Other June Adventures

Summer is in full swing and we are loving it!  Here are some of the highlights so far...

Chase's birthday party with a crazy huge water slide:

Chick Fil-A with friends (as we pulled up, Jinna said, "We are going to eat INSIDE the building??!"  I am that terrible mom who always gets carry-out!)

Pool time with friends:

Slip-and-slide gift from next-door neighbor Ms. Cindy:

 Celebrating Father's Day

Rayna's soccer game and Branson's lacrosse game:

And... Some sightings in nature:

Miles climbed a tree and found this

Colsen spotted this bard owl as we were driving down our street

Our bees are making honey!

Asheville Adventures

Despite a little bit of drizzle, we made some fun memories in Asheville!

A highlight was definitely the Lexington Glass Works where we got to see them blowing glass.

Another favorite was Sierra Nevada Brewery....

From the urban trails to the mountain trails, this group likes to do it all!

Catawba Falls Hike

A Frank family vacation would not be complete without a big hike, of course, so this time we tackled Catawba Falls in Old Fort, which had gentle enough terrain for everyone to participate, and plenty of beauty for us all to enjoy.

Teamwork:  Helping the grandparents across the creek

Plus there were big trees for the boys to move...

.... creatures to find....

... and amazing waterfalls to see.

Black Mountain Vacation for 20

Since a large majority of the Frank Clan was intending to be in NC for Strider's graduation, we decided to make the most of the travels by planning a 3-night jaunt to the NC mountains to commemorate Bud and Jane's 50th wedding anniversary and Jane's 80th birthday, both happening this year.

We rented 2 houses in Cheshire Village, which proved to a beautiful and prime location.

We had plenty of cake left over from the graduation party, so each night we pulled out a new one.  :)

Playing in and around Black Mountain was a lot of fun!

Grad Party!

Since relatives were in town, we decided to have Strider's graduation party a few hours after the graduation ceremony.  From Strider's perspective, this was not ideal since essentially none of his friends could come (since they were celebrating with their own families, etc), but convenience and logistics won out, and we were happy to several of our family friends could come anyway.

The main highlights of the party were:  a snow cone machine, a bonfire, s'mores, a bunch of bundt cakes, and badminton (with glow-in-the-dark birdies when it got dark!).  Of course the party completely flew by and I barely had a chance to talk to anyone, but I think it was fun anyway.

We always love seeing our community come around us  -- and a celebration is the most fun occasion for that.  We went to bed very thankful for all the wonderful people in our lives!!

Big weekend

The advent of Strider's graduation brought all kinds of excitement -- and relatives from around the country!

After all kinds of baking (8 cakes in one week!) and cooking and cleaning and prepping, it was a joy to see folks arrive from PA, MN, ME, OH, VA, and DC.  We loved having all the Franks here for brunch on Saturday and lunch on Sunday, and the whole Frank clan AND the whole Wray clan (37 in total) here for dinner Saturday night!

Dave Garrett graciously agreed to make barbecue for dinner on Saturday, so we were able to give everyone a little taste of the South (and it made life so much easier for me!).

Because we had dinner at 5:30 and Strider's party starting at 7, I'm afraid I became a bit of tornado at around 6:30 running around and telling everyone to finish their dinners so we could roll out all the party stuff!  But somehow it all got done -- thanks to the team of sisters-in-law, sisters, and moms all helping in the kitchen.  Whew!