Mother's Day Weekend

The only thing that could have made this weekend absolutely perfect would have been to have Shane and Jess here. The older I get the more I treasure the time with my family. By the way, I am very happy to know that I am "really" NOT THAT OLD. Gary checked online today to see if we qualified for the senior discount at the state campgrounds. HOORAY! WE DON'T. I really don't mind spending the extra money.

Back to the most precious weekend. Gary's Dad turned 91 years young. His brother from Minnesota was visiting so Gary, my awesome husband, organized a family reunion at a campground, of course. We had the travel trailer there in case people just wanted to get more comfortable. So, we celebrated his Dad's birthday and also Mother's Day weekend. There were 18 people there in all. Gary cooked hamburgers and we had a ton of food. Some of our friends, Jamie and Yolanda, also came.

I brought Anna Claire's bike and Bennett's tricycle and plenty of toys for them. However, there was a great playground next to the Pavillion we rented so the kids had a great time.

When they arrived Bennett greeted us, very proudly, with purple magic marker drawings all over his face, arms, and fingers. He drew a tiger on his face on the drive to Arkansas. Neither Jessica or Brent knew it until it was too late. Permanent markers at that! He was so, so proud. He would walk up to people and yell "Roar!" He was a tiger, after all. So, all the pictures with Bennett in them are, let's just say......colorful.

I didn't take that many pictures. I was too busy helping the kids swing, slide, and play freeze. Jessica is missing from all of my pictures. I am hoping someone else took a picture of her. Talking about Mother's Day, she is one heck of a mother. I love her so much for so many reasons but just watching Brent and Jessica parent their children...well, that is priceless. Jessica really is Super Mom. Her mother is super so I'm not surprised but she puts me to shame. By the way, this morning my son Brent cooked a huge breakfast for his wife. I was flabbergasted. I kept asking him how he knew how to cook. I certainly saw none of it while he was living at home.

Now, I don't know about you, but does this look a little bit like child labor? In not one single picture do I see the Daddy pushing the children on the playground equipment. It's a barely two year old and a barely four-year old pushing a 30-something on the playground equipment. Hum...Brent.



Bennett kept asking Granddad if the trucks made noise.

As I said, I didn't take many pictures. This is at the end of a very, very long day. Everyone had left and Jessica and Brent were napping. Anna Claire was laying down. Granddad and Bennett were resting.

It was only 7:45 p.m. but Bennett was out for the night. About 30 minutes after this picture was taken I was too! In this picture he has on his Spiderman pj's, stuffed dog, big blue blanket (big boo bankie) and little blue blanket (lil boo blankie).
Brent and Jessica and the kids left to go back home this morning. I miss them already! I missed the rest of my family but we are all so spread out, which makes it very difficult to meet for only a weekend.