We wanted to take the girls to see the Biltmore house. What girl wouldn’t want to see a real castle. In addition we recently read a fictional story that takes place at the house at the turn of the century. We wanted to see the house details that were in the story. Our tour time was for the afternoon and we arrived with time to see a storm brewing close by. To our great luck the rain did not start until we entered the home and it ended before we exited the home.

Nothing shows the grandness of the house more than the scale of each room and space.

The spaces inside and out were decorated with beautiful plants and flowers.

Watch out where you go, you might find a lion that will sneeze on you. There is a family photo of the Vanderbilts around this lion with Mr. V sitting on top of the statue. It was great to see that they lived and loved their house as a home and did not treat it only as a museum. The pair of lions were referenced in the story we read so we needed our own family photo by one.

The house was amazing! Not that we didn’t expect to be impressed, but the grandness was evident in every room. One special gift for us was that someone played the pipe organ while we visited the first floor. The music moved into the rooms we were in just like we were in the same room as the organ. Our favorites were (Robby) the library, (Emily) the library and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Room, (Julia) the whole house, and (Rachelle) the billiard room.

The house was to be lived in and enjoyed. It had its own bowling alley. Maybe one day there will be a tour that allows people to play a bit.

The stairway was inside and built into the outside. Two of each window sets were “doors” that could open and allow access to the balcony outside and allow fresh air into the house when needed. What cool detail.

Part of the “working” farm included sunflowers planted along a crop line.

While visiting Miami each year we try to make a trip out to the beach to take photos along with enjoying the sun and sand. The weather during this year’s trip was not helpful for this activity. It was cool, windy, and more rainy than usual, so instead, we took some photos of the kids in the backyard while they were having playtime.

Ty was visiting his grandma for the afternoon and Lizzy came over for cousin time. There was lots of flower picking, ball kicking, running, and laughing. There is enough room on the swing set for everyone to have a great time.

What did you do for your summer vacation? We really hope someone asks Emily this question when she starts school in the fall because she has a lot of cool things to pick from. We combined visiting two sets of family into one vacation and a few sightseeing things between them.

First we drove to Connecticut to visit cousins. We did lots of swimming and a few sight seeing adventures including the Statue of Liberty. After leaving Connecticut we spent an evening and morning in Washington D.C. taking in a two museums and several monuments. Then, we caught a train in northern Virginia and travelled to Florida, sleeping one night on the train. The next part of our vacation took us to the kids’ Grandparent’s house in Miami and a visit with more cousins. We made one trip into the Everglades between rain showers. The last stop of the trip took us to Orlando to play and swim a bit more.

In total we traveled for two and a half weeks and saw 14 states and cousins. Julia traveled through two states for the first time. The best thing we collected in our travels were great memories of time that we spent together.

The girls are taking swim class every morning, but they don’t seem to have their fill of water yet. Today we spent the evening out in our plastic yard pool playing in more water. Both girls took their turns at "cleaning" with the sprayer. Emily was proud that it was her turn to clean

Two very happy girls in their small water world!

Julia loved playing with the little duck. There is something about this photo that shows what a pre-teen Julia is going to look like. Both girls have a tell to predict when they are about to grow – they get dimples in their cheeks. Check out what Julia has . . .

Welcome and Hello Thea!

Life doesn’t get much better than this! We lounged together on a warm spring day getting to know each other. She is pretty perfect. She studied everything, did not mind a new person holding her, got down and played in water and rolled around on a blanket, helped look for other kids, did not fuss about how she was held as long as she could be a bit squirmy in whatever position she was in, and had such happy faces. This mama took pity on her and kept two sets of little hands off of her today, but the moratorium is off now and she will have to suffer love from two more girls. We are so excited to watch you grow little one! So glad you are in our lives.

All the bigger kids had fun doing their favorite kid things together. Lots of wonderful busyness.

Emily is trying to catch water drops on her tongue. She was pretty busy enjoying herself and wouldn’t pose for any photos.

Wet grins!

Of course Julia had to swing. While she can swing in the bigger kid swing she would prefer to swing in the more secure swing and beg for “underdog”. Geez, the things that Uncles teach little kids. Uncle Doug had better watch out.

We met our friends on a cool August morning for a little hike and picnic. We took two different paths for a while and then turned back before we were too tired of it. After some fun exploring we had a picnic lunch in the back of our car. The girls fit in well and loved sharing their lunch together there.

Amazing! All four girls looked the same direction at the same time. This is quite unheard of. There are two decent photos, but this one is the less serious one.

The big girls exploring the bridge over a stream.

Hand in hand they go

Our little ones walk with such personality. Julia prances and Maeve has a march-tude to her step. This mama loves how personal they walk

is.

Our picnic bounty

Maeve’s sweet expression was so worth saving! What a sweet girl.