River Week

At the end of July, we headed south for some river time.  First, we went to a family reunion.  

We'd done tie dye t-shirts that previous week so we debuted them at the river.

 The second and third cousins range in age from Ben to 18 (below).  It always surprises me how all of the ages blend and enjoy each other so much.  My first cousin's child, Logan, here also got the tie dye memo.  Oh, how Lily loves her and she is so sweet to Lily.

 My first cousin wins Ben over as he moves and pours bottle caps from one cup to another.

 Here is the spread of cousins that stayed til dark (a few others left earlier).  They played and played til we pried them off each other.  I enjoyed the chance for my kids to play with older kids.  Each year, it is such a fun day!!  This year the weather was warm, not hot, and breezy- it just felt like a perfect summer day.

 After that, we headed to the river house for the week.  Mike and Peter went sailing on Sunday with our friends, Aaron & William.  How fun is that?!

 The kids and I stayed on for the week while Mike went back to work :(.

On Monday, we took Paw with us to Busch Gardens.  Maw kept Ben! 

We zoomed through BG & had the best time. 

 It wasn't all kiddy rides- Paw & Peter did Mach Tower.

Paw then enjoyed some roller coaster while the kids and I moved through other parts of the park.

 Peter and I finished the day off with the LochNess Monster.

 The kids still enjoy these rides while their imaginations are still in full swing.

 It was special and unique to get this fun day with Paw!!

I'm pretty sure Benny and Maw had a good ole time too.

 Another day we boated over to an island nearby.  Ben (& all of my babies) have almost always slept on the boat.  They just can't hang with the sound of the motor and the rhythm of the waves and succumb to sleep!

 We arrived by boat to this restaurant for lunch.  How fun is that?!  This whole week just felt like childhood summer fun.

 There was another day of tubing.  My parents have this ski trainer, that the kids love.  They can sit down or stand up.  They rode once together but we thought was more safe to do separately.

I only have this one pic that doesn't adequately portray.... Lily is a beast on this thing.  She couldn't be tired out.  She only got stronger and braver and more daring.  I feel sure she will be ready to water ski next summer! 

Ben loved watching! 

Also in there was a day of fishing for Paw & Peter while Maw and I took Lily and Ben to the outlets.