while mom and dad are away, leko . . .

. . . convinces his baby sitters to let him in the bath tub, apparently.

while we were away on our cruise to bermuda, two of our friends took turns watching leko.  it's so nice to get away, but it's so hard to leave our fur baby.  luckily our friends texted updates and pictures while we were gone so that we could check up on the status of our little guy.  however, i had to laugh because all of the photos they sent us had one thing in common . . . all of them were pictures of leko in the bathtub!

our one friend knows about leko's bath tub and sink faucet routine.  however, our other friend did not know about it and we never got around to explaining it to her before we left.  when we came back, she told us that he led her to the tub, made her open the shower curtain, and jumped in the tub.  she didn't know what on earth he wanted and she said he just kept staring at the faucet handle.  she knows cats hate water, but he was so insistent that she turned it on for him.  she could not believe her eyes when he started drinking the water and getting soaked.  i didn't know whether to be proud or embarrassed as she told me that story!  too funny.

have a great weekend

love, laurie

a little video from our celebrity summit cruise to bermuda

we had a really great time on our family cruise to bermuda aboard the celebrity summit.  it was fun to sort through all of our photos from our trip and share them last week.  today we wanted to share a little video from our vacation.  i'm glad we were all able to go on another family vacation together and grateful to have these memories!

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here, here, here, and here

peach festival '17

ryan and i spent the weekend working the peach festival at our local concert pavilion.  the four-day peach festival is a lot like camp bisco which i worked earlier this summer.  we both worked the load in and the load out but had alternating schedules for show call with ryan working the day shift and me working the night shift.  needless to say it was an exhausting schedule with long hours and late nights (or should i say mornings since we technically didn't get out of there until around 4am).

we're both grateful that was the last major multi-day festival for the year and all we have left for the rest of the summer season are single day concerts.  we're hoping to be able to catch up on sleep this week and return to a somewhat normal schedule again!

love, laurie

a low-key birthday

yesterday was ryan's birthday.  we had originally planned to do something fun, but when we woke up in the morning we were both beyond exhausted and not really feeling 100% like ourselves.  we spent the entire weekend working a four-day concert festival and didn't get home until 3am on monday morning.  the long and late hours totally wiped us both out.  we decided to take monday slow in order to bring ourselves back among the living.  i felt bad that we weren't doing something "exciting" since it was ryan's birthday, but a low-key day together was what he wanted and it turned out to be exactly what we both needed.  we did a little shopping and then used some of his birthday coupons to grab something to eat for lunch and dessert.  it was so funny because i think we were both somewhat sleepwalking for most of the day like zombies.  we finished out the evening by opening presents and taking a very slow leisurely walk before coming back home to crash with some popcorn while watching a few shows that had backed up on our dvr.

i didn't even have the strength to dig out my camera, but i did manage to snap a few pictures on my phone.  we're looking forward to celebrating ryan's birthday with our families soon with a slightly more "exciting" party and birthday cake!

love, laurie  

happy birthday, ryan!

a very happy birthday today to this guy who i love beyond measure!

love, laurie

celebrity summit cruise to bermuda: crystal cave

after walking around st. george on our second day in bermuda, we boarded a bus and went to crystal cave.  bermuda is known for its beauty above ground, but it is also known for its incredible caves below ground.

crystal cave was discovered in 1907 and features incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations among a 55-foot deep lake of truly crystal clear water.  walking through the cave, it was hard to fathom that the formations we were looking at started over 30 million years ago!  i have had the opportunity to tour other caves before, but crystal cave was something special.  i'm glad we had the chance to see it while we were in bermuda (despite the fact that we had to wait in line several hours to get in)!

here are some pictures from crystal cave . . .

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here, here, and here

celebrity summit cruise to bermuda: st. george

we were so happy that we had such great weather at horseshoe bay beach on our first day in bermuda.  unfortunately, the weather wasn't so great on our second day.  we woke up to overcast skies, but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying our time on the island, so we hopped on a water ferry and rode to st. george.

when we boarded the water ferry, we sat on the top open-air deck in hopes of getting some great views of the island on our ride to st. george.  within minutes of taking our seats, the skies opened up and it began to pour.  needless to say, we were all soaking wet for the rest of the day.

we huddled under the little overhang on the top deck of the water ferry during our ride to st. george.  luckily, the rain let up a bit when we got to st. george so that we could walk around the town.  one thing i love about the historic town of st. george is that it is so quaint.  you feel like you are stepping back in time.  despite the rain, we had a nice time walking around the town.

here are some photos from our ride on the water ferry and from st. george . . .

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here and here

celebrity summit cruise to bermuda: horseshoe bay beach

when our cruise ship arrived in bermuda, we docked for three days at the royal naval dockyard.  on our first day in bermuda, we spent the day at horseshoe bay beach.

horseshoe bay beach was our absolute favorite spot last time we were in bermuda and it was a big reason we wanted to go back to bermuda again this year.  we had a gorgeous day with perfect weather.  the beautiful pink sand beach with crystal clear water is like something right out of a movie.  it was absolutely exquisite.  we spent the day there, swimming in the water and exploring the many rock formations around the beach.

here are some photos from our time at horseshoe bay beach . . .

we loved horseshoe bay beach so much that ryan and i went back again on our last day in bermuda while our parents went to the bermuda aquarium . . .

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here