Our best summer guests!

Our summer has been a blur.  The last few months have presented many challenges for us.  As a result, I have not been in the mood to write and had neither the energy, time, or inspiration to post anything on our blog. One huge bright spot of our summer, however, was the arrival of our children and grandchildren mid-July.

Jeff and Jodi and kiddos arrived from different locations around the world on July 9. Jeff got to stay with us for nearly a week. He left to return to Colorado the same day Chien arrived from California. Chien was with us for nearly a week. Jodi, Kai and Fei flew back to California on the 26th (and then flew on to Shanghai). We were able to work out transportation issues to and from airports in order to save me from having to make so many trips.

We had a wonderful time getting to know better our growing grandkids who are now 6 (almost 7) and 4, which are ages that I realized are really fun. They went to the beach, Pirates' and Princess' Breakfast at the Hangout, went for ice cream, took a tour of Fort Morgan, went to the mall, Bible School, soccer camp, the library and for ice cream. They fished off our pier, rode bikes, went for ice cream, played at the park, swam at the rec center. We had Christmas in July since they weren't able to come at Christmas, and we celebrated Fei's 4th birthday with cake and ice cream.

It was a time for memory-making with our family, and just the medicine we needed to help us through the unusual and unexpected events of Summer 2014. Things are looking up!

Fei enjoying her DQ Blizzard!

Jodi & Kai got Blizzards, too!

Impromptu lunch at the Foley park.

Three of my favorites!

Fei Fei & Nana day at the Gulf Shores Family Pharmacy & Soda Fountain.
Fei had her order ready the night before: strawberry, chocolate, and chocolate chip mint.

Love this little face!

Jeff and his favorite nephew and niece.

Grandpa and his girl.

Nana & Fei Fei rubbing noses. (It's our little thing we do.)

Boat ride.

Our family on the pontoon.

More ice cream! Acme Oyster House, Gulf Shores.

Fishing off the "Canal Inn" pier.

Christmas in July.
(Don't you love our big Christmas tree? I didn't really get into decorating in hot July! )

The kids are reluctantly posing wearing their hand-knitted-by-Nana items.
(It's a Nana thing! Thanks for cooperating, kids!)

Chien with his shrimp and seafood purchases at Billy's. Fresh from the boat!

An afternoon at Fort Morgan.

More ice cream at the pharmacy.
Did I mention they went for ice cream??? Ha ha ha!

Kai loving his root beer float.

Our little princess in her birthday princess dress ... and shoes.

Grandchildren are so precious! We love them so much and we miss them already. Certainly wish they were closer, but we'll have to wait a year to be with them again.

Family is everything!