The summer has gone by too fast for my liking, that is for sure! A true highlight was the fact that we were invited to be part of a water ski club called "Liquid Feet." The kids had the opportunity to be on a ski team all summer where they learned to water ski and wake board! We met every Tuesday night and brushed up on our skills in the water. The kids have loved it! Darren and I agree that it has been the best thing our family has ever been a part of! I have to send out a big THANK YOU to Lee and Nancy Church for inviting us to be a part of such an incredible group of adults and young people!
We scampered off to Cherry Grove with the entire Cook Clan not too long after school was out. I must say, we had a FABULOUS time! We could have stayed there all summer (if we could have afforded it)! We did nothing but spend our days at the beach and our evenings hanging out togher.It was wonderful! After the beach we had the 4th of July festivities to look forward to! Matt outdid himself this year with the very best fireworks show yet! The 4th of July is a favorite for my kids, they look as forward to it as they do Christmas! They love the family time, the firworks, the food, and the homemade ice cream. We all enjoy this tradition and are thankful to Kellie and Matt for creating it for us! It is important to have family traditions! It seems that most of ours have fallen away over the years, so it is nice to have a new one that we all have grown to love and look forward to!
The rest of July was filled with days at the pool and the lake (unfortunately the kids had a lot of "babysitter" time this summer since Darren and I were both working a lot)! In all the years that we have lived in Hayesville, I have been fortunate enough to have a job that enabled me to spend a lot of time at home, which I am grateful for. However, it made it hard when I had to be away from the kids so much this summer! I must say that I am very fortunate and grateful to Heather, who happily kept our kids a lot for us this summer and made sure that they got to have lots of fun in our absence!
We finally squeezed in a camping trip in July (with the Plemmons') to Standing Indian! It was a perfect camping trip. We got to spend lots of time together hiking, playing in the water, riding bikes, roasting marshmallows... The Grands even visited us one night for some cornhole and dinner! I am so thankful that our family loves to camp! It is the perfect oppotunity for "Family Time!" It seems that even with all our good intentions, we never spend as much time together when we are home as we do when we are camping, so it is important that we get to camp at least once every summer! We hope to go again before the cold sets in!
And now....The time has come for the kids to go back to school! How could it be school time already, I keep asking myself???? And even though I can't find a good reason for it to be happening already, we will find ourselves rising early on August 15, getting dressed, and going back to school! Time needs a good set of brakes!!!!!! I can't seem to slow it down, no matter how hard I try! So, the best thing I know to do is grab the reigns and hold on, keeping my eyes wide open, as not to miss a moment, keeping my mind wide open, as not to miss an oportunity, and keeping my heart wide open, as not to miss a single precious moment granted to me each day! What a blessing we have inside our home with our three precious Cook kids! Lord....Lead us to lead them, and to value every moment you give us together!
And there you have it folks, the end of summer 2012! Until next year....
Lots of love always,
Mom
