The Gilchrist's: Where to start...

Ahh...I am so behind on my updates I don't know where to start. We have had a busy summer this year. Work has been crazy busy and then we are rushing places on the weekends and the cycle repeats itself. I've come to learn that when one thing stresses me out, like work, or being behind in writing in my baby book, or cleaning my house, then I can't do anything else. It's silly, I know, but that's me. Then it takes me a good few weeks to feel caught up/ less stressed and I can continue on with doing the extra things, like updating this blog! I'm sitting in a clean house feeling relaxed and ready to update :) Where to start...

The first week in August we took a road trip to visit my In-Laws in Tennessee. It was a great trip filled with a good combination of relaxing and being active and having fun in the sun. Troy, my brother-in-law, was able to make a trip to TN the same time we were there, which was great!! It's a 14 + hr drive so we left at 7pm and drove through the night so Charlie would have to be in his car seat mostly at night. He slept the whole night both ways and only was restless the last hour of the drive...pretty good for a 6 month old.

Things we did:
*The guys went golfing several times.
*Spent time four-wheeling
*BB guns
*Watching Bella play in the creek on their property
*Becky and I (and Charlie :) ) went to the largest garage sale in the US on Hwy 127 (I found a cute wooden rocking horse that I got for $5! what a steal!).
*We got to see some of Brent's extended family one night- we don't get to see them very often...soo fun to get together with them!
*We hiked to a waterfall, it was gorgeous! We wished we would have known that you could swim there, it was 95 degrees and we were so hot. Charlie and Troy went for a dip in the water. I didn't have any extra diapers so we crossed our fingers that Charlie wouldn't cause too much of a mess in the Baby Bjorn...luckily he didn't even pee! :)
*We drove to this awesome swimming hole, it was crystal blue water that was soo refreshing. There was a rope swing and big rock in the middle that everyone was diving off from. Our dogs loved to swim and chase after all the people.
*On the last day Becky and I went to another sandy lake while the guys golfed one last time. I wish our lakes in MN were like this one...no weeds, perfect temperature, no bugs/mosquitos...perfect lake!

While we were there Charlie cut down from 4 naps to 2 nice long naps (2-3 hrs) and popped through his first tooth! He got plenty of attention from Grandma and Grandpa Gilchrist and Uncle Troy...I thought they weren't going to let us take him home. Good thing they are coming to visit again in a couple weeks!! Thanks for a very fun visit Doug and Becky...we had a blast!!

Here are some pictures from our time:

The Gilchrist family hiking to the waterfall