New Words

Happy Birthday PaPa!

Apple Picking

Balloon Festival

The weekend after Labor Day, Gracie and I went to Sussex for the annual Balloon Festival. It was a beautiful day; Todd stayed back to play golf at the country club because he hasn't played as much as he would have liked this season given the wet, chilly summer weather and his work schedule. We certainly missed having him with us but were glad he got to something he really enjoys!

We met Ingrid, Andrew, and Maaike (pronounced Micah) for a fun afternoon. Ingrid and I really enjoyed people watching! Wow, ohh wow....where do some of these people come from? We, of course, felt so much better about ourselves after looking around (which I know is not very nice, but come on, it's so true)!

Oh the make shift fair rides...are these things actually safe after they been put up and taken down from town to town?

Sharing with Maaike

Our good friends - Andrew, Maaike & Ingrid

I'm sorry I "forgot" to take some pictures of some of the "fair" people and attendees (you should actually be thanking me).

Gracie's 1st Hair Cut

Old Quebec City - Labor Day Weekend

Getting Ready?!!?

Oh...the "O" Face

The Spaghetti-Ooooo Face!

Who needs a spoon? Not G!

Oh, Oh, Oh...we love this girl!

A girl & her dog

Gracie loves Tucker and Tucker loves Gracie. It always melts my heart when I see my 2 babies giving each other some love. Tucker licks and Gracie bows her forehead "to give kisses".

Tucker is so good with Gracie. He lets her do whatever she wants. Lately when I ask her to sit with him she crawls right into his lap and he gives her kisses...it's one of the cutest moments ever!

Remembering Riley

This is one of the saddest days of my life...my heart aches and my eyes flood with tears as I try to cope with the loss of our beloved family dog, Riley. After being diagnosed a year ago with thyroid cancer and learning this past weekend that she had a large tumor on her spleen, my parents had to make one of the hardest decisions in their life and needed to let Riley go.

It's just not fair....11.5 years with her was not long enough.

Riley was a sweet, sweet dog and brought unconditional love and happiness to our family.

I still remember being home my Junior year of college for Spring Break and looking through the classified ads for puppies with my Dad. My mom came down the stairs and asked what we were doing and we quickly replied, "oh, nothing". After a phone call and a few hours later we were off to Hinesville, GA to see about a chocolate lab puppy.

And there she was...this little, itty-bitty thing only a week old - born on March 17th, 1998 (my parents' 25th wedding anniversary). As soon as we saw her we knew right away that she would join our family (I mean, who really, just goes to "look" at a puppy?). So, in May 1998 we got to bring our little St. Patty's Day girl - AKC registered as "Savannah's O'Riley" - home to Beaufort! It didn't take long for her to earn the nickname "Hersey Kisser" - as Little Miss Riley loved to lick and lick and lick!

We loved Riley and she loved us and will miss her more than any of you will ever know! We'll miss seeing those big brown eyes. We'll miss coming through the door and seeing her WHOLE body wagging with happiness that we were home. We'll miss her persistent barks for biscuits. We'll miss chasing her off the porch to potty. We'll miss watching her pacing around at 5 o'clock waiting for her dinner. We'll miss her squeaking her toys and bringing them for us to throw. We'll miss her jumping up into the bed. We'll miss her snoring. We'll miss her endless kisses.

We'll Just Miss Her!!!

We will always love you, Riley!!!

Where's your ___ ? & What does a ___ say?

Gracie's been able to point to her various parts (doesn't quite sound right, but I don't know how else to say it) for awhile and we're adding new animal noises to her resume everyday. Some of the noises sound similar but we're still so proud of each and every one. Oh, this little girl cracks me up!

Thanks to my Mom & Dad for the Flip Ultra HD video camera - I love it and I hope y'all will love seeing all the videos to come!

The Pittmans Visit

We had so much fun when my best friend, Ashlee, and her husband, Travis, and their little boy, Campbell (10 months at the time) came to visit us in August. I was honored that they wanted to spend their vacation time visiting us in Canada.

I tried to pack in as much as possible to make their trip as much fun as I could. We went to The Bay of Fundy National Park - had a picnic and stopped at a local lobster shop and picked up 2 huge lobsters for dinner weighing 4.5 and 5.5 lbs each! We got a private little tour of the lobster shop and were "treated" to a fresh, raw scallop just off the boat - the experience was awesome but I'll pass on raw scallops the next time. Our lobster dinner was late because it took an hour to boil them but it was worth the wait because they were delicious. The next day we went to the adorable little town of St. Andrew's (near the Maine border). We strolled around the quant main street and had a nice lunch before boarding The Jolly Breeze Tall Ship to go whale watching. We saw seals and a finback whale. It was an amazing experience. The only downside was Gracie screaming the last hour back to the dock (ugh - that was awful). Sunday, we relaxed at home. We set up the backyard with a little splash park and pool. Lounged in the hammock, swam in the river, and played Bocce Ball. On Monday, we ate breakfast at my favorite restaurant Cora's and then strolled around the shops in uptown Saint John. And Tuesday we made the 3.5 hour drive over the 10 mile Confederate Bridge to Prince Edward Island. The babies were great and it was fun to show them PEI.

It was so great having Ashlee, Travis, and Campbell here. We really hope that they had a good time and will come visit us where ever we end up next! Love you guys!

Off to Old Quebec City

We're going to check another city off our list of places to see while we're in Canada. We're very excited about spending the long weekend in Old Quebec City. We've heard it's like visiting Paris with its beautiful architecture, cobblestone roads, bistros, and French speaking residents. I'm hoping we get to see the street performance by Cirque Du Soleil. There's also a HUGE 25,000 foot warehouse that has been converted to a toy store. And of course, we'll be checking out The Fairmont and hope to grab a casual dinner there on Sunday. Wish y'all were coming with us.

I asked Gracie to help me pack - here's what she decided she wanted to bring!

Think she'll still be as excited (like in the picture above) when she figures out that going bye-bye actually means a long 8 hour road trip?

Wait!!! We don't speak French!

Uh-oh! "Oui"?

Speaking of "Little Bit" (as Todd's Dad calls her)...she's still sleeping this morning - it's almost 8 am! Maybe she's not as excited as we are for our trip. I wish she would sleep in every day!

Hope y'all have a sun-filled, relaxing, & wonderful Labor Weekend!

Just Like BeBe

In her long t-shirt and stretch pants!!!

Just too cute!

What do you think of mini-BeBe?

9 Phases Women Use

This clip is HILARIOUS!

(Thanks Lori W. for sending it to me)

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