Branson

On Sunday afternoon we left the zoo and headed to Branson. That was the longest drive ever. We saw some pretty places along the way, but the 82 mile trip from West Plains, MO to Branson felt like 182 miles. It was nothing but hilly, curvy, twisty road and we were all sick of it!! We got to Branson about 7 p.m., got us a room and headed out for supper. That's pretty much all we had time to do so we ran by Wal-Mart(can you go anywhere without stopping at Wal-Mart?) for a few things and went back to the hotel to swim. On Monday morning we got up, went to breakfast and headed for Silver Dollar City. It was all good and fine, we got parked, hopped on the trolley to ride to the front gate and this is where it all went bad. I was holding Austin and getting down off the trolley when he decides to take a turn and when he does I slipped and sprained my ankle. I knew immediately that this was gonna be a long day. It hurt so bad, but I thought no way to quit now so I just kept on trucking. So there I was with a swollen ankle and all of that walking, but I made it and Brandon was a real trooper because he took care of Austin for the largest part of our time there. After SDC we left and headed to Ozark for supper at Lambert's and then on to Springfield for a visit to Bass Pro. No trip to Branson is complete without the extra 35 miles to Bass Pro!! After returning from there we checked out Branson Landing down on the lake. It has been built since we were there last so we wanted to see it. Our day finally ended about 10 pm and I was wore out. Our plans had been to get up Tuesday morning and do some shopping before heading home, but when I got up my ankle was so swollen and stiff that our shopping consisted of only the Carter's store and the John Deere store and then we headed home. Despite my little incident (leave it to me) the trip was good and Austin really seemed to enjoy himself. I may have been useless for much else, but I could still use a camera so here are a few pics from SDC.

Shooting at the ducks and rabbits...

Go ahead, make my day!!

This was Austin's favorite part...the water!!

He was looking down in the hole to see where the water went and he found it...right in the face!!

Eatin' Dippin' Dots Ice Cream...without a spoon. What a mess that was!

Showing off his deputy badge that the "Sherriff" gave him

This was during the train ride

And this is when the train ride was over...he was pooped

 

Memphis Zoo

We took a little 3 day trip Sunday thru Tuesday and went to Memphis to the zoo and then on to Branson for a visit to Silver Dollar City and some piddling. The weather was wonderful and we had a really good time. The zoo was awesome and we would definately like to go back when Austin gets a little bigger. All of the animals were out for us to see so I got several good pictures. So here are a few pictures to share. I'll do a separate post for the Branson trip.

The monkeys were putting on a show for us and Austin was loving it!

Austin waving at the monkeys

Watching the flamingos and the ducks

Picking the flowers

Mr. Cool!!!

They had the elephant chained and walking it back and forth on a cable. I guess this was for exercise.

Watching the sea lions

They had one polar bear that was out and it was really playful. It kept swimming to the glass and playing with all the kids. It done this for about 45 minutes. All the kids were loving it!!!

Mama riding the carosel with Austin

Apparently panda bears only eat bamboo, I did not know this. He was sure chowing down on it!!

Thank You God

While this is of no significant importance to anyone else I wanted to have it for my own memory.

This afternoon I heard Austin in there using his potty and I went to check on him and he was standing up to pee like a big boy. This is the first time I've witnessed him standing to do his business. He's usually a sitter. Of course, Mama thought it was impressive because he didn't even make a mess!!

A couple of other things to note are few things he's saying these days:

1. Leave my alone

2. I Cowboy Baby

3. I Country Boy

4. And my favorite right now is at night when he goes to bed and we say our "night-night prayers" he will say "thank you God for Papaw, Mamaw, Tootsie Rolls, Suckers, Cows, Mama, Daddy, Tootsie Rolls (again!) Amen!" It is the funniest thing. It's amazing the things that come out of their mouths. But at least he's thanking God even if it is for candy.

It doesn't get any sweeter than this and once this time is gone I will certainly miss it!

Ready for Summertime

The sunshine and warm weather Saturday morning sure makes me ready for summertime! Now if it will just quit raining for a while. Austin and I worked and played outside Saturday for a long time. We finished mowing and he helped me pick up sticks and we rode the 4-wheeler. I got out his water sprinkler that the Easter Bunny had gave him and put clean water into his pool so he was all set. This kid absolutely LOVES the water. So here's a few pictures to share from our day outside.

Of course we have to get a drink out of the sprinkler!!

And last but not least I have to show you his "First Shave". Like all kids they think they need to be doing EVERYTHING that you do. So when Brandon was shaving last night Austin was having a fit to "do my face too Daddy" so Brandon got him fixed up with his own stuff. If only they knew how great it was to be a kid and not want to rush everything.

More Flowers for My Mama

So I'm in a little late getting this posted, but this is the flower pot Austin made me for Mother's Day. He done it as a project at the babysitters house. I think it is so sweet and something I'll keep forever(hopefully it won't get broken). He tells me that it's "Mama's Pretty Flower".

 

 

 

Color Me Happy!!

Today I stayed home with Austin and took him to the doctor to have his ears looked at. He keeps telling us "ear hurt mama", but at the same time his back, neck, toe and whatever else he can come up with hurts too. The ear thing has been going on for about a week and so I decided I'd rather be safe than sorry so I took him in to have them looked at. Turns out that he is fine, but hey you never know with kids. So after we got home this afternoon I decided to let him color with his Tadoodles marker/colors that he has. As you will see from the pictures it was a "Colorful" time!!

This is what it is supposed to look like when you color...

 

 

And this is what it looks like when my child colors...

 

 

 

 

All that I can say is thank goodness they make the markers and colors washable these days. When I was a kid it would have taken a week for this to wear off.

Who Needs All of Those Expensive Toys?

When you have a $5 bucket that you got from Wal-Mart. It's funny how we pay so much money for all of these toys that the kiddos hardly ever play with. On this trip to Wal-Mart Austin got a new ball, some new sunglasses and what is he playing with when we get home? The $5 bucket that we got to use for the dog water. Go figure!!

 

 

 

Adventures In Sandy Land

Last Friday...before all of the rain Austin and I played outside in his sandbox. He absolutely loves being outside so we try to go out as often as possible.

Here are our sandcastles that we made. You can tell the one on the left belongs to Austin...it is all smooshed down.

 

Here he is getting the sand good and wet so we can make more castles.

 

 

And here he is dippng the water for the sand box out of the swimming pool

 

Baby Blue

When Austin was first born he was a colicy little thing for about 3 months. He cried and he cried and he cried. I would always rock him or walk around holding him just as tight as I could and I would sing to him. The song I would sing was George Strait's "Baby Blue". I'm not sure how it ended up being that particular song, maybe it was Austin's blue eyes or maybe it was just what was in my head at the moment I started singing to him. Whatever the case may be the song would always soothe him and he would stop crying. Two years later and I am still singing that song to him when he allows me to rock him, when he doesn't feel well or when it's time for bed. The only difference now is that it is by request from Austin. I'll lay down with him in the bed only to hear the words "Baby Blue Mama, Baby Blue" and we'll lay there and I'll sing it over and over. So I guess this is "our song". Mama loves you baby boy and you'll always be my "Baby Blue".