A Patriotic Outing

This past weekend was thankfully pretty quiet. My parents kept the kids ALL DAY on Saturday so Brian and I got tons of stuff done... we had a nice grown up lunch, we went shopping, we took a nap. We had tons of things we could have done that would have been productive, and I'd like to say we did at least one of those things. We didn't. It was awesome!

On Sunday, I decided that it was finally time to take Papaw over to the War Memorial by his house. My cousins and I got him a brick for Christmas this year. The memorial was officially opened on Memorial weekend, but we hadn't been by there yet. I have to say that it was really fun. We went and picked Papaw up. He wasn't expecting us, but he jumped out of his chair and off we went. The people who put the memorial together were fairly wise about it. There are no steps or obstacles to keep veterans away. They add new bricks every year on Memorial Day. It is very pretty even from a distance, and up close it is a great place to reflect. Papaw had a great time. The kids didn't understand, but had a great time anyway. I really enjoyed looking over all the bricks. I really like this way of honoring people who have served in the military (local and tangible).

Then last night we went swimming. My kids are officially fish! We got some fun under water shots! I'm working on not completely freaking out when the kids take a dive and are under water for longer than 5 seconds. It really goes against everything in me to let them play under water, but I'm so relieved to know they can handle themselves at least a little near water.

Finally!

I finally feel like I'm ready to get caught up. The past month was crunch time. The type of month where things only get done if it is a necessity. I'm not sure why it felt so busy, but it did. The good news is that my granddad is healthy again, the kids can swim (sort of), I have graduated from all the Wilton Cake Decorating classes, and another Douthit cousin has found a woman willing to put up with him for eternity. Congrats to Andrew and Leah!

A large portion of the Douthits were in town for the wedding. We had so much fun. There is always 100 things going on at once. Some of the craziest moments are when we are mobilizing. Making sure that everyone is in a car going to a single place is hysterical. I'm not sure how we have avoided our own home alone story for this long. Simply deciding who would stay in which hotel rooms was pretty entertaining. Everyone wants to be with everyone all the time. I'm so glad that my kids are experiencing this. I know realistically someday these get togethers won't be as common and some kids born into the family in the future won't have these same experiences.

It is SOOO fun to watch Eli and Jaxon with the family. I can't even describe how much fun they have. Both of my boys are somewhat shy with adults. They get to the point with the family where they don't have a clue who is holding them (or throwing them) and they don't even care! They are already asking me to go to Houston for a visit because they know that is where the largest gatherings of people are. Anyway, these get togethers with the family is such a fun time for Brian and me, I'm glad that our kids will have some of these memories themselves.

This is Gene (Brian's paternal grandfather) and me at the wedding. He is the patriarch of the Douthit Clan. He and his wife Doris will be married for 60 years next month! He has 5 kids, 17 grandkids, and 4 great grandchildren (with another one on the way).

The Fourth of July was really fun. We had a Douthit brunch before everyone left town, then Brian's family ended up over at my parent's house for a cook out. My grandfathers were there too! The highlight was Elizabeth bringing her violin. I had begged all weekend for her to play, and she finally caved! We got her to play some patriotic music, classical music, and "Axel F". Ya, you read that right. Eli and Jax LOVE "Axel F" by Crazy Frog (the song from the 80 movie, but redone by a singing frog). That was pretty much the highlight of my day. I have all of this on video! Eli had a fake microphone that he sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" while Elizabeth played. ADORABLE! We all ended up in the pool and hot tub after dinner. Tanner, Brian, and my boys had a great time swimming. The rest of us tried to stay out of the line of fire as best we could : )