Boys of Summer

I have been meaning to update our blog with the last few pictures from our trip and the rest of our summer happenings. We have been blessed to be surrounded by so many stinky little boys, and as one of three girls I am learning A LOT of new things I never knew about boys...but I LOVE them all so dearly...even my stinky husband. So here is the last installment of our around the world photos and a few fun pics with us and our sticky-fingered nephews.

I must first preface our pictures from London with a little background about our location. I never dreamed that I would be able to gleefully indulge in two of my FAVORITE pastimes both at the same time...ice cream and concerts. It is true…such a thing does exist. Christian and Sarah took us to an all-you-can-eat Ben and Jerry's carnival/concert with the boys while we were visiting them in London. It was kid/adult heaven! I must admit after 5 ice cream cones of chunky monkey, a stomach full of cotton candy and an afternoon of pet farms, loud music, and a few meltdowns (mainly Josh) I realized why my mother always advised that "too much sugar is DEFINITELY a bad idea". With that being said we had a blast shoving our faces with the 20 or so different flavors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and hanging out with family.

I think the rest of the pics are from summer time here in Atlanta where Sarah, Christian, and the boys came to visit for the month of August. I also included some photos from my trip down to St. Simon's with my mom, sister, and baby Eli. Enjoy!






No shame in double fistin


Josh and Ollie


Ollie with cone #1


Aidan with his candy floss


Nothing like a good ol' ferris wheel ride to stir up the juices


You can take the girl out of the Youssef but you can't take the Youssef out of the girl


Christian and Aidan on the Helter Skelter


Sarah and Ollie out the Pimm's truck


Other Summer pics:

Sweet Aidan and Bryce


Joshie reading before beddies with Brycie

Josh and Aidan before Toy Story 3

Eli at the beach

Eli Giggles

Sweet Memories

Unfortunately I was unable to post about our last destination because our computer crashed along with all of our pictures...hopefully we will be able retrieve our info so that I can share the last bit of our trip with you. Stay Tuned...

In other news I was able to spend the weekend in West Virginia celebrating the wedding of a very dear friend. Allison has been a sweet friend and spiritual mentor to me for about eight years now. She has an incredible story and her strength in these last couple of years has been an inspiration to so many. Congrats Garrett and Allie!

The happy couple


Me and Allie


Allie, Pollye, and Me


Allison and Garrett's awkward pose

Paris, France

We spent a short time in Paris before heading on to London. This is my second time here and I truly love it! I love all of the fresh veggie and fruit markets, the fashion, the food, the architecture, the museums, the people walking around with baguettes…It’s like the perfect place for people to spontaneously break into a musical (or at least in my head). Josh and I spent our first day snacking on baguette, cheese and wine in a park near the Eiffel tower. Our second day we made it to the Louvre to take a quick look at the Mona Lisa before sipping on onion soup and hopping on an eco- friendly Tuk Tuk back to our hotel. We ended our lovely time here by gazing at the Eiffel tower lights and firework show….magnific!

Josh and I on the Tuk Tuk

At the Louvre fighting the crowds to see Monalisa

Here she is...

Picnic near the Eiffel Tower

Joshie and his Baguette

The tower by day...

The tower by night...

Hong Kong

On our way to Europe we made a short stop into Hong Kong. This is were we celebrated Josh’s birthday with a big juicy steak at Ruth’s Chris’ steakhouse…original I know. We didn’t have a lot time and both of us were growing travel weary so most of our day was lying in bed watching cartoons trying to rest up for the 12-hour flight we had ahead of us. Before boarding our flight to France, dinner we met up to have dinner with a friend of Josh’s from the states.

Our friend Chase who lives in Hong Kong

Jakarta, Indonesia

We spent a total of 2 days in Jakarta where Josh had a few meetings and where we visited with some friends from Atlanta. I tagged along for a few of the meetings and then my curiosity got the best of me and I signed up for a reflexology appointment. It was a rather painful experience, one because I had a number of “problems” according to my reflexologist and two because the reflexologist knew very little English. For an hour we struggled through numerous topics until finally I just acted like I had fallen asleep. We also had the neat experience of visiting a local Indonesian restaurant that had lots of interesting historical artifacts. After saying our goodbyes we headed off to Hong Kong.

Here are some photos from the local restaurant we visited

Jakarta, Indonesia

We spent a total of 2 days in Jakarta where Josh had a few meetings and where we visited with some friends from Atlanta. I tagged along for a few of the meetings and then my curiosity got the best of me and I signed up for a reflexology appointment. It was a rather painful experience, one because I had a number of “problems” according to my reflexologist and two because the reflexologist knew very little English. For an hour we struggled through numerous topics until finally I just acted like I had fallen asleep. We also had the neat experience of visiting a local Indonesian restaurant that had lots of interesting historical artifacts. After saying our goodbyes we headed off to Hong Kong.