Kings Island and the Smokies

It seems I never got around to writing about our trip to Kings Island and the Great Smokey Mountains ... but here are some pictures!

First day at Kings Island

On to the Smokies. (The girls were there. They just didn't want to go out hiking with us ...)

Summer Memories (and a cute dog and cat, well, because)

I can't believe that summer is more than half over for us. So much has been squeezed in between the "normal" going-ons. It took heading up to the Smokies to finally get us to laze around like slugs (more on that later!). Since the idea of this blog was to help us keep our memories, here's a smorgasbord of photos that I don't want to forget about.

Nazeriah had an amazing experience with Camp Anytown - a five-day/four-night residential camp on the campus of Eckerd College. The goal - to give teens "a framework for having hard conversations with people who don't look like them and an understanding of why that's important." Wow. What a week she had. You can find more here: Anytown.

Chayton's almost last day of school was a walking field trip to the beach in Gulfport - and I was able to chaperone! 

Before that happened, his STEM Club presented at an all-district gathering and his science project on how oil spills affect feathers was featured at a school gathering. (Mr. Safety Patrol always had his belt on at school - safety first!)

Then there was that time he built a panda lego sculpture ... and became a kitchen ninja (during a Wacky Wednesday cooking session with Tante Jeri).

That time I dyed my hair mermaid colors ...

Hanging out in Ohio after camps.

And now onto the cute animals ...

New York City + New Jersey Catch-Up

Courtney and Chayton headed up to New York/New Jersey to help celebrate the amazing work of one of our favorite people - Reverand Judy Tomlinson.

Zip-lining in Costa Rica

Getting ready for a dip in a waterfall pool in Costa Rica.

And throughout their visit, Courtney sent me pictures to play "guess where I am."

With Rex inside the Museum of Natural History

Whole Foods - Columbus Circle

With Teddy Rosevelt at the front of the Museum of Natural History.

Rockefeller Center

Central Park

Central Park!

The Rock - Rockefeller Center

Raymond's in Montclair, NJ

Best bed in town! (West Orange, NJ)

Chayton with our favorite Cupcake.

While the boys were off having fun ... the girls stayed down in Florida. Unfortunately, two of us were sick the whole time. :-( I can't remember the last time I felt that sick. But we finally managed to start feeling better and go out for a girls only lunch.