what's a pirate's favorite letter?

This past Father's Day was the first Father's day that I can remember that I didn't see my Daddy.  We were in Florida, and he was in Tennessee.  So, I started my day with a call to him to wish him a Happy Father's Day.  The rest of our day was spent at Walmart, the beach, the pool and on the ocean.  While the boys stayed with their cousins, C and I went to Walmart to get our groceries for the week.  The PCB Walmart has to be the busiest one I have ever been in.  But, thanks to C's get out of my way or I'll run over you look, it only took us about an hour to get in and out.  When we got back, we spent some time at the beach and the pool.  Nana decided that we (the ladies) would take all of the children (12 of them!) on the Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise while the men (C and his Dad and brother) went to Hooters.  All of the children and ladies had a great time and the men were sufficiently buzzed when they returned, so a great time was had by all!

all 12 of them! from Parris in her pink shirt to Alex on the end!

To answer the question in the post title... aRRRh!!!

renewed

We made it back from Panama City Beach, FL yesterday.  It was an amazing week filled with fun and time with family.  This was our first vacation with C's dad, and it was great.  The boys had plenty of cousins and friends to play with.  Isaac was there a full week before us, so we were all very happy to see him on Friday night when we arrived.  We left right after work and got to the condo just after midnight.  I missed Isaac so much that I woke him up when we got there to give him a hug (it turns out he didn't remember that...He was very surprised Saturday morning when he got up and saw us sitting there!)  We spent lots of time at the beach and the pool and did a few fun activities too.  I took so many pictures, there's no way I could post them all here.  So, I'll start with just a couple from the first day.

in the courtyard at the condo

my little surfer boy

brothers that were happy to see each other

29 hours

Today is turning out to be the toughest since Isaac left for Florida.  He left a week ago today, and I think his time away from home is wearing on us all.  Alex didn't want to get up this morning nor did he want to go to Fun Company.  That's not unusual for Alex, especially when he's tired.  But he admitted yesterday that he misses his brother.

I have been missing Isaac, but it has been easier dealing with it by reminding myself that he's having a great time.  Well, this morning when I called to talk to him, he told me that he hasn't wanted to go swimming because he doesn't feel good.  I asked him what was wrong, and he said that he had been coughing a lot.  So, I told him to ask Nana for some medicine.  When I talked to her, she said that she didn't think he was really sick; he doesn't have a fever and when he coughed it sounded like a fake one (I know he's good at that. :) ).  She said she thought he was just home sick.  She said he doesn't seem sick when they're out doing something like go-carts, eating dinner, shopping... :) I can believe that since he's been away from home for a week now.  But, it doesn't make the next day and a half go by any faster or easier.  I can. not. wait. to get on the road to get to him!  But, thankfully, I have so much work to do that I can't leave before tomorrow afternoon.  Otherwise I wouldn't be able to talk myself into waiting until tomorrow to leave.  I even checked on a flight to get to him quicker, but I'm not sure I could spend $259 just to get to him a few hours quicker...

So now, I'm officially counting down the hours...29 hours and counting...

I took this picture last night while I was watching Dallas. A pretty good show by the way...

29 hours... :)

2 more days

Isaac has been in Florida with Nana, Pops and his cousins for almost a week now.  I miss him terribly, but he is having so much fun!  So, that makes it a little easier.  Alex says that he doesn't miss his brother, but since Isaac has been away, he won't sleep in their room and he sits in Isaac's seat in the van.  I think there are times during the day that he doesn't miss him, but others when he does.

In 2 more days, we'll be leaving to join Isaac and everyone in Panama City Beach, Florida.  C's brother and sister will also be there the week we're there; it is going to be so much fun! 

So, in the meantime, I'm trying to stay focused when I'm at work, pack up everything for C, Alex and myself, and try not to miss or worry about Isaac too much.  I will definitely be glad when Friday afternoon gets here!

Here's a picture that Nana sent me yesterday of the boys.  It looks like they're having fun for sure! (well except that only two of them are smiling... Isaac and Camden!)

Road Trip - Part Two

On the second day of our trip to St. Louis, we took the boys to the Saint Louis Zoo.  My camera battery died just after I took the pictures at the Basilica, and I didn't have my charger to recharge it.  So, all of the pictures I took on Sunday at the Zoo were with my phone.  C took pictures with his camera, but he hasn't downloaded all of them yet. 

Penguins are Alex and my favorite!

After we left the zoo, we took a slight detour on the way home to eat at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri.  We had to wait a while, but the food was great!  It is the Home of the Throwed Roll, and they were so good!  You can order from the menu, and then they have passarounds in addition to the rolls.  When you want a roll, all you do is raise your hand and they'll throw one to you.  For the passarounds they walk around and serve them for you.  They were serving fried okra, black eyed peas and fried potatoes.  I'm not sure if there were other things since those are the only three I saw.  The okra was excellent!  It was definitely worth another trip.  The boys want to go back to St. Louis, so we'll have to be sure and stop there again when we head to STL.