A couple of  weeks ago two of my sweet aunts drove up from Florida to visit us.  While both of them have gone on family vacations before, neither of them had just set out on a road trip by themselves.  They loaded up the car, grabbed some food, and headed out.  They spent a few days at my cousin, Denises's house near Nashville and then headed toward Knoxville to visit us and I am so grateful  they did.

They are both lovely and easy going.  I worried about how I would get the house all tidy after my "play more, work less" summer attitude.  My aunt chuckled at my comment and reminded me she was coming to see me and not my house.  Her sister once told her "If you're coming to see my house, let me know and I'll clean it for you.  If you're coming to see me, than come on over." 

I like that mantra.

I would have liked to have taken some photos but some sweet little four year old who shall remain nameless but looks an awful lot like this sweet guy

plopped my SD card from my camera into his mouth and chewed it.  It's sort of useless now and of course the built in memory is full and I couldn't find the cord to download the pictures. 

But it was a great opportunity to put down the camera this summer and instead focus on  the present.  Sometimes I get so caught up in capturing each moment that I miss the little things: boy one asking me to read a book, boy two finally winning level 3, or my girls beckoning me to swim with them. 

It's a worthy a goal and thanks to a curious little boy who just happened to wonder what a blue plastic chip taste like, I got  to soak up all the time with a few of my favorite people.