Summer stuff.

A few weeks ago I took the boys down to "the farm/Pa's" in Hickory Flat where my mom and dad reside on the weekends for the most part. We took all three boys, Camden, Walker and Brooks to New Albany, MS (about 25 mins south) to their little sprinkler park. It was so fun, it costs $4/child and they have the run of the place. With it being late in the summer, they were the only children. It was perfect for the boys and even had a slide that the older boys went down about a million times! They loved it, we will have to make this a summer tradition!

Here is Brooks in his new TOMS shoes :) I just love them!

About 3 weeks ago I got the dreaded call at work from the boys daycare. Camden had apparently been playing with a toy in his mouth (no idea why!) and swallowed it! They said he was complaining of belly pain and so Trey rushed to pick him up and take him to the Dr's office. He was fine once Trey arrived and had no pain and wanted to go back to class! He took him anyway and sure enough he had a "foreign body" in his intestines. You can sort of see it on the xray, its the darker white circle toward the middle of his abdomen. But he wasn't in any distress and it was thought that he would just pass is naturally, which I guess he did. We never saw it (even though we tried and I'll spare you the details). And he hasn't had any issues since just gave us one of many scares to come I'm sure!!

We had our Cresswell reunion the last weekend of August. It was so much fun, I guess we forgot to take any pictures because I have only one picture that my Aunt Diane took of me and my cousin Melissa! But all of my Dad's brothers and sisters and their famalies came in town Friday night and we went to the Pickwick state park seafood buffet that night. We tested the limits of the Lunsford lakehouse, we had the following on beds, air mattresses, couches etc: Aunt Diane& Uncle Ricky (from Birmingham, AL), Uncle Eddy in one bedroom Aunt Amy, cousin Miriam, Aunt Nancy (from Grenada, MS) in another, Trey, me, Cam and Brooks in our room (Southaven, MS), Mom, Dad & Walker in another bedroom (Nesbit, MS), Then Tracy, her boyfriend Kyle, Jimmy, Melissa and her husband Robert (Huntsville, AL) were in the kids room (BTW happened to be the smallest of the 5 bedrooms in the house!) It was crazy, but we managed. Mom pulled out all the stops with food and loaded us down with a spread that you wouldn't imagine. Mom, Brooks, Aunt Amy and Miriam made a day trip saturday to Savannah, TN to shop their downtown area. We all took turns on the boat and swam. At night the Cresswells did what they do best tell jokes and legendary stories. Some of the younger crew stayed up until the wee hours of the night just visiting downstairs on the pavillion. All in all, everyone LOVED the place and have vowed to make it an annual tradition since it was pretty central for us all.

Me and my almost sister Melissa Cresswell Wallace

Camden riding his bike in the driveway, one of his new favorite past times!

Last weekend, Trey and I took Cam and Walker to Ole Miss to tailgate in the Grove with Trey's parents. It was really fun and really crowded! Ole Miss was playing University of Texas and they brought a ton of fans with them. The boys loved running in between the tents and collecting acorns, leaves and unattended cupcakes from fellow tailgaters :) Here is a shot of the boys watching their DVD player and snacking with chips. Brooks would not have faired well being pinned in the small area so Mom kept him at the farm and they had a great time. We didnt stay for the game just hung out for most of the day eating, drinking and people watching (which is at an all time high in Oxford!!) Dad, and his 2 brothers & my cousin stopped by to catch up and grab some snacks!

Me and one of the Budweiser salesman's wife Jennifer and I tailgating

The Cresswell brothers and Miriam stopped by for some much needed refreshments

The fam prior to leaving Pa's to head to the Grove

This week some girlfriends of mine asked us to go to the zoo since the weather had gotten so nice so me and Cam joined them (even though he was disappointed he was missing the "community leaders" visit at school where firemen, police officers and other community leaders visit the school) So our friends Abby and her little boy Jackson (3) and Deena and her little one Preston (3) joined us for a great morning of seeing the animals and feeding the giraffes.

The boys looking at the "mingos"

me and Cam at the feeding the giraffe exhibits

Videos of the boys

Here are a few of the latest videos of the boys you can really see their personalities and how smart they both are (maybe I'm a little biased)

I'm amazed everyday with what Camden and Brooks comes home telling us. Here is Camden singing the days of the week!

His teacher pulled me aside today to tell me how gifted our son is. He not only learns the nursery rhymes they are discussing but he is illustrating them! The teacher thought this was so advanced for his age and was very impressed. He illustrated the "one, two buckle my shoe" nursery rhyme wonderfully. I will include a photo at the end of the week when they bring home their work. She said the other children need the highlighter letters she provides them with everyday to practice tracing their letters, but Camden refuses to use this crutch and enjoys writing the letters unassisted on a blank page. I'm so proud of him, I hope this thirst for knowledge continues and he soars when he gets into the upper grade levels. The teacher has to keep him challenged and gives him more advanced assignments than his peers. My mother shared with me that I was a little the same way and when in kindergarten I used to correct the teacher's spelling and frustrated her to no end! I hope he doesn't do that, but continues on this path of academic excellence!

Brooks just continues to keep us in stitches. This video reminds me of the baby on the Jimmy Fallon commercial who keeps saying "no" when he asks her if she wants more money! Pretty funny!

Summer Travel & various lake adventures

Several of our friends on Frankie and Lauren's boat

And the rest of the group on Casey and Amanda's boat

Camden loving the water!

Swimming with Cooper

Trey and Julie chatting it up

Julie, Amanda, Holly and Laura

Cruising on the water!

The kiddos Jackson (Jack & Abby's son), Ellie (Casey and Amanda's youngest) and in the background little Avery (frankie and Lauren's daughter)

Enjoying the sun (and adult beverages)

Stephen and Josh in their "duck butt floats" :)

Back to traveleling, we have made two more trips back to the Lunsford Lake house. We went with our friends Carl and Rachel and their 8 week old baby Abigail along with James and Joan to the lake the weekend bf July 4th. It was HOT that weekend and we decided not to risk it with taking the baby on the boat and Joan agreed to watch baby Abigail while we played in the water. It was great time we even ran into some other friends of ours Casey and Amanda Garrett. We enjoyed spending time with our friends cooking breakfast and even grilling on the boat. It was too fun!

Next, we layed low for a few weeks and just worked and prepared for our next trip to Fairhope, AL for the MS Malt Beverage Association meeting. Trey, his boss Brian and his family as well as James and Joan were all representing Olive Branch. This was a group of different people and their families from across the state from both Budweiser and Miller/Coors that had come together to discuss the business and legislation, etc.

The boys and I explored the resorts bicycle rentals, beach and pool. Joan and I went shopping downtown in their shops one day. We had a ladies "bloody mary bingo" where all the wives went to play bingo and had a ball vying for prizes such as cash, coach purses, gifts and even trips! It was great! Joan had hired a babysitter from a local service to watch the boys so we could both participate. There was a reception each night with heavy appetizers and drinks. So I'm sure I gained a few pounds with all the wonderful food we had!

Playing on the beach at the resort in Fairhope, AL

Brooks playing in the hotel. "have your people call my people!"

Some of the walking/biking trails around the resort

The beach at the resort

Ready for a (short) bikeride!

Brooksie made a little girlfriend on the beach :) They had a fight over this wagon

Brooks finally won :)

(pictures are a little out of order)

We came home for a day and a half, Trey & I worked both days and then we packed up for our big friends lake trip to the Savannah. We had a total of 6 couples, and 5 children piled in the house! We had two boats so Trey and I didn't have to worry with manning a boat! There was a pontoon boat and a faster ski boat so we had the best of both worlds! We had a ball eating, drinking, playing cornhole, telling tall tales, and just enjoying our great friends! It was great, we played on the both Saturday and Sunday and everyone had a blast and more importantly no one was injured (except maybe a couple of rough hangovers and a possible eardrum rupture of our friend Josh who fell in the water wakeboarding). I cannot wait to make this an annual tradition. We sat around and talked about how we have been friends with this group some of which I have known since elementary school that we have been friends longer than we havent been friends! I cherish this group and I know we all have each other's back and if we ever needed anything everyone would chip in to help the others out. As for now, we dont have any other plans this month and the next big trip will be late August with my dad's whole family which will be so fun I cannot wait!!

 

Little Ellie eating some chips/dip

The "crew" at the lake

We celebrated Casey's birthday while there

Telling some tall tales I'm sure!

The boys

the kids like to congregate to one room and watch cartoons

The boat wore everyone out...

Including adults :)

Working on their golf game!