Summer... At Last

Well, on this last day of Summer I thought it would only be fitting to finally get around to posting some pictures of the chaos we endured (and thoroughly enjoyed!) this Summer! Riley's Summer Break was a total of six weeks of absolute, wonderful fun. Along with the celebration for Asher's third birthday, we managed to squeeze in a good bit more than people generally try to smash into just a month and a half!

We visited Riley's Nana in Knoxville, TN. We enjoyed touring the local zoo there!

Asher's favorite part: The Safari Truck!

Petting Zoo!

 After returning from Tennessee, we had barely enough time to adjust to being back home before Riley rushed off to the Greenbriar Golf Tournament, where VCOM provides medical services. When he got back after his weekend there, we hopped in the car and got ready for a fun trip to the beach with our dear friends, the Weizeneckers!

Outer Banks, 2012

 Despite the stormy weather, we managed to have a great time!

The clouds looming in the distance...

Philip, Rachel, Helen, and Baby Beatrice (in hiding!)

After a few days at the beach, we returned to their farm in Appomattox, VA. Riley spent time out on the farm working with Philip, while Rachel and I kept busy supervising some pretty fantastic mess-making skills that our combined children managed to demonstrate!

Playing in the creek that the Men cleared out earlier that day!

 Then, since we still felt like we hadn't tasted enough excitement for one Summer, We squished a birthday celebration with cousins in before Riley popped out of town for a quick trip. He participated in a medical missions event in Southwest Virginia. When he got back, we had one day to prepare for our big trip out to see Gramma and Pappy in Washington state! 

We got to ride in an airplane... how fun is that??

Our visit couldn't have been better!

The Family! 

The weather was beyond perfect. We had lots of fun outdoors...

Auntie Danielley made it over!
And I got to meet precious Evie for the first time! 

Gramma squeezed in as much cuddle time as she could get!

Fun day at the lake!

We floated down the Little Spokane River. The guys took the canoe, and the girls (and Gray) managed the raft. It was unbelievably serene. 

The men squeezed in an overnight camping trip to the Tucannon, and had a grand ol' time being... well, manly, of course. 

 Our last day in town we went downtown to Riverfront Park, and really enjoyed the beautiful Spokane scenery...

We returned home just one day before school started back up!

*phew* I'm tired just remembering it!

It was a crazy, busy Summer "Break," but we absolutely loved it!

(And we certainly can't be accused of wasting it!)

I hope you had a wonderful Summer, too!

xo

p.s... I know this post was loaded with pictures, but you have no idea how hard it was to whittle the hundreds of wonderful photographs we took down to under 30!  What a happy challenge!