Summer Update

 The second week in July, Kim Lan and her three kids came to Georgia.  They spent almost a week with us.  Joe, the oldest, is so tall and handsome now.  He will start high school this fall.  Sam is still as sweet and lovable as ever, and Maile has grown into a beautiful young girl.  We first met the Carlson's on our adoption journey to Vietnam.  Don and Kim Lan adopted Maile the same day that we adopted Rocco...and from the same orphanage.  We try to keep in touch with them so that the kids can always have that connection.

Through the week we did several things.  We went to a couple of water fountains to stay cool in the summer heat, had a picnic, picked fresh veggies from my garden, shopped, rode around on our land picking blackberries, made a fresh cobbler, and the guys even went out for a boat ride on the river.

 Drew, my nephew, has enjoyed getting to know the Carlson boys.  He always comes over to hang out when they're in town.  We've been taking this picture where all the kids are lying in a circle for a while.  This year Maverick was here to join in.

Rocco recently got a four wheeler.  One of Jason's friends had a son who had outgrown it, so he gave this cool ride and helmet to Rocco.

Before school started in August, I was able to make it on a four hour ride to South Carolina to see one of my best friends, Jennifer.  We spent the night at her house and then we headed to Charleston for a couple of days.  She took her youngest son, Liam, too.  We enjoyed the Isle of Palms beach, saw some history, walked downtown historic Charleston, and saw a beautiful historic Magnolia Plantation.  (Several alligators were just feet from us on the tram ride!  The old rice fields are now swamps.  There were bamboo forests, beautiful, old live oaks with Spanish moss, and all sorts of flowers.)

Rocco was as brave as I've ever seen him at the beach.  With a life vest, he rode in a lot of waves.  

 Here we are at Magnolia Plantation.  We call this a Maverick sandwich.

 Downtown Charleston...

On July 19th, a new Disney Channel original movie came out.  Teen Beach Movie would turn out to be Rocco's latest craze!

The movie came on tv, and we recorded it on our DVR.  Rocco watched it over and over until he could sing along with the songs.  He's learned the dialogue so well that he goes around the house acting like the biker, Butchy, wearing his sunglasses and saying, "Surfers, thought I smelled something fishy."  He can even do the dance moves to some of the songs like Cruisin' for a Bruisin'.  Lala is the main biker girl.  I think she is Rocco's first celebrity crush because he's told me several times, "Mom, I just can't stop thinking about Lala." Here she is...