The Last Ten Days

The boys and I had a great 13 day vacation last week, with Matt joining us for the best seven of those days. What a blast we had!!

Payton, Max and I spent Fourth of July at the Kobylak Family Cottage with Matt's side of the family. A few of the girls and I, with the help of Uncle John and cousin Keith, put in the dock off the beach. Wow! What a chore that is! The air was chilly so we didn't do much swimming, but the boys played a lot in the sand and just enjoyed being with their cousins. Cousin Scott went all out on the fireworks this year! What an amazing show!



Matt joined us in Toledo on Sunday where we spent the day with Matt's parents. Monday, we loaded up their van (thanks again, guys!) and took off for Hocking Hills, OH. It's located south of Columbus in a beautiful wooded area. We loved being there and it was a BIG change from our week long trips to North Carolina that we're used to. We stayed at Settle Down Cottage and enjoyed our stay for the most part. The showers were crap, but eh...it can't all be perfect! The hot tub more than made up for it in my opinion.

My parents joined us there for the five days and my aunt, uncle and 2 cousins joined us for a day as well. We had such a GREAT time exploring the area. If you ever go, be sure to visit Ash Cave. It's amazing to see. And if you're willing to go for a long trek, check out the Rock Bridge as well. And if you want a REAL workout, I'll loan you a 30 lb Maxwell to carry on your back. The highlight for the boys was putt putt at Adventure Golf. That was our first stop on Tuesday morning and our last stop on our way out of the area on Friday.



We settled back into my in laws in Toledo on Friday night and stayed there while Matt had his military weekend. The boys and I just sat around and relaxed. Max had a nasty fever that thankfully only lasted 24 hours. I have never seen one of my boys that sick and I was terrified that something was really wrong. I remained calm, used my knowledge (and the nurse hot line) and he turned out just fine. Payton & I went out for a date night on Saturday and we played at the nickel arcade in Toledo and went on a photo shoot for my Friday Shoot Out this week.

We're home now and I'm working on the last of the laundry and settling back into our weekly groove. I'll be posting some of the more amazing pictures on my photo blog this week. Be sure to stop over there for the pictures that aren't related to the family, but more of nature and such. I got some really great shots!

Thank you for all the prayers for safety and sanity. I needed all of them!