Happy Birthday, America!!!

I am sure most of you enjoyed some sort of 4th of July festivities throughout this week. We were fortunate enough to be invited to 2 different shindigs of celebratory fun.

Tuesday night we went to a friend from college's parent's lake house on Lake Keowee. It was an amazing house! Josh and I were in awe and kept saying that we felt as if we were on vacation. It was such a nice experience. We hung out on the lake, went tubing with jet skis, hung out on the pontoon boat, ate an awesome steak dinner w/ 5 ice cream choices for dessert, and really just enjoyed each other's company. Our friend, Matt, has some really great parents and you can tell he and his family have a strong, natural bond. We also got to see some other dear friends as well. It was a great night.

Matt's parent's house - directly on the lake - That's Matt's dad.

Tillman eating a snack before jumping in the water. She did really great in the water this time. She was very independent and content.

Matt on the jet ski.

Matt driving the jet ski, Jake is on the back as the lookout person, and Josh is being pulled on the tube.

Same seats, again. I went tubing as well. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be on the back of a jet ski, but I had some pretty rough landings. My neck is sore and I have a nasty bruise on my leg. Oh, and I didn't care for the water spraying up in my face either. It made it harder to decide where to put my body weight so I didn't fall off the tube.

Tillman & Josh getting ready to spray the guys.

Just hanging out and relaxing. For those of you who don't yet know about the most ingenius floating device ever, it's the diaper life vest. Wear a regular life vest, but put your legs through the arm holes and wear it like a diaper. It's amazing. Everyone except Matt's mom is doing it in this picture.

Tillman thinks she runs the place. This is on the pontoon boat.

Thank you, Matt and Mr. & Mrs. Barr for a wonderful evening!!

Wednesday afternoon/evening we were invited to go with Christy, Tyler, Nolan, and Christy's parents to the Keowee Sailing Club for some fun in the water, a cookout, and some fireworks on the lake. Again, it was such a nice time and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The pictures below are a mixture of both mine and Christy's shots from the night.

A view from the porch/deck of the sailing club.

Josh, Tillman, Nolan, & Tyler having fun in the water.

Nolan & Tillman in the sand.

Tillman

Strutting her stuff.

Christy made this fruit flag as part of our dinner.

She also made the cupcakes, pinwheel, and all other decor. She's amazing at being cute and crafty. She always puts me to shame. :)

What's the 4th of July without corn on the cob?

Blowing out a candle.
Happy Birthday, America!!!

Enjoying the cupcake.

It's even red, white, & blue!!

My two favorites, whom I think are absolutely adorable.

Happy 4th from the Christophers!

The whole gang.

These two are just too cute together. They had us rolling last night; they were so funny.

My baby looks so big and grown up!

After dinner, we went out on the boat for a leisure ride.

You can't complain about the view.

Josh was in charge of the kids.

Go figure this would be what T gets to do when Daddy's in charge.

The child loved the boat ride. She kept leaning back and waving her arms in the air, smiling the whole time.

This is what it's like when I'm in charge. Nice and calm. :)

After the boat ride we came back to let the kids set off some sparklers.

Waiting patiently for a sparkler.

Nolan, so sweet.

T, looking too much like a big girl these days.

After the sparklers, we headed back out on the boat to watch some fireworks out on the water.

Looking at all the fireworks. They were going off all around us; literally, we had a panoramic view.

Daddy & T settling in for the show. She was getting sleepy at this point.

Happy 4th!!



Thursday Through...

As you have probably noticed, I have taken a little break from updating you about our final days at the beach and our trip back home through Durham. Thursday was another great day at the beach and we went out for a big family dinner to a nearby (45 min away) seafood restaurant Josh found online that had good reviews. The restaurant catches their own seafood and they have a touch tank where you can try to "catch" your own dinner. We looked at the tank and touched a few creatures, but I stuck to good ole pasta alfredo. Half of us ate seafood and half of us didn't, by choice.

Dad at it again. This is what I see when I wake up in the morning. Makes me feel lazy, but I love it for him because I know it means a lot to him.

Josh and Danica finishing up their early morning walk. Mom was with them, but I think she picked up her pace when the finishline was in sight.

Chiefa is groggy in the mornings. It's cute.

Tillman trying to figure out how to work Dad's GPS watch. He wears it when he runs to track his mileage and routes.

Me and Beef!

T & Grandma getting down in the sand.

T sporting her Fancy Trimmin's bathing suit.

Snack time

Everybody doing their own thing. Our beach house in the background. Again, Tony couldn't have done a better job picking a house for us.

Mom and Dad cooling off.

Lazy bones.

Thursday night's dinner, Fisherman's Wharf

The touch tank

Looking in and trying to decide what to go after. T touched a horseshoe crab. Everything else was too fast to catch.

I love this picture. Mom took it. She's sporting her new romper she got at the beach.

Family picture - Love it.

Dad's flounder. You can't get much fresher than that. (But I'll pass and stick to pasta.)

Now that's one good looking family!

We all truly had a blast this week and have already starting planning for next year's summer vacay.

Me and my beautiful family.

The cutest grandparents award

This is Tony's, "I'm only taking this picture because I'm being forced to, but I really don't wanna" face.

And these pictures were borrowed from Mom's camera:

This child is seriously obessesed with this dog.

Dad getting creative with the angle/view. Mom relaxing on the porch, a popular thing to do at the beach. :)

I mean, really. Take me back there now.

We don't know who wrote this in the sand, but we liked it and took advantage of it for a photo op.

Mom & Dad

They are just too stinkin' cute.

And if this doesn't melt your heart, ... I don't know what will.



Friday I didn't take many pictures at all, and of the ones I do have I think Mom took most of them. I was all in tizzy about starting to gather our belongings and get some things packed that I knew we wouldn't be needing. I was also very much excited/anxious/focused on the clock for our photo session. I was worried about the wind (my hair) and how Tillman would perform. I haven't seen any proofs yet, but I am pleased to say that I think things went better than expected and I can't wait to see how they turned out. I'm also certain Mom and Dad enjoyed the session as well and will value the shots and memories the photographer was able to capture.

T making sure Chiefa gets her breakfast, one of her main priorities each morning.

Last day for this beach baby.

My end of the trench.

Tony's end. He had a much bigger support system than I did.

Enjoying our last full day at the beach. Sigh.



Saturday morning we all got up, showered, ate, and hit the road in 3 different directions. Tony, Danica, and Chiefa headed back to DC. Mom and Dad headed back to Summerville, and Josh, Tillman, and I headed back to Easley. However, the 3 of us stopped in Durham, NC and stayed the night with my Uncle Dan. This gave us another opportunity to see more family: Grandpa, Dan, Brandon, Amanda, Barry, and Hannah, and it also allowed us to break up our 8 hour drive into 4 hours Saturday and 4 hours Sunday. Saturday evening we grilled out with the family. This morning Dan took us out for breakfast and then we got back on the road, arriving home in Easley somewhere around 2:00pm. Now we are unpacking, doing laundry, and all the other things that go along with coming back home from a week long vacation to the beach. I'm sure we'll be finding some sand in our belongings soon enough too.

Grandpa missed the memo that we were taking a picture.

Great Uncle Dan giving Tillman "anything she wants."  This would be Sprite Zero. I absolutely thought it was water. And he doesn't regret a minute of it. In fact, it looks to me like he's rather enjoying himself.

A Franks mini-reunion. This is just practice for the real thing that is coming up in 2 weeks. Of course everybody would be looking at the star of the show, Miss Tillman. She does provide entertainment, if nothing else.

Tillman: "Cheese, and put that stinking camera away for awhile, please."

And there you have it. Beach Week 2012 was a HUGE success and we are looking forward to more in the future.