We really wanted to go camping over the 4th of July weekend, and after some searching, I came across the YMCA family camp.  It sounded like lots of fun and just what we could manage - basically, all we had to do was show up.  We didn’t have to cook or clean or anything…they did it all!!  The camp was about an hour northwest of Columbus and lasted three days.  We ran ourselves ragged, but had an awesome time!  It was exactly what I imagine Scout camp to be like…except we had our own cabin.  For more pictures than anyone could ever possibly be interested in, continue…

Oh, yeah!!  I could not contain my excitement when I heard that Oak Ridge Boys were coming to town this year to play with the Columbus Symphony for Picnic with the Pops.  The cherry on top was the fact that Nate can get pops tickets at OSU for $5 each (instead of $20 each.)  Nate is such a good sport to go.  He had no clue who the Boys were.  He had heard of “Elvira” but that was the extent of it.  He also kind of thinks that Richard Sterban (the deep bass singer) is faking it.  You could get beaten up at an ORB concert for a comment like that…good thing no one overhead him.  I, of course, sang along the entire time and even shouted out encore titles.  I texted my sister so she could share in the moment…we have very fond memories of riding in the back of the Bronco on the way to whatever camping trip with my dad jammin’ to Oak Ridge Boys.

Excuse all the lame photos, but cameras were not allowed.  The only ones we have are from Nate’s phone and the Nationwide Insurance workers taking free souvineer pictures.

The people in this photo were our best friends by the end of the concert.  We were for sure the youngest people there by at least 20 years.  Magei fell asleep pretty much as soon as the concert started, but Sam rocked out the entire time…the boy’s got some sweet moves!  The next time you see me, I just might be wearing my Oak Ridge Boys concert t-shirt…with pride!!

You can see more pictures of ORB with the Columbus Symphony here…and I’m 99.9% sure that my sister will be the only person who will be following that link, so that’s for you, t-bird!

What can I say…it’s the beach!  Magei begged for a beach vacation when we were deciding what to do this year.  She is a true beach bum.  Sam was scared of the waves, so it was a bit of an effort to get him to go into the ocean, but he had a blast playing in the sand.  Our hotel was at a place called Broadway at the Beach, which is basically a huge boardwalk with lots of restaurants, shops, and stuff to do.  They had a fireworks show the night we got there.  We had a great time building sandcastles, flying kites, catching sand crabs, collecting sea shells, and wave jumping.  And for the most part we enjoyed the drive…that is to say, it didn’t kill us and we are all still friends!

These last few weeks have been heaven as Nate has had a little down time.  Two weeks ago he had a week off from clinic, and last week was orientation week for the first year residents, which meant a slow week for him at school.  During break week, we drove down to North Carolina to check out Biltmore Estate, the biggest house in America!  It has over 40 bathrooms!  For five glorious hours it felt like we were on a European vacation.  This place was a palace, which is not something I typically associate with American history - probably because I’m from the West and not the South.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but the outside was beautiful, too…and enormous!  We had to drive 3 miles past the gated entrance of the property just to get to the house.

We got caught in a torrential downpour during our visit.  We stuck it out and it eventually passed, but we were pretty soaked!

The estate also had some beautiful gardens and greenhouses.  They were full of exotic plants that I had never seen before and the kids loved touching and smelling them all.

The cherry on top was the trip to the cafeteria that was next door to our hotel.  It was the funniest little restauant.  It was exactly like a hospital cafeteria, only without the hospital.  But the macaroni and cheese and fried okra were awesome!