Beach Day with Friends

 We go in Thursday evening, turned around Friday morning and headed to spend the day at the beach with friends.

The Johnson's and The Tisdale's had been staying there and invited us to come down.  After the week we had in Mississippi, I told Kyle I didn't think I could stay at our house, or anyone's house Friday.  I. NEEDED. TO. GET. OUT. haha!

The weather could not have been more perfect.  It was a GORGEOUS day and the water was breath taking. 

Checking out everyone below from the balcony.

Sweet Mollie Mae having a good time playing in the tent.

 He is a ball loving little boy.  Football, Baseball, Soccer.... it doesn't matter....

Jackson and Sophie playing

Lunch time :)....

 Later that afternoon we all went in to get showers and head to dinner. 

All the kiddos From L-R:  Jackson, Sophie, Karter, Danner, Brayden, Mollie Mae, Heidi, Brycen

The Mama's :)!!

Kman balancing the frisbee

We had a wonderful day with wonderful people.  It was a much needed relaxing day. 

Last Days in Laurel, Mississippi

 Our week in Laurel was a week I don't think we will forget.  Bored is an understatement.  The pool and hot tub both stayed broken the entire week.  The pool was supposed to be heated, but it remained ice cold and it looked like a pool full of milk of magnesia.  We did take Kyle to school one day so that we could have the car, but the only thing to do was go to a park and the kids were bored with that pretty quick. 

Anyway, we spent most of our days in our little hotel room.  Playing barbies, entertaining each other, playing batman, painting toe nails, etc.  When Kyle would get in each evening we would meet him at the door ready to break out of our cage. 

I still managed to get lots of pictures :)!!!

Here are a couple videos of the shows the kiddos put on for me.....

 One of the parks.....

Hard to tell but she was practicing her "balancing a straw on my head" talent.

 We played at the park, picked Kyle up from school, and then headed to the mini mall that we found.  We did a little bit of shopping and then as we were walking through the mall we happened upon a movie theater.  HALLELUJAH!!!  So we went to dinner and then headed back to watch Maleficent.  It was a REALLY good movies.  Even Karter and Sophie enjoyed it.  They said it was a little scary, but over all they were very entertained.

  When we got back to the room, our school boy had to study....

 That night Heidi woke up sometime during the night throwing up.  That was just icing on the cake.  Bless her.  I'm not sure if something she ate just didn't settle well or what, but she never ran fever and didn't throw up any more.  When I told Mama about it, she asked if she needed to come get us.... I quickly replied, YEEESSSSSSS!! Then told her I was kidding.  We could survive another day.

When Kyle came to the hotel for lunch, he sent me this snapchat of what he saw when he pulled up.....

That would be Sophie and Karter fighting in the window seal. 

 We were all chillin' on the bed watching Ice Age and had been watching it for several minutes when Kyle said, "ummmmm that's in Spanish".  I burst out laughing.  The kids and I didn't even notice.  He laughed and said, "I'm so glad I was here to assist y'all" haha!!!

Here's the video to show y'all just how content they were....

 We went down to the pool one more time when he went back to class.  We had a glimpse of hope that it would be fixed........ yeah.... not so much......

 Since the pool was too cold, they had a little beauty shop going on..... that kept them entertained for about.... ummmmm..... 5 minutes.....

 Kyle had lots of studying to do, so that evening we got pizza and headed to the park for a picnic.  It was right up our alley......

Studying while I played with the kiddos. 

 Mom watered my plants for me while we were gone.  She sent me this picture and I was blown away that my Hibiscus had 2 blooms on it.  She obviously has the special touch. 

 They were all pretty tired by the time we got in.  Kyle, Karter, and Sophie crashed and Heidi and I stayed up watching 19 Kids and Counting.  All of a sudden we heard a loud CLOMP and I jumped up thinking Sophie had fallen off the bed.  Her arm was on the side table and she was barely on the bed.... sound asleep.... never did wake up..... Heidi and I were laughing so hard.

 Thursday was check out day.  GLORY GLORY WE SURVIVED THE WEEK!!!  The hotel wouldn't let us check out at a later time, so the kids and I had to leave by 11 and then go around town trying to find stuff to do until Kyle got out.  It seemed like we visited almost every store there was. 

We went in a pet store they had and the only pets they had were cats.  They kept us entertained for several minutes.......

This video of Karter and the cats still makes us laugh when we watch it. 

After this next video, I joked that all the store managers were calling each other warning of the lady with 3 kids that will probably be making their way to their store. 

We were completely DELIRIOUS by this point.....

Daddy's Home! Father's Day! 1st Day in Laurel, Mississippi

 It is always an exciting day for us when Daddy comes home.  We knew those first couple days would be very busy.  He got in a little after 8 Thursday night, Friday we did yard work and got ready for Moms benefit, and Saturday we had the benefit and Oki's party.  WHEW!!!  Sunday we had child care at church, and after church I had to finish laundry and get us all packed to head to Mississippi with Kyle.  He had a school to go to for work and since it is summer time we were able to come with him. 

4 nights, 5 days..... and I was really not looking forward to it.  I wanted us to all be able to spend time together, BUT I knew the hotel had an indoor pool (we are outside people) AND we knew there wasn't much to do in town.  Also, I would have to miss Mom's 5th treatment.... that made me super sad, but she assured me that she would be okay and that I needed to go be with Kyle.  So I thought we'll just make the best of it and enjoy our time together.

Here was our Thursday-Tuesday....

Heidi made the Santa Ana Times (middle pic).  Sophie is the only one that hasn't made it yet :)!

 We were hoping Kyle would get in Thursday afternoon.  So I had planned to take the kiddos swimming at MeMe's and we would wait for him there.  Unfortunately, he got the late flight out so was late getting home.  So my plan was a bust.  We had fun swimming, but just wished he could have joined us.

I am so proud of Karter this summer.  He is already swimming to the drain of the pool......

 Soph kept singing their VBS songs over and over.... so I got it on video too :).....

 We waited outside at our house for over an hour thinking Kyle would drive up any minute.... it's a race between all the kids to see who can give him the first kiss.  That meant no one wanted to go inside and risk not being the first one. 

I finally talked them in to going in and getting a shower and maybe he would be there shortly after.  Of course he got there as they were in the shower :)!! 

Kman LOVES it when Kyle comes home..... that first night he just can't get enough....

 Friday we had to go to the farm to get a fan for Moms benefit and while we were there we let Heidi drive :)!!  It was her first time steering and doing the pedals.  Brought back so many memories for me.  My Dad used to let me do the same thing growing up....

 Sunday was a great day.  I think Kyle had a good Father's Day.  Sadly, my Dad was at work so we will celebrate when he gets home. 

We left that afternoon and made it to Mississippi about 6ish.  We checked in the hotel, went to Walmart for Groceries, and ate supper. 

When we first went up to our room we noticed this sign......

 They got the 3 and 2 mixed up on the bottom sign.  It should say 300-323.  Minor flaw LOL!  My Dad told me we should send it in to Jimmy Fallen to see if he does funnies like Jay Leno used to do.

Alright.... so as much as we have tried to make our stay here worth while and as fun as possible, it has been difficult.  Here is why:
(1) They gave us a smoking room!!!  And told us they are completely booked and we couldn't swap. We bought air freshener plug ins when we were at WM. 
(2) Our room has 1 king bed.  We needed 2 queen beds with all of us, of course we couldn't swap.
(3) When you turn the water on in the shower, yellow water comes out initially.
(4) The pool is inside.  The water is ice cold so the kids do not like it.  There is a hot tub, but it is broken.  So it feels like bath water. 
(5) Kyle's school takes about 10 minutes to get to from hotel.  So he has been taking the car.  We took him back yesterday and I found a park for the kids to play at and after 5 minutes they were too hot. 
(6) The kids and I are bored out of our mind.  There's nothing for us to do.  No where for us to even walk to.
(7) The people at the front desk gave us the wrong wifi password the first night.  Told us the internet was down and would be up in 30 minutes.  That never happened.  The next morning I asked a different lady that was at the desk and she said they gave us the wrong password.  Go figure.
(8) The toilet doesn't even flush half the time.  Yesterday I had to fill the tank up with water to get it to flush.

BUT.... there are some ups to coming.  We get to spend time with Kyle, when he gets done with school everyday we meet him at the door ready to get out of this place.  We have been going to the parks, went to the mall, going to eat, riding around town, and thankfully yesterday we happened upon a movie theater.  So last night we went to the movies. 

This was really sweet to me.... night 1....

 Kyle has to be at school by 7 each morning, so he is gone by the time we all get up.  Thankfully they do have breakfast at the hotel....

 I got that little video of them during breakfast Monday morning.

After breakfast, they could hardly wait to go check out the pool and hot tub.....

 The good thing about it is we have been the only ones at the pool every time we have gone....  makes me wonder how all the rooms are booked when the parking lot isn't full???

The chlorine is so strong it was burning his eyes in this picture.

 They really have enjoyed the hot tub even though it isn't hot :).....

 I was so shocked that they all ended up taking a nap after we went swimming.... worked out perfect for me.  I was able to work on Sophie's party stuff.....

They love watching for Kyle to pull up each afternoon....

 We were SOOOO excited that we found a park to go to.....

 When we left the park we rode around some and then stopped by DQ for some ice cream :)!

See the "Alfalfa" hair sticking up?  That's where her new hair is growing from where she cut it.

This week has been an adventure for sure.  A school trip we certainly won't forget.