A Visit from Aunt Alice and Uncle Tom

This last week, we had my aunt and uncle, Alice and Tom, here for a visit. Last year they sold their house, bought an RV and have been traveling the country ever since. We had a lot of fun with them. My kids absolutely adored them and their dogs. Five minutes after they arrived, Andrew started talking and he just kept talking for the whole week. And even though the kids are afraid of ducklings, they warmed right up to the golden retrievers. We had to go out and pet the dogs every few minutes while they were at our house.

One fun thing that we got to do while they were here was to see the shuttle Endeavor take off. We headed out to our favorite beach and played in the sand for a couple of hours while we were waiting. Here are some cool pictures of the launch that I found online.


Here is the one that we got:

At least you can get an idea of how spectacular it was from the professionals' pictures. When it took off, the shuttle was almost as bright as the full moon. I was definitely worth the stress of watching my kids play near the ocean after dark.

On Saturday, Alice and Tom came to Matthew's last soccer game and the end-of-season pizza party. They were most impressed by the alligator sitting in the pond right next to the playground. So that afternoon we took them on an airboat ride to see some bigger gators.

All the animals seemed to be in hiding, but we did manage to see one.

I love airboat rides. One of these days I'm gonna turn into a redneck, just so I can get an airboat and charge tourists lots of money to let them ride in it. When you're going fast, it feels just like you're flying a few inches above the river. And the wind feels great on a hot, muggy day.