The Busy Summer

Well the exciting summer I was looking forward to has arrived and left in the form of my darling niece and nephew. Nathan and Stacy (number 3 and 4 of my eldest brother) came for three weeks in June. We (as in my mom, Brian, me, Carl, my twin sister and her two children) took them first to Savannah for three days and spent one day on Tybee Island at the beach.

We all had great fun in the sun, especially digging the holes to help secure our six umbrellas. Mostly they fell, but we still had a lot of fun. I pledged that we would stay all day at the beach on Tuesday (June 9th) til everyone was just sick of it. I got my wish. Nobody wanted to go back!!

So we then went to Fort Pulaski and Oatland Island Wildlife Preserve (note: if you ever make it to Savannah, this wildlife preserve is a nature walk with a few animals along the way. It was so hot, even the animals were hiding.) One of my mom's oldest friend and her grandson also joined us as well this day.

Ha Ha!! I tricked you. My twin sister is the one in the picture!!

Ella, Katie, Sarah with yet to be named upcoming niece, Nathan, Stacy and Carl!! All together at Fort Pulaski. It was great for Sarah also to get to spend some time with her nieces and nephews.

The next week we took Stacy and Nathan up to the mountains. We did get to meet up with my other brother, Victor and his two children, Grace and Aiden. We had quite the adventure at Kennesaw Mountain. Just as we finished lunch, it began to sprinkle. So we went into the visitor center and watched a movie about the Civil War battle fought there. then the sun came out, so we took a bus up to the top of the mountain. The rain came back but was very light. As we got out of the bus, we could see lighting, so the bus driver stayed. As we began to look around, it began to rain very hard. Yeah for the bus driver!! He took us all back down and we were drenched!! We certainly had an adventure!!

We later went to the Dahlonega Gold Mines, Amicalola Falls State Park, and tubing down the Chattahoochee River in Helen (on Brian's birthday!!).

We had planned some more wonderful things to do around Atlanta for their last week. Brian was taking a class to "certify him to teach A.P. Statistics", but alas, my body gave out on us. My colitis flared up, but we had some wonderful friends invite us for swimming one day and yeah to the free movies at Beechwood cinemas.

Carl absolutely loved sharing a room with Nathan and wanted to do everything just like Nathan!! And for the most part, Nathan was really patient and understanding with Carl. Brian and I also learned what it is like to have more than one child around. Brian and Nathan really got into the EuroCup soccer games and soccer on the Playstation. We also taught them some of our favorite card games: Five Crowns and Skip-bo.

Ah Summer, we look forward to it, it comes and then is gone. So the point, enjoy every minute, it does not last long!!