Family Reunion and Aunt T's Story Hour

I am a little behind on a series of events that we have been doing this summer so I am using this post to catch up on all those little things that I don't want to go forgotten in the craziness that is our lives these days. I am starting off with some pictures from our family get together last weekend. Some of my family came to town so we hooked them up with a place to stay at our condos. I think everyone had a good time and it was really nice to catch up since most of my family that was there is from Texas. I was glad to show them all the things that Mitch, Addie Blaire and I love about Hot Springs.
This is a picture from our condos of the lake. It is such a good picture, my aunt is a great photographer, the coolest thing is that our boat is even captured in the photo too. I will probably be blowing this one up for the wall of fame at the condo, for those who have been lucky enough to make an appearance there will know what I am talking about. A few of the guys, Dad, Bobbie (who is a veterinarian and thanks for the advice on Zoe, we are putting her on a diet as we speak!), and Uncle Art.
My two adorable cousins Lindsey and Abbey playing with Addie Blaire.
Addie Blaire loves to entertain the crowd considering she is the only kiddo in the bunch. Here she is showing everyone how "to get low". She is quite the dancer these days. We even have our own little dance class each day, especially since lately with all the rain we are indoors more than out.

She also loves to sing. I think most people would be surprised to know all the songs she has learned. She is quite the pro at itsy bitsy spider, happy birthday, twinkle twinkle, how much is that doggy, and the rocket song from little Einsteins. The song that is our newest favorite is "these are a few of our favorite things" I am not sure the exact title of it but it is the song from "Sound of Music" my mom taught it to her and she can sing probably half of the entire song!!! It is really cute and very unexpected for most people to hear her sing, so the family got to hear it several times over the weekend. I am trying to figure out how to post a video of it on here.

She is showing how to "shake her booty"!

Mitch and Abbey floating in the lake after a long trip to the cold water damn. Hopefully I won't get in as much trouble for this picture of him in a bathing suit as I did the last one since he is underwater and all!

Colin and Maggie

Addie Blaire after a full belly and sucker compliments of Hawg's Pizza on the lake.

Now these are a few pictures from the weekend before when we hung out with some friends the Rabbs. Here are a few pictures of Rhett, Raygan and Addie Blaire being silly.

They all look so sweet and innocent in this picture, but really they had just run crazy and been singing and dancing in the middle of the Backporch grill!! So pictures really don't tell the whole truth sometimes it seems!

The next few picture are of 0ur dear friend "tur-tur" as Addie Blaire would like to have him referred to by. My dad had been trying to locate her a turtle for some time and so a week or so ago on Sunday afternoon my parents came to deliver him to us. She seemed to warm up to him over the few days he resided with us. He was actually really cute and not shy in the least. We did let "tur-tur" free and he is happily eating something besides the puppy chow Addie Blaire seemed to think he liked!

Now these pictures are from two weeks ago when my mom and I took Addie Blaire to Little Rock to see her Aunt T perform as the storyteller for the LR library system. She did this as her summer job while school was out. She is an awesome entertainer and she really gets the kids involved. She was even asked if she had a website by one woman which is a true testament to how great she is at this. I only posted a few pictures because during the presentation she asked that there be "no flash photography" I wonder who that was directed at? I was kind though sis and I didn't post any pictures of you with the panty hose on your head pretending that they were ears for "do your ears hang low". I know I am too good to you right! The funny thing about it though was that we got there late and so Terri had already started. Addie Blaire walked right up to the front in front of everyone and started calling for Aunt T. She didn't understand why Terri was ignoring her. So much to my dismay and my mother's she stayed at the front with aunt T the entire show. I was so embarrassed because I am sure the other mother's thought I should get control of my child but it is hard to rationalize what Aunt T was doing to a 2 year old.

This was the old lady that swallowed a cow, the puppet was pretty cool because she really did have all those animals in her stomach! Some friends the Brantley's were even there so she sat down beside them for a few rare seconds.

Terri included the 5 little monkeys song which is one of her favorites into the show, so Addie busted a move to that one.

After the program my aunt showed us a really cool park in downtown Little Rock for kids. It has cool tunnels and slides, and best of all a neat sprinkler area. Mason and Aunt Brandee even joined us for lunch and some play time. We didn't quite count on the kids getting so wet, but oh well they were having a blast!

There was even a waterfall and it was so funny watching the kids stand under it because it was on a timer and would stop every few seconds, so watching them wait in anticipation for it to come on again was entertainment for the adults.

Beach Vacation 2009!

We went to the beach this summer with my family. It was so much fun to be there for 7 full days!! I think that is the longest vacation I have taken in several years. It was also great to get lots of time with my family and to see my dad take a break, which never happens. I also enjoyed watching Addie Blaire play in the sand and in the water. This year was a big change from last year because she actually wanted to be on the beach! It was also my first time in years to hang out so much on the beach, usually I am the one that is at the pool looking at the sand, but not this year!! We went crab hunting at night, Bracy flew his kite during the day, and we built lots of sand castles! I had so much trouble picking which pictures to put up this time. I took literally hundreds, so I guess call it laziness but I didn't want to have to spend all my time narrowing them down so I added several. I apologize to those who follow this blog, but for Addie Blaire's sake I wanted to add them all because this is the closest she will get to a scrapbook of this vacation!! So here we go, let the slideshow of every move she made on the beach begin....
Me and my totally awesome sister!! (just in case she reads this.)
It was Terri's birthday the next week so we celebrated with birthday cake and a birthday song led by Addie Blaire. She was definitely the boss on this trip, there were 6 adults and 1 kiddo and she was the decision maker for us all whether we liked it or not!

We went to dinner at the "Hangout" for those that have been to Orange Beach you know it is a very happening place. There was a dance floor outside with a band and she has seen a real band only once before at Hogs pizza and she danced then and she really did this time. There was a little boy there and the 2 of them were the only ones on the floor with like 100 people sitting around. They gave everyone a show!! This little boy had some moves too, he got down on the ground and started rolling around like he was break dancing and so of course so did little Addie!

This guy and his dog were walking around and he grabbed her up, I am not sure she was sure what was going on at this point. I few seconds longer and there probably would have been tears!

We went to the Wharf where they have this huge Ferris wheel. I guess I didn't realize how huge until we were stuck at the top looking down, Addie however loved every second of it. Don't worry it was pretty safe, reason that you can believe me is because Addie's Nana was even on it and trust me that never happens! Here she is scoping it out with Pop.

Daddy and Addie Blaire on the Ferris wheel.

Dinner at the wharf, with all the girls.

Uncle B and Aunt T

On Thursday, we went to this dolphin cruise that turned out to be pretty awesome. They take two boats out and get them close together to create a wake and then the dolphins will come and jump in it. We saw more dolphins then I have ever seen at one time. It was really neat. Cool fact: in the picture the dolphins belly is pink that only happens when they are really excited, pretty cool I thought..

We stood at the back of the boat so we were literally right next to them the whole time.

It got pretty warm out there so we needed a water break. Addie Blaire was definitely a big fan of the dolphins, she screamed every time she saw one.

Okay so this was the big photo shoot on the beach or should I say two. We actually were out there two days in our beautiful white outfits because my camera messed up one day and we had to retake them!! Thanks to my wonderful husband for keeping his thoughts to himself about this one!! I had so many on my camera that I just picked several of them because it was too hard to decide. It was great to be able to get a shot of my whole family. I had tried to get these outfits together for us all since like March when there was a sale at Old Navy. So I was really happy that the guys, my dad most of all obliged me with the chance to take some pictures and in matching outfits no less!! What is a beach vacation without everyone looking silly in white on the beach together???

It was a little tougher to get pictures of Addie Blaire this year, especially when all you see is the back or side of her head as she is running away from you. I guess that is why I have put of 2 yr pictures before now, because the photographer would have to be a sprinter.

I loved this one it looked like she was worshipping God with her hands up like that, I guess I would like to think she is giving thanks for such an amazing day.

I can't get enough kisses from this little angel.

Poor thing the sun was in her eyes the whole time so I know she was struggling to look at the camera but with Aunt T holding a bag of M& M's she had her attention!!! Nothing like a little bribery!

We took this same picture last year at the beach and I wanted to do it again, wow how she has changed it is truly amazing how much she has grown when comparing the two pictures.

Pop and Addie Blaire

The whole gang. It actually turned out to be a cute picture or at least the best of many (however it is hard to tell by the size it is here.) I was surprised considering we used my tripod and I was running back and forth jumping into the picture.

Mitch took Addie Blaire for some wave riding in the ocean. He may kill me for posting this picture, but it is much better than seeing myself in a bathing suit!!

Addie Blaire helping Uncle B build a sand castle.

The guys playing some football.

Building sand castles with Nana and Pop.

The zoo in Gulf Shores is neat because you get to feed lots of the animals, but don't worry we didn't feed this guy.

She did however feed these guys, can you tell they were a little hungry!

Our very excellent adventure of crab hunting, I never knew it could be so much fun or I could laugh so hard trying to catch those creepy crawlers.

We caught 5 crabs, and only one lost it's battle to Bracy's trapping techniques!

She carried the flashlight the whole time, maybe that is what made it so hard to find them because our flashlight holder was not the steadiest I seen.

Trying on Aunt T's hat for size, she walked around saying "howdy partner", too funny!

Addie Blaire 09' vacation coming to an end!

I love you my sweet little angel and I am so glad to have made such wonderful memories with you . I can't wait until next year!