A Date at the Zoo with Dane...

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Last Friday, Dane and I enjoyed a beautiful morning at the zoo with friends. Then, a picnic lunch. Some pics from our day...

It's About Time!

We finally tackled our backyard this weekend. Well, a little bit. Matt was on call Friday night...slept a few hours Saturday...and is on call today and overnight, so in reality we only had a few hours to plant some hostas and monkey grass. I have all of the flowers for my containers, but I am cleaning the house today since the maid apparently quit while we were on vacation ;) so those will have to be done sometime later this week. The grass continues to get more lush, but we still struggle growing it here in South Carolina. The plan this week is to fence off 3/4 of our fenced yard for hard core fertilization and seeding. We'll see...

At least I can enjoy the hostas and monkey grass - two of my favorites! The boys had a great time helping dig holes and plant, and of course needed a stop to refuel during all of their hard work outside.

8 states and over 2,500 miles later...

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We are back in Greenville! Whew, what a trip! We finally had 10 days to spend as a family away from the hustle and bustle of work and school. Somehow we managed to have beautiful weather all 10 days with the exception of some rain on our drive from Greenville to St. Louis. The 10-hour overnight drive from G'ville to STL was again successful with both boys snoozing the entire way, and truly the entire trip they never complained about riding in the car...even the 4 hours to KC, then 3 additional to Des Moines...the snoozed again the 10 hours from STL back to G'ville!

We were blessed with fun, memorable moments with a lot of family and friends. The boys had a great time in St. Louis enjoying the Magic House, dinner out with friends, playing outside and hunting for Easter eggs with their cousin Bailey, and meeting our friend's brand new baby girl! We all enjoyed the time spent with Matt's family and the wonderful food they fixed for us! On our drive from St. Louis to Kansas City we stopped halfway in Columbia to have lunch with more of Matt's family...many who we had not seen since 2005! We had a great time catching up over lunch and the boys loved all the hugs and attention :) We got to see all of my side of the family in Kansas City and the boys loved playing with their cousins Lane and Tanner. It was such a treat to spend time with Uncle Travis and Aunt Melissa, and now we know they are expecting baby #2 in the fall :) I had a few moments to see some old girlfriends, and we even stopped by where I worked and Blake had all of his therapies from day one on the way out of town to Des Moines. My parents live in Des Moines and spoiled us with lots of good food, Easter baskets, an afternoon at the Science Center, a day at an indoor water park and playtime at the park! And - stop the presses - Matt and I enjoyed a night out ALONE for dinner and even an overnight stay at a hotel. That was a huge treat!

So, as you can see we had a fun-filled adventure! If it seems we were constantly on the go, well, we were. But, we wouldn't have it any other way as we miss our family and friends so very much during this 5-year stint in Greenville. Thanks to all of you for your hospitality and we hope you will travel our way soon! As for now, we will give the good ole Malibu Maxx a rest and enjoy springtime (a.k.a., pollen soaked atmosphere) in South Carolina and hope the heat and humidity will wait awhile to make its appearance...