Mike is almost a civilian!!!!! He has the whole month of July off, and is officially out of the navy on August 2nd. Then he starts his new job as a flight simulator instructor on August 3rd. We took advantage of this long vacation to take a trip out to Georgia. Mike's sister, Kim, had baby girl triplets about 3 months ago, and his other sister, Laura, had a baby girl about 2 1/2 months ago. We had lots of little baby nieces (and cousins) to meet!!!

Sophie fell asleep in this cute position...the girls both did great on the 14 hour drive (one way!)
Mike had his dad both wearing their Nascar hats. Dad likes Kyle Busch, and Mike's favorite drivers are Jr. and Tony Stewart. The debates got a little tense at times, but the competition hasn't torn our family apart...yet!



Sure, Elsie looks sweet and innocent here with Pop, but this little girl of ours can be naughty!!! She gets into everything, as you can tell...








Don't worry...I promptly took the piece of dog food out of her mouth after taking this picture!

Making cookies with Grammy

Sophie was so gentle with her baby cousins. Here she is holding Natalie.

Elsie and Auntie Kim

Aubrey and Elsie (Elsie wasn't always so gentle with the babies!)

I just had to put this picture on here. This is how they pick up trash where Mike's parents live. Instead of those big trash trucks, the trash collector person just pulls a trailor behind his truck. I found it very interesting.


Sophie, Auntie Laura, Grammy and Elsie

We all met for dinner at Mellow Mushroom in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We were able to find tables to sit at, even with 1 high chair and 4 car seats!

Alex was putting pacifiers in 2 babies' mouths at the same time! Very impressive! He's such a good big brother!

Me and Elisabeth

Chris and Kim carrying 2 of their little girls (Anna was in the stroller)



We looked like a baby parade!












So the thing to do in Chattanooga is to bring cardboard boxes to this certain hill and go sliding down on them. We had to check it out...and we agreed that it was very fun!! Here's Aunt Laura and Sophie going for a ride!

Of course, Mike had very clever ideas of how to slide down the hill.


Uncle Craig and Sophie (we're trying to break the thumb sucking habit!)

What you can't tell from this picture is how incredibly fast I am going down this hill. Thus the terrified look on my face!

Mike even took Elsie for a ride...

and then made her crawl back up!

Sophie even went down all by herself (although we're pretty sure she didn't realize she was alone until she reached the bottom...otherwise she probably wouldn't have done it!)

Aunt Laura and Sophie going to look at the water

During the morning on the 4th of July, we went for a little hike in the Chickamauga battlefield.

The we all got together for dinner and fireworks! Such a cute family picture!

Grammy, Pop and all the grandkids!

All the girls

The guys put on a pretty good show!

This is such a funny picture! Mike caught her mid-yawn!

Laura and Aubrey

Me and Aubrey

Chris, Alex, Mike and Maggie went camping one night (while Mom, Kim and I did the night shift with the girls!)

Mike's "Yeah! I'm out of the navy" cake

We went to a little farm in Dalton that has camels, zebras, donkeys and ostrich.

Me and Natalie (as you can tell, I liked getting my picture taken with the babies!)

Mike, Grammy, the girls and I went to the Chattanooga children's museum. It was such a great museum and perfect for Sophie! This was in a little water area and they had cute raincoats for the kids. I just had to put one on Elsie!

The girls with Curious George (don't worry, that's face paint on Elsie's nose, not a lesion or boil or something like that)

This was a little medical area with play thermometers and stethescopes. Sophie is listening to this doll's heart (but she didn't want to put the earpieces into her ears!)

Sophie went right over to the hoola-hoop and knew just how to do it! She must have learned this in school or church because we've never played with one before!

We met again for dinner the night before our drive back home! We had such a fun trip!!!!! Can't wait for next time!!!!

"Yeah!"

Slipping and Sliding

I have to get this up here quickly and quietly, before Susanne get's to the computer. You will see why in a minute. I bought a cheap slip-and-slide this weekend because I was tired of sitting in our house while it's 105 degrees outside. I think that I had the most fun. Sophie is trying to push me down the slide, but she just isn't strong enough.



And now I get to push Sophie down the slide. I am strong enough.

Elsie got to go down the slide a couple of times, but she enjoyed watching Sophie the most.

I don't think Susanne's parents let her have one of these when she was a child.

And Mike wonders why our camera is all sticky!

Amy, my cool flight attendant friend, visited us on one of her layovers! We love seeing "Auntie" Amy!!!!

Mike needed some help with his math homework.

So Mike walked by the guest bathroom one evening, and this is what he found!! Don't ask my how she got up in there!

Emma and Elsie

Friends from Sunday School, Jay and Sara, work at a youth camp during the summer called Camp WOW. It is about 1 1/2 hours from OKC. Michelle, Hannah, Gehrig (her kids), Sophie, Elsie and I drove there last week for a couple of days. Sophie had lots of fun playing with her friends. This is Sophie, Emma and Hannah on the mule, which is the way we got around camp.

Michelle and baby Jackson (Sara's new little baby)

Elsie with Hannah, Kai and Kennedy (Kai and Kennedy's mom is Jay's sister, so she spends lots of time at camp, too. Their dad is the one who started the camp). You can tell that Elsie wasn't too fond of being left alone with this group. They love babies but often don't realize their own strength!!

Sara with Hannah, Jackson and Emma

We did lots of other fun things that I didn't get pictures of, like swimming in the lake and watching fireworks. Sorry, you'll just have to imagine us doing those things!

This is the last picture of our family in front of our house. As most of you know, Mike is getting out of the navy in a couple of months, so we put our house up for sale, since we really had no idea where we were going to end up. The house sold, and then we found out that we are going to be staying here (oh well...I guess that means we get to buy a new house, which is exciting!) It was sad to leave, though. We brought both of our girls home from the hospital to this house, so there are lots of great memories! We'll miss you, Stone Meadows Dr.!

Sophie and Sarah at a bbq get-together for the Blairs, some friends who visited us from Dallas!
Laura took a great picture of the girls and their kids on her camera (hey Laura, can you email that to me? Thanks!)

Baby Logan and Elsie (with Jennifer and baby Cole in the background).

Our friend from Sunday School, Mike, works with the railroad (his daughter is Sophie's friend Sarah). On Tuesday, friends and family were invited to a train ride to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Sophie had a great time!!

Staci, Logan, Jeremy and their nephew Jackson

Sophie, Hannah and Sarah

Looking for cows and horses

I love this picture because Elsie is looking at Mike's head like he has something nasty on it. I checked...he didn't.

Sophie reading a book to Rascal. Lately, she loves to walk around the house saying "I love my dog," or "where is my dog?" She also likes to cover him with blankets when he's sleeping on the couch. Rascal is a good dog...he puts up with a lot!