Avery and sweet baby

Avery woke singing and talking to baby - so sweet she had cecily parsley wrapped up in her silky blankie...we love hearing her sweet cooing voice early in the morning.

Rainy Day at Toad Hall

The day was pretty rainy and we stayed in for the most part. The three kids played with the toys and each other. If I hadn't told you it was raining - I bet you could have guessed it with Little Grayson's cutie pie curls... Later on Peeps took Avery to the pet store while I stayed with Jackson. They saw lots of critters. Justin and Grayson and Millie came over for supper - and some more playtime for the cousins...Justin wore Jackson around in the Ergo and Jackson said thanks........for getting me outta that packnplay....

Tate Street in the rain

The next morning we packed up all the little kids and everyone's raincoat and headed off to Tate Street Coffee - everyone's favorite breakfast place. We visited and Ali and Johnathan left their two little ones with us to Toad Hall and took off for Raleigh.

Happy Birthday Little Bunnie

We had hoped to go to Asheville for Ali's birthday but Johnathan had an idea to whisk Ali
off to their old stomping ground - Raleigh - Wake Forest - Chapel Hill for a getaway and
wondered if we could keep Avery and Jackson so they could go...
We had a dinner for her Thursday night (after the kiddies were asleep) Justin and Millie
came too - put Greyson down and we enjoyed Ali's favorite and requested meal...steak..roasted
potatoes 'my salad' and Italian bread.

Sunset Hills Greenway Park

Sunset Hills park is a fun place for a little one. We loaded up the stroller and off we went. She liked the swing but it was different than hers at home. She really seemed to like the tubes to crawl in. She is exploring life and we love her so. MayMay and Peeps...

Pat the bunny - fish go zoom zoom

One of the things Peeps and MayMay like to do when the grandchildren come to Toad Hall is to load everyone in the car and go to Friendly to the pet store and the toy store. Bunnies were fun - birds were tweeting - fish were going zoom zoom zoom.

Grayson and Millie visit Toad Hall

It was a most wonderful weekend. Millie and Grayson and Maggie spent the weekend at Toad Hall while Justin was at the beach with his buddies catching fish and having fun.. We read, took baths, played with Tyler, and hung out.

West Asheville Block Party

When we were visiting the Norths in Asheville - ALi said
Let's go down the street to this block party I saw - It
advertised a petting zoo - making us all believe things like
bunnies and goats and the likes would be there but there
was a bountiful supply of scarry pets like lizards, snakes,
and hairless dogs...so we went for the zoo but stayed for
the fun!! LIke face painting, golf, and a man who make
about anything from balloons.

Monkey in the middle

MayMay and Peeps, Ali and Johnathan, Millie and Justin, and Avery, Jackson, and Grayson were sharing the love one summer Saturday on the deck at Ali and Johnathan's West Asheville home. MayMay and Peeps drove up for their first visit since May 1, when Ali and Johnathan moved into their new home, and Mimi, Hoosh, and Grayson stopped by for a visit on their way to Cashiers, NC, to take part in the 100th annual reunion of the Zachary family. MayMay and Peeps could have had no gift more precious than to see three happy-hearted grandchildren, full of life and love.

"Hurry up, MiMi, Grayson and I want to play Monkey in the Middle." Jackson, it seems, has no choice, at least for today. You can bet it won't be long before Jackson is big enough to twirl both girls up over his head at the same time like two little batons. Jackson is Peeps #1 pick to be the first pup to knock down the whelping box door. Words to the wise big sister and big cousin, "What goes around comes around."

The Tree House last Saturday

Here we are at the Tree House - where Avery and her brother Jackson live with their parents Johnathan and Ali. We are having a wonderful lunch - reading Llama Mama - and just generally loving the family time. Justin and Millie and Grayson were on their way to Cashiers to the 100th Zachary family reunion. It was something that would have been hard to plan - all of us being there at once and all - but it just happened and it was fun fun fun. MayMay

Eight ducks, one duckblind, one Boykin

Memorial Day weekend we discovered Mama duck and her nest of nine white eggs in the wooden planter that Peeps built to grow ornamental grass on the dock.

Baby ducks grow fast - check out these four:

and four more -

Duck blinds are offered on a first come first served basis, this Georgia Brown knows. See if you can find the camouflaged Boykin in this picture -

Give up? Can you see her now?

Happy Birthday Dad

This is me, 10 months old, exploring every inch of planking on this 10’ x 12’ dock. He, 28, waiting for my first splinter, could not imagine the boundary lines of his 79 year life falling in such pleasant places.

You'd be proud, I'm still exploring.

Today is July 20, in the fifteenth week of Ordinary Time. I miss you.

Henry Wilds Smith, Jr. was born on July 20, 1923 and died on September 29, 2002: "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." Psalm 16:5-6 NIV.

Sunny Girl

Avery's father hoisted her off of the dock and into the waiting hands of Peeps, who steadied their precious cargo between his knees, before veering off downwind, hugging the shore, and shaking out the sail. On Avery's 2nd sail aboard Sunny Girl, Peeps vintage Sunfish, he showed her how to tell how fast they were going, by dragging the mainsheet's figure-eight knot in the water, creating a little wake and asked her if she ever saw Bunnies in the clouds. Yes, lots of them, she said. Johnathan, proud his little girl had been born with sea-legs, demonstrated lying down flat on his back, on a deck whose coaming had not yet been refastened to the faired hull. "Daddy, don't lie down," as if she wanted her Daddy to see the full enjoyment of her voyage. Upon returning to our side of the lake, Johnathan and Peeps spotted a georgeous yellow sunfish two docks down, turned upside down, getting her hull cleaned. A mid-1960's boat Peeps surmised from her bronze kick-up rudder attachment. "Let's go in for a closer look," not the first of simultaneous thoughts we two have had. Steering toward our neighbor's dock, Avery's actual words to her father and me were, "I need a boat." And with that we introduced ourselves to our new neighbor, Cecil. We're going back Sunday to give closer look and see if Cecil needs a hand putting his boat back together. Stay tuned.

today is Friday July 4th, the 13th week in Ordinary Time

Avery and Peeps share one iPod and two ear buds and listen to the choir from Westminster Abby sing The Kyrie, from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices, Kyrie Elision, today’s featured devotional from pray-as-you-go, available in podcast for your MP3 player, for people young enough to be amazed with how an entire cathedral choir can fit into an earbud or old enough to wish fireflies lasted all summer.

Mom Dad Me and River's tail on the dock

Here I am at Riverbank - training my mom and dad to practice dock safety. I like to watch the silly dogs chase tennis balls all day long - when I'm not napping, eating or other important things. I love Riverbank. Grayson :)

Come on Peeps - Let's go....

Here I am waiting for Peeps to get off the computer and for my mom and dad to take me for a ride in the boat after I crawl around on the new carpet from AuntAmy over at Sharp Carter...

Jesus Loves Me

this is what our time in LIttle ROck was like !!