Have you been wondering what the Cooks have been up to for the last 6 months? Do you have a lot of free time on your hands to look through countless photos? Well, this is the blog for you!
Our First (and Last) Family Camping Trip: Even though Tyson left the Boy Scouts last year, we decided to take all that accumulated outdoorsy equipment and go on a family camping trip for Spring Break. We spent 2 nights at the Okefenokee Swamp and then 2 nights on Amelia Island. We had some great memories (Capt. Travis, sunsets on the beach, seeing a Space X rocket launch in the middle of the night) and some not so great memories (rain, bugs, unidentified wildlife roaming around our tent at night). Overall, it was a good trip, but I think we will stick to hotels moving forward…
Caribbean Cruise: In honor of Trav’s mom turning 75, we took a family cruise to the Caribbean. We were also joined by her BFF Rosalie, her sister Janet, and Trav’s sister Erin. It was filled with food and fun! Tyson especially enjoyed exploring the boat on his own and having unlimited access to ice cream. We stopped at 3 ports – Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; Labadee, Haiti; and Coco Cay, Bahamas – which included varying amounts of sightseeing, shopping, beach time, waterslides, pottery painting, and ziplining. It was a trip we will all not soon forget!
Wisconsin / Indiana / Illinois: We are on a family quest to visit all 50 states. Tyson used a random generator to select our next destination and it picked – WISCONSIN! When we realized we could easy tag on Indiana and Illinois, we made it a three-fer. We packed a lot in and it was a surprisingly fun trip! Wisconsin – The Dells boat tour, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, National Mustard Museum, Botanical Gardens, Milwaukee brewery tour, Mars Cheese Castle; Indiana – Lake Michigan and Indiana Dunes State Park; Illinois – all the Chicago things.
General Family Updates: Tyson designed and built a doghouse for Sophia; We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with alpacas; Tyson successfully completed his first year of middle school (and playing the French horn); Travis turned 50 and we surprised him with driving lessons in a Porsche (car not included as gift); we celebrated my birthday with Oppen-Barbie; Tyson started 7th grade this month!
Hopefully it won’t be as long between our posts next time! Enjoy the rest of summer!
Check out the photos here:
I don’t know which adventure I enjoyed seeing the most! You capture every precious moment in every adventure. They are awesome, as usual! Course I am partial to the cruise. ❤️ Love you guys so very much! Mom
Love it! I love the idea of randomly deciding where to visit. Also, did you know when you were at the Mars Cheese Castle you were REALLY close to where my grandparents lived when I used to visit them in the summer? Love to you all, can’t believe how big Tyson is!
LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! brightened my day ( and i needed it).
Fun fun fun!!! Love the pics and love you guys!!!