Easter 2014

We just got home from enjoying a wonderful 3-day weekend at the lake.  Mama and Daddy’s new house is an amazing place to entertain, hang out on the patio, grill, and take in a breathtaking sunset.  The kids had fun dying eggs, paddle boating, having a slumber party, swimming in the pool/hot tub (that wasn’t very hot after day 1), hunting eggs, playing “sardines”, fishing, and boat riding.

Cody and Courtney are moving to Lindale and shared their house plans…

Fishing…

Paddling boating…

The egg hunters…Ashley found the golden egg, which contained $10!

Checking out the “loot”…

We celebrated Cannon’s 12th birthday, which was on April 14th…

More fishing…

And the biggest catch of the weekend belonged to Cole - a striped bass…

And…then the camera went up for a bit as Poppie got “hooked” by the fish that Cole caught while trying to help him get it off the hook.  Three hours later he and Les returned from the ER and he was “hook free”.  He said he screamed so loud the whole ER must have heard him!  Wow – it was scary, looked painful, and he was a real trooper.  He was more concerned about congratulating Cole on his awesome catch and making sure he cleaned the fish without cutting himself in the process.  Cole did a great job, but while Mama was peeling and cutting potatoes, she sliced her finger open with a paring knife and had to run to CVS for a butterfly bandage.  She just couldn’t stand all the attention Daddy was getting!

We did catch a sunset for those that were missing it due the unexpected trip to the ER on a holiday weekend and it was amazing.

And that was only Friday and Saturday!  Here are some pictures from Easter Sunday…

Thank you to Mama and Daddy for hosting all of us this weekend.  We had perfect weather, the food was all delicious, the kiddos got along great, and I think, despite the hooks and knives, Mama and Daddy survived all of the company!

Last Day in Hawaii

Better late than never but here are the last beautiful sunset pictures from A’Bay the night we flew out of Kona.  We had a wonderful trip but missed the kids, had work piling up at the office, and were ready to get home.  We feel very blessed that we are able to enjoy God’s beauty in this amazing place

Grandparent’s Day at GCS

Mamaw and Poppie enjoyed the morning at GCS for grandparent’s day.  They were entertained, learned about what the kids were learning, and enjoyed time in the classroom with the kiddos.  Mamaw and Poppie were quite impressed with Mrs. McArthur (Ashley’s teacher) and all they have learned in 3rd grade this year.

After school was dismissed, Ashley came by to visit us at the office…

I didn’t have any pictures from the day at GCS, but I cheated and took some pictures at lunch following.  Cody even hopped in for one of the pictures since he is also a “grandkid”.

And to end Grandparent’s Day and begin the Easter weekend, Ashley had two Cougar Dribbler basketball games…

Way to go girls!  The worked so hard on the court, improved even in the short season, and played with great sportsmanship.

“Reunion”

I graduated from Lindale High School in 1990 and have remained friends with some of the girls from my graduating class.  One of our dear friend’s is being transferred to Ramstein AFB in Germany shortly, so we scheduled an impromptu dinner in Lindale last night to catch up. 

Cindy Barron Hines, me, Melinda Jordan Elliott, Jenny Kindle Marta, and Heidi Staton Dudley

The fabulous four (as we called ourselves) back together again…

It was so great to spend quality time sharing stories and laughs with these girls.  We have #25 next year and I hope I get to see them again before then!

Last Full Day

We leave Kona tomorrow night at 9:40 so we still have most of the day, but this is the last night we will be staying at Vista Waikoloa.  We are sad to leave paradise but ready to be back home to our family, work and routines.

We started with a beach walk this morning which ended at the Hilton Waikoloa Beach Resort.  It was a wonderful way to start our last full day in paradise.

The dolphins were very playful this morning…

After some pool time, we went back to Tommy Bahama’s for Happy Hour and the NCAA championship game.  Unfortunately Kentucky lost, but we enjoyed the game and then headed back to the beach for another amazing sunset.

Do sunsets get any prettier than this?  Sitting at Holoholkai Beach Park at sunset and watching an incredible sunset…