Ooh La La!

I've been in a book club for about four years now. For July, we read the book Chocolat, by Joanne Harris.

The character in the book, Vianne Rocher, operates a bakery in France. So, we decided to take a road trip to this French bakery in Charlotte.

The bakery is open 24 hours. There were people from all walks of life there to enjoy food and fellowship.

We did a lot more food sampling than book discussion, which is typical of our group.

I'm holding the sampler platter we created.

We had a great time on our road trip. Au revior!

"Hungry Mother"

We ventured to Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia over the weekend with several other families. We had a crew of 9 adults, 14 children and 2 dogs.

When we made our reservations months ago, we had no idea that there was an art festival taking place during the weekend we chose. There was lots of activity and the weather was unusually cool. There was also rain but not heavy downpours like we experienced on our last camping trip.

our site

The festival brought lots of musicians to town.

Vendors were everywhere. The smell of blooming onions and kettle corn filled the air.

In addition to food, vendors sold all kinds of arts and crafts. I didn't buy anything, but had fun looking.

Although it wasn't typical July weather, most of the kids ventured into the lake.

Hayden loved the high dive. Paddle boats, canoes, and kayaks we also available to rent.

Or, you can BYOB (bring your own boat)!

We saw a doe on the creek bank.

Kids of all ages enjoyed playing cornhole.

Let's get this fire started!

SUCCESS

We ate Frogmore (aka Low Country Boil)!

JJ turned 38 today and has started a new fashion trend. Are you hip with it?

I'll leave you with the Legend of Hungry Mother.

Our next scheduled camping trip is Labor Day weekend. Maybe we'll squeeze a spontaneous trip in before then!

OKI

We spent last week on Oak Island. We had an enjoyable vacation.

The turtle nests are marked and under protection. Maybe when we return in August we'll see some baby turtles.

game time

We went to see the Wilmington Hammerheads play soccer. Afterwards there was a fantastic fireworks show!

There was a wonderful breeze on the beach most of the week, which was nice. It was hard to keep the umbrellas intact.

Only mean confident in their masculinity can sit under a pink umbrella!

She's been weatching her daddy pose.

Hayden is running from a jellyfish here. There were LOTS of them. One morning there were hundreds washed up on the shore.

napping in the shade

Hayden turned 11 on the 8th!

I confess that I'm a beach nerd. I read five books last week.

We visited our favorite local hang out on our last night.

We are thankful that JJ's mom went in with some friends and family members to purchase the Six Pack (name of the house) back in the 1980's. We are blessed to be able to spend several weeks a year at the beach. We're looking forward to our return in August!