Summer Recap...

September???  How in the world is it already September??  And yet May feels like it was forever ago.  So...what have we been up to all summer??  Let's see...

Well first of all I learned that I haven't been taking as many pictures as I would like.  Anywho...

Richard has been working hard on his new bee hives.  They had 4 and now are down to 3 but those 3 are going strong!  He keeps them out on a friend's farm and I am looking forward to when they will make some honey!!

We kicked off the summer with a trip to Wilmington to see the fam over Memorial Day weekend.  We were able to stop first and spend a couple of nights on Bald Head Island with Tori, Brad and baby Piper!  It was so nice and relaxing and we really had a great time.  Piper kept us thoroughly entertained and I loved getting to spend so much time with them.  They need to move to Greenville so we can hang out like that more often!

 Piper's new shades

 Sweet Cockman family

 Not sure about this whole beach thing

 The boys trying to teach Piper that sand is fun

 So sweet

 Me and Richard

Tupelo and her friend Decoy hanging out on the porch

Sadly I didn't take any more pictures for the rest of the weekend so I have none of my family...oops!!  

Moving on...In July I went up to Virginia to watch my brother, Will, graduate from the Basic School with the Marines.  It was a different experience than when he graduated from Officers Candidate School and yet I was so proud of him again!  This time we got to go all around the base and even practice shooting guns!  Will gave us a tour of where he lived, went to class, the obstacle course, etc.  It was so fun!!

 All suited up with my gear.  Good thing that vest was bullet proof!!

 My ammo...yikes...that is a grenade!!

 My first shot...I can't remember what kind of gun this was.  

 Getting dirty!  My helmet kept falling in my eyes so the guy had to hold it up for me.  

 They didn't let me shoot this one.

 This one was a little heavy for my taste.

 My brother the Marine on the obstacle course.

So handsome!!

We spent the rest of the week in Wilmington with the fam but again I didn't take any more pictures.  I must get better at taking pictures!!

We finished out the summer with another trip to the beach for Labor Day weekend.  It was a relaxing trip and it was great to see my family again.  Richard even got to do a little fishing!!

 The ribbon fish he caught

The proud fisherman!

I spent time at the beach reading this book!  The perfect book for me!

So that's pretty much what we've been up to!  Overall we've had a pretty laid back but fun summer.  I'm ready for some cooler weather and all of my favorite fall things! 

Stay tuned for some recent house updates!

Budapest!!

And for our final destination...the night train dropped us off in Budapest, Hungary!

I loved Budapest!  We didn't have a whole lot of time there but we covered a ton!  I loved all of the architecture and we did some really fun, unique things!

Day 7 highlights:

 The Baths

 The Opera House

 The drive-through at the Opera House

 Inside of the Opera House

Don Quixote

Well our day started out a little on the stressful side.  We got off of the train and tried to follow our friend Rick Steve's directions to get bus tickets...well that wasn't as easy as he made it sound.  We were trying to use the ticket machine but we couldn't read anything because we don't speak Hungarian.  So we kept walking up and down the steps (lugging all of our stuff!!) trying to ask the people at the desks where to get tickets but they didn't speak very much English so we were struggling.  Oh yea...and we walked all the way down the street to the ATM only to find out that there was one in the train station.  Plus we were hurrying to get to church for Easter and it was just a mess.  We finally got our tickets and got on the bus and eventually made it to the church.  We went to an Anglican, English speaking church that meets in a basement apartment.  It was so wonderful!!  Everyone was so welcoming and it was such a special service.  It was a great experience to be able to worship so far from home on such a special day.  After church we got checked into our apartment (great on the inside, slightly sketchy on the outside) and then we headed out to the Baths.  The Baths were quite a cultural experience for sure.  It was kinda just like a big public swimming pool except it was warm like a hot tub (maybe not quite that warm) and everyone was just hanging out, not really swimming.  It was FREEZING outside of the water so we stayed in the warm one the most.  The funniest part of the day was the couple in the pool that kept drifting by us clearly enjoying each other a little too much.  I'll spare the details but I'm pretty sure there's a chance they could be welcoming a new little one in about 9 months from that day.  One of the most fun parts was the small lazy river...if you got on the outer edge it would shoot you around the circle!  After the Opera we hurried home, got cleaned up, grabbed a quick (awesome) dinner and went to see the ballet Don Quixote, at the Opera House.  It was so beautiful!!  We missed the first half but it was definitely worth catching the end.  It was a super busy day but full of really cool stuff!

Day 8 highlights:

 (warning:  I took the most pictures this day)

 Me and Ronald Reagan

 US Embassy

We had a really busy day doing several walking tours, eating some good food and ended the day with a sunset boat cruise up and down the river.  It was such a beautiful way to see the city from a different perspective and a perfect way to end our trip!  I loved learning all of the history on our walking tours.  We started on the Pest side where we were staying and walked over the bridge to the Buda side.  Both sides had really unique things to see and really cool architecture.  There was a really neat festival going on at the castle in Buda.  Overall it was an awesome way to end the trip!

We headed out bright and early the next morning to start our voyage home.  It was an uneventful trip home and I was glad to be back in the comfort of my house with my sweet husband, whom I missed very much!