Cousin Week 2010

All last summer I wanted to make a trip to Little Rock. The summer slipped away from me and we never made the trip. This year, I talked with Julianne in advance (shocker), and we figured out the perfect week. Jared headed south of the boarder the first week of June so I headed up to the beautiful hills of Little Rock (no I'm not kidding! if you've never been to Arkansas, you're missing out. it really is a beautiful drive). I got a little nostalgic, having not driven that way in a long, long time. We have mostly flown over the past several years, so driving brought back lots of memories. I thought of places we use to stop as a family, like Bryces in Texarkana, or the Friendship, AR sign that we took pictures under on a little girls trip up to Kanakuk. I also thought of a million lake trips to Ouachita, some camping, some in a cabin. Hot Springs is where my dad grew up and I love it there too. I saw that exit and thought about my sweet Granny and PaPa. Hot Spring is also where Stephen and I went on our first anniversary. We stayed at Mountain Harbor on lake Ouchita.

Hudson and Mojor were troopers, for sure. We left Victoria around 7:30am and arrived in Little Rock around 5:00pm. We had one long stop in Nacogdoches for a Chick-fil-a lunch, and a couple of potty stops for Hudson. We set up camp at the Hoerman's house and let the festivities begin!

Julianne got a very nice blow up pool that didn't take that long to blow up with the pump but filling it up with water took awhile. The kids didn't have the patience to wait so there was a lots of jumping around while we filled it up.

Ryan-Kate taught Hudson and Major about cool bath activities, like dying that water...FUN!

sweet girl

Hudson and Major are dressed and ready to go and "Miss Beauty Sleep" has just gotten out of bed and is still rockin' the PJs.

Julianne kept coming up with the coolest things to do. Here we all are at the Museum of Discovery, downtown. This place was so fun for them.

The next day we all drove to Brinkley, AR to meet up with Big Daddy. It had been awhile since the Livesay crew had seen him. We met at McDonalds and played, and then Big Daddy gave us a tour of where he grew up. I had been all around Brinkley, growing up, but it was cool to have Big drive the boys around and tell stories!

Frank Major Cole~~BIG DADDY

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Graham Major Livesay

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Big Daddy with his name sake

Okay, we did this every day after naps!

This place "rocks!" No really, there were rocks everywhere. Little Rock, I get the name now. The splash park was so fun and it sits at the bottom of a hill, and there are all the these tunnels that lead to a little park/climbing area/ slide thing... very cool and very entertaining.

Hudson at the top of the slide.

Major is crawling up the rocks to the right.

Major flew out and onto his biscuits.

Happy after a fun slide.

Watching a race car at the pizza place.

Oh yeah, we did it!

Hudson loved it but was a little bummed that he didn't get to drive. Sorry, buddy, according to the sign you need to grow about 5 more inches.

tiny bowling

Ice-cream Break

ice cream smiles

we're all happy

There was a girls night on Wednesday. Julianne, Nicole and I went out for dinner while sweet Laramie watched the kiddos. It was nice to get out and have kid-free time. On Thursday, Julianne and I had Laramie babysit again. We shopped for brick, for Julianne's new house, got pedicures, shopped more, and ate dinner out! Fun, Fun!!!

We left on Saturday morning and the road trip went great, until... We got to Houston, and my car got funky on me. Several lights came on and my AC stopped blowing cold air!!! Two Hours from home! It was miserable! I kept checking to make sure the kids didn't pass out because it was 96* out side. Horrible, but Stephen met us pretty quick after we got to Victoria. He took over the boys and I took a bath!

SHREK Forever After

SHREK is a big favorite around our house. I think it started as I tried to steer clear of "baby movies,"even if just for an hour and a half. My parents gave me SHREK 2 at some point, so we have it at the house. SHREK is endearing to us because Stephen calls Hudson a stinky ogre, often. This started when we would smell Hudson's feet and faint from the smell. It has become a game of us smelling his feet, and then fainting or doing something to express how stinky his feet are. Now Stephen just flat out calls him a stinky ogre and Hudson seems proud of the title.

Mission complete - They enjoyed it, sat in their seats (for the most part), and had fun going to the big theatre. I think they were all around impressed, and now we're geared up for Toy Story 3, very soon...

High Divin'

Hudson decided to jump off the diving board today!

It's a small miracle that I had my camera and that I got some pictures considering the spontaneity of it all. What a little dare devil! He has never had swim lesson but loves the water. He was determined. This was his SECOND attempt up the ladder. The first time he decided not to go but a few minutes later he was ready to go for broke. Love the way his little heart trust daddy in the water considering Hudson can't swim on his own. Wow!

The only thing I missed was Major insisting on following big bros lead and jumping also. I held him off for a little while but he would have none of it. Stephen took Major up on the board and walked him to the edge thinking Major would decided not to go, but that's not what happened. Stephen finally got to the end of the board holding Major and they JUMPED! Stephen said Major's face when they came up was priceless. It looked like he might not want to do that again for awhile, but you have to give it to him for trying.

End of Year PARTY for Hudson's class

There was pizza and Major loved it.

There were lots of pools for splashing and Hudson loved it.

All at once, several of the boys took off for the street. Yes, that makes since guys. Leave the 4 swimming pools, slip n slide, sprinkler, pizza, and ice cream sundaes for the street.

There was pure three year old craziness as the kids FINALLY got to eat sundaes. Hudson's in the back. He kept following me around and then ended up at the back of the line.

This school year was so great for Hudson. I love his teachers and he really grew a lot. He went from not potty trained at all to a total pro with the help of his teachers. He was technically supposed to be potty trained for the beginning of school but after a few accidents we got the go ahead to wear pull-ups and try again later. It really took the pressure off for something I didn't think he was really ready for. We also worked through being a little rough in the first semester to staying on green the majority of the time. This school has been around for awhile. I have friends in Victoria that went to PDS when they were little. I love that! His teachers, Joni and Mary have taught there for a long time and they really do so many fun and creative things with the kids. My favorite thing is the way they love them. Hudson will have them again next year! We're keeping him with them so he'll be in class with the kids he'll go to kindergarten with... eventually. That August 31st birthday will make him one of the oldest in the class next year instead of the absolute baby. Major will go to school for the first time in the 2 year old class. We'll be praying hard all summer for all those sweet teachers.