The Family That Plays Together...

...is sore and tired for two days! I kid. Last Saturday we headed up to Louisville for a reunion of sorts with the Bilby (Robbins middle namesake) side of the family. Nana's brother Bill's kids have been scattered all over the country/world and two still are. Luckily, his son Joe and his wife Leslie and their precious new little girl Ann Francis opened up their new home to us right outside Louisville for a great time. His oldest sister Ann was in town from DC (usually they are the ones all over the world) with her two kids. Nana and Pops Uncle Reno and Bryn, Jimmy and his kids, Jennifer and the Indy crew, Mary Jo and John, Bill and Faris, everyone was there except one cousin who is in New York. It was such a fast day but totally worth 6 hours in the car round trip to get to see all the youngest generations of cousins playing together, not to mention I LOVE J.Ed's cousins too so it's really a win across the board! I apologize in advance for the amount of pictures below.

Behold the reason, the adult males were so tired and sore.  

 Please stop growing!

 Have pool, will travel!

Sweet daddy and daughter moment. I have really been struggling with how attached she is to me (we are talking compulsive levels) so i am thankful for moments like this because sometimes I think J.Ed's feelings get a little bit hurt.

Robbins Lowe, I love this about you. In the mix with boys 3 and 4 times your age like it's nothing. I am also thankful for awesome cousins who are so sweet to him, but not so sweet as to let him win, ha!

The newest addition to the family, Ann Francis. She is so chill and such a content baby!

As always, all the older girl cousins were so crazy helpful with all the kiddos.

This one thought she was hot stuff.

Deep convos with Uncle Reno about her ball. This is a huge breakthrough since up until about a month ago she was terrified of him.

These two...have you ever see two cuter or whiter children in your life? I mean, they are literally see through. Robbins absolutely worships Jack. He is even wearing some hand me down shorts of his just to represent. #teammadras

Here is our lovely hostess with her nephew, Elliot. That hair, couldn't you just die?!

 Here is Robbins and Alice. She is Elliot's older sister and the most cordial child I have ever had the pleasure of conversing with. Right after this, she did not like that Robbins splashed her so she said "Robbins, please do not splash me again, if you do, I will tell on you." Guess what, he did not splash her again:) I also used it as a great example for Robbins of how to ask your friends to stop something you don't like as opposed to his usual give them two chances then yell at them method.

J.Ed and Ann strangely have seen each other the most, but always out of the country or at weddings. When J.Ed was deployed to Afghanistan, Ann was working there. Then when J.Ed was doing work in China with his current job, Ann and her husband were there too. Nothing like seeing a familiar face in unfamiliar lands.

We also celebrated Bill's birthday

Then Nana had prizes for all the kids but they had to play a game to get them. Simon Says it was.

Jack looks really into it.

She seemed to like it.

I can almost hear her yelling, Victory!

This was before we were even on the interstate. He was exhausted.

This one on the other hand was not. She took a nap while we were there so she was chipper Charlie the whole drive home.

They both stayed up late on Sunday too, so Monday morning was not our best. J.Ed and I talked about it though and although we are definitely schedule people, life (and summer)is way too short to worry about bedtimes every night.

The Very Long 4th of July Weekend

Like most people in the Southeast we had an extremely wet holiday weekend. We kicked off the festivities with a super fun house guest, Todd. We dog sat for my friend while they were in Cape cod and he was a trip. Here he is in all his glory. Landry would just run around yelling his name and chasing him. I am sure he was very sad to go to his nice, quiet home.

Uncle Reno and Bryn also stayed a night with us before they headed off to Bayview for the 4th.

Fourth of July Parade at BMCC!

I love this picture. All these kids are so sweet and have been together for years now.

J.Ed and Robbins went to the Nashville sounds game on the 3rd before the sky fell out. He had so much fun watching the baseball guys and trying dippin dots for the first time.

The morning of the 4th our neighborhood parade and pool party was cancelled, so the silliness below ensued.

J.Ed decided that there was still one sport Robbins does not like to play, only because he does not know about it so he got lacrosse sticks. Needless to say they were a huge hit with both kiddos and their Aunt Ryan in Charleston was very proud to see the little LAX players in training.

Still inside, we busted out the giant piano and played some tunes that sounded something like a dying animal. 

Robbins headed to Memphis for the week for Grandparent camp and this little cutie was so sad to have all of our attention.

Our community group had pool/pizza time on Sunday afternoon and it was wonderful to finally get some outside time.

The American Heart Association just wrapped up our fiscal year end on June 30th. The Nashville market raised over $4 million which makes us a top 5 market in the country. I am so blessed to work with such fun people and for an organization with an incredible mission, saving lives from our No. 1 and No. 4 killers, heart diseases and stroke. For our year end celebration, we headed out to Old Hickory lake for a cardboard boat regatta. We broke up into teams and had to build a boat out of cardboard and tape only and then we raced. My annoying volunteer spirit got me in trouble and landed me in the boat to race. Um...so i didn't win but I had a great time losing.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th!

Lexington

J.Ed went for his annual guys golf trip to Alabama so the kiddos and I packed up and headed to Lexington to visit Nana and Pops. I'm very lucky to have in laws I actually enjoy spending time with, even without J.Ed.

Nana and Landry in her favorite spot

Playing in the rain puddles

It's pretty fun how life comes full circle. Nana's sorority sister and best friend, Jenifer has two kids that J.Ed and Ryan grew up with and are like family. Now Emily, her husband and twin girls(Ellie and Harper) live across the street from Nana and Pops house, where they grew up playing. It's so fun watching our kids play together now. I know it is especially fun for Judy and Jenifer.

I went out to dinner one night with all the ladies which turned into late night wine and chat fest on the Lowe patio. So fun!

Pre bedtime reading with Pops

We spent one afternoon from after naps until bedtime at Pops golf club at the pool. It was such a great baby pool and this little daredevil is keeping me on my toes this summer.

A little pre dinner snack. We ordered dinner out there and it was so peaceful sitting by the pool having a picnic.

These two being silly post swim

The cousins Abby & Grace (and their friend Reese) were in town for basketball camp so they came over one afternoon and wore the kiddos out. They are the best babysitters ever, to bad they live in Indiana!  

We had such a nice visit. I got to hit up the Bella Bliss warehouse sale, which is always fun too. Overall, we had a fun and relaxing weekend!