Family Reunion at Lake Murray

Jay and his family arrived at the lake just in time for a mid morning thunder storm on Saturday.  Thankfully, the skies cleared and we were able to get back outside for the rest of the day.

The little girls loved riding the tube together.  Amelia liked going just a little faster than JuliAnna, but they finally found a middle ground speed where they would both be happy.

 It was a good thing Mac learned how to play solitaire last week because he was surrounded by high-pitched little girl squeals a lot of the time.  They loved when he chased them with his monster blanket over his head, but he could go play cards when he needed some alone-time.

Amelia and JuliAnna eating boiled peanuts on the boat.

It was soooo hot, the only place to be was IN the lake!

After we fed the children dinner, we loaded up for a sunset boatride out to Bomb Island to see the purple martins.  We couldn't believe no one had seen them before so it was a treat to be with them the first time they saw it.  I think the only reason Eliza was willing to sit with me was because I gave her as many chips as she asked for.

Mac with GranGran and GranDaddy (all of the girls were at the front of the boat!).

Olivia, Eliza and Jenna with Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Jay

After dinner, we celebrated Aunt Kelli's birthday.

Uncle Jay brought Just Dance 2 for the Xbox and thought he could show Olivia a thing or two.  She still beat him, though!

Mac at the Lake

While Olivia was at the beach with a friend, Mac invited a buddy of his to spend a night with us at the lake.  They had a ball fishing, tubing and playing the Xbox.

Mac loved being able to help Reid with his first catch.

Tubing!

Will took them over to the cove so they could fish with minnows before going to dinner.

They set some lines out before we went to dinner.  It was VERY exciting to find two catfish on the lines when we got home.  Catfish are U-G-L-Y!!!  

Family Reunion at Lake Murray

We were supposed to be hosting a much larger reunion of Papa's (Will's dad's dad's) side of the family last weekend at the lake.  But, the temperature has just been so hot lately that we decided to postpone it until the fall when everyone can enjoy being outside.  Instead, we were happy to have Will's entire family join us for the weekend.  Robert and his family and GranGran and GranDaddy came on Friday afternoon.

Goofing around in the lake.

Mac and Olivia both tried skiing again.

Uncle Robert took Amelia for a jet ski ride.  She feels the need for speed!

Mac Attack just asking to be knocked off the tube.

Sweet Amelia

GranGran helped Eliza 'drive' the boat (and made sure all of the switches were put back in the OFF position!).

 GranGran, GranDaddy and Will relaxing on the deck and waiting for sunset.

My Birthday

My birthday was last Tuesday and it was a great day!  My friend Kim organized lunch at The Mediterranean Tea Room with some girl friends.  Lunch was great, but it was the time hanging out with my friends to just visit and chat that was the highlight ... that and holding Kim's sweet baby girl, Pressley.

Since I had enjoyed lunch out, we decided to wait until Wednesday night to go out to celebrate as a family.  But, we had to have cake!  This was from The Pig and it was delicious!

Mac has been WAY into his Legos lately ... he even made me a Lego birthday cake.

Olivia was SUPER EXCITED to show off her pierced ears to Mamoo when we picked her up for dinner at Bonefish on Wednesday.

Quick pic with Mac, Mamoo and Olivia after dinner.

3rd Annual Stricklin Visit

O & Will floating in the lake.

Mac found a water gun and thought it would just be too funny to take it over to the Brooks' house.  Look where it landed him ... in the lake!

Our 2nd attempt at tie-dying was much more successful (mostly because we hadn't washed the shirts at this point - we'll see what happens when they actually go in the wash!).  The kids thought their shirts were way cool!

These girls go a year in between seeing each other and pick up right where they left off.  They had a ball ... singing, dancing, being British, watching videos, telling stories, floating, jumping, playing games.  It's so fun to watch them grow up and love each other!

Tex just couldn't resist getting in the lake when we were at Bomb Island.

3rd Annual Stricklin Visit

Thursday proved to be a big day for the kids at the lake.  They decided to try to learn to water ski for the first time.  We borrowed child-sized skis from our neighbors and Will and Don got to work teaching them the ins and outs of skiing.

But first, Don endured the Tow-of-Shame (Sorry, Don... It had to be recorded for posterity!)  He had the girls out on the tube and somehow managed to get the tubing rope sucked into the motor on the jet ski.  Thankfully, Don was smart enough not to try to start the motor and just had the girls help him start swimming the jet ski back to the dock.  Luckily for them, our neighbors were heading out in their boat and were able to tow them back to us.

These girls were psyched to try out water skiing.  They soaked in every word Don and Will were telling them about how to ski.

Nobody got up the very first time, but they knew to be patient and persistent.

Mac was all smiles until the jet ski actually tried to pull him up.  But, he was more persistent than any of them.  He stayed out there so long we all finally lost interest ... and couldn't even see him because he and Will were so far away from the dock.

Pop and I relaxed in the lake.  The temps were so high last week that being IN the lake was really the only place to be.

Mac gave a big fist-pump on his way back in.  He was so proud of himself for sticking with it, even though he didn't actually get up on his skis until  the next day.

3rd Annual Stricklin Visit

The girls woke up Wednesday morning ready to decorate for July 4th.

We spent the morning tie-dying t-shirts.  The first batch did not go quite as planned so we had a Round #2 later in the visit.  Pictures to follow.

 It was so fun to have the Harrisons join us at the lake while the Stricklins were there ... worlds colliding in the very best way!  The kids all got along great and, as you can see, so did the dads.

After some floating and tubing, we hit the lake for a ride to Bomb Island to see the purple martins.  It didn't take long for the girls to all become fast friends.

Geronimo!!!!!

Unfortunately, the Lake Murray fireworks (which we've heard are spectacular) were held the Saturday before July 4th.  Didn't matter to our crew, though.  The kids couldn't wait for the sun to go down so we could break out our own sparklers.  

McIver and Olivia

Burch and Maggie

Abby & Sam

3rd Annual Stricklin Visit

The children and I went to the airport to pick up The Stricklins last Tuesday.  They were JUMPING OUT OF THEIR SKIN with excitement!!!

Check out those sweet smiles!

Sam brought McIver a Ninjago Lego set (and one for himself).  It didn't take long for them to get busy putting them together.  Kudos to Gay for the stroke of genius to bring Sam his own set.  They kept busy for a good little while doing Legos ... their love language.  He also brought Mac the ABC WipeOut game for the Xbox.  It is HILARIOUS!  They played that plenty, too.

The moms and dads went straight to the lake so there aren't any more pictures from the day.  We just had a great time floating and catching up.

Olivia Got Her Ears Pierced!

Olivia's friend, Maggie, turns 11 on Monday.  Olivia won't be in town for her party so Maggie's mom and I decided to take the girls to get their ears pierced together.  (Maggie was already planning on getting her ears pierced, but they were sweet enough to move the big day forward a bit so that Olivia could join her.)

Olivia "before" - Of course, we had to go to Claire's, the mecca of all preteen/tween goodies.

Check out the smile on Maggie's face seeing her ears for the first time.  Love it!

This was between the first and second ear ... I'm not sure Olivia was really ready to have to second ear pierced; thankfully, she didn't have time to change her mind.

Sweet girls, soooo excited to have their ears pierced and to have done it together.

Afterwards, we treated them to lunch at McAlisters.  We laughed that it ended up being the perfect place because we sat in a corner with two gigantic mirrors so they could admire themselves throughout lunch.