Travels...

I've been completely slack about posting...but life is life and life has been so busy I haven't had time! (original excuse I know!) We just got home from a road trip up north to visit family. The actual road part of the trip was misery, since it was 100 degrees and we had no air-conditioning!! But, I won't talk about that...I'm sure no one wants to hear me gripe about no air-conditioning AGAIN.
The first few days we spent up in the D.C. area visiting my Dad's side of the family, and exploring the city with some friends. We went up the Washington monument, which was coolio since you could see the entire city from the top, including the White House and other historical landmarks. The Native American museum was slightly dull, but we didn't spend too much time there. Basically it was 20 billion exhibits of tribal beadwork. The air and space museum is always a must see, and we went to an amazing 3D Imax about the wonders of the universe, a reminder of how great God is to create such beautiful majesty in the sky.
After D.C. we resumed our journey heading up to N.J. where Mom's family all met together at my grandparents house. After getting over the initial culture shock, I had a splendid time! It was great seeing my cousins and meeting my new baby cousin, Alex, who was so adorable and fun. We played country basketball with the neighbors..."Where we come from we don't foul..." haha, spent two hot and sunny days at the beach, went fishing with my grandfather (I caught the cutest shark!!) and visited with the extended Italian relatives. Oh, and I got asked questions like, "Soooo, where you live....are you close to ANY people??? Do you ever see anyone???" "You all are HOMESCHOOLED?? How on earth does that work?" Of course, I had some strange and random encounters with strange and random people...but we won't go into that. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip, but I am glad to be HOME. It's really a relief to be back down south too.
The day we arrived home, we immediately got back in the swing of things. Last night was a super fun dance at Cherokee Cove, marking the end of summer.