A picture a day...

If a picture a day could keep the dr. away, then I'd be the healthiest woman alive! We were in Alabama for 13 days and I want to share a picture a day of our trip there.

Day 1:

My father in law has a client who owns a floral shop. He gets free flowers whenever he wants! He came home on our first day there with $400 worth of flowers. We spent hours arranging them and trying to do them justice! None of us are florists, and you can tell. Still, they were beautiful!

Day 2:

To the park! There is a beautiful river running through downtown Wetumpka. In fact, the movie, 'Big Fish' was shot in Wetumpka. We went down there and played. 115 degrees isn't so fun when you're outside in the heat of it! We ate and played and then ran home as fast as we could to the nice A/C! This little girl from the moment we got off the plane went straight to grandma and didn't want to have anything to do with me the whole time we were there. She was grandmas little shadow and always wanted to be held by her. I thought it was cute, I just didn't want grandma to get burnt out of her by the end of our stay. I'm glad to say that that didn't happen! :) We joked all week between us that she was 'our' daughter.

Day 3:

No trip to Alabama is complete without a tractor ride/nature walk with grandma. This time the kids were lucky enough to pick peaches right off the trees in their garden and eat them on the way!

Day 4:

Bubbles in the shower! Tucker looks forward all year to be able to take showers with his cousins and play. They have so much fun! :)

Day 5:

Treasure hunt!!! They boys have really been into finding treasure at grandmas house. They know that her house is old and there is a story that says that a previous owner of the house had lost her (really big) engagement ring somewhere on the grounds. They are always looking for it. So, we whipped up our own little treasure hunt. Grandma and aunt Lynlee hid jewels while I made a map. A little dirt and wrinkling of paper and a lighter around the edges and there you have it! :) The boys found the map and finally found their loot! I will post more pictures later!

Day 6:

Cute little cousins. These little girls are only 4 months apart. After SO many boys, it's nice to finally have some girls around!

Day 7:

These two are so cute! BFF's! I love it! We went to the zoo and as usual these boys were inseparable. They are inseparable the whole time we were down there! Tucker loves him some Jonah!

Day 8:

Auntie Meg finally arrives! The boys had so much fun watching movies, reading books and playing angry birds on her I pad. Those I pads were the hit of the summer!

Day 9:

Stuck inside due to bad weather, but we still had a great day playing with cousins inside! Tucker, Jonah & Everett; I love these boys!

Day 10:

Two words: Six Flags! Two more words: 25 people! It was crazy but it was Oh so fun! :) We had a blast! The big kids got to do big kid things, the little kids got to do little kid things and we just had so much fun and had a blast being together. Ben's family members are big roller coaster riders, so they were all in heaven. We had a great time. Here is Ben with all of the kiddos.

Day 11:

BBQ/Family get together with his aunt, uncle and cousins! Here are all of us, in all of our water logged glory! :) We should have thought about doing the photo before the swimming, but we were too focused on that yummy pool! :) Oh, the pool is heavenly in that heat! :) I love his aunt and uncle and cousins, this is our second year in a row doing a little reunion BBQ and it is so much fun! These are Ben's only cousins! In this picture about 85% of us are Pypers, but the other 6 people are the Folmars! :)

Day 12:

Nature Hike with Aunt Meg. Complete with walking sticks. Love it!

Day 13:

Our last day was spent packing and getting ready to go, but I had to snap this picture of these cute matching girls. I think it will have to be tradition that they get matching outfits. Here is the one from last summer:

This year these two little girls lucked out and got all new wardrobes thanks to their grandpa! He loves to shop and he loves to find deals! And boy did he find some cute outfits! He seriously came home like every day with one or two outfits for them, most of the time matching ones. Too bad they live in Alabama or we could match Taylor and Kaiya the same every day! :) We love our Kaiya cousin, she is too cute!

Once again, we had a wonderful time in Alabama and had a wonderful summer! We were sad to have all of our visiting come to an end, but it was SO nice to come home and just be home! For those of you paying attention, that is 11 states: Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alabama, Georgia & we flew out of Nashville to go home. We went up there and visited with Ben's brothers family for a bit and flew out of there, so Tennessee! Here is a map of our travels:

We miss everyone so much, but it is OH so good to be home! :)