Summer Livin'

When we aren't at the beach, our summer looks pretty low-key.  Generally, we do lots of playing around the house or at the library or playground in the mornings, and then lots of splashing at the pool in the afternoons.  In between all that playing, there are lots of snacks.  Or as Evelyn likes to holler when she is hungry, "NACK!" 

 One of Ev's favorite summer-time treats is fresh fruit with yogurt dip.  This is not only tasty, but is a great opportunity to lick your fingers.

  See this sweet munchkin trying to stick her foot in her mouth while Ev tries to make a break for it?  Her name is Emma, and she (and her parents) go to church with us.  When we had supper together last week, they gifted Evelyn with a pair of purple sunglasses AND a yellow kazoo...

 ...which have rarely left Evelyn's face/hands since then.  She has them in the car, she has them in the house, and she has them at the pool.  Love it!

Beach! (Part I)

Greetings, long-lost friends.  We have been out and about and on the move this summer, and I haven't taken any time to update our blog.  So here we are.  Grab a chair, pour yourself a glass of sweet tea (or coffee or wine, depending on your mood and climate), and get ready to look at some beach pictures.  Lots of beach pictures, actually.

After we returned from our early June roadtrip, Dave headed to NYC for a week-long teacher workshop, and Evelyn and I held down the fort in Nashville.  I taught some SAT prep classes, Evelyn took some swim lessons, we played at the library and the park and the pool, and we desperately missed Dave:)  Anyways, after a series of flight delays and an overnight stay in a D.C. airport, Dave finally made it back home to us in Nashvegas, and we picked him up at the airport with a packed car and headed straight down I-65 towards Florida. 

For the last year or so, my mom had been planning a two-week-long beach vacation for the Cummings family to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday.  She rented a couple condos on St. George Island (where we grew up going to the beach), and all of us took off from our various locales on the appointed day (June 23) and headed toward Dothan, AL, where we were to spend the night before driving the rest of the way to Florida to begin our glorious beach vacation.  However, you've heard about "the best-laid plans," right?  To make a long story short, a tropical storm slowed us down, and we ended up on St. George six days later than planned.  In the meantime, though, we spent some quality family time in a couple charming towns along the coast near St. George Island:

The three pictures above are in Port St. Joe, FL, where Evelyn first glimpsed the ocean.  A little stormy, but still beautiful!  The rain and the wind kept us out of the water, but we threw on jackets and did lots of walking, swinging, and rock-hunting instead:)

Then, it was on to Cape San Blas, where we all moved into a beach house together for a couple days and headed outside for some time on the sand, at last:

 See these two cousins playing next to each other so contentedly?  This scene did not take place often, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

 Mmmm...snacks on the beach are the best.

Happy birthday, D!  Evelyn sure does love her grandfather, and was delighted to celebrate his birthday by spending the day on the beach with him:)

OK, more pictures to come soon, folks.  Have a great weekend!

Pre-4th-of-July Cousins Photo Shoot

While we were in Black Mountain a couple weeks ago on our early June road-trip, Amy and I staged a brief photo shoot of the three cousins wearing matching 4th-of-July dresses provided by Grammie.  These are the highlights:

Catching Up--Our June Roadtrip

Friends, can you believe it is June 19 already?  The summer is flying by, and we are loving every minute here at the Berry casa.  Evelyn is taking her first swim lessons this week from the very same lady (Miss Carolyn) who taught me and my sisters to swim; although Ev was decidedly NOT pleased about having to follow directions in the pool yesterday, she calmed down a little bit today, and is floating on her back and blowing bubbles to beat the band (in between letting out screeches of protest, obviously).

Dave watched his little ducklings graduate on June 2 and head out into the great beyond; although he dearly loves spending most moments of his days with the children during the school year, he is in sore need of a break by May, so hallelujah for summer vacation.  Speaking of summer vacation, we officially kicked off our summer with a 9-day road-trip to visit family in Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.  Phew!  Lots of driving, which Evelyn did not always love, but we had a good time, nonetheless.

First stop:  Lynchburg, VA, for a visit with our beloved G.G.  Evelyn and G.G. were thick as thieves, whether strolling around the neighborhood, inspecting a train at the park, splashing in the tub, or snacking on the porch.  The pictures below are from a park we visited twice with G.G.; it had a fun playground, a train to inspect, a spray-ground, and all sorts of great paths and green-space to wander:

We (sadly) waved good-bye to G.G. after a few days, and headed down 29-South toward Black Mountain, N.C.  Dave's brother, Phil, and his family graciously hosted us for a couple days, and we had some great cousin time!  Evelyn loved hanging out at Camp Ridgecrest (where Phil works), eating ice cream at the Dairy King, and playing around the house with Piper and Lily:

This shot is at the chapel service after supper one night at camp.  Note that Evelyn's cousins, aunt, and father are sitting still and listening attentively.  

Finally, we headed west and spent time in Frankfort, KY, with Evelyn's great-grandfather B, Grammie, Grandaddy, Dan (great-uncle), and Patsy (great-aunt), and then swung through Louisville on the way home to eat a meal with Honey, D, Aunt El, and baby cousin Joseph:

And though our girl sometimes looked like this in the car...

...it was not all fun and games.  So when we needed a break, we just found the closest Chick-Fil-A, parked, and visited their lovely Play-Place for a brief respite:

Happy summer to you all!

Memorial Day Weekend!

Over Memorial Day weekend this year....

We peered over bridges...

We munched delicious snacks...

We splashed...

We posed for glamour shots...

We banged on pianos large and small...

We gave a friend a lift...

And we tried out some new toys.

(See that precious munchkin swimming and playing and sharing his fun toys with Evelyn?  That is sweet baby Sam, one of her best beaus:))

Also, we joined the YMCA for the summer and have already visited the awesome Maryland Farms pool a couple times!  Hooray for summer!

Weekend Trivia Question

A weekend trivia question for you, friends:  what is Evelyn doing in the picture below?

If you guessed that she is using a spackle tool to pry Cheerios out of the cracks in our deck, you are correct!  (How did the Cheerios get there?  Evelyn marched outside holding the box, opened it up, and turned the whole thing upside down, of course.  A couple minutes before this picture, she was sitting happily on top of a mound of Cheerios without her spackle knife in hand.  Daddy quickly swept up the bulk of the Cheerios and put Ev to work, as well.)

Other than making lots of messes and cleaning them up, Evelyn has been playing outside with friends and family, socializing with some of Dave's current and former students, and generally loving life.  Hope you are doing the same this weekend!

See that slipper?  Evelyn is very much into trying on our shoes these days, especially her daddy's Mongolian slippers (no joke, Evelyn's godmother Lindsay and I brought those things all the way from Mongolia to Nashvegas).

Lately

We battled a stomach bug last weekend.  Yuck.  But since then, we've been doing more normal things, like riding Cactus (which belonged to Dave once-upon-a-time) and watering herbs on our deck.  Thank goodness:)