summer 2017 roadtrip, part one

Friday, 6.30.17 - headed North!

Welcome to Virginia

Saturday 7.1.17

Granddaddy's house!

Chloe and I had lots of fun with this solar powered hopping frog

pool and pizza dinner with the Choi family!

We had a fun evening with David, Kelley, and Hannah.  Their swimming pool had an old school diving board with an actual deep end.  The big two must have jumped a million times each!  I am also in awe every time we see them at how well Chloe and Hannah always hit it off - It's so cool to me that despite only seeing each other maybe once or twice a year, these two always play together so well.  It was a great visit!

I think we played Monopoly at every stop this trip!

★Sunday, 7.2.17 - Washington D.C★

The Zerings came to visit Granddaddy too and our two families spent the day exploring DC/ the National Mall together!

ready to ride the subway into DC

Not sure the subway saved any time or money, but it was all about the experience for these guys :)

cute cousins!

the WWII memorial

a rare photo of the adults!

sweet cousins with the duckies

Lincoln memorial

After our adventure, we're back at Granddaddy and Grandma Jo-Ann's for dinner at California Tortilla and then the playground ... and of course a few photo ops :) 

and more Monopoly!

Thanks to the Esterlings for watching Maya and keeping us updated on her wellbeing!

June 2017 - Braves camp!

6.29.17 - a baseball mini-camp at SunTrust Park!  

Ryan was soo excited!

and it was all free through the Chevy youth baseball program, awesome!

with Caden Stone

they rotated by age group through different stations

great seats!

parents and siblings were free to wander, the girls were cute unpacking their lunchboxes at each station, so glad I brought those and they kept them entertained

Dwight Smith, outfielder :: Ryan Chase, future Brave?!😉 :: Pete Smith, pitcher

Ryan's last station was in the dugout with Pete Smith and Dwight Smith, former Braves.  

They were great guys, I loved their stories, even though the kids seemed a little bored.

they're from the mid 90's and they told stories about Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson and of course the great Braves like Tom Glavine.  Dwight was there for the World Series win and showed off his ring.

what a fun experience!

as if a free baseball clinic weren't enough, they also fed us [all of us!  parents and siblings too!] lunch in the Chop House

it happened to be Sonia's birthday, look at me treating her to a fancy burger at the Chop House, what a good friend I am! 

Happy Birthday, Sonia!😄

we didn't get to see much of Dylan since he was in a younger age group, but he was there too.  Alyson, who knows everybody, was the one who got us our in :)

June 2017, part four

★USA themed swim meet★

these three swam heat1,2,&3 from the same lane in event one, how fun is that!

And then we got stormed out during event three.  Oh well.

an overnight girls' trip to Buckhead with Sonia and Alyson!

[it's good to know people who know people! a complimentary bottle of champagne since Alyson knows everyone :)]

check out this cool store we found while walking after dinner

Zach took a bunch of the boys to the pool, Ryan had a blast!

Luis, Ryan, Gavin, and Caden

 ..a makeup swim meet..

Gracie, Abs, Kayla, Hannah

getting ready for our trip and cleaning the house made Mommy really grouchy!  

So we slipped away to the pool for an hour and then ate ice cream in the driveway when we got home :)

summer is the best!!!

 final swim meet of the season, Hawaiian themed, my sharpie art has improved since the first meet?!

Unfortunately, yet again, the weather did not cooperate.  And since it was the last meet, it wasn't even rescheduled.  We loved swim, but we were pretty much done by then anyways, so it was all good ;)

the sad part was that Nana had come to cheer them on!  After about an hour of delays, it was finally called.

June 2017, part three

dollar movie at the Historic Canton Theatre!

we met the Stones and Conleys and brought sweet Zoey with us, so much fun and a cool old theater too

Bruster's after dinner

Chloe tried chocolate because Zoey told her it was yummy and tasted like brownies.

She didn't finish it, didn't really like it, and made a huge mess, but I'm proud of my vanilla girl for trying something new!

growing up, experimenting with hair gel

way to go Ryan!!!

totally surprised to see this!!  this is how we found out, so fun :)

so exciting!  very proud mama!

Kayla and Abs

first first-place ribbons!

Mari, Abby, Lyla

a bunch of us stayed after swim to play, lots of fun!  followed by a spontaneous lunch trip to Culver's!

Cooper, Ryan, Nickolas

Zaxby's and Poole's Mill with Grandma and Grandpa

first harvest of the season!  We planted these last spring and there's a gazillion of them out there!

Maya meets her new friends, Buddy and Murphy.  

I am so happily surprised at how sweet and patient she has been with them.

I love love love their creativity.  Modern day Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn?!  

When asked where they are going :

Chloe: "well we can't move"

Abby: "we're going to a nice restaurant on the lake"

Chloe: "Abby we can't move."

Abby: "we're pretending!"

playdate at AJ's!  He has a pool.  and pingpong.

AJ, Zach, Ryan, and neighbor Luke

Aaron, Spence, and Bailey were also there.

Chloe had a playdate at Couper's house!  She was sooo excited.  

I love her expression in this picture :)

what's better then a yard full of happy kiddos [and dogs]?

Cooper spent the night