To Gladiate or Not to Gladiate: That is the Question

My younger sister and her family, along with my parents, came down from South Carolina to visit last weekend. We all spent the majority of the time together and had a blast.

Although I love all of my family members dearly, one of my most favorite things to do in the whole entire world is to spend time with my two sisters. When the three of us get together, it's a feeling I can't describe. It's laughter, it's love, it's honesty, it's realness. It's laughing so hard until your laugh lines are deeper than they've ever been. I feel like I'm at my best when I have the two of them around...if that makes any sense. They make me 'me'.

While down for the visit, my younger sis Ali (also lovingly referred to as Big Al) wanted to share with us her new pair of sandals. She called them part of her 'gladiator starter-kit' because they were kind of like the gladiator-style sandals that are all the rage right now, but without all of the crazy straps. Sal Gal and I both agreed that gladiator sandals are somewhat tricky to just jump right into, unless you've really got the in-your-face style confidence of say...Sienna Miller. She told us that they were her 'gladiator training wheels' and that if she does well with them, she may just move on into the real deals. I, too, own a pair of sandals that could definitely be referred to as my very own pair of gladiator training wheels, because I didn't think I could pull off the full-fledged gladiators. Have any of you just embraced this style and jumped right on in, minus the starter-kit? Do you like them? Granted, summer is on it's way out, so I may never fully get in to a pair of them ,but I don't feel too terribly sad about it. I know many of you may have bought yourself a pair, but how many of you actually wore them....more than once? Just curious...

Here's a few pics of one of our dinner dates from last weekend. My mom and dad kept the kids while we went out. Thank you Mom and Dad!!


Sal Gal and Chad

M to the Izz-A and me

Ali and James

Oh look, we're in the order of our ages... (sorry Sal Gal!!)

The fellas

Today is M to the Izz-A's birthday. Happy Birthday Matt!! (Would someone please do me a favor and tell him that I wrote that on here, I don't think he actually ever reads this thing! Sometimes I just like to pretend he does.) We had a wonderfully romantic night of eating dinner at Pizza Hut with Kate and buying groceries for the next month at Sam's. Ahhhh, the good life.

Listen, I started back to work today, so I am barely getting this post out. My summer is officially over and I'm in mourning.

More pics of our family weekend to come...