East Coast Travelers

We just got home on Sunday from a week-long trip to North Carolina. The first half of the week was spent in the small town of Franklin visiting my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins who live there. Our whole family got to go and we all enjoyed some quality time with family we don't get to see nearly as much as we would like to. The kids loved having my cousins as playmates and we loved our relaxing and visiting time! Matt and I even got to go on a date one night - wahoo! My mom was there too and helped out with the kids - they sure do love their Meme. I also got to play with my aunt's Nikon D80 Digital SLR camera - which made me even more hungry for one of my own. Someday... I am saving for one already though. I'm about halfway there. I'll be able to cross that goal off of my 101 goals in 1001 days sooner than later!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some good shots of our time in the Smoky Mountains of Franklin (mostly taken by THE most "up and coming" photographer in Franklin - my aunt LaRessie):

My cousin Kira

My cousin Karena

My cousin Kamryn

My fun-loving Aunt LaRessie

Gabby playing hat

And Oli playing hat... but he had to throw in a sword for the masculine look

Oli sleeping with Meme while we were out on our date

Gabby swinging at the park - the weather was really nice the first full day we were there and we enjoyed the simple life of playing around the house, playing outside in the awesome front yard, and playing at the park... good bonding times with the kids

Swinging in the front yard

Oli playing on the trampoline and doing his patented "I'm really happy and loving this" ear flick.


Oliver bowling for the first time... with bumper lanes of course. He would squat down, push the ball down the lane as hard as he could (not very fast) and then lay on his stomach and watch it all the way down... priceless!

Matt and I posing for the camera...

Strolling with my girl...

Stay tuned for an upcoming post on the second half of our week in North Carolina... my brother-in-law's wedding at The Biltmore Estate!