Weekend in the Mountains

Last weekend the kiddos and I headed to North Carolina for a weekend in the mountains with David's family (David had to work, bummer). Kristin and Rusty provided the WONDERFUL accommodations and we had a fabulous time. We picked up Aunt Tracey at the airport on our way. Andy showed up shortly after we did (he was supposed to come the day before but he was "distracted"). Then PawPaw came. Saturday Nannie, Mimi, Emma and Maggie showed up.

Libby ate lots of cookies...

And Cooper played lots of pool...

Saturday afternoon we (PawPaw, Tracey, Kristin, Rusty, Emma, Maggie, me and Cooper) went rafting down the Nantahala River. It was quite an adventure. First we had to watch a video that informed us that "people have DIED trying to stand up in the river...", then we got stuck on several large rocks, and finally to top off the evening I fell off the raft into the river. Fun stuff. Rusty was laughing so hard he could barely pull me in but eventually he did. (Luckily for me, there were no cameras on the rafting trip...)

Saturday night we celebrated PawPaw's birthday. Nannie baked him a beautiful strawberry coconut cake but for candles we went with the Ingles special. It was a good thing.

Libby needed a little taste...

What was left of the cake...

What was left of Libby...

PawPaw and the girls...

My Little Golfer

Cooper went to golf camp in the middle of the month. He had a great time and somehow was able to weasel a new set of clubs out of David. He is so proud of them. David also bought him a golf glove. I don't think he took it off all week. He wanted to sleep in it. He was sort of like Michael Jackson in the '80's. I guess we'll have to keep up with this golf thing; it's quite an investment...

4th of July Beach Trip

The day after Cooper's party we packed up the car (and I mean, it was PACKED) and headed to the beach for the week. It was so much fun. We quickly settled into our daily routine... David and Cooper would get up and head out to the beach or pier or playground. Libby is pretty fond of waking up, having a bite to eat and going back down for a nap, so she and I usually just stayed home. After her nap, David and Cooper would pick us up (on the golf cart which was so great to have down there) and we would head to the beach. Libby doesn't do much "sitting" these days so one of us was chasing her around at all times. We knew several people down at the beach so Coop always had someone to play with - he even picked up some additional southern drawl from some of them, like calling David "diddy". We stayed on the beach until Lib just couldn't take it anymore then went back to the condo. She would take a nap and Cooper would swim in the pool. He met a crew from Maryville, TN that he loved to swim with. After dinner we usually took a drive around the island in the golf cart. So that scenario went on for 8 days... heavenly. No broken arms, no major meltdowns, just fun. Not really "relaxing" but I think we're a few years off from relaxing at the beach...

Cooper and his "beach family" the Neals...

A rare moment of sitting under the umbrella...

Cooper and Guy "Beach Bowling"...

We went through MANY juice boxes...

Cooper practicing his dives...

The "snacking princess" at the pool...

One of Libby's many walks down the beach...

Waiting on the fireworks to start...

Happy 6th Birthday Cooper!

Wow! That's all I can say. I can't believe Cooper just turned 6 years old. Then again I can't really remember life without him. Funny how that works.

Cooper was at Nanne and PawPaw's on his actual birthday. This made me sad, but not him. He had a GREAT time. Plus, that meant he got to have TWO birthday parties! Friday the 26th we had a pool party with all his friends. It was so hot but so much fun.

As close as I could get to him while he blew out his candles...