HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!

Justin is now 32! Woo Hoo! His parents came for a visit over Labor Day to help celebrate the big day. Here's a few pics.

The Cake.

Justin grilled big, fat steaks. Very Yummy!

He laughed at a few of his presents....I wasn't quite sure what kind of "tools" he wanted. We made a return.

The neighbors came over for cake and ice cream on the deck. Thanks Scircles!

We went downtown knoxville to the Boomsday festivities. The kids liked the fire truck the best. They climbed all over it.

Then, a week later we were eating at Clint's BBQ with my family. My mom/sister secretly asked the live band to sing Happy Birthday to Justin. They even had the cool hat and glasses ready. Beautiful!

Folly Beach in Charleston

My sister and her husband, Tara and Will, flew in from Germany a couple weekends ago. We decided to make it a mini-family vacation to pick them up in Charleston with my parents. There were lots of waves and strong currents in the water at Folly Beach. SUPER fun! Olivia had fun watching her legs jiggle in the waves as they flew her off her feet.

Olivia and Isaac kept asking to hold their cousin, Logan. It was fun for them to have a live baby.
Just a cute picture of Isaac resting at the hotel pool. He had been tapping his feet to the music that was playing. Yes, the ocean was on the other side of the pool fence. Way awesome.

Kids on the pier.

I'm so glad you guys finally made it back to the States!

Play Time

Isaac went to his first football game. It was hot, but he really liked watching all the action. "BALL!" "HIGH!" "FALL DOWN" were some common phrases with much excitement. Olivia really liked watching the band.

I watched one of Olivia's friends one day and we met some more friends at the splash pad. Here they are right after we got out of the car.

This was something new for Olivia. Wetting her hair upside down. The kids got lots of laughs out of it.

We had lunch and then played on the playground some more. I think everyone had a fun time.

Olivia was so excited that she can now reach the pedals on her tricycle. I've had to take 3 videos of her already riding circles around Isaac. He likes to push all the buttons on the big wheel.

Have you seen Olivia?

This is Olivia and Isaac playing "sleep". They use pillows, blankets, bears, and water and take turns tucking each other in. I don't know why they like to play it, but it allows me to get ready faster with them in the closet!

Justin's NEW Photography WEBSITE !!!

Check out my new photography website. Some of you might have pictures posted from a previous shoot. I'm still working on a few parts of it, but it's pretty much together.
http://www.justinlfordphotography.com/

Summer

Luci Dog.

Eat where?

Splash Pad Extravaganza.

Faces

Strike a Pose

Here's a pic from when Justin's friend, Tracy, came for a visit. O and I really enjoyed having someone else to play with them! Thanks Tracy! We're still playing "shoes" on the stairs! This is just a cute picture I took at dinner one night. I was actually bending over to pick something up that had fallen. I couldn't pass up the picture, especially with Luci in it.

This was a funny day. I let Olivia play outside in the rain. I might put a video on of it....we'll see. Either way, she laughed a lot.

Maybe money grows on kids???? Something to check into.

Justin brought this huge magnifying glass home for the kids. I think they are using it fairly well for their age!

Isaac was really enjoying playing in the sink. After cabinets and floor were drenched, I decided to put the towel up. I forgot he is shorter than Olivia. Look at his little tip toes.

When one wants a hug, they BOTH want a hug.

He was 6 days short of 18mo in this picture.

Small Group Camping

So 3 out of the 5 couples in our small group went camping a few weekends ago. I don't know where we were, but it was in the Smokies. Both of the other girls had never been camping. One said she'd never do it again, the other didn't sleep well, but said it was fun. Here's some pics of the weekend.

Us riding in the back of the truck to go to the lake or river or bathrooms.

This lake was beautiful. Had mountains all around it. Justin and I swam to the rock outlet across the way and then to the back set of trees and then back to the shore with the orange balls. I've always wanted to swim a long way across a big lake. I can mark that off my list of things to do before I die. Thanks for going with me Justin!

Here's the group at a lookout close by.
Here's the 'kitchen' at our camp. The tents were kinda spread out to form a triangle around it.

The guys camped for 2 nights. They set everything up for us girls to come the following day. It was very sweet. This is the firepit area. The guy on the left had camped here as a boyscout about 20 (ish) years ago and made these "benches" with his troup. They were still there!

AT Hike story.

The short version of the story is that we (my buddy Tracy from Missouri and I) planned on a doing a little over 40 miles on the App. Trail in the Smokies last weekend. Unfortunately we ended up being picked up and taken home about 8 miles down the trail on the first day after Tracy bruised his ankle and was having some knee pain. A bit frustrating for both of us, but we enjoyed the rest of the weekend just hanging out and catching up. SOOO....the answer to the poll I posted was "0"; darn. The picture is of a bear we watched for 10-15 minutes on the Cades Cove loop in the Smoky Mtn. Nat'l Park. It was up in a tree for several minutes before climbing down walking around in the grass about 100 feet from us. The picture makes it look small, but it was pretty big for a black bear. Definitely something I don't want to run across in the open without a car to jump into.

Katie Visit

Justin's sister, Katie, and her kids got to come for a visit last week. We went to the beach/lake at Concord Park. The kids had a great time, but Isaac wasn't enjoying the sand too much. He didn't like it on his legs or feet, but digging was fun.

Nana, this was day one and I think Aunt Katie made a friend. Check out the hand! He he he. (Ok, so she had the snacks....)

We went camping at Elkmont in the Smokies. Isaac's first time roasting marshmallows!

Karsen and Olivia took turns roasting doggies.

Karsen was looking at all the butterflies. There was a bunch more flying around than in the picture.

You can't see Nate or Aleah because they were in the center of the fountains getting blasted! They loved these fountains in downtown Knoxville. Olivia liked being swung in by daddy...despite the face.

Here's the gang. Aleah, Justin, Olivia, Tami, Isaac, Nate, Katie, Karsen. Thanks for coming Katie! It was tonz-o-fun!