Vacation Week: Saturday...

Levi=crazy!

While we were fishing, this Dragonfly landed on the end of Seth's fishing pole and just stayed there forever. So I took his picture. Hmmm, is this a clue that maybe we weren't catching enough fish?! hahaa :)

The water at this lake is SO CLEAR! Can you see all of the Minnow's swimming in the water? We would throw them bits of bread and they would attack it like little pirana's! haha It was so cool to be able to see so deep down into the water.

Seth, patiently waiting for another fish to bite his hook.

Gave up on fishing, and went swimming with the fish instead! haha :) This is his "Aunt Michelle" impression...but usually we could say, show us how Aunt Michelle floats, and he would do this, but then stick out his tongue also! ha-ha. He had us cracking up!

Daddy and Seth: Row, Row, Row your boat, gently around the lake..... LOL!

Our Final Day of Vacation...

On our last day there, Levi wanted to go tour the Tower, like we did when we went there a few years back.
Here it is, from the boat...


The boys outside of the tower, before we went in.


On the hike up to the tower. They had to take a little rest! haha

Seth on the circular stairs, on the way to the very top of the tower.

Looking down from the top of the tower, at Papaw and Aunt Michelle.

Seth, at the top of the tower. He saw this little hole, and said it was a mouse hole. I said "Jerry mouse lives here?" and he said "No Mom, he lives with Tom the Cat"! ha-ha Mom's can be so clueless! LOL!

Daddy and Levi at the top of the tower.


Stephen took a photo of me walking around the top of the tower also.

Boys, going down the circular stairs.

Boys, sitting in front of the HUGE fireplace, being silly.

I love this picture of Seth. He looks so cute and innocent...if only he would always look like this! ha!

On our way back down to the boat, we saw this cat laying on the bench that the boys had sat on earlier. He was a very friendly cat, and Seth really enjoyed petting him. I think he wanted to load him up and bring him home with us! :)


Sitting on our dock, enjoying the last few peaceful moments of our vacation.

Levi begged his daddy to get him a cat-tail, out of the reeds that were lining the walkway. So Stephen did. Here is Seth, playing with it.

Levi was using the cat-tail as a sword!

Before we left, we got some group photo's. I couldn't see if everyone had their eyes open in this first one, so I told them to let me do one more to make sure. Talk about laughing myself silly once we got home and saw these pictures! In this first one, Granny had her eyes closed, but everyone else had their's open. So after had I told them to let me get one more picture, so that I could make sure everyone's eyes were open, Levi shut his tight for the second photo, and Granny opened hers wide! hahahaaaaa We were all cracking up laughing!

A final group photo, of all of us together. Stephen, Me, Aunt Michelle, Granny, Papaw and of course Seth and Levi in the front. We had a wonderful, relaxing weekend together!

Levi, now LOVES to water ski!

This is a video of Levi water skiing. His Daddy is with him, and I am the one holding Levi's Trainer Ski's Rope. He had never tried to ski before this past week of vacation, but he learned very quickly. He is now hooked! He absolutely loved it, and begged to go over and over, every single day.

These are pictures of his very first "attempt" at the water ski's. He came right up rather quickly. He had Daddy out there with him, to help hold him up straight and keep his ski's straight and separated, until it was time.

He popped right up, and then worked on keeping his balance. He did GREAT! I'm so proud of him for being brave and giving this a try. He wont even be 6 years old, until Thursday. I didn't learn how to water ski until I was 23!

Daddy fell, and Levi was still going. I love this shot of Levi looking back at Daddy like "hey, where'd you go, and what are you doin'?" :)

He just kept on, all by himself. If you look closely, you can see Daddy's empty ski rope! haha :) What a week!

A Big THANK YOU to Aunt Michelle for taking the Pictures and Video of this for us!

Sorry for not updating you...

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. We've had a whirlwind of a week. Last Saturday (over a week ago), we got a call that Stephen's grandfather wasn't expected to make it another 24 hours. So we rushed up there (about a 4 1/2 hour trip), to see him on last time. He was cohearant and we were able to talk to him some, and he even laughed at something the boys did when we were leaving. :) Then we stayed the night with Stephen's family and came home the next day. On our way home, we got the call that Papa had went on to heaven. He apparently held out, until he saw and visited with his youngest son, who had come in from Tennessee; he had then seen all of his kids one last time. It is amazing that people can hold on like that, to say all of their final goodbyes.
We had reservations to go on vacation at a floating Gazebo, at a lake about an hour from there, for Monday-Sunday. So during that week, we made a trip back over for the funeral. On the way there, Seth was saying his tummy hurt, and he ended up throwing up in the van. I was catching it all in napkins, as his Aunt Michelle was about to throw up from witnessing this! LOL! I can handle puke, from my kids, just not blood. So I cleaned him up, and while doing this, a Highway Patrol pulled up behind us to see what was going on, and told us to move as soon as we could because that was a dangerous area to be pulled over (because it is a busy highway). Ha! he must not have kids! if one is puking, you're pulling over and don't care where you are. So anyway, I had some wet-wipes and got him and his clothes cleaned up. He felt much better after all of this, so we stopped and got him so sprite to wash out his mouth. Then we finally made it to the funeral.
I was doing ok through the funeral, until I saw Stephen's mom crying. It broke my heart. I tried to hold it together though.
Stephen's grandfather was a Veteran. He served in the Army, and was in the Korean and Vietnam war. So they had a military burial for him. When they fired the guns and started playing taps, it broke my heart all over again. But we know that Stephen's grandfather is in a better place now, and is pain free, so that makes things a little easier.
We did have a good vacation, in the midst of everything that was going on. It was nice to just get away and relax. Levi learned how to water ski, and we had his 6th birthday party (his birthday is actually this week and we will have another party with my parents on his birthday). So we all had a wonderful trip! :) I'll post pictures, and more about our week, soon.

Batman or Superman?

Is it Batman or Superman? I see the Batman mask and cape, but I see the Superman under-roos and a Superman Book. Hmmm????? Adorable, whoever he is! :)

Six Flags!

Levi had earned a Six Flags Ticket through the school reading program. So we wanted to take the boys for their very first trip to Six Flags. We had everything planned, Stephen took a day off of work, and were going. Then a friend, who happened to get some Free Tickets but wasn't' going to use them all, gave us 3 FREE tickets! YEA!!!!! That was such an AMAZING BLESSING!!!!! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!!!!

We got there just a little bit before it opened. The very first ride we did was the Carousel. We love it! It was the biggest carousel the boys have ever seen!


Smile Daddy! :)


Then we took the boys over to the Kids area, and they had a blast riding some of the kiddie rides. Like these trucks and tea cups, etc.


When we got over to the Mine Trains, the MINI Mine Train wasn't opened yet, so we took the boys on the Runaway Mine Train. Yikes! Talk about being in for a HUGE surprise! hahaa Seth was telling me "I want off!" Then I told him it was more fun if you scream, and we were trying to see who could scream the loudest. haha Then right before it was over, he screamed "I shouldn't have listened to you!" hahaaaa After it was over they both said "I'm never doing that again! No More Roller coasters!" hahaaa But they did say it was fun, they just didn't want to do it again! LOL! So this was the biggest and baddest roller coaster we got them on all day....but only once! hahaa

Daddy, our pack-mule and map reader! :) Levi, being silly. (this was right after the Runaway Mine Train, see he doesn't look shaken up or anything.)

Seth and the Drink. They sold these huge cups for $12, and then gave you a wrist band. You got FREE refills all day, and then anytime you go back you can get refills for 99cents. It definitely paid for it's self. We got it filled at least 7 times! We were a thirsty bunch...of course it was 104 degrees outside!

The boys LOVED the Antique Cars! They drove these once, and no one was in line, so they let us go again. Then they begged to go back and do them again later, so we did. They loved getting to really drive! Seth said "Mommy, I can drive yours van now!" hahaaa

Seth, happy about driving!


Don't we all wish.....

Riding the boots! The boys loved these bouncing boots....

Walking up to the Roaring Rapids! The boys loved that ride! Levi got soaked and loved every minute of it!

Seth was so excited to see the Looney Toon Characters! Here he is with Wil-E-Coyote.

Levi and Seth with Sylvester.


The boys with both of them. Notice Seth eyeing Sylvester! haha :)

Around 2 o'clock, we went out to our car and got our ice-chest and walked over to the Picnic Area. We relaxed and had a very enjoyable picnic, where we mapped out what all we still wanted to do. Then we went back in. We enjoyed more rides, and also fit in a couple of shows. The boys really enjoyed the Gunfight show! Levi was all smiles at this one, and cracking up laughing! It was hilarious!

Enjoying the kiddie Swings. They rode these 3 or 4 times.

Then I asked Levi to go on the kiddie roller coaster with me. It was the Wil-E-Coyote Coaster. I said "Levi, can you be brave and go on it with me, Please?" He said "Ok, I don't know if I'll like it though". Well, after I got him on it once, he was hooked! We rode it twice in a row this time. Then went back later and he rode it with Daddy, and then then went back even later and he rode it with me again. It was his favorite ride of all!

Me and Levi in the very back...

Driving the trucks again....


You see this huge white area on the upper right of the picture? This is a huge wall of water, about to drench everyone on the bridge. Well, we only "thought" we were out of the splash zone. Stephen was standing behind me, and I was just snapping the photo, right as I hear him say in my ear, "We're gonna get wet!" and BOOOM, I was drenched from head to toe, and never saw it comin'. My camera was even soaked, but luckily it didn't hurt it. We were cracking up! The boys looked like they had been dunked in a pool, and the were laughing and saying "I'm soaked!" :)

Daddy and Levi, riding Levi's favorite Roller Coaster!

Levi looking hot, tired, and dirty! The shirt was white when the day started! Oh well, it will wash.

Waiting for a show to start...the glasses were already broken, but Seth was trying to put them on, and I don't know what Stephen was doing, but I thought this was hilarious! It looks like Seth broke the glasses, and Stephen is shocked! hahaa

My guys...lookin' cute!


Mommy and her boys. :)

Seth, taking a break.

The boys with Tweety Bird, and Granny! Look at Levi's eyes, it cracks me up! LOL!

The boys with Bugs and Babs...again, look at Levi's eyes! So Funny!!! LOL!!!

They were so excited to see "Flash", a real life super-hero! Wow! So he showed them how to pose like a Super-Hero, and they let Daddy take their picture! Priceless! :)


Me and Levi (you see his Batman cape?) then of course Seth in his Superman Cape. These were only $4! They were the best purchase ever! The boys haven't taken them off yet! haha

This is what you look like after 12 hours of Six Flags, and your 4th time on the same roller coaster! hahaaa :) Levi sure looks happy though, and that made the whole day worth it.

I don't kow what I was saying...but this is a hilarious picture. This is what a day a six flags does to you! hahaa

The last ride we went on was the Mini Mine Train for the 3rd or 4th time I think. After they opened it, and and went on, Levi decided he loved this one to. So we went on it over and over also. :) Seth went on it twice, but then he was done and didn't want to do it anymore.

We actually rode a lot of rides. Like the log ride, the indoor simulator, the Yosemite Sam indoor log ride, etc. I just didn't get pictures of all of them, due to trying to keep my camera dry. :)

After this last ride, we went to a show, there in the park. It was GREAT! It was acrobatics, and lasted until after the park closed at 10pm. So it was a long drive home, but it was all well worth it! The boys are already asking when we can go back! LOL! :)