A Month in Mississippi

I haven't stayed in MS this long since I've lived there 8 years ago.  Hard to believe its been that long.  It was great getting back to quite life of country living and small towns.

Vivian had lots of "firsts" while she was there.  She went to her first zoo, Jackson Zoo.  It was us and maybe 12 other people there.  It definitely has changed since I was a child, but Vivy enjoyed herself.  She especially lived the flamingos.

(I somehow managed to lose my camera that had all the pictures taken from the zoo and I didn't take any with my phone.  So sad.)

She went to her first dairy farm.  My Mom's sister and her husband are owners.  I loved going there as a kid!  Seeing all the calf's, playing on the bails of hay, playing in the creek and pushing pellets out of bunny rabbits.  That was so mean of us!  Vivian loved the farm.  She even went to another farm and saw horses.

     

Played in the rain.

Went to her great grandmothers house.

Sitting in great grandmama's chair

Rode on a carousel at Tanger Outlet.

Played in the sprinklers.

B and I even were able to get away for a few days.  One day we spent the day at Geyser Falls Waterpark.  That was a lot of fun.  We even spent a few days down in Biloxi for our 8 year wedding anniversary.  We stayed at Palace Casino for 2 nights.  Nice little getaway, but I really missed little tootie-toot. 

Vivian turned 13 months on June 22nd, our 8 year wedding anniversary.  You are almost running, don't like food that is cold, love fruit and veggies, you say "yeah" all the time, if I say "bring me your yellow ball" or "give Bro Bro his baby" you'll do it without me pointing, you have weaned yourself off your bottle, you still aren't a fan of your carseat, you are a great sharer, you are gentle with animals, you love books, brushing your teeth, you are a total Mama's girl.

 Memom and Papa sure did enjoy little girl!

Playing chase with Papa

Helping Memom snap beans

B left a week before us and when Vivy and I returned home, he had a surprise for her.  A big pink polar bear!

 
We had a great time Mississippi!  We already miss you!

July 4th Weekend

Well, we survived the 13 hour car ride to Mississippi with a one year old.  Driving through the night is the way to go.  Kudos to B for driving all the way!

On Friday, it was just the family of 5 until my brother and his family arrived that evening.  We stayed outside the majority of the day.  Vivy played in the kiddie pool, swung and Papa wheel-barreled her around the yard.

Brian fished and shot turtles.  He was a happy boy.  Gotta love getting out of 'city' and back to the country.

We went the traditional route and grilled some hotdogs and had banana pudding for dessert.  Delicious!

 Afterwards we walked down to the creek to burn off a few calories.  It was a little grown, but it made it seem a little more adventurous.  I even had to jump on daddy's back to walk across the tall grass.  I didn't want redbugs to get me!

Vivy was worn out by the end of the day, poor thing. We went ahead and started her bath at 6pm and she was asleep just after 6:30pm.

Chris and them arrived around 7 or so and we had started shooting fireworks.  It doesn't matter how old you are, shooting fireworks never gets old!  We did have a few scary instances.  The first incident, Mom was shooting a bottle rocket and instead of shooting off into the pond, it back-fired towards us.  The second incident, B picked up a cone called "Double Trouble" and asked me if someone had already shot it.  I said, "yes" because there looked like there was a whole at top where it would have gone off.  He threw it into the fire.  Not long afterwards, a dynamite sound went off and things started shooting.  Everyone took off running.  It was hilarious and scary at the same time.  Brody isn't afraid of fireworks, but after that, poor little guy was shaking each time a firework went off.  The third incident, B did the "finale" with fireworks that shot high up in the air and did different designs.  Well, the last one that shot off didn't go into the air, it went off just out of the canister.  We didn't here B or see him move.  He walked over a minute later and said it off way too early.  He was a little smokey.  
Interesting night.

The next day, we explored around the house.  Went to the creek, played basketball, fished, relaxed.

 

 

Finished off the weekend by going to church.

The weather was perfect, great company and memories to last us a lifetime.  Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!