Summertime Soirees!

This summer has gone by way too fast that I’m just now getting around to writing this blog post for June. Brayden continued her tennis lessons and is improving with each one. We need to research an eight-and-under tournament for her to play in. At the beginning of each lesson, she usually plays against the person in the lesson before her and has done really well. Her drop serves are awesome and she’s working on her toss serve. We took the kids to a Charlotte Knights baseball game and I’ve concluded that these are more of a social gathering as we spent more time talking with each other than paying attention to the game. Our best friends, the Mazzolas, had a blow-out bash in Cary right before they moved to Naples, Florida, so we ventured up there for an incredible party with all of their closest family and friends. They made a great decision to move to Florida and even though they are further away now, we are already planning a few different trips to see them this fall and winter. Hanleigh started taking swim lessons again and received her yellow band, which means she can ride the smaller waterslides (she hasn’t done so yet, though). Amidst all those activities, second grade concluded for Brayden, so she enjoyed field day (who doesn’t?) and all the end-of-school parties.

I flew to Nashville for an extended girls’ trip at the Country Music Awards (CMA) Festival with seven of my Triple B’s. This was my first trip to Nashville and I absolutely LOVED that city. The weather was incredibly hot, so our typical modus operandi included seeing a band at the Riverfront stage, then going to a restaurant or bar for some respite from the heat and then repeating that process all over again until the evening upon which we would head over to LP Field. This is where all the really big musicians played. We saw everyone you could think of, including: Luke Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Brett Eldridge, Little Big Town, Band Perry, Dierks Bentley, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, etc. There was no shortage of hot musicians! Even though we had nosebleed seats, we had a blast. Our conclusion from five days at the festival was that the CMA Fest isn’t for sissies. That pretty much became our mantra. I will definitely go again in a few years and splurge on really good seats…but it may be a while. Whew!

YMCA camps kicked off and Brayden enjoyed ones with themes such as: fashion and interior design, tennis, American girl, and ceramics. I went to see the play Dirty Dancing with Aunt Patty, we attended a few birthday parties, and celebrated the fabulous father that Trent is! Trent took off for his annual, post-Father’s Day guys’ trip to “Canoe the New” with a bunch of his college friends. From what I heard, they had a ton of rain one evening, but had a blast during the day. I took the girls to Ocean Isle with Kendall that same weekend to stay at CeCe’s house and we had a blast with all the kids and Kendall’s cousin, Katie. It definitely was a boisterous household! Brayden spent the night at her best friend’s house one evening and we ventured to Asheville for a family reunion. More to come on that fun trip in the July post.

Brayden-ism and Hanleigh-ism

• We were riding in the car and the word “hell” was said on the radio to which Hanleigh said, “What bad word did they say?”. Brayden said “It’s another word for the underworld.”

View Photos | View Video

View CMA Festival Photos | View CMA Festival Video