Annual Summer Trip

We were fortunate enough to be able to take a trip this summer to visit Shane's family and then head to the beach. With just starting my new job and so much to get ready for before staff returns on contract, I was not certain if I would be able to take a week off for us to go. Fortunately, my boss is amazing and insisted that we go. We have not seen Shane's family in 3 years, due to COVID, and  his grandparents are not doing very well, so we knew we needed to make every effort to go. Despite our trip starting in tears as I told the boys the news of grandma's passing, we had a great time. 

Due to our trip only being six days, we were only able to stay 1 1/2 days at each of our destinations. Our first stop was Birmingham to stay with Ronald and Manya. While we were there, we visited the Vulcan, which offered amazing views of Birmingham. 

Casen was showing me his hiney,
like the Vulcan.

Camden is not a fan of heights so was ready
to get back on the ground.

Manya striking a pose.

Camden and I were posing like
the Vulcan.

In the Vulcan museum there was a 
glove and hat of Ozzy Smith - one
of my Grandma's and my favorite
St. Louis Cardinals.

We left Ronald and Manya's to head to Macon, Georgia, but first stopped for a few hours to visit Pop Pop and Nadine.

We made our way to Macon and spent some time with Granny and Granddad. It really is amazing how people can change so much in 3 years. While Granny didn't seem to change at all from the last time we saw her, Granddad has definitely digressed. He has had some health issues over the past few years and he was not near as talkative or social as he normally is. Regardless, we loved spending time with them, hugging their necks and sharing stories. 

Casen James' namesake - James Hood.

The short amount of time we spent with Shane's family was not long enough, but the boys love the beach and since we were so close to Florida, we couldn't help but spend a few days there. This year, instead of staying in Panama City Beach, we went a little further down 30A and stayed in a carriage house in Rosemary Beach. We got there early enough on Thursday that we were able to spend about 5 hours on the beach.

  

The next day we got up bright and early so we could spend the whole day at the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had an amazing time!

Riding the waves. . . 

The walkway from our carriage
house to the beach.

Movie on the lawn.

While we were gone, Nina was living her best life, staying with my friend, Gail, and her dog. Gail and her boyfriend took the dogs on walks daily and even took Nina to visit my good friend, Mary. Despite me taking Nina's kennel for her to sleep in at night, Gail let Nina share her pillow with her at night. Now THAT is a good friend!

Mary and Nina!