A Barefoot Family Thanksgiving

If you are reading this, you've probably heard about my family's Thanksgiving or experienced it for yourself. It is not like most Thanksgivings because a. it is held in a barn, b. our main course is whole hog, not turkey, and c. our after-dinner activities consist of shooting skeet and playing kickball. Oh, and you can always count on at least 75 people being there. It's the fun-loving, have-a-good-time, enjoy-being-together, laid back kind of holiday. It is always so much fun!

 Everybody gathering around, waiting on dinner to be ready!

 Uncle Randy working on that hog

 Uncle James built this amazing fort next door to Pap's. It was awesome!

 Uncle Hue took everybody on a really fun hayride.

 Another Uncle James invention-a kid favorite!

 Bonnie's first at-bat in the kickball game

 Daddy and Bonnie getting ready to run!

 Bonnie and Lucy look like linebackers due to their jackets being worn under their jerseys.

They were so cute!

 The Meadow Lights Carousel-woo hoo!

The girls loooove the Meadow Lights train!

Pullen Park

 I know that I am waaay behind on blogging. It seems like every post begins that way lately. Such is life with a busy two year old! I figured that I needed to start with Thanksgiving where I left off. When we landed in Raleigh for Thanksgiving, mom and dad picked us up and took us to the coolest park ever. The citizens of Raleigh are so fortunate to have this park. It has real rides for a dollar a piece, not to mention a great playground. It was a great way to begin our holiday weekend. More pictures of Thanksgiving to come!

Fantastic Fall

I had the opportunity to join Bubs on his work trip to Washington for Fall Break. Wow! What a beautiful state! I am so thankful that it worked out so that I could join him. We had a lot of fun getting to see that part of the country.

Beautiful Couer D'Alene

Downtown Spokane
Columbia Valley Wine Country
Beautiful Snoqualmie Falls...There is a hotel directly next to this bluff. I would really like to spend the night there. Can you imagine how well one would sleep when this is your background noise?
Pike's Place Market in Seattle. We did bring home our very own salmon on the plane, and we've been enjoying eating it since we've been home!

Daddy and Bonnie carved a pumpkin to get ready for Halloween.

We went to Morristown for Lucy's birthday party! Bonnie is aiming for the pinata in this picture.

We had a great time celebrating Lucy Pop's 4th Birthday.

I think we accumulated about 12 different pumpkins before Halloween. Bonnie loves pumpkins!

We visited Gouls at Grassmere, and Bonnie rode the flamingo while dressed as Snow White.

On Halloween night, Bonnie told her Snow White doll, "I look just like you!"

Sam and Bonnie had a ball on Halloween! They will definitely be looking forward to it next year. She's already been asking when Halloween will be again.

Busy, busy

Bonnie loves to ride the flamingo on the zoo carousel.

Bonnie and Dad on a walk at Radnor a couple of weeks ago.

We went in on this bounce house with the Rudolphs and the Simmons. Awesome parenting decision on our part. These kids had so much fun on Saturday during the UT game. I think we got our money's worth just on Saturday!

This is the best group shot I could get. They were too busy having fun!

Bonnie got to ride a pony at the Greek Festival this weekend. She looks so stoic.

She loved, loved, loved riding the horse. She hasn't quit talking about it!

She also loved this slide at the Greek Festival. It was great because she got to land in a big ball pit at the bottom. You can see the excitement on her face!

Really cute face right before hitting the ball pit!

She followed the animals around in the petting zoo sprinkling about 3 pellets of food for them on the ground.

Bonnie and Sam were so excited to get push-up pops at Chuy's!

Hello out there!

Long time, no see! I know it has definitely been too long since I've blogged. I've started back to school, and I've been a little overwhelmed. It's amazing how easy it is to adjust to not working after ten months, but how hard it is to readjust to working after just two months off. It's kind of strange how that happens!

Summer Staycation

Bonnie wearing Ansley's hat and smiling with Aunt Erin.

I hate to admit it, but this is our last week of summer. Of course it has flown by like every other summer, and like every other one we have packed as much fun in as possible. We went to the beach, we played with friends, explored the city, went to visit family and friends, went to the zoo, and just had a great time. I will be sad to see it end. BUT this year I decided to blow it out our last week instead of spending the last week sulking. We kicked off our "stay"cation on Sunday at the Carnton Plantation Concert Series with our friends. It is safe to say that Bonnie enjoyed the concert A LOT! She loved to dance to U Zoo, a U2 cover band, and loved being with her friends as well. On Monday we went to school to do a little work. She got to color all over butcher paper with markers, hang out with my 4th grade team, run up and down the hallway-good times. She slept for 3 hours when we got home. Today we have had some fun play time with Sam, and we went to lunch with Erin, Sallie, and Sam at Puffy Muffin where Sam and Bonnie split a cupcake. We're well on our way to ending our summer with a bang. No sulking here!

Bonnie and "T" having some fun going upside down, and back up again!

Sweet Baby Hayes made his debut social appearance at the concert. He is so sweet! If the "big" kids (and I use that term loosely) touched his feet once, they touched them a hundred times. Sweet Baby Hayes just kept snoozing....so incredibly cute.
Ansley, Bonnie, and Will are having a popsicle....yummy!

Woohoo! This girl loves to dance!

Bonnie kicking up her feet with Daddy

Bonnie is giving Sam a ride in the baby doll stroller!

The Fourth in Clearwater

OK, so fireworks are always neat and fun to watch. This year was even better because a) Bonnie was old enough to stay up to watch them without having a meltdown b) she was so excited, and c) we got to see a really neat fireworks display because we had a 12th floor view of them over the bay in Clearwater. It was really cool. Not only did we get to see the Clearwater show, but we could also see about 10 other shows all around Tampa Bay. What a way to celebrate America's birthday!


Bonnie and Dad after dinner at Island Way-yummy! Bonnie's face is hilarious in this one!
We also went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It was a neat place to see because the rehabilitate sea animals here. There was even a dolphin with a prosthetic tail who will have to spend the rest of her life at the aquarium. We also saw a little baby dolphin who was rescued a few months ago.
Also a neat thing about Clearwater is this playground right by the pier. It has a big pavilion built over it, so it's shaded. And it's built in the sand which makes it really fun:)
Going down to the beach to check out the sunset!


Oh yeah! She's having her snack on the beach, and looking extra cute with her belly showing in her bathing suit (aka-her babing suit).
Watching the fireworks with Mom (above), and Dad (below).

Whoever came up with the idea to put these little play areas at the airport deserves a pat on the back.