Alabama

We went to Alabama for a family reunion June 12-17th. We had a wonderful time. This was the first time that Chris had ever gone with me so it was a very special time and I was excited for him to meet my extended family(what is left of them anyway). We rented a house in Grant, AL and mom and Vickie stayed with us and so did Eddie and Ben, for two days at least. The reunion for the Justice family was at Guntersville State Park. The picture doesn't do it justice(no pun intended), but maybe you can catch a glimpse of how beautiful it was. Lake Guntersville

While there we did a lot of visiting and had such a wonderful time. Stephanie and Katie both got to hold pet goat while we were there(only in Alabama!!!). Katie was able to feed it, but he wasn't much interested by the time Stephanie tried.

On Friday night we started the reunion off with a cook-out. The girls had a good time spending time with Madelyn and Julia and they all played on the playground. It was nice to get to spend time with some of the cousins that live near mom, but we never get together with.

Aunt Jean, Madelyn &Katie

Chris and Uncle Ron Sissy & Ben

On Saturday we returned to the State Park for the second part of the Justice reunion. We all got together and had lots of good food and a time to catch up with each other. It was sad though because the only remaining sibling is Aunt Jesse Mae.

After we ate, those of us with younger kids(France and I) headed over to the pool. We were later joined by a lot of our family. The pool was very nice and had a zero depth part which was nice for the little kids. We stayed out there for quite a while and the kids had a blast. It was nice to have this to break up the visiting as the kids were all getting 'visited out'.

Madelyn enjoying the pool!

Aunt Jean & Uncle Jack watching the kids play.

After we left the reunion, we headed to see Aunt Naomi. She wasn't able to come because of difficulty walking and she admitted that it was just too hard for her emotionally. She misses Uncle Britton terribly as do all of us. Aunt Naomi

Sweet baby!

We had a good visit with her and it was nice to all be there with her. Katie was asleep the whole time and I had to actually put her in Aunt Naomi's lap to finally get a picture of them.

The Gang! Our next stop was to visit Uncle Bruce and Aunt Christine. This was a great visit as always. When we got there, Aunt Christine was making their supper...frozen $.50 pizzas!!! This is very different from the past as Aunt Christine was always cooking something. She usually tries to feed us and starts pulling everything out of the fridge and throwing it on the table.

Visiting with Uncle Bruce and Aunt Christine was always one of our favorite things to do as kids. Aunt Christine was so fiesty and high strung and Uncle Bruce so laid back. It was quite entertaining. They have both mellowed out, but you can still catch glimpses of that spunk.

Me & Uncle Bruce Ben, Uncle Bruce

& Eddie

They are doing well despite getting older and it was so good to see them. They doted over the girls, and the girls opened up very well to them. We thouroughly enjoyed our visit.

Katie & Stephanie with Uncle Bruce The last big even of the trip was the Bright reunion. Mom planned this even and it was held at Brashers Chapel, the church that Uncle Bruce and Aunt Christine attend and where we always go when we are visiting. We provided the desserts for the reunion and we just prayed people would come. It turned out to be so good. There was a great turn out and mom did a great job planning it. Uncle Bruce and Aunt Gracie are the last living relatives on the Bright side and it was a very emotional, but good time for them.

We had a great vacation and I am so glad that we went. While it was sad to see everyone aging, I am so glad that we went. I have always loved Alabama and was thrilled to share this special memory with my family. Chris & I Veronica & Stephanie Stephanie & Uncle Ben

Veronica & Miss Hollywood(Katie)

Uncle Eddie & Katie

Stephanie took this picture...Pretty good, huh?

World of Coke

Our last day together was a dual trip to the World of Coke and the Atlanta aquarium. We started out at the World of Coke. Our first adventure took us into a room where we learned all about the history of coke. This was quite interesting and I enjoyed seeing how things had changed over the years. Next we were led into the open room where the Coca Cola polar bear was ready to take pictures with us.

As we continue to make our way through the exhibits, we come across the story of how coke was discovered. It was actually discovered by a pharmacist, something I had been told in the past but had forgotten.

Our final destination was the room full of all the different types of Coke products. I was amazed. There are more kinds of Coke that I ever imagined, and the products are different from country to country and even from state to state. Here we were able to sample all the products as much as we liked. Beginning to be a little

ill from all the sampling!

Our family! Finally we were led into the gift shop(of course), but not until we received our souvenir bottle of coke. We enjoyed ourselves, but I must say that this was definitely a little too much for the younger ones. They enjoyed the coke tasting, but as for the rest of it I am sure they could have done without.

Six Flags

Our last hoorah for our visit was to take a trip to Atlanta. We piled into our CRV and the rental van and headed for Six Flags on Thursday. We did really good and got all 9 of us out of the house by 8:30. The kids were very excited, but I think that Chris and Joe were equally excited. There were lots of roller coasters so we started the day out with the first one we saw. Chris, Joe, myself and Sydney were rocked and beaten up on this wooden roller coaster. After that, I wasn't much interested in anymore roller coasters. I guess I am just too old for this. Josette isn't much of a roller coaster rider so I was perfectly fine to stay with her and the little ones.

We finally found the area of the park that had the rides for the littlest kids. They road several times on each ride. Sydney was determined that she wanted to ride the train, but she wanted to ride in the train, not on top. So, Josette told her to come on and she would ride with her. As you can see, Josette had way more fun with this than Sydney and my understanding is that there was a wasp nest somewhere inside this train as well. Josette posed while Sydney had to crouch down just to get in!!! Josette had a great time with this one! We finally ventured over to the water raft ride in the hopes that Katie would be able to get on too. They measured her twice and were really skeptical about letting her on, but in the end they did. We had a blast and got soaked. However, the waterfall landed in Josette's lap so she ended up with the wettest clothes. Stephanie very excited to be wet! Not so excited! The day was wonderfully hot, but we really couldn't complain. There were no lines and everyone had a blast. Katie had plenty to do and was well entertained and then she finally crashed. The day finally came to an end. We were all exhausted, but not wanting the day to come to a close because our time was together was quickly dwindling away. We had just one more day before the dreaded goodbye again.

Vacation and Relaxation

It seems like we have been vacationing since the summer began...maybe because we have. The Harrisons came to visit the end of May thru the beginning of June. Katie and her vacation attire! We spent the first two days just being lazy. We finally ventured out to the pool on Saturday. Jump Talia! The water was very, very cold, but this didn't stop the adventurous divers. We even got the 3 little ones on the diving board(with a few hands being held, of course). Katie & Sydney Katie loved Sydney and Sydney was so good with her. She stayed in the COLD water with her the whole time! On Monday we ventured out to Monkey Joes with the hopes of entertaining the kids at the indoor jump place for hours(it actually was a successful attempt!!). It would have been great conversation time for the adults, but the music was just way too loud for that. Before leaving the house, Talia helped me convince Steffie and Katie that pig tail braids were the thing to do. I have such a hard time getting Steffie to let me do anything with her help and so Talia's influence was great.

Sydney having way

too much fun with Katie!! Here we come!

Sydney & Stephanie The kids were all well entertained for a couple of hours at Monkey Joes. They would have stayed longer if we had let them. It was great fun for the young and the old. Intelligent conversation?? I wasn't ashamed to have fun either. I got to jump for free since Katie was only 2 so I did my share of jumping and sliding too. Mommy enjoying the jump castle with Katie! Josette & her little man Despite the fact that we were all together for such a long period of time, the kids did remarkably well. We had very little arguing and everyone was good spirited for the most part.

Watermelon Girl

These pictures are just too cute not to share. Katie indulged herself with watermelon. She ate and ate and I had to make her stop. Here is the process and the end. Check out that belly!

Piccolo Spoleto

While at mom's for Memorial Day, we took the girls to a children's festival in downtown Charleston that was a part of the Piccolo Spoleto festival. There was lots to do and the girls had a blast. They enjoyed painting on a big paper 'canvas' as well as many other crafts and activities.

Before we left, we had to have a photo shoot, which is a musst do in the Winkle family. The girls have mastered the art of photo taking quite well. Here are a few of their glamour shots.

The day was ended with a walk back to the car and yet another photo opportunity as the girls walked down the streets of Charleston(posed, but still too cute not to show).