We're baaaaccckkkkk

Once again, we are back.
Another trip bites the dust.
1800+ more miles on the van. (FYI, we bought that van just over 2 years ago and will hit 60,000 miles here in the next month or so. Drive much?) 
(FYI squared: Today when we were running errands around town, Luke dropped something he couldn't reach in the van and asked us if we could just pull over to a rest stop so he could get it. Is this a problem?)

We just returned from a trip to the deep south--Kentucky and Tennessee. And lemme tell you, it was DAMN hot! But so much fun.

First, we visited my dad and his wife, Donna. They put so much effort into making our trip a fun one; there were humongous meals cooked, fireworks, smores, fishing, a pool, and a trip to a cave. The boys had a blast—so much fun they even forgot to fight! Here's a few pictures from that part of our trip. My camera (or is it the operator?) is a POS but you get the idea.

The big backyard

Fishing for that elusive big guy

Making sure Luke doesn't drop his pole into the pond

The pool was loved by all

We attempted a playground, but were all sweating like pregnant nuns within 5 minutes so this was short lived

Inside Diamond Cavern

Outside the cave

Thanks D&D for a great visit. It's so nice to see the kids having fun and falling into bed exhausted at night, my husband able to chillax from his stressful job, and for myself to feel totally lazy and lethargic.

Next we were off to Nashville to visit my brother Sam, his wife Sarah, and their 3 kids. I was neglectful with pictures to capture this leg, but it is always so good to hang out. You can rest assured that movie lines were heavily quoted and there was lots of laughter—there always is. The twins are growing like weeds and it's so awesome that even though we see them as infrequently as we do, they are still so willing to crawl into your laps and give you some lovin.

We capped off our trip in Memphis, to visit the Butlers. Memphis was so smokin' hot all I wanted to do was leave an air conditioned car and get into an air conditioned house. Liz and I decided we must have been high when we thought us visiting Memphis in July at 98 degrees every day was as good of an idea as them visiting us in December when it was negative 10. What were we thinkin'? She swears their car rebelled for at least 3 months after that visit. Anyhoo, we always have a blast and laugh our bojangas off when we're with the Butlers and this trip was no exception. Liz is a born storyteller and tells her stories with such physical comedy she could be talking about cutting her toenails and it would still be a funny story. We got to eat an awesome Puerto Rican lunch made by Liz's mom, went out to eat with just the adults, took a tram to visit Mud Island, and celebrated Isabella's 5th birthday with her. Here's the measly few and often blurry pictures from that:

The kids thought this tram ride was the cats meow

Mud Island. Rob is famous for Where's Waldo pictures, and although that wasn't my intent for this photo, can you find him?

Luke and Isabella are only a few weeks apart

The birthday party-Jack's in orange climbing

Crappy photo but can you see his face? So happy.

I am so thankful to have great friends, who like us, have moved around from place to place but we still stay close. Damn you Liz, I curse you for moving 650 miles away! But being around her awesome creative scrapbooking and crafty talents have left me feeling, as Napoleon Dynamite says, that I need some skills.

What do I mean, you ask? 

You know, like nunchuk skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

So, what are you gonna do, you ask?

Whatever I feel like I wanna do. Gosh!

If you are not getting the above humor, you must see Napoleon Dynamite. And, you must watch it, like, 4 times before you will fall deeply in love with it as I have. Or maybe not. I just have that kind of humor.

But, I was maybe thinking more like canning, or crocheting, or baking awesome decorated cakes and cookies or something like that. We'll see. And unlike the "we'll see's" of our childhood, this one might actually grow up to be a "yes" someday.

So, to conclude, we had a great week. We visited all laid back, easy to be around people who like to laugh, and that, my friends, makes for a very relaxing week. Thanks to all for puttin' up with us. Any damages that might have incurred will be deducted from the security deposit we leave wherever we go. (This is normal, right? We all leave a security deposit for damage that might happen to property during the stay, right???)

Love ya'll. G'night.