august already?

Since when did life start flying by so fast? How is it possible that's it's August already? I did not give Time permission to zoom by so quickly. I mean, I can't even believe it's been a week since I last blogged! Oh wait, yes I can. :)

We had a wonderful long weekend (Sat through Tues) camping with my parents. My brother and his girlfriend were with us most of the time and we had a really fun time. Luckily, after Jake and Emily left (Sunday evening), my parents had pity on Matt and I and let us sleep in the (air conditioned) camper with them. As fun as it was sleeping in a tent through the 80-degree night...I was very happy for the AC and real bed! Other than that we did a lot of swimming, boating, skiing, and eating. The sad event of the weekend was Matt losing his wedding ring. Somewhere in Clark's Hill Lake, a fish is very happy now. We went straight to the jewelry store when we got back to Athens and ordered a new one, so his bachelor days are numbered once again.

We also spent some time trying to convince Lola that swimming is fun. We achieved moderate success. In the process, I acquired about 40 scratches/bruises on my arms and thighs from her freaking out and flailing as I attempted to hold her in the water. Therefore I've spent the last 4 days trying to explain my odd bruise/scratches away.

We really enjoyed just having a few days to relax. Those days have been few and far between for the past 6 months or so. Buying, renovating, and moving houses is not actually as relaxing as you may have been led to believe by HDTV. It's actually pretty darn stressful. Combined with all the regular stresses of life and add to it our 7 month trying-and-failing-to-get-pregnant endeavors...we're worn down. We need a real break. With that in mind, within hours of arriving back in Statham, we did what we've been talking about doing for months: booked a vacation! A real vacation...the kind where you don't have to do anything except show up and relax and be entertained. Where you don't have to do any dishes and people bring you food 24/7. Where there are tropical breezes anytime you care to step outdoors and no shortage of lounge chairs and sunshine. We booked a cruise! Yippee! We are going to be hitting up the Western Caribbean and a couple ports in Mexico September 7-12. We got a great rate (probably because it's the height of hurrican season, haha) and creatively rearranged a few funds to bankroll our very first we're-paying-for-it vacation. We've been on a cruise before, for our honeymoon, and despite constant seasickness, I still thought it was the best vacation ever. I enjoy not having to plan anything and yet being able to do and eat lots of things!

Now that we have something tangible to look forward to in the not-so-far-off-future, we have a little more pep in our step, so to speak. Our constant busy-ness doesn't seem so bad when we know that very soon we'll have 4 whole days of doing absolutely nothing we don't want to. All we have to do is arrange childcare for the Lola...and figure out how to emotionally deal with being away from her for 5 days!! And yes, we've already brainstormed ways to sneak her onto the cruise with us, but she's just not the kind of girl who can keep herself on the down-low. So it looks like she'll be sitting this one out.

Well, I'm off to clean/arrange for our soon-to-arrive weekend houseguests: the Boothes! I feel like I'm running a real tourist attraction here...we've had more people over for dinner/to hang out in the last 3 weeks of living here than in probably the whole first 2 years of our marriage! Then again, maybe it's me: people want to see the house, but then I feel bad making them drive alllll the way out here without at least putting a decent meal in their tummies...so it's at least partially my own fault. :) But I love having people over. I just get tired of sweeping and vacuuming up doghair tumbleweeds all the time. If Lola would just go bald, I think I'd be okay with that.