A Wolf at the Blue & Gold Banquet!

So, I was thinking tonight about how many Blue & Gold Banquets I've attended in my life. It's a lot and I still think they are super fun! Henry was our center of attention tonight. He is doing such a great job in scouts. We are super proud of him. Henry performed in his first skit ever tonight and did a really good job. Those are so cute. They even got Jeff into one skit since he tags along to scouts every week with Henry and Dad. Tonight Henry was awarded his Wolf rank as well as 2 silver arrow points (30 electives completed) and 4 new belt loops for computers, chess, music, and video games! Whew! I received my first mother's pin for Henry's Wolf rank. He pinned it on at the dinner but the photo was blurry so we took another one at home. He pinned it on upside down and then for his "good turn" he played with Kelsey and gave her one of his stuffed toys to sleep with. After I saw him being so nice to Kelsey I let him turn my pin right side up. :) The cub program in our ward is awesome! Even though Henry is the only boy his age, his leader Brother Hickman comes prepared and excited every week. Henry loves it!

Monday at the Beach

Before Dennis and his family had to head out of town, we pulled the boys out of school early for a little beach time. The beach here in Biloxi isn't the best swimming beach but kids don't seem to mind that. I prefer to either head out to the barrier islands or head east into Florida where the water is clearer. The kids had fun splashing and playing while the adults lounged on the beach. Micki, my brothers wife who I have no photos of, was tending the little sick one in the van. The poor little thing was still sick and didn't want anything to do with the beach! They hit the road and made it to Montgomery late Monday night. Unfortunately, all their little ones ended up with the yuck once they got home. No fun! Only our little Kelsey got a little something, but she's already back to her old self. Despite the illness, cousins sure are a fun thing to have! As someone who missed out on the cousin thing, I know!

Campfire!

Sunday evening Dustin and Dennis got the campfire going and we enjoyed an evening of visiting, eating, and music. Dustin played the guitar and Emily played the flute. She has only been playing for about 6 months and she is doing so well. Mom and I were very, very impressed. We ate yummy s'mores until we couldn't eat any more! Jeff wanted to try having a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup on a s'more. I didn't try it, but it got rave reviews from those who were braver than me!

Sunday Afternoon BBQ!

Not everyone was feeling well this past weekend which is why I don't have photos of everyone

who came to visit. :(

After church the little sick one perked up a bit and we barbequed hamburgers and ate outside. It was so nice out. To my surprise, the three little girls all went out to the gazebo to eat on their own. I found them out there eating and chatting after I was finished helping the kids get their plates. They were so cute! The kids played and played and played. I don't know where they get that energy!

My Big Brother's Visit! First Activity: Go Kart!

My brother Dennis and his family came for a visit this past weekend to see us and to see mom while she was down South. Dennis has six children so it was a pretty crazy weekend with ten children in the house! It was super fun and the kids had a lot of fun together. One of the first things we did together was take the go kart out for a spin. We ended up taking it out twice to make sure everyone got a turn over the weekend. I didn't take the camera out the second time and I wish I had. Ben, 10, was so excited to be able to drive it himself and to have taken it "off road" which wasn't supposed to be part of the deal! :) Even Dennis took it for a spin. I love the photo of him. The big kids all got to drive and the little kids took turns as passengers. They all had a really good time. I wish I had had something like that as a kid! Too cool!

Woo-Hoo!

Dustin surprised my mom with tickets to see Gladys Knight while she was here for my mom's birthday gift. Mom and I went and it was so much fun. She is a great performer, even at 66! Her brother, one of the original Pips was also there. One of my favorite songs of all time is Midnight Train to Georgia and it was awesome to see her perform it life. Loved the concert! Loved the "super fans" who were going crazy at the concert, too. She was so personal with the audience. She even took requests, shook hands with people, hugged people, called people out from the audience and sang a version of Happy Birthday to all those who were there celebrating a birthday. How cool is that for my mom..."Yeah, Gladys Knight wished me a happy birthday and sang to me!" Way cool!

What an Awesome Trip!

I am so glad that my mom and I took this cruise together. It was so fun to spend time with just her and to be lazy and relax and have a great time. We ate when we wanted. We slept when we wanted to. We read books and did puzzles. We went to as many activities as we wanted. We didn't change a single diaper, wash a single dish, or do a load a single load of laundry. One day, soon after we got home I was ready for bed at about nine o'clock and I had to laugh. On the cruise we stayed up very late every night. We just weren't tired. We saw the late show, we went to get late night snacks, we read or watched TV. We woke up at about 7 each morning and just enjoyed the day. I realized how tiring it is to take care of little ones when I was done for at 9! Even though I had an amazing time on the cruise and only had to take care of myself, I was very ready to get home to all 5 of my sweethearts as we left the ship. Now, I am all recharged and ready to tackle all my kids can dish out again!

Men vs. Women

Mom and I participated in Men Vs Women show on the last night of the cruise. I got to go up on stage for the last portion. We didn't know what we were going to have to do and, considering the last round involved sticking a ping pong ball between your "cheeks" and laying the "egg" in a bucket I was a little nervous. Turns out all I had to do was make a paper airplane. Now, the men had won round one by a narrow margin, we took round two and now it was down to round three. Yeah, we failed, miserably! One man's airplane sailed to the back of the auditorium for heaven's sake. I, however, was the only female to make a plane that at least entered the audience. Everyone else's puttered out on the stage! I got another one of the lovely carnival trophies and I was so excited. It's going to go up on the shelf with the trophy I won on our last cruise. The stakes are high now to win one on the next cruise! I can't wait! And, yes, I realize I look like a total dork in the photo but wanted to remember the fun event!

Funny

Mom and I enjoyed a couple of the comedy shows on the ship. It was nice of the cruise line to note on the day's schedule of events which comedy shows were family friendly and which were for adults only. We stuck to the family friendly variety and enjoyed a few good laughs. One of the comedians had been a writer on Home Improvement. She was super funny! We talked to her afterwards about having just seen Tim Allen and she sincerely wanted to know how I thought he did because she still works with him in Las Vegas. The cruise was just a great time to relax and laugh and recharge! I am so happy we went!

Caribbean Sunset

Fun With Towels!

Mom and I decided to hit the towel folding class on our last day at sea. We loved the towel creatures we found in our room each night and wanted to learn more. It was fun. We learned how to make a pig, a swan, and a dog. My pig did not turn out well, but Mom's did! Super Cute!

The Queen's Staircase

The Queen's Staircase is Nassau is an amazing place! It is so beautiful and yet it was created under great hardship. The 65 stairs were carved by slaves into the limestone with only axes and hand tools in 1793 & 1794 to commemorate the 65 years of Queen Victoria's reign.

Pirates of the Caribbean!

The next stop on our tour of Nassau was Fort Fincastle. It was built to protect England's investments there and, although it never saw any real battles it was necessary none the less as a deterrent against those marauding pirates! It did not seem like a comfortable place to live though! I loved the view of the ships in the harbor and the color of the water- amazing!

More from the Gardens...

The Gardens are also home to a lorikeet enclosure where you can feed the birds. They have this at the Oregon Zoo also and my mom and I both love it! The birds are so pretty and it's so fun having them come right to you. After we fed the birds we toured the rest of the zoo with my favorite exhibit being the jaguars. Beautiful! I wished we could have had more time here but we had to head out to see the rest of Nassau's sites before we headed back to the ship.

Ardastra Gardens

Our final stop on the cruise was Nassau, Bahamas. We also chose to take a tour of the city which included a fort and the local zoo. Here we are at the Ardastra Gardens, Zoo, and Conservation Center. The Gardens are famous for their trained flamingo show. It sounded fun to me. The birds really follow directions like left face and right face, stop, and march and they respond to a whistle. It was pretty cute and the birds are so tall. Part of the show was audience participation. A lot of little children were volunteering so I sat back even though I wanted to participate. When none of the children in our section volunteered I went ahead and ran out there. The premise is that you have to stand on one foot and pretend to be the prettiest flamingo. If you're not doing a good job a flamingo will come and tap you on the shoulder. Very cute. I got tapped before we even began! It was really fun and the birds were so pretty!