Flashback to a more simple and shorter time….. July 2005.  Here are our 2 boys back then, but this year they both grew like a beanstalk.   Sam added 2.5″ and Alex added 4.”    How tall do you think they will be in just a couple of more years??

Somehow we misplaced the Birthday Cone of Shame, so we replaced it with something out of a really bad Sci-Fi show and stuck it on Alex’s head??   Reid and Drew came over to spend the night, play Minecraft on the computer, eat a little pizza, watch the new GI Joe and try to stay up as late as possible.  🙂  Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Alex and Sam sleeping in the back seat on the way home last night…. looks uncomfortable?  Of course they somehow managed to keep their headphones on the entire time.  🙂

We all took a trip up to Waynesboro, VA to say goodbye to our Grammy (Henrietta Henkel) who crossed over on August 7, 2013…. we will miss her and we will always remember her.  We also got to see our cousins, Lillie and AB (the other half of the Fab 4) and Aunt Kim and Uncle Deke…. it’s always great to see them.

Relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather after the grave site service.

Flowers from Uncle Frank in Florida

So it has become kind of a tradition now to stop and take a photo at least once a year of the boys on the mountain.  If you look back at some of the older posts you can see how much they have grown over the last 3 years.

2013

Are you serious….is it really 7:30am? We haven’t been up this early in months. First day of school excitement!

 

So it’s not a Prius or a BMW but it is a practical new car that looks just like our old one… except of course that it is 13 years younger! 🙂

Dad had a couple of days off so we tackled another gutter project.  We fixed the gutter above the patio doors a couple of weeks ago and this weekend we fixed the gutter on the other side of the house by the fireplace window.  Now the only thing left is the fascia boards on the second story… we probably won’t be doing those ourselves.  Mom sprayed all around the house with the garlic spray to get rid of all the mozzys – kind of stinky hope it works!

Lis and the boys joined forces with the Car-Day’s and the Dildey’s to go camping the last few days. The original plan was to drive West towards the mountains, but the all the rain changed the plans and they went south down to South Carolina. They made it back yesterday a little tired but with lots of stories about the fun they had and possible plans for next year?? Below are some of the photos they came back with…. Lis has a lot more nature photos that we will try to get in the next update.                          

Home for the last few days.. the sign was posted right next to our campsite and the tent faced out on the pond.  🙂

Having a little fun at the clubhouse….

Cooling off at the fountain park….

More fun in dowtown Charleston….

For the first time in 14 days it didn’t rain in Greenville, so we were able to enjoy a pretty nice day on the 4th of July… partly cloudy most of the day. We tried to go to the pool earlier in the day but it was packed – not even a place to sit. Lis and the boys did get some time in at the pool later in the day and met Kelly and the boys for a couple of hours and then they all came over to our house for dinner and fireworks. The 4th is also Drew’s birthday, so we got a shot of him wearing the birthday cone of shame.