The first week in July, we had company at our house. Brent's mom (Gamma), his sister Kelly, and our niece Caitlin came for a visit. Actually, Gamma was already here, so it was fun to have everybody all together for a few days.
Saying the blessing on the first night. You can see Jackson still checking out Caitlin.
After dinner, we needed ice cream! Gotta love Three Flamingos!
The morning after they got here, we had the bouncy house out for J and C to play in. This was the 4th of July and temperature was 67 degrees outside. No joke. I needed a blanket to sit out there that morning. What an awesome blessing it was to be able to enjoy the patio without sweating. The kids loved jumping - we've definitely got our money's worth out of this bounce house.
Jackson warmed up to Caitlin pretty quickly. For the first few hours, he was just watching and analyzing, which is what he typically does with new people. After that, he decided she was pretty cool and wanted to imitate everything she did. It was hilarious to watch. He does play really well with older kids, so it was nice to have them play in his room by themselves. They didn't really have any fights over toys, so that was nice. Caitlin is 5 1\2, so you could reason with her a little bit.
Jackson would have absolutely nothing to do with Gamma on the morning of the 4th. He wouldn't sit down and take a picture, so this is the best we could do. I think he was overwhelmed with all of the new faces in the house.
Brent's family always gets together on the 4th of July for lunch and swimming. Caitlin and Jackson are the youngest kids there, but they enjoyed playing with some of their older cousins. All are girls except for J-man, which is similar to Brent when he was a kid.
This kid loves to go swimming (and his mama does too). He's pretty brave and has even gone under a few times.
Chillaxin!
After swimming, lunch, and a nap, they were ready for phase 2 of the holiday. We went to the city-wide firework show at Mt. Carmel church and it was awesome. The weather was really nice and we ran into a few friends.
Jackson got to check out a firetruck.
Family "selfie" - someone wasn't impressed.
We had the best spot for fireworks. They were lighting them about 100 yards from where we were sitting and had an unobstructed view. They were awesome too - and the kids kept saying oohh and aahhh!
We had to bring our new friends Buzz and Woody along too.
The next morning, we had to get up early and have family pictures made. But first, the cousins enjoyed some PBS after breakfast. How cute is this!
I don't have the pictures from the photo shoot yet, but some of them were super cute. Here's one of Caitlin and Lala before we left. So cute!
That afternoon, we visited with Grandpa Gary and Dottie, Brent's dad and step-mom. They came to the house to see the kids. Of course Jackson didn't really know who they were, so he just kept right on playing with Caitlin.
This picture cracks me up because Jackson tripped and Caitlin tried to catch him, but their faces are hilarious. All was well afterwards - no blood or tears.
Jackson, Brent, Gary, Kelly, and Caitlin. The last time they were all together was November 2011.
Caitlin and Grandpa Gary
Jackson wasn't interested in taking pictures that day, but he did give "knuckles" to Grandpa Gary. They stayed for about three hours, and afterwards we had to go eat. Cranky, hungry kids and adults are no joke!
On Saturday, we went to the little Farmers Market in Cabot and bought some fresh produce. The kids got free ice pops, so it was worth the trip!
Afterwards, we went to the park to play on the playground and see the ducks. It warmed up while we were there, but it still was really nice weather. They had lots of fun sliding and hanging on the monkey bars.
After naps, Kelly and I took the kids to the splash park in Jacksonville. Um, yeah - don't go on a Saturday afternoon. There was a line to get it, and then when we did get it, Jackson was kinda freaked out with all that was going on. He finally settled down and played for a while, but finally he started yelling "I want go bye bye." You know it's bad when your kid is yelling to go home from the pool.
When we got home, they played in the blow-up pool for a little while. I think that was more fun than the big splash park.
That evening, Gamma went on an outing with Aunt Connie, and Mimi and Pops came to our house to see everybody. They brought Jackson his birthday present - a Radio Flyer tricycle! He hasn't quite figured it out yet, but he's learning.
We had a good dinner and of course lots of wrestling with Pops.
On Sunday, we had a relaxing morning together, then went to the Museum of Discovery. It was dollar day, which saved us about $50. We ate lunch at the Flying Fish, which was a little stressful because somebody was extremely tired.
You know that means that by the time we got to the museum, this happened...
We let him sleep for about 20 minutes, then he woke up and joined in on the fun. The museum has been renovated and it's really awesome, but a lot of it is for older kids. (Plus, it's a lot of science which is not my strong subject).
Note to self - don't wear a green shirt when on the news.
My work has a display there, and I did pass the quiz. I wasn't being played with that much, but it's not as interactive as the other things.
Monday was their last day, and the only thing that we needed to do that day was go get some new hog gear. We went swimming again at cousin Priscilla's house and really enjoyed relaxing in the water. We went to the razorback store in North Little Rock before dinner. It was hard to not buy a lot, but we settled on a new shirt for me and a hog nose for Jackson. Believe it or not, he loves to wear this thing.
Monkey see, monkey do. Or should I say Razorback see, Razorback do.
After dinner, we had one final bath time and you could tell that they were super tired.
All in all, it was a great staycation with our family. We did just about everything we wanted to do on our list, except relax. I guess that's what weekends are for!
