End of Summer (Part 1)

This has been a busy summer with fun memories. Here is quick recap of some highlights that I haven't blogged about for those of you who are interested.

Jim's parents along with Jim's sister, Aunt Jeanne, came the weekend before Laura's birthday. We spent one day at Heber Springs lake enjoying the awesome weather. It was a perfect temperature with no humidity! We enjoyed our nights outside grilling and playing baseball. Grant returned to St. Louis for 5 nights with the Grandma and Grandpa. I didn't think I'd be able to survive without Grant at home, but I managed to really get a lot done and enjoy some one on one time with Laura.
My parents came for Laura's birthday and took her on a special trip to Mountain View, Arkansas. Laura had a really good time with her Meme and Don-Don. I'm pretty sure she got about anything she requested! On their last night, they attended a folk music show where Laura went up on stage with a clogger to show of her clogging moves and the waltz! The girl can really dance pretty good! This is definitely a trait she did NOT inherit from her daddy! My parents have the pictures from this weekend and I'll need to upload the ones of Laura on stage!!

Since Grant was already in St. Louis, Jim and I enjoyed two days with no kids at our house. We cleaned and organized closets, talked, went out to dinner and just enjoyed a quiet house for a couple of days. It was nice. The picture pretty much sums up Laura. She is wearing sponge rollers (b'day present) and her hair looks soo cute with the curls. That will have to be another post!
While my parents were in town, we went to Heifer International in Little Rock. It was educational and I learned some news ways to be more "green". We also headed over to the Peabody Hotel to watch the march of the ducks.
We also rented a pontoon boat for a day at the lake. The weather looked promising, a friend was watching Grant, and our lunch was packed. We enjoyed about an hour of jumping off the boat, swimming and eating. Jim, our captain, decided it was time to try a little fishing, so we head over to a spot on the bank. The anchor is down and about that time a very fast approaching thunderstorm moves into the lake. We quickly decide it is best to get to a safe place, but our anchor is stuck. After many attempts to pull the anchor, we cut it off and try to race out the storm. Unfortunately the pontoon boat is not that fast, so the storm is upon us and we are getting drenched with flashes of lightning and thunder all around. Laura was a bit scared (as was me and my mom). We made it to the marina in time to get to our car before the next storm rolled in. Luckily the boat rental did not charge us for the lost anchor since we were caught in the storm. It was fun nonetheless and hopefully Laura will still get in a boat after that experience!! Of course I forgot my camera, so I'll have to get those pictures as well from my mom's camera.

Lastly, I took Grant to get his first haircut. If you notice from the above picture with Jim's dad, Grant is sporting a pretty good mullet! He did great for his cut and now looks more and more like a little boy. (sigh)
We are in the middle of home improvement in our kitchen. Well, Jim is in the middle of it!! Stay tuned for before and after pictures...