It's Always A Holiday at Holiday World!

We went to Jasper this past weekend for a visit and to go to Holiday World before the end of the season. Friday night we saw Tom and Mary and went to the famous Birdseye Dairy Barn! And yes, they do have the best ice cream around. I had what's called a Garbage Can, I think, and it was a banana split thrown into a cup with whip cream on top! Yikes! But we did so much walking on Saturday at Holiday World that I'm sure I walked off all of those calories. Yeah, right. ;)

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our Holiday World excursion:

Jackson on the carousel

Bumper boats, which he loved!

Safari cars

Freedom Train, which there were more big people on than little people for some reason

Seems like that would hurt his ears, but he said it didn't.

Kima Bay! This big thing dumped water on everybody every so often

Jackson LOVED the water park!

He and Tom did the Lazy River and he really liked that too!

More Lazy River!

And this raft thing went down some long tubes and dumped out in a pool! I thought it would scare him, but NOPE! Was ready to go again and again and again!

And here is how he was shortly after we left the parking lot. I'd say it was a great day!

I've been so busy with work and I'm freaking out that I won't have time to get things in order for his party that is coming up! There are so many things that I wanted to have done, but alas, will not be done. Oh, well. I'll do what I can.

Birthday Preparations!

Lots to share today!

Now that I am a little slower with work (as of tonight), I can focus on Jackson's upcoming 4th birthday party! I have found a place to order some cake and appetizer plates that have monster trucks on them and I have also found a monster truck pinata that I need to get ordered. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow.

I mailed out the invitations today, and here is what they look like! I am pretty pleased with the outcome, since it didn't take me near as long as it did last year to make! I guess I know more about Photoshop this year, so it was easier. Anyway, Jackson said it was cool, so it passed the test! Coming soon to a mailbox near you!

I redacted our address and contact info for any sickos that might happen upon this site and want to drop in! I'm sure the info wouldn't be too hard to figure out with all of our names on the site, but I don't want to make it too easy!

I finally was able to get out Sunday night and listen to some live music! And it was a great show! Ann and Ron went with me to see Edwin McCain downtown. Tom had to go out of town, so he was unable to go. I really forgot how much I loved live music. And he really puts on such a great live show. Too bad it was over around 10:30 and I was home by 11:00 or so. Not such a late night, but that's okay.

AND THE NEXT SHOW I WANT TO GO TO IS MAT KEARNEY IN OCTOBER! Click on the below picture to listen to him if you're interested!

Now, here are some more beach pictures from our June vacation! Someday I will be all caught up on these. I have included some of Shawn and Cathy and their boys, Connor and Evan. The first couple are of the boys in the garden tub. They really had a lot of fun in there together. It was kind of like a small pool for them!

Mom came in last weekend to watch Jackson so that I could go out Sunday night and listen to music and to see Jackson again before his birthday! While she was here, we cooked some, she sewed me some new pillow covers for my porch and she sewed together a birthday banner that I wanted to make for Jackson's party. I'll take a picture of it soon and post. It turned out pretty cute. We made jambalaya one night,and it was really good! Click on this picture for the recipe!

This is a picture of my new pillow covers that I am proud of!

And here is a video of Jackson telling some jokes, which is what he really loves doing these days!

Sorry about the video quality, but we have lost our little camera that takes decent video and I had to use an old camera. Anyway, you get the idea!

More Beach Photos!

Dad came in to visit this weekend, and we had a nice time. We didn't do anything exciting, which is fine by me. I have still got quite a bit of work on my plate, which keeps me from doing much of anything, much less anything exciting! We did take advantage of the tax-free weekend here in TN and I bought Jackson some long pants for school which will be starting for him September 10.

Jackson and Dad played a lot, and Jackson loved beating him at "Go Fish"! But I'm afraid Dad was letting Jackson win, which his good ol' momma doesn't do, so I'm sure the next time he and I play, there will be tears shed! Jackson seems to make up rules most favorable to him as he goes along. ;)

I have sent family and some friends a Kodak gallery containing around 100 pictures, which most of them look like the same shot! But here is a sampling:

Cathy and Evan

Pure happiness

Shawn grooming my son to be a gamer!

The sun is bright, Momma!

GRILLED CHICKEN PASTA

IN A TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

This is what we had for supper tonight, and it was really good! Tom grilled the chicken on the grill, and I made the sauce and noodles. Jackson even said he liked the noodles, although he didn't eat very many of them. This girl has a great blog, and here is a link to the recipe for this dish:

GRILLED CHICKEN PASTA

And here's the blog address: www.kevinandamanda.com

And I'll leave you with this European, I'm pretty sure, who seemed a little bit out of place amongst us rednecks in his turquoise Speedo. But he did have a good tan!

ARRRRRRGH!

Before we went on vacation, Cathy and I put a lot of planning into placing buried treasure on the beach so the boys could dig it up. So Tom's mom, Mary Jo, got us some pretty cool "treasure chests" to use and Cathy and I bought a bunch of crap to fill them up with. I bought them shirts that matched that said "Treasure Hunter" on them and Cathy bought them the pirate hats and most of the goodies that went in the chests. Needless to say, they were all pretty stoked to go digging in the sand! Tom found some spots to bury them and wrote some clues to give them so they could find the exact spots to dig.

They all had a great time, but not to the degree that Cathy and I had imagined, I don't think. Anyway, it was pretty funny when on the way back to the condo, Evan turned around and said, "That was fun! Thanks!" So I guess he didn't buy the whole pirates-buried-treasure-on-the-beach idea! ;)

The boys with all their pirate loot!

Funny story:

Jackson and I were in the garage tonight, and he said "Some day I want a little boy." And I said, "Really? You want to be a daddy some day?" And he said, "No, I want to be a momma." And I said, "You're a boy, so you have to be a daddy." And I said, "Why do you want to be a daddy?" And he said, "So when I'm in the garage, I can tell my little boy to stay off the treadmill."

He must hear that a lot!