HOT-Lanta

I mentioned earlier that we took a family trip to Atlanta. At the very last minute, (night before, I think) we made plans to head to Atlanta with Julie (Philip's sister) and her family. We have three oldest kids the same ages and gender so we travel very well together.

We met them at the GA state line and swapped kids and began the rest of our journey. Arriving in Atlanta and to our hotel, the kids quickly hit the pool and hot tub while parents planned a little more of our trip. Previous vacations with this crew consisted of the beach and lots of sitting. A word to the wise, Atlanta not a town for sitting. We started our Friday with a trip to the Coke Museum, the Aquarium and then finished our night with Braves baseball. We even ran into friends on a Tupelo Baseball team who were being honored at the game that night. It was a fun-filled day.
Wynn was the nightly entertainment. She loved the music played at the game, and spent the evening dancing! The Braves won at the last minute and gave us an exciting ending to the night. We stayed for the fireworks, which Uncle Court assured us we could truly still see from the parking lot. Our Daddies are the best...big city driving, and lots of patience!










Saturday, the Howell's slept in. We met up the the Mealins at Stone Mountain. They had staked out a place to sit in the shade. We toured around the area and enjoyed the hot, hot day. Everyone, but this Mama, made the trek to the top of the mountain. I found a shady spot with my book about Sabbath. I began to take my own personal Sabbath for the next hour while they work hard to reach the top of the mountain. After their return, we began our search for the perfect spot on the grassy lawn for the laser light show. The area was already over half full when we found our spot. The kids played cards, and hung out while we waited. Our family visit here 8 years ago was much different with two young elementary aged girls and an infant and toddler. We must say we enjoyed the evening.





We made the decision to head to Birmingham , to our favorite holiday spot, the Mealin's hotel for our 4th of July celebration. The Howell's got up and drove to church in Alpharetta at Northpoint Community Church. We met friends from home (who kindly saved us seats so we could swing in the back door). We were blessed by a powerful service then exited church to be given a BOMB Pop by the greeter! Happy Fourth of July!

After church,we scooted across the street to treat Wynn to a visit to the American Girl Store. If only, I had taken a picture of Trippe's face as he waited, and waited, and waited outside the store for us. The big girls patiently helped Wynn look through the whole store (2 or 3 times) then helped her pick a great accessory for her dolls. We regrouped after a little shopping and headed for Birmingham.

We arrived at our favorite holiday place....the Mealins Motel. Aunt Julie and Uncle Court had a great dinner planned. We enjoyed seeing Uncle Court's newest hobby, home-brewing beer. We were all amazed at his invention! Wynn even helped to give tours of & the basement setup. After dinner, the kids headed out on the golf cart while the parents enjoyed dessert on the back porch. Suddenly, we heard a loud sound which was a lot like crying. We stopped to listen, since all 7 kids left out on the golf cart. We quickly realized that it wasn't crying, but the lovely sound of all 7 children singing "God bless America" at the TOP of their lungs. How precious was that! Uncle Court provided the fireworks for our celebration. The kids joined us out back and began a game of sardines.

We decided that we enjoy holiday weekends with the Mealins. We have spent Memorial, New Year's and many other holiday weekends in Birmingham. We declared to spend the next major holiday together!

All My Chickens In One Basket....FINALLY!

I am the person who most people ask, "I bet you are ready for school to start?" My answer for the past 10 years has always been NO. Go ahead, call me weird. I enjoy our Summer time together. We usually fill it up with swimming next door and with friends, trips, camps, and summer time dinners. We are very laid back in our schedules and we like it like that. It is a breath of fresh air from the busy-ness of a school year.
First day of Summer!

I sit here hours before our first open house begins, and I reflect on our Summer of 2010. My little chickens have been spread far and wide this Summer. I don't even know that I would call it a Summer. School let out the last week of May and begins again next week (August 4th). I just wanted to post pictures of the fun that was had by all!

We made our yearly trip to Methodist Annual Conference in Jackson. This is the few days that parents swap roles. Daddy becomes the Pool Patrol and Mama attends meetings.

This year was different in that a day into the meeting we took Sarah to Magee for send-off. She left for Honduras with Paw-Paw, Mrs. Lou, Emily, Ashley, Aunt Lanelle and a group from Magee. This was Sarah's first plane ride and international trip. She had a blast and got off the bus stating a return trip for next summer.

Sarah,Aunt Lanelle, Ashley, Mrs. Lou and Emily

Sarah and one of the many children she met in Honduras

We got Sarah back the next week in the middle of the night. We stayed up with Julie and her girls hearing all about their ventures in Honduras. What a blessing to have a group of teen girls who had seen the world from the eyes of another country! We washed clothes while we visited and began to repack Sarah.

Mary Katherine had stayed back with our church to ride to Mosaic, a week long mission in Long Beach. We let the girls sleep in then gathered Sarah and her repacked suitcase and met Russ & crew in Hattiesburg. Sarah and MK were off for a week of local missions on our MS Gulf Coast. This ministry started after Hurricane Katrina and our church is still apart of the continued rebuilding process there. The girls love to participate in the work and retreat of this week.

The Orchard crew at Mosaic
We skipped a few weeks and enjoyed a family vacation to Atlanta (see separate post).

It was finally time to send Trippe and Wynn to Camp Lake Stephens. This is a place that is dear to my children. We normally go in June and this Summer just demanded that we wait. Trippe and Wynn met friends at camp on Monday. Mary Katherine and Sarah helped me get them settled in. Back when I would take the older girls to camp and Trippe & Wynn were young, we had a tradition to dry the tears. Trippe and Wynn hated leaving their sisters and I drug them back to the car with promises of ice cream. We drove a few miles down the road to get Baskin Robbins each time- the treat of those who had to return home. Well this year the big girls didn't really cry, but they remembered all the years they missed out on ice cream.





Trippe and Wynn had a blast! They returned with many stories of laughter, song, swimming, zip lines, and camp outs. They also returned with chiggers and a few ticks. You know you have enjoyed camp to the fullest when you itch for the following week!

Philip & Sarah returned the following Saturday to retrieve the younger ones while I dropped MK at the high school. She left for a week to attend Brevard Running Camp. Yes, we actually paid money for her to run twice a day in the mountains all week. She is on our THS Cross Country team and actually enjoys running. MK learned that post run soaks in a cold, natural stream is wonderful. She learned about goal setting, and that she likes to run where their is no MS humidity.

XC Brevard Running Camp 2010
We gathered MK the following Saturday. We washed her clothes and repacked she and Sarah for a three day trip back to Atlanta with the church youth group. They spent a day at Six Flags. On Sunday night, they attended youth at Northpoint Community Church. The girls enjoyed the time with their church friends and returned exhausted.

Orchard Youth at Six Flags
Now, all the chickens are in my basket! I am currently preparing to attend the first of our school open houses. To answer your question, even after all the crazy trips and washing loads of laundry, I'm not ready for Summer to end. It has been a blast!

Filling My Bucket

I have spent the Summer reading the writings of friends and some I've followed in this land of blogosphere. It has brought me to the conclusion that I too might want to journal our family life. Since my scrapbooking supplies stay neatly tucked into the drawers, I hope this will document the Buckets of Joy and Loads of Love we share here in Howell-land. I am unsure if any of it will be interesting, but I hope my family finds it as a great reminder of our time together.