I Heart Koreans

I love that my twin Korean cousins live in Nashville because I get to see them each summer, as well as my little "niece." She is so outgoing and fun! When 10 of her 13 cousins walked in to the pool, she proudly announced, "See all these kids? They are ALL MY COUSINS!"

They have a community pool, so we just loaded up all the kids and met them there for the day.

Apologies for the placement of my camera. A couple of inches down and you'd see I do have a swimsuit on!!! But this was my only picture with C, so I'm putting it on here.

 The whole gang!

Cracker Barrel Love

We went out to dinner for a belated Father's Day dinner. Cracker Barrel is always a hit with us! Miss Middler got the catfish, mmmm.

 The dads in my life!

My dad is the best. I never worried that he would leave us. I never worried that he didn't love me. God gave me a great dad.

 And a great mom!!!

Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch

We drove back to Nashville after the camp drop off. Our week was busy and fun.

I take a shower every night. It's part of what tells me it's time to go to sleep. But honestly, most nights, I am not all that dirty. But I really enjoy helping out in my mom's garden. Here's my "garden selfie" just before my (much needed) shower.

We did some cousin sleepovers. These girls found prom t-shirts at Goodwill last year for $1. This year at another thrift store, they found matching pj pants for $1.

We enjoyed some swim days.

Big Ben wanted me to catch his dive on film. Yes, CC, I believe he needs one more year of swim lessons.

Miss Middler is doing something I hope I never do.

I wasn't this cute in 9th grade. Were you?

Too cool for words.

Camp for Big and Little Sis

This year our only little camper was Sweet Cheeks. Her oldest sis decided to go as a worker at the camp. I was very happy to have someone to check on my little girl!

SC had a sweet counselor and was in a cabin with some of the same girls as last year.

As we were in line to register, I turned to see one of my bridesmaids!!! It was such a fun surprise. Her youngest was at camp that week, too.

Sweet Cheeks had cuz in her cabin, making a week away from home much easier.

This was our first reunion with our Memphis family.

And the campers survived. I asked Firstborn how many service hours she got in working in the dining hall (so she can put them on her community service list for school)...she said, "6AM-Midnight, daily"! Whew!

Epic Lake Weekend 2015

We found one weekend where both of our families could go to the lake together. Though we only had one day on the lake due to needing to drive to camp on Sunday morning, we made the most of our Saturday! Aunt Cassie had some very interesting video to share on her computer.

CC never minds working on a Tennessee porch in the heat of summer.

The hammocks awaited kids who had finished their cleanup chore.

This nephew had 2 goals for the summer....get his driver's license first... and finally, after 16 long years, outgrow his cousin. He accomplished one of the goals.

Thanks to Uncle Tim, the kids have learned water sports that I never knew at their age.

And some just enjoy pretending to be mermaids in a very brown lake. 

We had a great time on the water, grilled some delicious burgers, then everyone fell solidly asleep. A perfect summer weekend to me!

Mini Vacation

Because we needed to get to Firstborn's driver's test, we just stayed an extra night at the lake house together. It was just CC and his 5 girls, as Big Ben stayed back an extra night with Grandma to finish his swimming lessons. We slept in. I enjoyed waking early to read my Bible outside. Then in the afternoon, we took the girls to swim in the lake. We had no boat. We had no floats. But creative minds and a generally sweet spirit we did have.

The girls created a sychronized routine that had me in stitches.

I mentioned to the girls that the continuous photo option in my camera was perfect to get it, except that they weren't smiling at the end. So we did a do over. The hilarious expressions of Sweet Cheeks had me rolling with laughter. 

And our little audience of one appreciated the routine so much, just had a hard time showing it.