Busy This Summer

I will not let my blog "go" again. I have neglected it and now I regret doing that. It's my own history book to leave for Brent, Shane, Jessica, Jess, and the grandchildren Sutton Jack, Anna Claire, and Bennett. And, others that I do not know yet. I love reading stories that 2-mama wrote. I have a book she gave me where she wrote personal stories about her growing up days and then dating 2-daddy.

This summer has been extremely busy. Gary retired on June 15, 2011. Before that I attended my nephew's, Matt Courson, college graduation at Baltimore, Maryland. On the day Gary retired we headed to Norfork, AR to camp on the river for 7 days. I am teaching summer school online so I had to go to town everyday to go online. The only place I could find was Burger King that had wi fi. I'm not sure what they thought of me. I did ask permission to work there. One day this gentleman (I'm saying that loosely) came in and said loudly to the cashier "I hope you are charging that Internet cafe lady to sit here!" I heard the female cashier reply "I'm not sure what she is doing." I ignored the conversation. The manager gave me permission.

Last weekend we went kayaking. I think Gary and I may have a new hobby. I'm more excited than he is but that's okay. We went kayaking on the Elk River with friends, Jamie and Yolando. Jamie and Yolando rented a canoe. Yolando had the best sandwiches for lunch.

Then, this past week Kaidence was visiting. She sure does love Miss Betsy and Mr. Gary. She told me "Miss Betsy....You are soooo cool!" I asked her why I was cool. She told me it was because I work on the computer with her and read her books and play school. It's awful when she has to leave (awful in the sense that she is crying and hiding when it's time to leave!). We went to children's story hour at Fayetteville Public Library and to Jump!Zone in Bentonville. In between that we swam and played school. I was Teacher and she was Student. We worked on phonics for a long time. We read a funny book "The Bear in His Underwear." We made an art gallery and Kaidence drew a picture of Betsy with lots of different colors in her hair!

That's not all. Kaidence went home and Presley arrived. Presley is so persistent. She was determined to go outside. She pulled my hands and put them on the door knob to go outside. We didn't have her long enough. Mandy and Chris picked her up and we headed to Norman, Oklahoma. A very good friend, Stanley Reed, was killed in a car accident. Jessica and Stanley's daughter, Anna Reed, are very close friends and Jessica and Brent wanted to go to the funeral in Little Rock, AR. Gary and I kept the kids in Norman, OK. We love keeping the kids! We went to Chick Fil A for lunch, then back to the house to play, and then swimming lessons for Anna Claire. We stopped at Ci Ci pizza for supper. We stayed at the house. Sutton eats every two hours and takes little naps. He would eat and before I knew it Gary would say "I think he's hungry." I would say "Oh, he couldn't be, he just ate." Ha! Gary would say "That was two hours ago!" You've got to be kidding! I felt like I had just fed him and put him down for a nap. Then, you start the cycle again!

I honestly don't know how Jessica does it. I didn't even get a load of laundry done. I wanted to help Jessica with housework but it didn't happen.

We came back home Friday because I wanted to prepare for Shane's visit. The kids did not want us to leave. Anna Claire got on one side of me and Bennett on the other side and they said I couldn't go because we were "glued together." They will be back this week to visit Shane so I promise I will update the blog and post pictures!