Green Peas....

Lake Winnie and cousins and other things were a fun part of our time at Granny and Granddaddy's house, but June 18 arrived....and it was time for me (Laura) to return home. But, Abigail was scheduled to stay with my parents for a few more days so that Bruce and I could have a couple of days alone to recharge our batteries and celebrate our anniversary.

One of the fun things Abigail got to try was shelling green peas. Granny picked them from the garden that morning..then they shelled them together. Granny cooked them later that day and they had them for dinner that night. I think Abigail enjoyed her first attempt at shelling peas. And, I KNOW she enjoyed eating them along with some of Granny's homemade mashed potatoes :)



..here's a pea in its pod....
...I'm working hard......
..this is fun.....

..TWO peas in a pod....

A day at Lake Winnie

June 17 is a pretty special day in our family. Bruce and I got married on June 17, 1989....which also happens to be my mom's birthday...then six years later, my little brother and his wife got married on that day as well. So, my mom can never forget her two children's wedding anniversaries, can she??

Well, this year, when our 20th anniversary rolled around, Bruce was out of town, so Abigail and I decided to visit with my family in Georgia for a few days. And, on the 17th, we went to Lake Winnie along with my parents and my brother and his family.

The cousins had a great time....just look below to see a few highlights of the day....except for the temps in the mid 90's, the day was wonderful!!!!

The cousins all enjoyed the Frog Hopper...a bouncy ride. Abigail is on the far left..her three cousins are the three children on the far right.
The girls loved the Scrambler. It was a bit too much for my tummy right after lunch....so I just watched!!
Granny prepared us a nice picnic lunch. We enjoyed that....especially the COLD drinks!!
Abigail and Davis were SO happy to have new Pokemon toys won by Uncle Kevin and his great throwing arm. Only $5 and he knocked all the blocks down twice to win the cousins the toys they desired. Abigail has slept with Pikachu every night since.

Abigail with Granny and Granddaddy....just as we entered the park around 10:15 a.m. We got to play for about 2 hours before cousins arrived...so Mommy got to ride a lot of things with her while Granny and Granddaddy watched and photographed us.
Kayla driving the old timey cars....doesn't she look serious??
Davis takes Abigail for a ride....
..and Emma drives me around....
..and Davis drives me....and it keeps on going...the kids rode these LOTS of times...alone and paired up....they loved driving each other and me too :)

..Abigail and I rode the caterpillar roller coaster..about the only one I can handle (wimp that I am)...and since she was in front of me...this is the photo I got of her the first time we rode it.

Twenty years and counting....

It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since that very hot and humid day in Georgia at Shiloh Baptist Church when Bruce and I exchanged our wedding vows. June 17, 1989 at 2 p.m. was the official time of the ceremony.....and now, twenty years later...we love each other more than we did then. Until we look in the mirror and see the gray hair and wrinkles, it really does not seem like twenty years at all.

This is Bruce with part of his new luggage set...my anniversary gift to him. He needed a new set....and actually picked this out himself (as he travels a lot and is very particular about what he wants). But, at least I know he likes it :)
Bruce got me a pearl necklace!!! He almost never gets me jewelry, so it was a shock!! I love it, and will always cherish it. There are also a few diamonds on it. This will be a special piece that I will pass down to Abigail one day.

Just a big of trivia...this is the Pizza Hut in LaFayette, Georgia. The first time I met Bruce Aquila was here. Tony Tucker (my pastor and Bruce's old college buddy) was meeting Bruce here for dinner before a church revival and I joined Tony and his wife Cindy for dinner, mainly to keep Cindy company. Well, that was the beginning of the end I guess....

a busy week.....for all......

What a busy week this has been for us. I have not taken photos in quite some time...I have not had a chance....or really even thought to do so when I did have an opportunity. But, at least I did remember to get one picture of Abigail at the end of VBS. She was able to attend Wall Highway's Boomerang Express (this is also where she attends school). She dubbed it the BEST VBS ever!!! She had a lot of fun...learned a lot and made some new friends too.

While she was there, I prepared for and held two kid's scrapbooking classes in addition to my normal music lesson schedule and a LOT of other things. The week seemed to be unusually busy. We enjoyed a swimming play date with Julie, a friend from church and ended the week by celebrating a birthday with a friend from church on Friday. Who knew that friends ranging in age from 9 to 65 could enjoy charades so much?!?!?!?!

Here is the one lone VBS photo I was able to get :)

playdate....

Princess had a playdate with Sandy, a friend from the next street over :) Allie, our beagle had to stay inside as she does not play very well with others. Princess is on the left and she is a purebred yellow lab. Sandy, on the right, is also a yellow lab, but due to the length of her fur and her size/shape, it appears that she may have another breed mixed in. She really looks like a golden retriever to me :)

The two girls get along nicely...they enjoyed chasing each other and then lying down and resting during the four hours they were together.

If you look closely, you can tell that Princess is doing well with her weight loss plan. I am not sure exactly how much she has lost, but she is definitely slimming down. We'll have to go for a weigh in again soon.

Kicking off the SUMMER!!!

We officially kicked off the summer on the 23rd of May, the Saturday before Memorial Day, with a family cookout. That's when these photos were taken, but I have been slow in downloading and posting them. All of the Aquila's except Jeff and his family were able to attend.

We grilled out chicken and polish sausages, made my 'famous' BBQ beans, and threw together some fiesta dip and shrimp cocktail. The rest of the family brought delightful side dishes....broccoli, pasta salad, chips, rolls, cake, creamy graham cracker and pudding dessert, garden salad, and much more (I cannot remember it all). Let's just say that the kitchen counter and our tummies were very full!!!!

As an aside...Today is Vincent's birthday!!! He is 46 years old!!! June is our busy month as far as holidays. Every one of Bruce's siblings has a June birthday. Then we have my mom's birthday, our wedding anniversary, father's day and Princess's birthday (not that we celebrate the dog's birthday really:) But still, it is a pretty big month for us. SO, if you are reading this...HAPPY BIRTHDAY VINCENT!!!!




Grammy and Aunt Mary are eating...we get tickled because Grammy usually ends up making a bib out of her napkin :)
...Grammy's head, Aunt Mary, Uncle Vincent and his lovely wife, Aunt Julia...
Abigail, Maddie and Ben (Vince and Julia's children) are racing after the meal......
...the kids are eating and visiting....they usually end up at their own table....we just don't have room for everyone at one table in our house, but they like having their own place :)

Happy Birthday, Princess!!

It is hard to believe that our 'baby' dog is now five years old. We were not even looking for a dog when we got her....but my brother had a litter of purebred labs, and she did not have a home.....and we (especially Bruce, who is not a dog person by nature) fell in love with her. So, we added a third dog to our home. Since then, Rascal has passed away, and we only have two....and we plan to keep it that way.

Princess is such a sweet and kind dog, despite the fact that she weighs in at over 100 pounds. She is even tempered, sensitive and loving. She loves to be inside and loves to get attention. In reality, she thinks she is a lap dog....but at her size, she does not quite fit. With the lab in her, she LOVES water, and will try to fit into any container of water she finds, no matter how small. We keep a wading pool on the patio for her to enjoy :) She loves to play fetch and catch or just to curl up with a rawhide and gnaw on it while being close to us. She lives both indoors and outdoors. She does well with our family, but since she IS so large and is still pretty excitable, we put her out when we have guests over.

Happy FIFTH birthday Princess! We love you!