Coolin' It in Columbia

About three weekends ago Drew and the three other fellows in his band, "Standing Ground," went camping and fishing. They haven't played that much together as a band in the last several years due to marriage/children/working but were really tight for several years and have an unmistakable sound. But I digress...

Kevin, the banjo player, and his family are getting ready to move to Virginia for him to get his PhD and the guys wanted one last "hoorah," if you will. It had been a month since we'd seen my parents so the kids and I packed up and headed down to Cola town for the weekend. Most thankfully a cool front swept the entire region and the highest it registered in Columbia during our visit was 91 degrees. In July. That never happens. We mountain folk were most appreciative to say the least! We arrived on Friday afternoon and on Saturday Me Me set up the inflatable pool she had bought for the kids. I don't think I even need to tell you how much fun they had.

After naps on Saturday we headed over to Papa and B's for a great time as well. Another reason we went down on this particular weekend was that the Grayson Family Reunion (my dad's mom's side) was on Sunday. We didn't get to go last year and really missed seeing all of our extended extended family (I'm talking 5th and 6th cousins and some "once removed's" thrown in there for good measure).

Sunday morning we headed down to Ravenel, SC which is right outside of Hollywood, SC. Just look on a map. We had a wonderful time and got to see a lot of family which is always refreshing. The weather was beautiful and there was a nice, shaded playground for all the young kids to play on. As I watched my children with their many cousins it brought back such great memories of playing with my 2nd and 3rd cousins growing up. Oh, the days...As awful as if sounds, the only picture I have from the reunion is the one above. Cade is catching a ride on B's walker. He told me it was great.

After a nice visit we headed home Monday morning to see Daddy and get back to normal life. I was reminded once again how blessed I am to have the family I have.