Family Reunion 2012

Somehow these pictures were missed back when blogging in September, so here it is, March 30th, and I'm now blogging about September 2nd with Mommy memory.  I'll do my best.

All us Boyers, including Uncle Buddy and Aunt Vivian, made the trek to south Georgia for the Johnson family reunion this year.  We loaded up 3 cars, 3 gas tanks and the 14 of us made the trip, for better or for worse.  Our first stop was at the Agri Supply store in Valdosta.  You might be a redneck if your family stops at the Ag store first, before the family reunion, huh?

We managed to not spend our family inheritance there and kept 3 excited-out-of-their minds children half-way calm and physically out of the chicken coops.  Um, by the way, have you seen the mansions some of these chickens are living in?  Case in point:

So now do you see why it was hard to keep 3 kids out of these?  I'd like to crawl around in there myself. :)

We found the hotel and also found a great restaurant that accommodated all of us, including 6 chirens, served good food, fairly quickly at a great price.  And the restaurant's name is...(hang on while I google it....) Cheddar's!  Pretty good stuff.  I'd go back.  Well now, that doesn't say much.  Jim would go back.  There, you have it.

The hotel was the bomb, because every single Hampton Inn on the planet is the bomb in our kid's eyes.  They swam that night in the heated pool with the cousins and the girls got to have a sleepover in Bamah & Papa's room.  Boys were the next night.

The next day, we were on the trail again to Uvalda, GA.  We did the best we could to keep yungins rested, entertained, fed and bathroomed up for the trek, but no lie, it was a job.  They enjoyed switching cars and hanging out with each other.

We finally made it to the reunion, did plenty of chatting, hugging and (as Uncle Buddy puts it) burping each other and headed off back south to Douglass to prepare for our trip to the Okefenokee Swamp.  We've been there before, but this trip was different.

We did have a little excitement when we were ready to leave the Douglas hotel for the swamp when the Guinn's car battery died.  They called AAA, put in an order and were ready to wait while sending the rest of us along to the swamp, when, lo and behold, the 2 boy scouts stepped in and DISOBEYED.  They were TOLD to take us all to the swamp, but instead they drove around the corner, found a car parts shop and arranged for the battery to be waiting on the jumped-off car when it arrived.  AAA was way too slow and sometimes driving around the corner, literally, solves the answer.  We all were able to go to the swamp at the same time. Go Jim and Rob!

We should have known what it was going to be like when the sign at the swamp entrance read, "WE CAN NOT CONTROL INSECTS ON ANY GIVEN DAY.  THERE WILL BE NO REFUNDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OUT OF OUR CONTROL."

Ok.

Well, the horse fly population was OUT OF CONTROL.  Seriously.  And I might as well be a walking fly tape to any flying/biting bug.  That part was NOT fun.  Insect repellent didn't even work.  It just made the horse flies laugh.

We saw the reptile show first.

Last time we came here I was pregnant with Brandon, 2 years ago.  Oh how my babies have grown.  Here are some pictures from 2010.

 

She was 4 1/2 and he was almost 2.  I need a moment to let that sink in.

 

Sigh.

Here we have the 18-month-old addition petting foxes and sticking his fingers in bear's and alligator's mouths.

Thank goodness for train rides and comfortable laps at nap time.

 

 

The sisters

 Pretty foliage

Silly face time on the train ride

 Mom, It's really hot!

I know honey, it's south Georgia, at 2pm in September.  I can't do very much about the temperature.

 I wish I could do this to my hair.  That looks so fun!  Thanks for modeling Aunt Niki.

A stop by Alligator Alley

 

Tickets were bought for us all to go on the river ride, but I opted to take care of Brandon inside the air-conditioned, biting fly-free gift shop.  It was no picnic there either, trying to keep an 18-month old from breaking everything, but my skin was so thankful.

 River Ride 2012

River Ride 2010

 

 

We left the fly-infested swamp and headed down to St. Augustine.  Our family reunion/vacation ended with a walk on the beach.  LOVED IT!

Uh, CUTE!

 

Wasn't a big fan of the waves.

Mommy exercise.

I love watching toddlers explore sand.

And watching "schoolers" collect shells.  (So she's not a baby, toddler, pre-schooler or teenager.  What do I call her other than mine?)

Thanks Bamah and Papa for a great trip!  Making Memories.

Spy Kids

We have a new game the kids like to play in our house.  It's just one more tool in my arsenal when 'just 10 more minutes' is needed.

It's called the Spy game and it works like this:

I let the kids hold the little point and shoot camera I usually keep in my purse and their job is to try and get a picture of me not looking at them.  They sneak around the house not only trying to take pictures of me, but also end up taking pictures of the walls, the fish, lamps, the floor, their clothes, pillows, toys, the car outside, up-close shots of chairs, the ice/water dispenser, basically whatever they desire.  Which, theoretically should be pretty easy for them because when I let them play the Spy game, I usually am stuck cooking, loading or unloading the dishwasher, starting another load of wash, folding clothes, etc.  Something with my back turned to them.

It's turned into quite the family favorite because thanks to the miraculous wonder of digital cameras, I can let them click click click until their little hearts are content and I can DELETE all the horrible, blackmail quality pictures they've taken of my rear end and/or my stellar mothering which usually involves my mouth running or the ever-so-popular hands on the hip stance.

One constant I have noticed with our little Spy girl is her desire to take pictures of herself.  From the ceiling position.

 

She cracks me up.

High-style shades

Someone at Jim's work thought these glasses would be great safety glasses.  They might be great for someone else, but slap the coins over my eyes if I ever see my husband wearing these glasses.  He wouldn't be caught dead in them.

 

Maybe, just maybe, I could attempt to pull off a high fashion look by wearing these sunglasses.  They're so big, maybe they'll make my face look smaller and set a new trend.  You think?

What am I talking about?  Who am I kidding?  Isn't that what Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie did back in their "I'm hot" days?  I'm so out of it.  If I tried to pull that off, I'd end up looking like my mom did back in the 80's with her huge sunglasses on.  Back when my brother and I snickered in the back seat of our dookie brown plymouth station wagon at her quirky sense of style. Maybe, just maybe, she was just trying to cling to an outdated fashion trend to revive her I'm-a-mother-now-there's-no-time-or-money-for-fashion reality.

Ah, forget it.  There's no hope, unless, my budding fashionista takes pity on me and dresses me accordingly.  She'll also have to have a great paying job to back it up.

Big Boy Brandon

This little guy is growing up so fast.  His baby-hood really went by much faster than the other 2.  It seems.  But then sometimes, I feel like with Brandon, I had a much better grasp on what was really important and found new and/or different ways to enjoy the 'finer' moments in life with him.

He's been such a good, easy-going baby.  'Twill be interesting to see how his personality changes as he grows.  If it does very much.

His language is starting to flourish.  Just the other day he held up a toy and I said, "That's called a roller."  He echoed "wowwa".  He calls for crackers.  Emphatically shakes his head yes.  Screeches loudly when something isn't going his way, but then is so happy and thankful when we finally figure out what he's trying to tell us.  He enjoys clapping wildly for someone when they do a good job.  He says, mommy, dadda, sis, naynay, papa, dy-dy (for bye bye), fish, hi kitty kitty and makes animal sounds for a dog, horse, cat and anything that roars (apparently elephants roar just like dogs, dinosaurs, lions and tigers).

Here, he's showcasing some of his new big boy abilities.  Climbing into and out of the Barbie Jeep.  Our poor boys will be forever plagued with pictures of them immensely enjoying their rides in the pink Barbie Jeep.

 

He's mastered waving good-bye, usually right about the time the person has become tired of trying to have it reciprocated and turns around to leave.  Maybe he's thinking, 'why should I wave good-bye when they're standing right there? They haven't left yet.'  He also points to his hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, fingers, hands, tummy, feet and toes.

 

He is so precious.  It just blows my mind that God loved us so much to give us a taste of His delight in us by letting us delight in these precious little people.  Wow!

I just can't imagine our family without this cutie patootie.

Summer 2012

I've so enjoyed Katherine being home this summer.  I won't lie, for about 3 weeks there, it was hairy.  There were ear infections, puny people, pink eye, fevers, strep throat, horrible attitudes, daddy working late hours and a general feeling around our house of  'when will this ever end?'  Well it did, and we're back on course.  I'm able to play with them, keep up with house work, go do fun stuff, do something different a couple times a week and generally enjoy their company.  They are spectacular little people and I really enjoy watching them grow up.

For instance, today, (I hate to type this for fear of jinxing myself), they have played so nicely together.  ALL DAY!  Right now, they're riding around the front yard, in the Barbie jeep, Katherine driving, with Nathan chatting on the phone and Katherine holding their baby.  They swam great together for over an hour pretending to be Ariel, Prince Eric and Ursula, they even played great together while I mowed, weed-eated and blew off the driveway (trying to surprise Daddy, Mr. Long-Hours).  They even dressed each other up this morning while I was cleaning up breakfast and played nicely and kindly in the back seat of the car while we drove to her school to view her new classroom.

There were some definite tough times this summer, but overall, it's been great.  Precious memories.

Some cute pics of us visiting the playground of Nathan's future school. :)

Somebody doesn't want to sit still for very long.

Please take a picture of me mom!

Just a little reminiscing... August 2012

 

November 2009

 My almost 1st grader.

Pretty good picture taken by our little spy.

Happy Meal Kids

I reluctantly post, once more, pictures of my children proudly wearing Happy Meal boxes perched on their heads in an attempt to mimic super heroes.

Before the transformation...

After...

Just wanting to be part of the fun.

Homosassa

My Dad loves to go scalloping.  He's gone every year for years now, on opening day, July 1st.  He rents a house or hotel for a week or so, braves the long boat ride to a sweet spot, snorkels around searching for little blue eyes and usually brings home a boat load to fry up for eating.

We, our little family, are not ready for all that, yet.  We have 1 good swimmer, 2 nappers, a just-learned-to-walk-er, 1 with an attention span that lasts longer than 2 minutes and a mom with little patience left after an hour long drive there.

So . . . I live vicariously through my dad and his experiences.  One day, I'll get to go scalloping and I think I'll like it.

We do still make an attempt to visit him and usually get to take a boat ride while visiting with the cousins.

Usually Nathan's attention span for fishing lasts about 2 minutes.  This time, it was a whopping 4 minutes.  Makin' progress, ma, makin' progress.

Trying to protect his little brother.

BAIT!

Sweet cousins.

All 3 of our kids have acted like this thing was as comfortable as it looks.

Down/out-of-the-sun time.

 

Nathan taking another stab at fishing, with Uncle Mark's guidance.

 

 We heard CowPapa head off to the bedroom talking on his phone, then after what seemed like an eternity, we realized he was missing.  So, the 3 musketeers went looking for him.

No, that is not his corpse.

I love the 3 smiling faces after finding their grandfather snoring in the next room.

Sleeping with a treasure

Don't ask me what was inside the jewelry box, but it was important enough to sleep with.

Wind blown

Sometimes, when our children were little, and sleepy, and wouldn't stop whining or crying in the back seat, I would implement the wind-blown method of forced quiet-time.  When the window rolls down, and the wind kicks up, most of the time they would get quiet, stare outside and hope the wind would stop.  Which is exactly what I needed:  no crying or whining.

Here's an example...

No room in the bed

Just in case you run into Jim or I and we look a little worn, tired, sleep-deprived or ragged, this will explain it...

How, just how, is anybody supposed to get descent sleep here with these two cuddle bunnies around?

p.s. Katherine is here sitting next to me and as she read me typing the title of this post, "No room in the bed" she aptly pointed out, "Well there's actually room there for you to sleep?"