mexico

Bryce and Jason left on a mission trip with our church last weekend.  They served a community in Cancun. 

Bryce, Chase, Taylor, Kelly and Jason all went on the trip.  Emmy wasn't quite ready to go on this one.

The group did projects at a community center during the day. 

When the kids got out of school they came to the community center and our group got to do crafts, sports and educational lessons with them.

They ate lots of authentic Mexican food.  Some they cooked and some the locals fixed for them.

Emmy and I flew down to Cancun on Wednesday and met up with the boys at a resort after the mission trip. 

We were all ready for some relaxing. 

From the pool to the hammocks, we were relaxed.  

We got our best group shot on our first night at dinner.  This one may be the Christmas card this year!

The boys had booked a fishing trip for one of the days.  They caught lots of mahi and ended up getting one mounted.  

Emmy and I had a spa day while the boys were fishing.  Emmy enjoyed her first massage.  We booked a short one because she thought she might get bored, but she quickly realized the beauty of a massage and can't wait to have another one and longer next time!

We enjoyed a fun dining experience on night two. 

Relaxation is what we needed and that's what we did!

Vacation mode after days of working in the heat and humidity with no AC. 

We had dinner at the marina on our last night. 

It was a short trip, but our first this summer where it was just us and it was so good to have some time together away from the everyday hustle and bustle.  

darius rucker

Emmy went to her first concert on Friday night.  She had fun buying boots and picking out her outfit for the occasion.  

She saw her friend Palmer from the gym.

Bryce got a ticket for this concert for Christmas and then the whole family ended up going.  When Chase got there, he took Emmy around to hang out with everyone.  She found Taylor. 

Tseaaylor's friends let Emmy get in a picture with them.  The 8th grader with the big girls. 

We ran into our neighbor, and she snapped this picture of us.  

MeMa ended up buying 4 platinum seats when she got Bryce's ticket for Christmas.  We ended up using those tickets and bought Bryce a general admission ticket so he could hang out with his friends.  

Chase is such a good sport, but he really is Emmy's person!

We just so happened to walk out behind Bryce and Avery and their friends, so I made them take a picture.  It was a fun first concert for Emmy and great family outing before the boys left for a mission trip early the next morning.

4th of July weekend

We kicked off the 4th at Burkwood for their annual festivities.  Emmy won the goggle toss again this year!

Bryce and Chase both had to work on the 4th.  

After the pool we headed to a friend's house to celebrate.  The kids enjoyed the water slide and wiffle ball while we waited for it to get dark.

Jason put on his annual firework display. 

We got festive again on Saturday night for a shrimp boil at the Caddell's.

Watching the boys shoot skeet.  

I convinced her to join in the fun. 

Bryce was at the river for the weekend with some of his old baseball buddies.  

We wrapped up the weekend with our neighbors. 

It was a fun and festive weekend!

jason's birthday

Emmy and Jason had a daddy daughter night on Tuesday.  They got wings for dinner and then went fishing at the Caddell's.

Fishing turned into going to a friend's house to frog gig.

I went out for trivia night with friends and Bryce had a sleepover with some of his old baseball buddies.

School ball is over, and travel is in full swing.  Bryce had a game at UR on Friday, so I reached out to my dad's cousin who lives in town to see if she wanted to meet up because we'd be so close.  We had a yummy lunch and then she joined us for some baseball.  

Bryce is missing most of the college games this summer, but we made it to UR this week and we'll go to UVA next week.  We missed Liberty (which we've been to) and he's going to miss JMU which is a bummer. 

Jason's birthday is today.  We all got up early in time to do presents and go out to breakfast before church. 

We met MeMa for lunch after church and then went to Bass Pro Shop so Jason could spend a birthday gift card.  

We came home and had cake and ice cream and then watched college baseball, did a few chores, had dinner and then played putt-putt (but I forgot to take pictures).

After putt-putt we went out for a flight of beers and then came home to get ready for the week.

not your typlical family vacation

We were scheduled to head to the beach on the Sunday after Bryce got out of school.  He ended up getting called up to varsity for the post season which would be a big kink in our plans.  Luckily, we were staying in a family house, and we were able to head down a day early. 

We soaked up the most we could in the short time we were there. 

The weather started off cool and we were all chilly in the evenings at the beginning of the trip.

Bryce and I headed home on Monday afternoon so he could go to practice and a game the next day.  The rest of the crew drove through a park on a search for bears.  They were successful.

Putt-Putt is always a favorite.  Bryce was able to get in a game before he left.  

Bryce was hoping the team would lose on Tuesday so he could get back to vacation, but that wasn't the case.  These three managed without him. 

Bryce and I made it back to the beach in time for dinner on Friday night and were excited for a couple more days on the beach. 

It was weird only being together for a few days of vacation.

These four were excited to get one more day together. 

I couldn't resist recreating this picture.  Five years from now, they'll all be out of high school and one out of college.  That's crazy to think about.

Later in the day on Saturday we took Bryce up the beach to stay with his girlfriend's family for a day.  He was scheduled to be with them this week, but again, we left on Monday for practice and a Tuesday game.  Just like last week, he's hoping they lose so he can get back to the beach.  We shall see!

They had one full day at the beach together.  

They cleaned up for a dinner out to wrap up their time together.  Crossing our fingers he can go back Wednesday, but our team is pretty good, and they won the state championship last year.  There might be a repeat this year!