July in America: Part 2

 On to Rhode Island! Upon arrival I found this waiting for me:

 It's a vintage Goofy phone where Goofy looks like he is asleep but then he wakes up when you lift the phone from it's cradle. Not only is it awesome but it TALKS and he says things like "Garwsh! The phone is ringing!!", loudly when you get a call. This fantastic find was spotted by my little niece Sara in a second hand store and she absolutely refused to leave the store without the phone in hand. It may actually be the best present anyone has ever bought me. Love that kid!!
Speaking of wonderful people, we had 2 family gatherings in one weekend! Stella's 2nd Birthday and then a belated 4th of July picnic because the first one got rained out so we got to spend the weekend with our entire RI family!

The cousins were in absolute heaven!

 And we had some new family members to meet as well!

 We had a great couple of days filled with loved ones, chowda, and other incredible RI seafood. And of course, Papa:

 And Mema!

 Then it was on to NC! No one was there as everyone had to leave on last minute trips but we got to meet the new distillery kittens:

 They are part bob-cat!

 And check out the new digs for Blueridge Distilling!

 Ted's loving the lake!

 And the kids and I even spent a day at Carowinds. That place is coaster-crazy and so are my kids!

 Ted somehow scored himself a wristband, just squeezing onto the biggest coasters. I think there are like 11 coasters in that park and we rode them all multiple times. I needed a sub-out by the end. I felt like I had spent the day in astronaut training camp and the kids would NOT ride without me when I suggested that I would sit one out and take photos. I could barely drive home!

 Then we headed up to the mountains to attend Old-Time week at the Swannanoa Gathering. This is a short Monday to Friday camp that runs for 6 weeks and each week has a different theme and vibe. We had been to Celtic week twice but this was our first time at Old-Time week. We had a blast! The camp swing:

 Making new friends and getting ready to dance:

My dance band. Nothing like jamming out around a bottle of Defiant!

 I miss playing with this crew!

 And the kids had a blast in music classes and the kids program:

 They gave us a final concert with some songs that they wrote themselves!

 It was a shorter summer trip than we are used to, but we packed a lot in!