Family Is Where The Heart Is

I cannot believe it is JULY! I am starting to get a little itch to start looking at school things. I have been on Teachers Pay Teachers and becoming a hoarder on my Pinterest board for 3rd grade. I am excited to start thinking about planning for starting another school year but I am also having so much fun having plans for outside and no plans at all on some days.

This first week of July did not disappoint at all. Holland and I both had family come into town. The Lawrence clan came in and spent a week in town. Holland and I spent a few evenings visiting with them in New Braunfels and we had a big swimming and fish fry bash.  I am happy to report that I can name EVERY person and how they are related to the the family. I could probably draw a family tree that is 95 percent correct :). Hollands dad comes from a large family and their children span about 25 years apart. Holland is one of the youngest cousins and most of his cousins have children so we had plenty of people to catch up with. We saw some of the family when we were in the North East area for Christmas but it was definitely not a long enough visit. This mini reunion the family came from Massachusetts, Conneticut, and North Carolina.

Waiting for the fireworks!

Gonyea Family. 

Aunt Sharon, Uncle Carl and Gribbles Neighbor DiJan. 

Ashley and Mr.Whit

Kevin and Allison Bailey

Uncle Mike and Ashley

Bryce, Ellie, Raya and Jana. 

Whittenberg family,  Aunt Diane, Cousin Beth, Aunt Janet, Whitney and cousin Jen. 

Two out of three of the Whitneys!

Bleu spending quality time with his uncle. 

So from all those pictures I still didn't get everyone that was there! I love how big Hollands family is and I cannot wait to see them again! We are thinking that a possible Cape trip in September might be the next mini reunion.

The next batch of family visit was from my cousin and her husband, Billy who now LIVE in Chicago. I emphasize the "lives" because she does not consider herself FROM Chicago. She still tells people she is from Texas ;). We did some fun activities like going to the shooting range(EEK) and painting with a twist.

PP, Tio Greg and Billy

It looks like I was crying.... I was on the inside! AHH 

On my moms birthday, we drove to our favorite place! The lake house is our safe haven.  I was telling PP that when she first moved away it was strange to be at the lake without her.  We spent every weekend there in the summer during college days and I cried on my first ride on the jet ski without her.  We agreed that the distance has definitely made our hearts grow fonder and as long as we have an estimated plan on the next time we are going to see each other it makes all the difference.

This is my favorite time of day on the lake. Around 6 p.m. Everyone is either eating dinner or taking a break from the water and it is so peaceful. The light hits perfectly on the other side of the cove. 

 PP and I  came to the conclusion that we are far too old for wake boarding anymore. We each did three rounds and although we got up we were beat up. How did we used to wakeboard all day? We went for a Kayak ride and exercised our arms and we exercised our legs going up and down the stairs throughout our stay.  

My sisters friends, Bibby and Kristi brought a piñata that we named Manclovio for my moms birthday.  We all thought we were going to get a few whacks at Manclovio but my mom took him out in three hits. All that was left was his head but we all got to enjoy the treats inside. 

My mom had her very own special fire work turned into a fire show on her birthday. That has to be a completely separate post because it CRAZY! Momma, I hope you had an awesome birthday and lake celebration. I love that place. It holds a special place in my heart.