Technically this will include far more than Q4. I scanned my last post which was so obnoxiously long I lost interest and just tried to take a stab at where I left off on Doyle Documentation. I had, oh, about 1,000+ photos to scan through on my iPhone and a dismal twenty-something on the "super fancy, mom thinks she is a photographer" camera. I narrowed it down to a hot 50-ish (insert shocked emoticon face here). Without further adieu, let's try and package up the rest of this year with a half-witty bow so we can do a better job in 2016 of tracking the always on a plane, soon to be grounded, ever expanding Doyle crew:
Dairymens! This trip deserves an entire post to itself, but we're going to sum up this family summer vacation extravaganza which includes about 40+ Doyle/Gallagher's in a few measly photos. If you head back to August on my Instagram feed you can fill yourself with all the midwestern family vacation photos you could ever dream of.
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| The Cousins |
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| Roasting s'mores on Captain Hook's Island |
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| Lodge Life |
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| Just a nice shallow cruise for Mr. Safety |
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| Beersbie Training. Every Mid Westerner's hope for their toddler. |
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| Palmer's first fish! |
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4 John Boats + Adult Fishing + Stiff Drink = 4:00 appointment (EVERYDAY)
Let's be honest - the parents live for this. |
Tripp turned 1! We had a party at home and then another at Dairymen's a few days later with the whole family. His birthday falling on Dairymen's week could potentially be money. Celebrating with that crew every year would be quite spectacular.
Fall Happened. As a parent, it infinitely eased my workday. Cooler weather. Festivals galore. Add in piles of leaves to throw oneself into and you've got a kick ass season!
We went to Florida a few times to indulge in our favorite friends, family and activities. And then our friends returned the favor and joined us in Georgia for a little Southern Soiree.
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| Dinners with the gang never disappoint. We miss them all so much and can't get enough when we get back. |
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| Doing what he does |
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| Nothing beats Poppa's house |
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| Not even this. Although this doesn't suck. |
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| Welcome to tropical landscape Tripp Martin. |
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| Blending right in with the Florida scenery |
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Even got to swim back in our old pool at Bay Hill.
Our friends bought our house and spending time their was extra special. |
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| And here is the crew looking dapper in Georgia |
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| Every garden party dream came true |
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| Milton's Cuisine & Cocktails delivered again |
We did a family trip to Lake Blue Ridge. Which was our first vacation that only included a short car ride. That was rather magical. Although an enormous amount of restraint is required when one has the ability to pack an entire car for vacation instead of two duffel bags.
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The house was great. The dock was better. The 120' deep waters really threw us.
Who knew Georgia had no natural lakes?! |
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| Palmer blended right in with the locals. |
Pete and I had some kid-less, hangover worthy travel. The time alone is an unbeatable recharge. We couldn't be more thankful for my mom and my niece for taking such good care of the babes while we spend time being husband and wife. My mantra for life as a parent is, "Your kids will never remember your weekends away, but you and your husband will." So just do it.
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What more quality time could you ask for than this?
(Laguna Beach, CA) |
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Ok maybe this.
(Laguna Beach, CA) |
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And this. We obviously dominate the elevator selfie. Which really means I realize 5 seconds before
we are about to get where we are going we never had took a proper picture.
(Greenville, SC) |
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A photo by someone else! Christmas Miracle of Miracles!
(Greenville, SC) |
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And another! Could this really be happening?!
(Colorado Springs, CO) |
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Cue the fuzzy selfies. Maybe we shouldn't cocktail prior to snap-a-lapping those selfies
(Colorado Springs, CO) |
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Grainy and too close. The only way our kids will remember us.
(London, England) |
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Jet lagged like a motha' but sporting a stylish chapeaux. Only thing that will do is cappuccino.
Buckets of it. |
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Sometimes other people take crappy photos of us, too
(London, England) |
And that folks is what you call proof that I'm a horrible historian. When all you can find of your travel are some random selfies you know you've failed. 2016 will include a more concerted effort to document our travel aside from our up close and personal mugs. I mean, I really failed in London. Really, really failed. But there was so much sleep to be had and croissants to eat.
Next up, Palmer turned 3. We had been to a really fabulous party at our local fire station earlier in the year. Palmer loved it and I totally thought, I'm stealing this idea. And then I thought, really all Palmer wants is uninterrupted time with the truck and the hose. And all I really want is to not spend a whole weekend planning a toddler party. What if I spare myself and give the man what he really wants! A private fire station tour. BINGO!
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| Had all the time he wanted to press every button and ensure the next house to catch fire in Milton was going to burn down because the firefighters would never be able to get it working right. |
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| Just manningthat firehouse |
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| Batman was the theme back at home. Grammy delivered on her gift with the stellar capes. |
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| When you're 3 year old wants a fire hose for his birthday. Panic ensues. Then Amazon Prime delivers. |
Before the man turned 3 he had his first go at being a ring-bearer in Chicago. Despite this no-nap-induced tantrum next to his dazzling cousin, he made it happily down the aisle to promptly be tossed in the car to pass out, in oh, about 30 seconds. It was a beautiful wedding, or so I heard.
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| Mr. G, our trusty sidekick through thick and thin. |
Halloween happened. We stopped at two houses, Palmer had two things of candy and stated, "Enough of this driving around, let's go home and eat our loot!" So we did. And that folks is how you ENJOY Halloween:)
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| Just, ew. |
There was some good old regular life thrown in the mix, too.
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| Nature Pal Exchange. Do it. Go on Instagram and find it. This was our haul from TX. |
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| The fire pit was completed and is a total hit. Or pain in the butt if you're Pete Doyle and have to chop wood non stop to keep up with the number of fires these boys like to have. |
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| The Art Barn. If you follow me on Snap Chat (Heather Rae Doyle) you witnessed the outpouring of love Palmer bestowed upon these defenseless farm animals. |
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| Best thing about the barn is for a small fee... |
And last, but most certainly not least, small town dreams were made.
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| The photographer, Marchet Butler, showed her skills by photo-shopping her way to 4 smiling faces. |
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And if you didn't get a Christmas Card from our clan this year, you're looking at the photos right here.
These two munchkins rock. |
