Tennessee Vacay

Hello there people of the internet, sorry it's been so long. 

After the madness of finals week and praying to the good Lord above that we do well on our tests we busied ourselves celebrating Makenna's graduation. It was all exciting and busy and unfortunately this little corner of the web got pushed down on the priority list. Sorry bout that. But we are back and better than ever!

This past week we took to the road, twenty hours of road, and made the trip to Tennessee to see our wonderful friend Lauren's uncle and aunt. They have the most gorgeous home on a lake in Loudon. Now I don't know about you, but I haven't spent a ton of time in Tennessee and judging from stereotypes of the South I was expecting something a little more hick-ish. Don't hate me. I'm sorry to every person in Tennessee I have misjudged. We left at the crack of dawn on Tuesday and honestly I don't remember much of the trip up there because I was pretty much sleeping the whole way. Oops. But after a slight trouble with directions (read we got lost on a mountain in the middle of nowhere) we found our way to an amazing home and three even more amazing people inside. They welcomed us with open arms and truly made us feel at home. We then spent the next few days laying out by the lake, exploring the water via jetski, taking the boat to dinner, and playing card games. It was the most perfect vacation ever. Now it's time to stop blabbering and get to the pictures! (I know why you're really here ;) ) 

the view from the house 

(get ready for the most creative tags ever) 

me and Makenna 

(so creative, it's a masterpiece) 

They had the most absolutely adorable dogs ever 

(maybe I should go to an artsy school)

dinner over the lake 

(and put all of my unused talent to work)

Jetski time with Makenna 

(coming up with lines like these surely puts me up there with Shakespeare) 

Jetski time with Lauren 

(and he got by just fine) 

The gang all together 

(he even married Anne Hathaway) 

so many hours on the road 

(and she's a ten, or at least a nine) 

I am so thankful for the opportunity to go and explore this little slice of world I live in and I am so blessed to have a family of friends who have seen me at my worst and still want to lock themselves in a vehicle for two whole days with me. They're the best! 

Hope you all are finding ways to relax now that summer is in full swing! 

Wishing you all smiles and happiness,

Victoria 

Turtle turtle

Greetings Cupcakes,

This past summer has been so wonderful and as it draws to a close I can't help but think back on all the great times we shared. One that truly makes me happy is that we finally got to check off our bucket lists "help a baby turtle to the ocean." 

In late July we were strolling the beach with some of our friends as we stumbled upon a baby turtle. Literally. We almost stepped on him! At first I thought he was no more than a dark colored crab. I am so glad we shined our phone light on him to discover otherwise! We split up to try to find the nest he came from or the other turtles but it seems our little friend, who we dubbed Simon, was the last of the batch. 

We encouraged him along and stood guard against any possible predators as he slowly made his way to the waves. Once he was safely in the ocean we set about hunting down the nest. However after what felt like an hour we finally gave up. Even though it was slightly disappointing not finding any others it was still so exciting to think that we got to take part in such a cool experience. Living in Florida our whole lives mere minutes from the beach has made the experience of watching sea turtle come into this big wide world a coveted and exciting experience, and we are still so happy that we have done it! 

Tell us the favorite parts of your summer in the comments! We would love to hear all about it. :)  

Wishing you all smiles and happiness,

Victoria

P.S.

this is how tiny he was! (the thumb is right next to him, not closer to the camera O.O )