Sweet Summertime!

This summer has seemed to fly by! It seems it was just two weeks ago that Grace started her summer break and here she is back in school already. We tried to make the most of summer, while also trying to not spend it always running around. I think we had a great time, here are a few photo collages:

We went with Amy, Shawn, and Chace for C's first trip to the zoo. It was fun, he really loved the animals. Grace had a fun time showing him everything. We love going to the zoo in Evansville so much better than St. Louis; it is smaller, but you get to see the animals better and it's not as crowded! It was very hot that day, and I was dealing with a very bad sunburn from the day before; I think all future trips to the zoo will be in the spring or fall! Grace had a small breakdown as we were leaving proclaiming it as "the worst day of her life" because we wouldn't buy her a $40 toy from the gift shop. Mind you, we had already been in May and she got something then. So, she was mad for about 10 minutes, then she was over it.


In June, we took our vacation to N. Carolina. I've blogged about this a little before, so I won't go into great detail, the pictures can speak for themselves! Grace loved the plane ride, the ocean, the battleship, everything. We had a great time visiting with Bill's family some, and made great memories as our own little family.


One night, Grace mentioned wanting to make a tent in the living room to sleep in. Now, when I was a kid, we used a few chairs, sheets, and a fan. We also had to sleep on the floor...straight floor, too. Well, Bill got out his homemade backdrop stand he made for me once upon a time and rigged up for their tent. Pretty genius, I think! What's better than camping out with daddy in the a/c watching spongebob? Not much, I think!


Bill's sister and her family drove over one Sat. from Kentucky and we took them on my dad's boat. Neither of my nieces had ever been on a boat, but they loved it! We tubed around Rend Lake, jumped out and swam, and enjoyed the day!


This collage turned out small, but I think you can view it bigger....Since we'd never been to Garden of the Gods before, we took off one Sunday and went. It was beautiful! It was a bit warm, but it was still fun! It's amazing to me that So. IL has such beauty. I think I see a trip back there in the fall when the leaves are changing! Grace wanted to go up the tower, so we all started the climb up there. I got about 1/4 the way up and decided it was too high for me, so I went back down and took some pictures! (I'm not sure why my arrow doesn't look right, it did when I edited it...)


We did so much more, but a post can only be so long before you get tired of reading! As I said before, some of it is in previous posts, so check it out!

More to come later, here are a few pics from my *surprise* birthday party....yes, I turned 30...YAY!

We took Chace on his first boat ride on Sunday and he loved it! He sat still the whole time and surprisingly, didn't mind wearing his life jacket at all. He loved swimming in the lake and helping drive the boat. He threw doritos out of the back of the boat (thanks to a lesson from Grandpa) so that the birds would follow us. That had Aunt Lisa a little freaked out since I hate birds, but I managed! He took a power nap for a bit while we tootled around Rend Lake. By the time we got to the beach, he was tired again so it wasn't all that exciting. We may go back this weekend if it's not raining!

Numbers, numbers!

13 - Days until my birthday

30 - Age I will be on said birthday

5 - Pieces of mail we received today

1 - Pieces of said mail that were not junk

4 - Zucchinis we have gotten out of the garden

7 - Loads of laundry I will be doing today

8 - Days until our anniversary

1 - Year we will have been married

196 - Dollars for the cost of electricity at the Fralick house last month

0 - Red tomatoes we have gotten out of the garden

7,165 - Pictures stored on my computer that need to be stored elsewhere...really!

4 - Hours until my wonderful husband gets home from work

150 - IU's a day of Bravelle I will inject myself with next month

1 - Nephew who loves his Aunt Lisa so much!

1 - New nephew who won't get to know his Aunt Lisa very well because he will live in Washington

7 - Days a week I am thankful for the life I have!

Here's a funny little set of pictures for you. When we were on vacation, Grace got some warheads and kept trying to trick us into eating them. Finally, I told her we'd have a warhead contest at the hotel that night to see who would make the "sourest" face. So, when we were ready for bed, we got the camera out and the war began! Oh my, I don't know how I ever ate those things when I was younger. Mine lasted in my mouth for about 5 seconds...that's all I could handle!! Bill lasted a little longer and Grace ate all of hers. The funny thing is that Grace had to pretend to make a sour face! When she put hers in her mouth she just sat there and laughed! She sure has what it takes to be a kid!!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged! We've not been doing much, just enjoying summer. Since I had so many pictures to share, I put together a few collages for your viewing pleasure...haha!

Bill's family was here from N.Carolina and Kentucky last weekend, so we had a cookout at our house. Here's everyone (minus Grace, her mother wouldn't let her come!):


This is at Raymond's 4th on the 5th party...we had a good time playing washers, tossing the football, playing with sparklers, and watching fireworks:


Several weeks ago, I took some pictures for my friend Angie and her family. It was nice to get to see them, it was her parent's 40th wedding anniversary that weekend....wow, 40 years! I think the pictures turned out nice:


Bill has tilled up (disked up?) the backyard and planted new grass seed to try to get ready to put up a fence, but all of the rain we've had is delaying that. It has poured here like crazy! Of course, I enjoyed the rain and cooler weather, but it stinks when you're trying to get something done! My Uncle Jerome turned 50 yesterday and we had a cookout at their house and wouldn't you know it, as soooon as the food was done, it started pouring! But, I think he still had a great time.....all's well that ends well!

Well, we made it to and back from North Carolina and we had a great time. Grace had a great time on the airplane. She never was scared, the only problem was that her ears were popping...she didn't like that. But, she had gum and kept swallowing, so I don't think it was that bad! The only complaint I had was that we didn't stay at the beach long enough. We only planned a one night/day trip to the beach and it just wasn't long enough! I wish we would have stayed in Wilmington the whole time...there was alot we wanted to do, but didn't get to. BUT, we did see the NC Battleship, that was really neat! I'll post some more pictures later.
After the beach, we went back near Raleigh for a few days where Bill's family lives and spent some time with his aunt and cousins. It was nice to get to see them, he never gets to. We went out to eat, had a cookout, went to Adventure Island (go-karts, mini golf, laser tag, and arcade), and went to the museum of science. Gracie swam in the hotel pool every day! Needless to say, after 5 days, we were ready to come home and see everybody. Amy and Chace were waiting for us when we got here; he was smiling, waving, and kicking his legs around. The dogs were about to go nuts, Amy said they wouldn't hardly eat while we were gone! But, life is back to normal now!

A couple of days after we got back, I had to go see my Dr. in E'ville. They gave me the go ahead for injectables. So, I have been on a combination of pills/shots this last week. I give myself a shot every night and I go back on Thurs. for a ultrasound to see if they are working. Keep your fingers crossed! I guess that's it for now, I have lots to do....pictures to edit, reports to transcribe, and quizzes to take...yeah! Have a great day!