Vicksburg Military National Park

 Oh yes we did!  And I'm sure it doesn't surprise you to know that we stopped at historical sites along the way.

 The pictures appeared on my blog out of order but here we are at lunch AFTER Vicksburg but still in Mississippi.

 Again, we picnicked.  Again, it was nice and fun to see what other town playgrounds are like.

 Everyone got to run around before heading on to our destination for the day.

 We arrived at Vicksburg Military National Park just after it opened at 8 that morning.  It was kinda a rainy morning, but we still managed to mostly get out and see every stop along the driving tour.

 Everytime we visit a national park, we have our older kids participate in the junior rangers program.

 Some parks have a scavenger hunt, some have workbooks to complete.  All are fun!

 Lunch/playground photo has appeared!

 This boat was sunk before the civil war with a torpedo (the first torpedo before they were called torpedos) and everyone made it safely off the boat!

 The boat has been recovered from the river and put back together here at the National Park.

 Jackson was napping in the van with Matt on guard, while Collin and Katie and I explored the ship.

 Beautiful hills of Mississippi.

 The house above was a family's home that provided shelter to soldiers during the war.

 This is the memorial made by the state of Illinois for their men that fought and died during the civil war.

 The kids were supposed to count how many steps led up to the memorial and write down what the memorial said on the outside roof area.

 This is the entrance to the driving portion of the park.  Such a pretty driving tour and I highly recommend it!

 I should note that Collin woke up with a fever this morning but was afraid to tell us he was feeling sick because he thought he couldn't go to Disney World.  He had a fever all day long with us rotating tylenol and motrin.  Our plan was to call pediatrician back in Oklahoma the next morning to ask what to do.  He was a trooper!  And you wouldn't have known that he was sick, except for the fact that he was quiet!  And Collin is usually not quiet!

Thursday, July 12, 2012  Day 2  Vicksburg, Mississippi to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

"Cars didn't drive on it to make great time, they drove on it to have a great time." - Sally from Cars

We were so excited to take a vacation this year!  The first (non-work-related) vacation in 6 years!  And I did lots of deep breathing, praying and planning about how to deal with food allergies along the way.  Friends, we packed more food than clothing.

6:00am departed from home

6:05am returned to home because of forgotten EPIPEN!!

6:10am departed home 2nd time

6:20am picked up donuts

6:30am dropped off overdue library books

6:40am returned home for forgotten cell phone!

6:45am departed home 3rd time

At this point we are all still loving each other too!

Once we turned on the Indian Turnpike to head south, Jackson was no longer feeling the vacation euphoria.

 We made it to Paris, Texas for our first scheduled stop.  Isn't everything bigger and better in Texas??  Okay, not this time.  But I do love the cowboy hat touch, don't you?

 I love planning vacations.  And I do like to stop and smell the roses along the way. 

 I don't want to miss one single thing because I might not be back that same route.

 I love Sally's line in the movie Cars, hence the title of this post.  I kept repeating it to myself when the road seemed long.

 My parents taught me to vacation that way.  They stopped and had us learn something and see something new on every trip.  And I have modeled my way of vacationing after them.

 One change in our way of vacationing was eating.  Normally we would stop at a restaurant off the highway.  Not this time.  Severe food allergies caused us to choose a different plan.  And I loved it!

 When it was lunchish time, we punched in "find park" in our GPS and drove to the nearest city park.  It was a great picnic lunch and our kids got to get out of the car and play.  We didn't worry about being too loud or making our kids stay seated in the chairs.  We didn't worry about Jackson not having food to eat or eating something we assumed was ok but wasn't.  What a relief and blessing.  Loved it!  We did plan on eating out one meal a day, dinner.  This day we ate at a Wendy's (gag me).  But I agreed and went along with the majority because we were on vacation and everyone was still happy.  Let's just say the hair in my salad was enough for me to boycott Wendy's again.

 The older 2 kids loved seeing what other playgrounds were like.

 I loved that everyone was happy!

 Remember those hot, tall, metal slides of our youth?  We don't see those much anymore.  But we all took a hiney-burning turn down the slide.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012  Day 1  Edmond, Oklahoma to Vicksburg, Mississippi

4th of July Parade

 Our neighborhood had a scooter/bike/stroller parade for all the kiddos.  Jackson wasn't thrilled about being the lone stroller rider.

 This is Jackson's response when Matt asked, "Jackson, tell us how much you love America."  I'm thinking the heat was getting to him.

 Kate-Kate was fortunate enough to be chosen to lead the parade.

 A bounce house, snow cones and fun with friends capped off the evening.

We feel very blessed to live where we live.  And I hear the president of the HOA is pretty hot too.  :)

Daddy Day

 My sweet Matt has only been able to play golf once this summer.  And on that day, he had 2 lovelies that wanted to play as well.

 All in all a great and HOT day!  Matt is thrilled to enjoy this sport with our kiddos.

Jackson is wanting to know when it's his turn to play!  Instead of golf, Jackson and I took naps and stayed inside with the air conditioning.  I wasn't sad about that one bit.  :)

Katie the super star squirrel in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Katie also did some auditioning in April.  She auditioned for the part of a squirrel for UpStage Theatre's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!  This role was for a "beginner actor" and non-speaking and non-singing.  However, at the audition (which I thought was a matter of filling out paperwork for the non-speaking, non-singing role) they asked her if she would like to sing a song.  Katie said yes.  They asked her what song she would like to sing and she said, "The Backyardigans song."  And then she began with "duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh Hi!  I'm Euniqua!  Hi!  I'm Tyrone...." etc, etc, etc. 

That is our Kate.  Never the shy child.  And while she may decide to never do this again, because she has such a WIDE variety of interests, she had a blast!  I was so very thankful that 2 families from church also had their older children involved and Katie loves them and looks up to them so much!

So our Katie was a squirrel!  And she was the cutest little squirrel in the show.  Copyright approved pictures to be posted as soon as her CD arrives!



He's a what? He's a what? He's a Music Man!

 Collin auditioned for and was cast in The Music Man.  With auditions in April, rehearsals beginning in May and 8 shows in June, Music Man took over our family schedule!  Above is the unsanctioned photo I snapped before realizing there were copyright laws regarding costumes and such.  Thankfully they let me keep my one photo.

 Here are 2 approved photos!  Collin loved every minute of rehearsals, singing, costuming (not so much the makeup).  And I loved the group of people he worked with, six wonderfully amazing boys and 5 young girls, along with the college kids and adults.

Collin did such a great job as a member of the River City boys band!  He is so brave and animated!  I look at him and wonder how he is my child.  When my copyright approved CD arrives be sure that I will post many more pictures of Music Man.

Jackson and the big boy bed

You can see he LOVES sleeping in it!  He has done really well since I took this picture back in early June.  But sometimes I still find him right at the gate.  Shannon Phelps and your shower group:  this gate was a great gift 9 years ago!!!  We are still using it!  Thank you again!