Remember when we would go back to school in the fall and the first assignment was an essay to write about what we did during our summer vacation?  Well, it’s much more fun to do when it’s a blog and no one’s grading it.

I had a great time in Atlanta!  I drove down the Thursday before Memorial Day and came back the Friday after.

To my mind, a great vacation needs most of the following:

• Time to read, rest and relax
• Local day trips
• Try something new
• Chatting with family and friends
• Going out to eat

This trip did all of the above!  When my daughter was little, my vacations were usually spent going to see my sister and her family.  Now that all of our children are older, my sister and I are visiting with them instead of each other.  It’s a natural change in our lives.  My favorite boy toy stayed home with the dogs, so it was “girls only” for the week.

My daughter asked me to take some pictures of her for using on-line.  I don’t do portrait work, so it took us a few tries to figure it out.  We went through several changes of clothing and hair, as well as different positions in her front yard.  In the end, we got some nice shots for her to use.  This one was adjusted using a pink filter.  I really liked it, although I’m not sure she did.

I also practiced taking some puppy shots.  There was a knack to it and I’d taken several shots of the puppies before my daughter realized that I had not taken a clear picture of the collar color to identify which puppy was in the picture.  Once we got it straightened out, it went pretty fast.  Of course I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the puppies squirming in the laundry basket.  They finally dumped it over, then took off as fast as they could, even though they had no idea where they wanted to go.

They dumped the basket over shortly after I took this photo

Look at the size of those paws!

Another new thing for me was trying a green smoothie.  My daughter has been happy using them as part of her diet, and I enjoyed trying them with her and having her show me what she was making.

We also went strawberry picking and brought back to her house six gallons of strawberries and a gallon of blackberries.  We froze and dehydrated a bunch of them and ate them lavishly for the next days.  Or perhaps the better term would be we were gluttons.  They were so good – red all the way through and so very sweet.

She went back to work while I was visiting.  I met her for lunch several days and enjoyed a few minutes sitting by the lake at the edge of her employer’s parking lot as I waited for her to meet me.

Along with plenty of laughter, we went out to eat a few times and we also grilled out.  Here’s the skewers she was getting ready.  I trimmed, cubed and marinated the meat using this yummy recipe from Cooking Light.

We went shopping one day, both of us picking up a few tops for work.  I went another afternoon to the Mall of Georgia.  I don’t usually shop, so it’s a treat to take time and do so while on vacation.

All too soon the week ended and it was time to head back to my own house.  Since I had a few last days left, my favorite boy toy and I decided to enjoy the moderate weather and go to Williamsburg for the day.  Although I have a number of pictures to share from my that trip, I will leave you with the photo that is now my header on the blog.

Dogs Family Travel Williamsburg cooking Cooking Light dogs puppies vacation Williamsburg