All in the Family

**Note: Evidently summertime + blogging are not a good mix for me...I have been working on this blog of our family reunion weekend for almost 2 weeks now! There have been many other blog-worthy moments in that span as well, I even have the pictures to prove it...but who knows if I will ever get them posted & written up! But as I try to remind myself daily, for me it is more important to enjoy each moment with my family & not feel stressed to capture it on film/blog. So here is to a summer of memories, blogged about or not!**

TWO weekends ago, we had another busy weekend, filled with lots of family! It was such a treat & a blessing to spend time with many relatives that we do not get the chance to see very often.

We headed down towards Clemson on Friday evening to meet up with my Dad's side of the family for a reunion on Lake Keowee on Saturday.

We decided that driving down on Friday would allow us a more leisurely pace, and we wouldn't feel so rushed to get there on Saturday. Thankfully, it worked out really well! We left here just before 5pm & ate dinner on the road. We stopped at a cute little BBQ place off of I-85, that I can't remember the name now, but the billboards on the interstate kept saying "Recommended by Southern Living magazine" and it was tasty! I have to say, the kids were GREAT travelers & we were so thankful! We got to our hotel a bit past the kids bedtime, so it was straight into jammies, brush teeth & to bed...We woke up Saturday morning, got dressed & actually decided to check-out of our hotel...we had been planning to stay a 2nd night but the rooms were not as clean as we would like (The soles of Darcy's feet were black after walking around barefoot for less than 15 min on the carpet!) A hotel down the road had 2 adjoining rooms available so we made a quick reservation there, packed up our things & checked-out of the Days Inn-Seneca (maybe that one room just had something wrong, but I don't recommend it, even though the beds were comfortable.)

After checking-out (thankfully we were able to cancel the 2nd night without a penalty!), we stopped for a yummy donut breakfast & headed over to my uncle & aunt's house for the festivities. We enjoyed a fantastic and beautiful day out on Lake Keowee boating, tubing, and just visiting with family that we don't get to see nearly enough! Take a look at the little Smilebox digital scrapbook below for some photos of the fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook Most of the cousins decided to just come for the day, so it turned out that we were able to cancel that hotel reservation after all & spend Saturday night at the lake house with my uncle & aunt & my parents. This was nice because we got to go back out on the Lake after dinner for a nice little ride before bedtime. We watched a beautiful sunset from the boat...God's handiwork is amazing! The girls sitting by Aunt Jodye. Darcy decided about 10 minutes into the ride to take a little nap. She just laid right down on the floor & slept until we got back! Jack is at the age where he finds it very funny to make a silly face for every picture...mom does not find it quite as funny... Drew slept for most of the ride also, but here he is awake & enjoying the scenery...he's 3 months old now and such a happy, content baby! And to prove I was really there that weekend, an actual picture of me! Hey, make that 2 pictures of me!

Sophie enjoyed some "driving" lessons with Uncle Emil.

And by the end of the ride, Jack had also fallen asleep...

a busy day on the lake will wear a boy out!

On Sunday morning, after a lovely breakfast, we thanked our wonderful host & hostess for a beautiful weekend & headed towards home. On our way, we went slightly out of our way to see my aunt & uncle (this time on my mom's side) who happened to be here from Arkansas for their granddaughter's graduation from high school.

They enjoyed getting to meet baby Drew & I believe it was their first time seeing Darcy as well. Aunt Nellie snuggling Drew.

Uncle Art & Darcy having fun

Sophie chatting with Aunt Nellie

Well, so I can finally get this posted, I think that's a wrap! We had such a wonderful weekend with family. We thank the Lord for such a wonderful & fun family!