Alligator Adventure

After the interesting lunch at Dick's Last Resort, we headed over to Alligator Adventure. It was pretty cool, but VERY hot. Here are som highlights ...

An Eyelash Snake

Albino Alligators
Allen watching a Galapagos Tortoise

Allen petting the Galapagos Tortoise!

Miss me?

I've been so busy lately. And unfortunately, I don't have too much to show for it ... except for these silly pictures Aubrey took of my new muscles (I've been working out with a trainer for a few weeks now).

You can't see them particularly well, but trust me, I'm much stronger than I used to be. I won't bore you with the details though.

Anyway, in addition to me getting all buff, we had a visit from the Craig/Moyer family (and Aubrey is still with us), we had our District Convention (more on that soon), and we've been getting ready for our summer Market trip to Atlanta (where I am now).

More on the Craig/Moyer visit and the DC to come ...

XOXO,

Fabulous time ... where to begin??

Well, we're finally home. We had an unbelievably wonderful time (thank you Nana and Papa), and we are sufficiently exhausted. I had such high hopes of posting while there, but with hundreds of photos to go through, I found the task a little too daunting. Here are some photos to whet your appetite (in no particular order) ... I'll be posting much more over the days to come.

xoxo,

Enjoying a show with Nana at Sea World
Charming the "ladies"

Playing with Uncle Josh (in a "London" phone booth)

His black eye (which he got within minutes of our arrival)

People Wait! Boogie Night

Before I post about the Peanut, I'd like to say that I don't like any of your responses to my puppy post. C'mon guys, I want a new "baby," but I'm not ready to have one of the human variety. Support the need ... is it really that much more expensive to have two? (that's not a sarcastic question ... I'm serious. I've never really noticed the expense of having Mia. Is it noticeable with two dogs?). Though, I have to say that with four negative responses, my confidence is wavering. Anywho ...

Tonight, my child was atrocious at the meeting. I can't even begin to explain how bad he was. Testing limits ... yelling ... I don't know what came over that child, but I was at my wits' end. It didn't help that Daddy is still sick and stayed home tonight. But I don't think that was all it was. That child deliberately did things I told him not to do. It was awful. Even Nana was surprised and said, "he's testing you." If she says something negative about the Peanut, then you know he was naughty.

Two positives from the meeting though ... 1) he said "Amen" really loudly and enthusiastically at the end of the meeting (we were in the bathroom for the first prayer because he was throwing a fit, so maybe he said it super loud to make up for that); 2) when the first two people walked out of the Kingdom Hall, he yelled, "People, wait!" and continued to yell that for the rest of the time we were there. Except for when he was rolling around on the floor ... oh and on the stage too (see what I mean about being naughty?)

Also, we discovered today that he now says, "I got you man (or I got chew man)." I'm not sure where he learned this, but it certainly is amusing.

Now onto more positive things ... dinner with the Todds during our Pennsylvania trip. Allen and Ava were hilarious. Here are some shots at dinner ...

Uncle Brian taught Ava to stick her tongue out (I'm sure her Mommy and Daddy are forever grateful for that one)

Contemplative Ava

What a cutie!

Even cuter close up!


Allen wearing Ava's barrette

As hard as I tried, I could not get one single nice picture of the two of them.


I think Ava grabbed Allen's butt ...

Once we got outside and finished the supposed "posed shots," the kids decided to dance. Tony provided the "beat" ...

Ava getting down!

The two of 'em groovin'

And groovin' some more!

He moves like such a white boy ...




And hugs at the end of the night (I can't wait to display this picture at their wedding!)

XOXO my loves, I've got to go to sleep now!


P.S. I'm only five viewers away from the big 500! Let's hope I get five more new viewers in the next couple days!

Stay Back, Stinky, Groucho

So, I have like a skillion pictures from our Pennsylvania trip to post, but it's already almost midnight as I begin this post, so we're going to have to do it in several parts. I hope to post them all by early in the week.

Before I get started, I am sad to say that we did NOT win the chili cook-off (although, I do think that our chili was the best there). On a very positive note, we had a record night at Joli (for those of you who are curious, we did better than we did on Oktoberfest), doubling our month's sales in one evening! Woohooo!!!

But I digress ... Back to the true subject of this blog, my hilarious son Allen. Before I begin the recap of our Pennsylvania trip, I'd like to share two cute stories from this weekend ...

While we are still obsessed with Cars (and the collection has grown exponentially over the past few weeks), we are also branching out to Madagascar. I thank McDonald's for that, since their happy meal toys are the characters from the movie (promoting Madagascar II, of course). So last night at Nana's, Allen watched part of cars and the decided he wanted to watch "Agasca" (Madagascar). Papa, Nana, Big Dude (aka Uncle Mark), and Ashell (aka Aunt Michelle) all sat down with him to watch. At one point, Alex (the lion), tells Marty (the zebra) to "Stay Back!" Allen decides to pick this up. "Stay back!" he starts to say to each of us.

A few moments later, Nana decided Allen needed is diaper changed. She stands up, and he starts backing away (he has this thing with walking backwards lately -- it looks like he's trying to Moonwalk), and he says, "Stay back, Nana, stay back!" Fabulous, eh?

Tonight as I was getting Allen changed for bed, he informed me that he had to go potty. So we went and sat on the potty and read the "Potty Book." We read the whole thing (it's actually pretty long), and when it got to the part about putting a sticker on the chart, he wanted to pick a sticker out. So we said, OK, stand up so we can see what sticker to put on (he gets a smaller flower sticker for sitting, and a big sticker that says various things like "Hooray for Pee" if he goes). Lo and behold, he went peepee in the potty! Good job, Allen.

After we flushed the peepee and washed his hands and brushed his teeth, he says to us, "Poopy is stinky!" Ain't that the truth!

Now onto the first part of our family trip recap.

On Thursday, Daddy and Allen got haircut. Allen sat in the chair for the first time without freaking out. Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me then (it wasn't really a planned haircut), but we did get a couple shots that evening before meeting. Note that he was NOT happy that we were going to meeting because it meant that the cars had to stay home.

Stay tuned for additional installments of the Pennsylvania Trip recap. Goodnight kids!

XOXO,

Not Forgotten

We're back from our trip, finally. We left a day late, and had a very long drive home, but we're here! I have not forgotten about my loyal readers (all, what ... 3 of you?). I'll be posting stories and photos soon, but I thought I'd share this one to hold you over ...

The Oyster Roast is tonight, and Joli has entered the Chili cook-off. I'll let you know tomorrow if we won (and yes, I did bribe our customers to vote for us).

More soon, I promise. Ciao!

So Long, Farewell ...

We're off to Pennsylvania tomorrow morning (we're leaving at 6 am) to visit with family and dear, sweet friends. We're so excited. Unfortunately, I am still awake at almost 11:30, watching the presidential election coverage. Certainly a historical night in U.S. history, isn't it?

Anyway, the laptop is coming with me. The camera is coming with me. So hopefully you will see at least a few posts during the next week. We hope for an uneventful drive up to Pennsylvania. We've got several movies for Allen (of course, Cars), snacks for all, and the car is already mostly packed.

Wish us a safe trip, and I'm sure you'll hear from us soon. Love and goodnight!

xoxo,