Our trip to Boise

I am finally updating our blog. We did not have Internet for awhile, so that put a hold on my blogging.The first week August we made the long trip home to see our family and to meet our new little niece, Avery Grace.

Here are the kids excitedly waiting to board the plane. They did surprisingly well on the plane. It may have something to do with the enormous amount of snacks that I packed, I don't know.

After our visit Carter said, "I have a lot of grandpas and grandmas. But I like them. They are nice." They kids were thoroughly spoiled by all the grandparents.

Fun in the park with Granny:

Uncle Jeff:

Grandma Long and Piper:

And here is the star of the show!!! Isn't she precious?!

Piper Rose absolutely loves Avery. If you ask her anything about Avery, she will cock her head to one side and say, "Avery....cute...".

Buddy Boy was equally smitten and would periodically stop playing to run over and kiss his little cousin. He also allowed Avery to hold Monkey...which is really the most sincere gesture of love and comfort he can extend.

Andy had a conference he went to straight from Boise, so the kids and I stayed an extra week. But of course it is never longing enough. Here were some highlights or our last week...

Enjoying some sprinklers:

Papa took Carter to the Fire Department! Carter wanted to wear all his gear because the "fire man will be so proud of me".

Papa and Nana bought him his first bike.

Fishing:

Auntie Bre-bre painting Rosie's toes for the first time! She was so happy about it. She would just periodically look down at her feet and smile and say, "Pink toes!"

In which Nana and Papa come and we celebrate the 4th of July

It was soooo wonderful to see my family...we have waited a long time. This was the longest stretch we have ever gone without seeing them. Carter was very excited. He is pictured below awaiting their arrival. He sat there for about 1/2 hour!

Together we drove out to Mechanicsville, Virginia to visit my grandparents. It was the first time they had met our kids.
We spent some time enjoying Uncle Greg and Aunt Beth's extensive property. Carter was in heaven with all the sticks, bugs, mud, and frogs! Below you will also see my angelic sister freshly returned from England. She is still glowing. :)
For some time Carter has talked about when he gets bigger he will be able to go fishing....well, his dream came true. Here he is, my big man:

Three generations of Goldsmiths:
For the 4th we went over to a couples house from church. We enjoyed their back yard immensely. And the company, of course. And the food.

Piper and her sweet friend Issac:
Andy had Monday off so we visited the science center in Birmingham. Carter's favorite park was touching a shark!!!

Andy and I playing around with the peg board:
The special exhibit at the science center was Mr. Potato head, complete with a chance to meet Mr. Potato head himself. Piper Rose did not enjoy it one bit!
Here is Carter-boy shaking his hand:

Strawberries!

It's pretty warm here. We have hit ninety degrees several times already and it is only May. We were in the pool before 10 o'clock today! Yikes!

We decided to invest in some shades for the kids. Here they are proudly sporting their sun glasses.

Since it is warmer here than the northwest the strawberry season is in full swing. Saturday we had a good time picking berries. There is very little in this world that my children love more than berries.

(Rosie had a hard time distinguishing the red berries from the red dirt clods.)

A little trip

Last week we found out that Andy would be going to a conference in Champaign, IL the following Monday. We decided that we would all go. We had never been through that part of the country and we would only be a few hours of Chicago.
Monday through Friday we bummed around Champaign which was a surprisingly fun town. (What's wrong with Huntsville? Why can't it be cool?) There were a ton of parks and the kids and I spent a lot of time outside and enjoying the hotel pool.

People are not joking when they say Illinois is flat:

We also went to a little science center in Champaign. Carter got in touch with his nerdier side and Piper Rose found a "baby" to take care of.

Chicago was huge! And freezing cold! But it is a beautiful city. We walked about 12 miles on Saturday and Sunday seeing the sights.

Saturday turned out to be National Train Day so we walked down to Union Station to check it out. The highlight was a friendly lady giving us her tickets so that we could cut in front of a huge line to tour an Amtrak train.

We also went to the zoo in Chicago. Piper spent most of the time growling at the animals.