Whew

 OMG. We had QUITE a weekend. I have a list to share. But until then, enjoy these photos of part of our Saturday :) It was my mom's birthday and of course Aidan wanted to take her to Texas Roadhouse so that she too could enjoy the "saddle experience." It was a great time. The kids (and my mom) had a blast. My dad found it pretty entertaining as well!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

When They Grow Up

Aidan was talking with me a while back about what you can do when you grow up. He has all sorts of ideas about what he wants to "be" when he grows up. Well, my favorite part was when we got to Grandma and Grandpa and were talking about retirement. Interesting topic for a 5 year old...clearly a difficult concept to understand :) He had just gotten done telling me he was going to be a professional hunter/fisherman when a light bulb went off..No, he said this:

"OH MOM! I am not going to WORK when I grow up. I am just going to retire when I grow up." The kid is a genius...I would love to just retire! So here is my future retired fisherman and his veterinarian sister:

 It's been a busy week!! Hope to catch up soon!!

Randoms

After a long weekend of NO TV?! Yes our dear satellite tv suffered the consequences of a stupid storm that came through...no fear...we should be back to sanity today :) Have I ever mentioned how completely dependent I am on our TV? Well I am. Not just for mindless watching (though that is quite fabulous...just being honest), but for background noise. Whew. Let me tell you how that made for a long weekend!! Ha. Just kidding. Sort of. So anyways, I was doing my morning check in with People magazine and saw these awesome photos of child stars all grown up. These are some of the shows I LOVED and it's funny to see where they are now. 

All of the pics are from People.com

First? Mayam Bialik...we all know how much I adore The Big Bang Theory and let's all be honest and admit that we all LOVE Amy Farafaller. She is awesome on that show. I personally loved Blossom times a million, but my girl was Six. Maybe it's because we both talk the same speeds :)

You can't forget Clarissa Explains It All, right??? A little Melissa Joan Hart for you:

 I think this picture is FABULOUS. Miss Curly Sue all grown up is GORGEOUS:

 Punky Brewster anyone?? Oh this makes me feel old and completely awesome :) They need shows like this back on the air!

 I like this because I watch their show on Style...Tia & Tamera.  I was not as into Sister, Sister:

 Aw, a trip down memory lane. And now for one other bit I happened to be scarred with this morning...these are two of the most annoying people in the world to me:

                                       All photos via people.com

Someone stop them. It is not even funny anymore. It is sad. It is not art. It is not "making a statement." You look like fools. That is all :) I just think People should give fair warning before I click on through Star Tracks and am faced with that kind of brain-bleaching material. Be forewarned. There is a lot of Gaga and Minaj on People today!

Vacation Part 3: That's It

Saturday afternoon we arrived in Starkville, MS. Chad hadn't been back since he graduated...let's just say that has been a while :) I had never been so it was a blast. The Mississippi State campus is so pretty! I must say I was pleasantly surprise...yup, I am one of THOSE people that make fun of the dirty South. But now I have to take it back because I LOVE the South :)The football stadium:

 Aidan's favorite spot, the statue of Bully the Bulldog (well I think that is what he is called...like 99% sure)...

 Oooh can you see my nose is peeling now??? NICE I tell ya! Thought I would share that while Elin and I hung out in the car for Aidan to make his 19th bathroom run of the day

 Chad's old dorm...must be a state historical site or something, right?? Hmmm...apparently it is still in use. Go figure.

 Jack and Aidan enjoying the baseball game even though it was a million degrees out and the sun was just beating down on us.

 It was a lovely baseball field. Ha, that is a dumb sentence. Seriously? Chad told me how great the field was before we got there. Um...yeah I think all baseball fields are pretty much the same. I see no difference between that and say, Busch Stadium...well of course except for the beer availability :)

 Chad, Cookie and Mark

 And of course, the famous The Little Dooey

Excellent BBQ and Chad swears by their sauce. He LOVES it. We were out of there the next morning. Quick trip, but so fun. We hope to go down again sometime soon!! Okay, whew, finally all vacation photos are off my dang camera. That only took like forever...

Vacation Part 2

So I am slowly getting my act together with our vacation pictures. I didn't realize I had so many! Figures! Again, these are probably all over the place, but you get the idea :) Ha, sort of like talking to me in real life, huh??

Probably my most favorite picture ever:

 We were attempting some family photos by the beach...well you know how well that could possibly go with a daughter who DESPISES said beach. It was glorious...or not. We have a lot of these:

 A little better:

 We have a few that turned out decent. Hey, it only took us almost two years to have a family picture taken with Elin. Poor girl.

So the house we stayed at was fabulous. It had the most amazing bathroom I have ever seen in our room. Elin totally enjoyed bathtime...I actually had to crawl almost in the tub due to the monstrous size of the bathtub vicinity. It was crazy...and beautiful:

 Here are the kids enjoying the pooltime at the house...I cannot stress how awesome it was to have our our pool and not share our space with anyone else :)

 The view from our room:

 Pretty crappy, huh?? I did NOT want to leave.

Okay let's take an ADD turn to dinner time. The kids (and my) favorite place to eat: Fudpucker's. It was a blast. The first time we went we were there for hours...the second time? The same.

 Aidan's favorite part was of course, Gator Beach

 Enjoying their new drink "carriers" AKA ridiculous koozies for grown ups, but our kids thought they were awesome so we bought them :)

 Writing on the walls per the tradition

 If you ask Aidan what the highlight of the trip was he would tell you the air boat and gator hunt. We drove to Panama City one day for this experience.  Well, I was concerned. This is what we drove up on:

 Oh yes. It was interesting. And so much fun. That's right. All the cool adults held alligators...certain scaredy's staying inside:

 I couldn't believe how soft the gator was??? I don't know what I expected, but not THAT. I love the concerned look on Gwen's face and mine:

 All the kids joined in of course (well besides Elin...and for some reason I do not have a picture of Eli and the gator, but he did it too!)  Olivia:

 Jack:

 Aidan:

 I found it hysterical that the employee was just fine taking calls and doing her thing holding the ball python in her hand...later followed by the gator. Seriously. Like it was no big deal. Oh, I am just going to answer this phone call...with an ALLIGATOR in my hands...must be the reason for her blue tooth phone :)

 After swamp boating? Back at the pool of course!

 The Three Amigos

 The Crap Trap right across the street from the house!!

So like I said, we had a blast. We will definitely go again next year. After Destin we headed over to Starkville, MS for some MSU fun. I will post those pics tomorrow!