Memorial Day: Part 2 and Our Weekend Adventures

I finally am a little caught up since our vacation so I wanted to post some more pictures from our trip as well as the past weekend.  Since my last post we had taken down the flags at the cemetery and went back to my grandma's for our last dinner/get-together with the family.  Gabe was so sad to leave the next day, he even said he didn't want to go to Paw-Paws, which never happens.  I'm glad he had such a good time and is able to meet and get-to-know his extended family.  It was a long road home but we were all glad to be back.

Grandma with the grand and great-grandchildren

What we weren't glad to come back to was the Kitchen.  A few weeks ago we had a leak under the sink and we thought we had fixed it but not before all the wood tile was soaked and now starting to smell like mold.  Yuck.  So, after spending eight hours in a car driving home Dad and I spent a another two tearing up the kitchen floor.  What fun!

Fast-forward to this weekend which was jam packed with outings, just the way I like to spend my weekends!  Friday I took Gabe to the Y to swim.  I knew the trip would be difficult since he had skipped his nap but it was so hot I wanted to go anyways.  We got there around 2:30 and quickly changed, showered and jumped in.  The day camp kids were there too, so it was a little rowdy and super loud but it didn't seem to phase Gabe - he loved it.  He saw another little boy jumping in from the side, probably 18 months old, and decided he would like to try that.  So, he did, and LOVED it!  He kept saying "Ready?!" and he'd jump, sometimes before I actually was ready but he didn't mind going underwater.  He actually go so brave that he told me not to hold him and he would swim to get the ball we were playing with or he'd jump in alone.  It was so cute to see how brave he was.

Needless to say he didn't want to leave.  Thankfully there was only one other person in the locker room when we went to change that had to listen to his temper tantrum and constant screaming about wanting to go back into the pool.  Once his clothes were on he was good to go.  All in all it was a pretty good trip.

Saturday while I was working really, really hard, I found a few festivals in the area I wanted to attend.  So, after work we headed out to the Horseradish festival.  We only stayed about an hour since it was really too hot to walk around.  Gabe played on the playground a little but agreed it was time to go.  Then, we headed across town to the Pig-A-Palooza, a charity event for Jacob's Ladder Foundation.  They had BBQ and a few inflatables for kids.  Gabe slid down the large inflatable slide all by himself.  I was so proud.  They also had a silent auction, I tried to win the Hubby a Yankee's something-or-other but I didn't win.  My friend Pam also met us out there so it was nice to catch up and chat with her that evening.  It's so hard to meet new, good friends that it makes me very thankful for the friends I still have from school that I can call anytime and everything just clicks back in place as if I never moved.

Today, we finished up our weekend with the Strawberry festival.  This takes place about an hour from the house in an old town.  There are tons of booths set up with crafts and food.  They also had a petting zoo and rides for kids.  Gabe, Xavier and I fed all the animals: a camel, a cow, some goats, sheep and chickens.  Then the boys rode in the airplanes (Gabe's favorite part of the day) and the mini-train.  We were all tuckered out by the time we got home.  In fact, this is the first night since we've been home from Oklahoma that Gabe is asleep in his room before 9PM.  Let's just hope he sleeps in too!

Memorial Day Trip: Part 1

This past weekend my family and I traveled to Oklahoma to visit with my mom's family.  We had special plans, as the family does every Memorial Day, to visit the grave sites of our family that has passed and decorate the graves.  My great uncle just happen to pass the day before we were coming to town, and due to the holiday they had to put his funeral together in quite a hurry for the following day.  So, we were able to attend that ceremony as well.

The the local cemetery where my mom's immediate family has plots/buried, they have a large ceremony every Memorial Day to honor those service members who are laid to rest there.  Each year, they raise flags that are donated to the cemetery on behalf of the family.  There are over 2,000 flags that fly for the holiday weekend.  This year we also raised my grandpa's flag for the first time.  There were 6 or 8 companies from local ROTC units present to assist families with their flag and the local Civil Air Patrol does a reenactment of the tomb of the unknown soldier for three days straight.  It is a great tribute to the military and their families.

On a cheerier note, The Boy loves coming to visit because it means there are lots of little kids he can play with.  They have had a grand time playing in the yard and in the toy room.  He's always so sad when its time for bed and they all go home, but, boy, does he sure sleep good!  And, of course, Sissy is in heaven because no one lets her down for more than a minute.

It has been a great weekend that would only be better if my love were home to share it with us. 

Our Texas Trip: Completed

Whew! Traveling for  a week with two kids is a handful.  We had a great time and made some wonderful memories with family and friends so it was worth every stress.  We spent the night in Little Rock and had a good time at the pool with the kids.  They even played nice in the hotel room together.

Once we made it to Houston we decided we had enough time to take a drive down to Galveston to see the ocean. Gabe loved the ocean so much in Florida I figured it'd be a big hit. Negative. It was windy, overcast and the beach was covered in washed up plants. He wasn't even interested in looking for shells. He was ready to get back in the car that he had been sitting in for two days straight almost.

The next day we headed to Austin to visit with some friends there before heading home.  I wish I would have had more time to visit with everyone I wanted too but Gabe had gotten sick the night before and little did I know, would be even sicker the next night - throwing up all over me at our hotel room.

After our stay in Austin, we headed to Grandma's in Tulsa, OK.  Gabe always has a good time playing with his cousins. 

We were all ready to be home and back to our regular schedule.  Although, as I think about it, we never really have a regular schedule.  We're always doing something -- and that's just the way I like it!