The Road Warriors

School ended once again, so Corinne and I kicked off the summer with our annual girls' road trip. First stop was Greeneville to check in with the Bensons. Corinne had her first encounter with the backyard kiddie-pool. Trina is the queen of backyard water areas. After this trip and a birthday 'spray play' party that we attended (prior to the trip) I am set with ideas for keeping cool (and entertained!) for the summer daze.

We also loaded the kids for a trip to Greeneville Zoo. It was funny to watch which areas the kids enjoyed most. Wesley is a regular tour guide. Max just chuckles and moves with the crowd. Corinne enjoyed pushing the stroller and climbing in and out the wagon hundreds of times.

They all came together at the goat pens. After we convined Corinne and Max that these weren't 'those' kinds of cookies, they stopped eating them and fed the goats, too. It was a mere 100 degrees in the shade that day, but no one cared.

Trina, Wesley, and Max.

On the road to Asheville we were able to stop by the Benson's new family denistry office. Hats off to Benson for starting his own practice. The place looks great, and I know things are off to a good start.

Asheville was a quick overnighter to store up for the Kentucky road the following day. Harlan kept everyone on their toes; if we missed, a growl from Corinne told us that we need to find out exactly what he's into.

Harlan is quite the mischievious one. One toss of that curly head and a smirky grin and we
could only shake our heads. He's very liberal with hugs, too!

This was my first Kentucky trip where I was able to get Corinne with many children her age and visit with old high school friends and their children. Most days consisted of a park/swing visit with a water/pool afternoon. Corinne has really taken to the water and fought for the right to swim on her own at the pool. I thought I might deter her a little by immersing her in the water, but no. She was energized.

Corinne and gj dig into the bubbles.

Once again Corinne and Maren were able to play each day of our visit. Jane Layton purchased this blow up pool with a slide and spray.

(Sorry, Corinne, this is one of those 'aw, mom!' photos).

We had to miss Father's Day with Roman, but she called him that morning to wish him love. She was almost able to say 'love you' with the expanding vocabulary she was picking up over the week. She had no problem with 'Pappy' nor 'Sayla'. She even finally acknowledged me as 'mama'. Whew. It was worth the wait. We'll have to get a video of her talking.

As usual, I just love to get away from home for awhile. Get into everyone else's world for awhile. A warm hug for all of my hosts and hostesses this past week. We had a great road trip!

Melanie & Corinne