Duke Gardens

A few weeks ago, we took Willie and our new camera to Duke Gardens to enjoy our casual weekend (no call, no trips!) and play around with our new camera. The gardens are such a cool part of Duke's campus and are beautiful at every time of year. Here are a few shots to share.

With Willie on the bridge

Duke campus buildings in the background

These ducks were so funny, all lined up in a row.

Doug and Willie

Lilypads

Driving Range

100 degree heat doesn't scare us! Doug is officially into golfing, so last night we braved the heat at the driving range to try out his new golf clubs.

We had celery for dinner

And so did Willie...

Lights, CAMERA, Action

So excited that we finally got our new Digital SLR camera. We decided on the Nikon D5000 - for anybody who cares :) We are still learning a lot about how to use it, but here are a few pics from our first few days.

My All-Stars

The boys watching the Homerun Derby this week. Doug & I made our usual derby bet & thanks to Prince Fielder - Doug will be getting my gas for the next five fill ups. Yay! I detest filling up.

Great 4th of July and all I have are these lame pics?

Our favorite campsite

Such a tired pup (and full truck!)

We decided to go camping for the July 4th holiday at our favorite campsite at Jordan Lake. Even though it was pretty hot, we had a breeze the entire weekend and it was very comfortable even at night. We set up camp on Wednesday night and then invited friends Maria & Justin out for dinner on Thursday. Friday was a fun day with Willie on the lake. Chad and his dog Bo joined us, so Willie had a playmate. Trisha and Justin came out for dinner and camping Friday night. Such a fun night filled with card games, swimming and sitting around the fire.

Saturday we traveled north to another lake, meeting some of Doug's work friends for a great day and great cookout. Doug went tubing and I even skied once (it's been so long since I had been up on skis!) Willie enjoyed all the new people willing to throw the ball endlessly for him. Back at our campsite, we enjoyed a low key night and even some fireworks that were visible over the lake.

We packed up to go home on Sunday - which is when I finally remembered to take a few photos! I have never seen Willie more tired - I think he swam for three days straight. We had a wonderful holiday weekend, hope you did, too!

Pool Party

I hosted a pool party last week to say goodbye to our good friends Erin & Jon. They are moving to Miami for fellowship and we are very sad to see them go. All of the girls are already planning a trip to visit them this fall! Best of luck to Erin & Jon - they have a fun year ahead of them!

All the girls - Annemarie, Gretchen, Erin, me & Trisha