My 24th!

Another year older; What started out as a birthday weekend with no real plans turned into probably the best birthday ever. So this year I found myself going to Bedford, PA for a weekend of relaxation at the Omni Bedford Springs. I had no idea that PA was so beautiful.

The hotel was so big there was no way to get it all in one picture, so here is one side of the hotel with the Allegheny Mountains basically sitting on top of it.

Here's the entrance and a little piece of the other side

I got some good use out of the self timer on my camera...One of our many self portraits that we took

After drinks at lunch, and then realizing that neither one of us brought tennis shoes in order to go to hiking we decided to just chillax by the pool in a cabana.

Attempt# 4 at getting darreal to open his eyes in a picture!

Borderline scary, but their open!

The last bit of daylight peaking over the beautiful mountains and golf course off the pool area. So pretty

Of course we had to get a picture in front of it too!

Darreal spent the whole entire day asking me what i wanted for my birthday, after i settled on the idea of getting a laptop at midnight, he instead surprised me with this which is more than perfect! Of course i still had to ask if i was getting a laptop too, i'm such a brat sometimes. Love you honey, I promise i won't lose this one :)

Toodles Bedford Springs! This picture is pretty cool considering i snapped it out of the car window as we were moving at about 65-70 MPH

Family Reunion 2009

Three days after returning from the beach it was time to board the plane for another warm weather beach adventure. This time for our family reunion in Charleston, SC. I've never been to South Carolina so i was excited to see what it had to offer, but mostly i was so excited to see mi familia! The ones i haven't seen in months and the ones i haven't seen since the last family reunion in Detroit two years ago!

Thursday night was the meet and greet and here's my favorite atlanta family; Harold, Erica, and their gorgeous daughter Jordan

Dad and my little cousin Tayneesha

The guys after the meet and greet; dad, al, and charles

Family went on a tour of Old Town Charleston on Friday, the tour was very informative, I'm glad we got to do it; this here though is one of the many BEAUTIFUL homes that i would likely sell body parts to own! lol... So gorgeous

The bus stopped in the low battery area of the Ashley River so we could get out and take pictures and look around. Here are the ladies! Stephanie, Ciobhon, Me and Erica

The fam; to many of us to give names

The kiddies!

The Ashley River

After touring Charleston we went to a park for a fantastic cook-out and some great family time, however this sign was right next to our picnic area... kind of scary, but everyone had a great time and made it out with no alligator attacks.

Stephanie and Nayia

My sister trying to steal the tire swing from the kids, *shake my head; we both actually ended up getting on the tire swing, and i think i was terrified the entire time the kids were swingin us because i thought the tire was going to snap off the swing set.

Saturday brought us a family free day, and of course we had to find the BEACH!!! the water was warm, very salty, but still warm, and it was fun times all around.

After a day of fun in the 90+ sun it was time leave, here's a group shot of everyone who survived the heat and made it to the end of the day. Steph, dad, ciobhon, tyahana, tanayia, me, J.D. and Kim!

Saturday night was our final family event; the banquet, we had great entertainment, and some awards as well but this was my favorite part of the night when everyone old and young danced the remainder of the night away!

Tah tah until next time! Next time being 2011 when the reunion's in my hood :) Cleveland!

Virginia Beach

I'm back!!! It's been so long, I was such a busy girl in July, but had so much fun. July 18th weekend we went to Virginia Beach. Darreal hasn't seen the ocean at all in his adult life, and I haven't been to VB since I was a child (tramatizing experience for those who have heard the story) so we were really excited when Darreal's friend Mike asked us to join him and his now fiance Monique, and their little girl Mya for a weekend of fun in the sun!

I decided after my ocean city trip in June that everytime i went to the beach i was going to try something new. I eventually want to surf but thought i'd start out with boogie boarding, so as soon as i saw this board in the store i HAD to get it, tweety has been my favorite looney tune character since practically birth!

And it turns out Tweety is also Mya's favorite looney tune. Or at least it was that weekend, we almost had to fight over that board for the remainder of the weekend.

I would say "fun in the sun" but apparently we forgot to bring the sun with us, so i'll say frolicking in the somewhat chilly water

YAY, suns out! I'm not exactly sure if that's what i was laughing so hard about, but none the less i was excited!

Getting some playtime in with Mya

Day 2 lead us to Mount Trashmore; World-renowned Mount Trashmore Park is 165 acres, 60 feet high, over 800 feet long, and was created by compacting layers of solid waste and clean soil. Recognized for its environmental feat, the park features the Water Wise demonstration garden that boasts xeriscaping where you can learn how to create a beautiful garden with minimal water requirements. * Pulled that from google, but to me it was a really nice park that used to be a landfill.. Goodtimes

That's a lot of trash

Mike and Monique trying to put together a kite for ms. mya

They did it!!

Then the park got to hot so we went back to the beach, and before we could get good and settled Mike proposed to Monique! Everyone was surprised, i didn't think he was serious, but yes indeed he was very serious! they have since set a date, August 21,2010.. Congrats guys!

Cute, the happy family!

Darreal trying to catch any last little waves he could before we said goodbye!

No worries, we will be back SOON! We love the ocean