Summer Vacation

We're back from our big summer vacation road trip. We all had a lot of fun, saw some cool stuff, and enjoyed visiting with family, and now we're settling back into our normal routine. We are all pretty worn out - it was a lot of driving! First we drove to Memphis and stayed there a couple days. It was pretty hot, but we had fun. We stayed at the Peabody Hotel where the "famous Peabody Ducks" live. We got to watch their evening "march" from the fountain to the elevator and up to their duck palace on the roof one night. While we waited for the big exit, we enjoyed some cocktails and Natalie & Owen were pretty excited to get their own kiddie cocktails. (I just hope Natalie isn't telling everyone at school that she had cocktails on vacation!) Of course we went to Beale St for live blues both nights, and Nat & Owen were able to show off their dance moves (and even scored some beads from one of the girls there). We walked over to Mud Island on part of the river and checked out the neat replica of the Mississippi River there. It's very detailed and produced to scale, so that was really cool. It was a good time, and I think we'll probably go back to Memphis to visit again some time. From there we headed across Tennessee to NC to Grandma & Grandpa Gibbs' house. We saw most of the family over the course of the weekend (we missed seeing Anne & Scott - we're looking forward to seeing some pics of the Hawaii trip!). We spent time with Jennifer, Eric, and Carrie almost every day and Natalie, Owen, and Henry all enjoyed playing with Carrie. On Friday, we all went to the Children's Museum and it was hard to get the kids to leave! There were a lot of cool exhibits, including a post office, fire truck, airplane, little cars (Carrie had the most fun getting pushed by her dad!), a camping spot, and even a Nascar car that Owen enjoyed gassing up. There was even a play area for the littlest kids, and Henry and Carrie had fun in there. Friday night, Grandma & Grandpa had babysitting duty while Ike & I went out for dinner. I think Nat, Owen, & Henry all cooperated. Saturday we tried to feed the hummingbirds with Grandma, but Ike kept coming by on the lawnmower, and Owen was a bit fidgety. Later, the kids enjoyed swim time outside in the shark pool and sprinkler with Carrie, and later we all went to Gram's. We met baby Maddie for the first time - she's a cutie! Natalie & Owen spent a good part of that visit entertaining with their improvised dramatic-dying-princess-needs-a-kiss scenes - they love an audience! Sunday was a family reunion and we all ate a lot and Natalie & Owen had fun dancing (until Owen lost his lunch - too much jostling!). Henry met Memaw & Grandad for the first time there. By Sunday night we were pooped!! We left early Monday morning to head to Savannah, and after 4 hours of driving - only an hour from Savannah - we heard about Tropical Storm Edouard, supposedly headed to Houston. So we scrapped the last stop and headed home. 23 hours of driving later, we made it home for a rain storm. We were exhausted!!! But it's good to be back and we'll spend this weekend resting.