Vacation - Visiting Family

We decided to "meet in the middle" with some of my family for a summer vacation this year. My stepmom suggested meeting at my brother's house in Alabama, which was about equal distance for both them (in NC) and us here in Dallas.

We picked the dates and everyone converged.
My dad, stepmom, and youngest sister drove down on Thursday, as did my brother, his wife, and their daughter Charlotte. We met at my younger brother, Ron's, house in southern Alabama. (Unfortunately my sister, Jessica, and her husband and daughter couldn't join us. They were missed!)

Our family left Texas on Friday afternoon and drove over to Shreveport, where we stayed with my aunt and uncle. Their kids were in town, so we got to visit and enjoy everyone! We left very, very early on Saturday morning to drive 500 miles. (Early as in 4am! It makes for much easier traveling for everyone in our family.)My kids were ecstatic to see their cousin Charlotte. She immediately walked up and hugged Jenna...the closest to her in height! They ran around together and chased Ron's dog Zoey and played with her bouncy balls in the backyard. They were a hoot to watch.
That evening we went to a BBQ at a friend's house and then caught fireworks at the Army base nearby.
We spent the 4th of July swimming. Another friend had a pool that they generously allowed our family to use. It was lots of fun for everyone. My brothers spent a lot of time trying to do various dives. I joined for about three dives and then quit. Between my shoulder injury and my pregnancy, it was best if I just watched and took pictures. Most hilarious was watching the adults go down the slide!
My kids all did a great job swimming. Rylee loved jumping off the diving board and Jenna got brave and joined her. Asa jumped a few times, but he's not quite as confident in his swimming skills just yet. Charlotte, who is normally pretty terrified of the water, was brave and adventurous. She went off the slide a few times and swam around with several different people in the pool. And it was great to watch the adults going down the slide. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was watching Rylee and Charlotte jam to some music. They both have a dangerous booty shake. We're trying to let Rylee enjoy dancing while teaching her to curb some of the hip action. It was hilarious to watch them let it all loose while we were with family!
After a full afternoon of swimming, we returned back home to grill some steaks. It was a delicious ending to our day.

Unfortunately everyone had to leave Monday morning to return to NC. Our family stayed on in AL for a few more days, though. It was a quick visit with the family, but it was incredibly fun.

*My sister has become quite the photographer, so I left that job mostly to her for the weekend. When going back through my photos I realized I have lots of gaps. But, hopefully you still get the picture.