Captain will follow a bit later and will bring the dog with him, so no pup in the house just yet.

Other than the one already here I mean.

And oh yeah, tomorrow hubs and I mark 35 years as husband and wife.

This most recent year feels a lot like this post.-so.much.stuff. But there is grace for the day and for the year and for all the years and for that we are so very grateful.

Happy Anniversary hubs...you're still the one 💕