The girls and Mama rode up to the mountains with Grammy and Granddaddy for a picnic by the river. The girls enjoyed coloring at the table while we cooked and playing in the stream. We floated bark like boats down the side pool we were playing in, we threw rocks, we jumped in the water from the top of the rocks, we caught minnows in a bucket so we could inspect them close up, and we rearranged the river rocks. The girls were fascinated by the people floating down the river by us. We had a blast. Then we drove into town and enjoyed pizza for dinner followed with driving home. The girls minds were filled with ideas of other things we should go back and do another day.

Sisters loving on each other while enjoying their picnic.

How Julia looked when we got to the picnic area. She had the best nap of any of us that day.

Emily taking her coloring seriously.

Julia enjoyed a little pre-picnic rock throwing. She was excited!

Mama loves this photo. It was of just genuine happiness, no cheesy grins.

Granddaddy just enjoying watching the river. He also enjoyed watching the girls play and reading his book riverside. Looks comfy!

The girls were busy in the water walking on the rocks and searching for the next best rock to throw.

Julia got a little cold in the water and decided laying on the rock in the sun was a good solution to the problem.

What do you do with 11 peaches? You make peach ice cream!

Grammy made homemade peach ice cream while we were over to play. The girls supervised and helped with the various steps, but loved the sampling step most.

This is definitely one way to say cool in the summer. After our swimming lessons the girls are more likely to get all of themselves into water. Moments after this photo they were flipped over putting their faces into the pool. There is so much fun that can be found in six inches of water.

Just some more photos from our July blackberry picking. On a hot day the thought of sweet memories and sweet fingers is so nice.

Some of our blackberry bounty that became jam.

Emily picking her share. Of course her bucket stayed empty. All that she picked she ate. She had plenty of stains on her fingers, face, and dress.

Emily wanted to see the goat that had ventured on to our row. I was hoping that she would not get between the goat and his snack. We weren’t sure how he would react. All was ok though.

Julia too was covered with juice. She does seem a little serious here. I think it was getting a little warm by this point and she had walked and picked quite a bit.

We are looking forward to going again next year!

When we drive to Miami we usually take the route through Georgia. It is the shortest of our options. This time I just couldn’t get excited about drive and decided to take the longer and more scenic route through North & South Carolina. We typically just drive and only stop for gas and food. This time we took it slow and made several stops including an extra hotel stay both going and coming.

On our way south we stopped in North Carolina at Mama’s favorite gift store, Day in a Country. The girls were thrilled to wander the store with all the pretty things. They got their own umbrella which we needed when we left the store. That was not planned, it just worked out to their delight.

Emily loves to stay at hotels. If you ask her she will tell you all about the hotel she is going to own when she grows up. She decided the name of the hotel will have the number 4 in it because that is her favorite number. Both girls were delighted to stop a little early and get some swim time in the pool at the hotel.

*A bit fuzzy, but Emily was proud of her bed all made up at the hotel

Our second day of driving was very long because of rain storms. We had wanted to stop and see something that day too, but outside of the Florida Welcome Center’s orange juice it was just a driving day.

On the way home the original plan was to drive home thru Georgia, but again the usual plan was uninspiring. Mama asked the girls if they wanted to drive straight home and see Daddy or go a different way and stay at a hotel. They jumped in the air and yelled “hotel”, poor Daddy.

The stops on the way home were a trip thru IKEA in Orlando, a drive down memory lane for Mama as we toured downtown Jacksonville, and a stop in St. Mary’s, Georgia. We had hoped to tour a old home in St. Mary’s, but it was closed by the time we got there. Instead we went to the river front and had dinner, played at a playground, and watched some boys fish for crabs off the pier. The boys were very kind to tell us all about what they were doing.

The other highlights were one more hotel stay, a scenic drive over highways of North Carolina while the girls napped, and a trip to a Farmer’s Market in Ashville. Overall our new route was a more interesting one, but took longer. We will see next time which route our mood leads us to.

One of our trip goals was to have the girls swim a lot. We succeeded! The girls were a lot of fun to be with in the water.

Emily has a good deal of fear still, but would find a comfort level in the pool and play her heart out. Sometimes she would swim with an innertube, a noodle, or a kickboard. She found her freedom in swimming in the pool by herself and jumping in with the innertube. When we were at Jolie’s she used a noodle to keep up with Natalie. We challenged Emily to jump into the pool where she could stand. Once she figured out it would be ok, she loved bouncing around the shallow section after jumping in herself. She will be a great swimmer when she figures out how to master her fear.

Julia has very little fear in the water. She has two favorite games to play at the pool. One is an elevator game. I will hold her out of the water and say “second floor”, then lower her into the water and say “first floor”, then let go and give her control. When I say “basement” she bobs herself into the water. Emily plays this game too. She plays it from the side of the pool and does it all by herself. Watching Emily play this game is what got Julia to enjoy bobbing her face into the water. 

Julia’s other favorite game is to jump into the pool. She will jump in holding my hands. While at Grandma and Grandpa’s we started pushing her toward the stairs to come out and she enjoyed putting her face into the water. By the time we left Jolie’s we would give her a push toward the stairs and she would float face down all the way to the steps. She could go three body lengths with gentle kicks.