St. George Island

One of the things we promised ourselves after Greg graduated was to take the children on a long deserved vacation. We looked high and low for places and finally agreed upon St. George Island. We booked Gull Cottage for a week and dragged along my mom and dad for support. We saw dolphins during the day and crabs at night. Jake even captured one on our last night there. The week was restful and a lot of fun. We did have one mishap with Jake and his head. So what if he has a scar on his eyebrow for the rest of his life. Maddie's nightmares over the trama have stopped and she can now sleep with waking up screaming....just kidding. We ate fresh seafood almost every night (Jake even tried his first raw oyster) and played at the beach everyday (check out the sandcastle we saw). We loved it so much that we are going back next year....

4th of July with the Buckalews

One of the first things I have to say is never have surgery around a holiday. On the 2nd of July I underwent ACL replacement. A few months back I had injured my knee and in order to be fully functional for school I needed to have the surgery over the summer. I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! That off my chest, I will begin to tell you about the 4th with Jake and Maddie. The morning starts out with a bunch of activities in our subdivision. They have a fishing contest, a basketball contest, a parade, etc. Jake, Greg and Maddie went down to watch the fishing contest and basketball contest but after that Maddie needed a nap. So Jake and Greg decided that Jake was going to enter the bike parade. They went to the store and bought a bunch of 4th of July stuff and decorated his bike. Jake was a little cranky and unfortunately when he took 3rd place he was pouting but otherwise it was a good morning. Later that night they shot off fireworks over the lake and everyone had a great time, except for me.....the only thing I remember is pain and percocet.

The Evans Family Visits the Buckalews

Wade, one of my best friends from Florida, happens to be a career Marine and has been stationed in Japan for the past 3 years. He finally has been given his new orders and they are coming back to the states. As usual he contacted me the day before he and his wonderful family (Mindi and Ava) were to arrive in Georgia. Greg took time off from work and we invited them to stay at the house. After a missed flight and a connection or two they finally arrived Tuesday night.

Jake and their little girl Ava are only a few weeks apart in age. The last time they were together they were about 2 so this time we were hoping they would get along a little better and we were right. We went to see Kung Fu Panda, ate BBQ Ribs from the egg, made home made pizzas, fed the ducks, danced, and did a lot of running around in the backyard. Our time with them was short but we are already planning a trip to North Carolina in October.

Welcome Back Wade, Mindi and Ava.

Gibbson's 1st Birthday Party

One of Jake's favorite things in life right now is a really awesome birthday party. Gibson's Mommy definitely made this one of the best ones he has been to in quite awhile. Cupcakes, BBQ1, Star shaped PB & J's, Sparkles the clown, face painting, balloon art, and Elmo made the day quite fantastic. Only Lisa would not only have goody bags for the kids but the families as well. :-) After is was all over, we all took a nap, now that is a party.

Buckalews at the Bahamas

Greg and I finally got a chance to be alone for 10 days straight since our honeymoon and we are still in love and still married. For those of you who did not know right after school let out for the both of us we went to the Sandals in the Bahamas. It was awesome!!
All you can eat and drink with no little people running down the hallway at 6am in the morning. I even slept to 9am one day :-). Greg went scuba diving three different days and I was able to finish 6 books of the 7 that I brought with me (courtesy of my many gift cards from my wonderful parents at school).
We met a lot of very nice people that we hope to stay in touch with while we were there. A lot of them we met through Greg's wonderful talent of singing, dancing and humor. One one of our last days he singlehandedly created a disco party....go figure. Greg even participated in the talent show and rocked the house with Twist and Shout.
Thank you to my mom and Greg's mom for taking care of the children for us so that we could have this wonderful vacation. Without them we would not have been able to go and have a good time with no worries. Kiss :-)

Greg finally graduates!!!!

For those of you who have known us over the past few years you know that Greg has been in school getting his degree in Electrical Engineering. We have been married for 6 years and he has been in school for 5 1/2 of them. We have had two children, moved into a new house, and inherited a mother/mother-in-law.
Finally on May 10th it has all come to a huge end. Greg graduated from Southern Poly Technic University with a 4.0. He walked on Saturday afternoon Summa Cum Laude and people from all over come to see the big event. Greg, myself, Jake, Maddie, Greg's Mom and Dad, my mom, my dad, Mike "da" P, Nick, Katie, Ty, Uncle Paul, Aunt Elizabeth, Greg's boss John and his fiance Karina, Ron and his wife Jennifer all were in attendance for the ceremony. Most of us had to stand but we got to see him walk across the stage and the pride swelled amongst the group.
Later that night we threw a typical "buckalew" bash at our neighborhood clubhouse with almost 90 people in attendance. Ty did an excellent job with the tunes. The food and margaritas were to die for and the last person left at 1am. Now that is a party.
Congratulations to Greg, we love you!

My Three Favorite Buckalews

There are times in the Buckalew Family that the stars completely align. Today was that day. I was finally able to get a picture of Jake, Maddie, and Greg all looking at camera at one time. This in itself is soooo hard to do. I was also able to get one of Jake and Greg and one of Maddie and Greg. Can you believe it? Oh yeah, and Dazey was there as well :-) Anyway, here they are.