Memorial Day Celebrations

On Memorial Day, we woke up at Grandma Ann's house. We got ready and headed over to the Memorial Day celebration taking place in the park in Kampsville where my Grandma and Grandpa live. Grandpa served in the Korean War. He is part of the Legion post in Kampsville. He is also mayor of the town so we knew we needed to be there. Naturally we forgot that there is a ferry that connects the two sides of the river. So we were late. Like 10 minutes late. Oh Well.

 

We got to be there for it.

As we walked up, these lovely gentlemen were getting ready to shoot their guns.

Clearly Charlotte didn't like it.

My boys...

 

Small town USA saluting America.

This, my friends, is what it is all about.

This, my friends, is the area of the world that I want to raise my kids.

My Dad gave a speech about my friend Tyler that was injured in Iraq in 2004. It was such a good speech and made Dad and I cry. (Not shocking). I love Memorial Day. I love celebrating the lives of the men and women who have given their lives for our freedom. I love remembering them and their families that they left behind.

 

This is my Grandpa.

He is a hero.

These two have the same hair.

Kisses for Great Grandma.

These two are brothers.

They are both veterans.

Mom plays taps every year at the Memorial Day program.

 

Mom, Grandpa, Aunt Bev, Mom's two cousins, and Uncle Deener.

Uncle Deener and some of his grandkid crew :)

Charlotte was in rare form.

That usually happens on big weekends :)

This is such a good picture of these two.

I'm very proud of it.

After the steaming hot celebration in the park with bugs all over us and biting us, we headed to the American Legion hall and ate some delicious food.

Sweet Charlotte and Great Grandpa Redeye.

They were sharing secrets.

Hugs and kisses for Great Grandma.

After lunch we headed over to the swimming party at Aunt Diane's pool.

It's always a big party!

Such a fun family!

Katie is cool.

Charlotte sneaking a drink of my Moto soda.

Swimming with Daddy!!!

Liss and Kyla hanging in the pool!

Aunt Kathy isn't exactly a fish in the water but she jumped off of the diving board anyway :)

Gotta love her!!!

(We sent all of the boys down to help if she needed it.)

Didi bought all of the kids some sort of blue slushie things. They LOVED it.

Clearly Alana preferred other things.

A big blue mouth....

Kyla was down to business. She was determined to finish her slushie!

 

We had a great day at Aunt Diane's house. Mom and Dad ended up coming over to Aunt Diane's. Dad and Alex rode home together. Mom rode back to the villa with the kids and I. We spent the night at the villa and went to St. Louis the next day. We had such a great Memorial Day Weekend!

 

A big thanks to all of our family for the fun and thanks to my cousin Melia for taking our pictures on the farm.

A Day With The Greats

On Friday, January 24, 2014, Mary and I got up and headed down South for a busy weekend of family events. I picked her up and we drove to Kampsville to see Grandma and Grandpa Schumann... AKA Grandma and Grandpa Great.

 

We ate a delicious lunch at the Kampsville Inn. The kids played the games with Grandpa and Grandma. They ran around (like they always do) and just ruled the world.

 

Afterwards we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to hang out for awhile.

Grandpa even took the afternoon off of work!

He had much more important things to do....like read books to his babies.

Check out the lollipop in Charlotte's hand. She even weaseled that out of Grandpa at the restaurant.

Sawyer jumped in with a different book.

He also decided that he needed to watch HIS shows....and not Grandma's Family Feud she normally has on.

He is so cute.... he peed through...like he always dose.... He kind of looks like a bruise here in his different shades of blue. He was playing with ALL of Grandpa and Grandma's figurines....and breaking them.

 

Grandma says she never gets kisses. Yes you do, Gram. I have proof!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Charlotte and Sawyer (and pregnant Mary) enjoy the big red ball/pillow/chair/couch/bed thing that Grandma bought off of the internet.  It's huge.

I think someone had stinky feet...

Let's see...

Yep!!! She did!!

I wish Grandma wasn't blurry in the background. What a great picture.

The two cowboys. Apparently Charlotte didn't get the memo that everyone was supposed to wear shades of blue.

Grandma and Grandpa Schumann and some of their great grandchildren.

I love this one :)

 

We had such an awesome day with Grandma and Grandpa Schumann. The kids loved hanging out with them...and perhaps breaking a few things.

 

Thanks for the day, Grandpa and Grandma. You both don't look a day over 40 and don't act a day over 30. We love you so much!



A Day in Calhoun and A Long Drive Home

On July 6, 2013, the kids and I woke up at Mom and Dad's villa. We spent the day there...just hanging out. We did the pool thing and napped and played. We got a surprise in the afternoon when Chet and Vanessa came to visit us. They just showed up! It was great! We were so happy :) (I don't think we had seen them since May at Eric's wedding.) We had planned to have dinner with Grandpa and Grandma in Kampsville so we invited Chet and Vanessa and Aunt Bev, Uncle T, and Xander.

We met at the ever so famous Kampsville Inn. Or at "the Inn" if you are a local.

Charlotte ran right for Grandma... which is funny bc Grandma always tries to tell me that Charlotte never comes to her and doesn't like her. Charlotte went straight for her and Grandma held her for awhile.

She is biting her nails in this picture... which is usually what she does when she is nervous.

Charlotte loves her Great Aunt Bess.

Aunt Bess and two of her very favorite people in this world.

We tried to do a quick photoshoot while we waited for our meal. We thought we would get the three great grandchildren with Grandma and Grandpa while Xander was back visiting from NC. These two boys were representing...and Grandpa looks worried about something.

So, this was Charlotte's reaction to being in a picture with her great grandparents. 

Precious, right?

(Note the ferry in the background. My cousin on the Weber side's husband is driving it at the moment of this pic. He honked at us. Kinda funny.)

Oh wait, she's fine now.

We went back inside and Chet and Great Grandpa Redeye provided the kids with tons of quarters. Charlotte was loving having Vanessa and Xander to play with. (She LOVES them)

Someone even bought her a sucker!

Sawyer knows what a sucker is. He thinks he will just try it out.

This is so funny!!

Sawyer loving on his Great Aunt Bev.

Xander with his grandparents.

She loves this boy more than life.

A fabulously happy family.

Xander loves his Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Chet.

How cute are they???

Love them.

Charlotte felt that she needed to show Vanessa something REALLY important.

We had an amazing supper and then we loaded up and headed back to Metamora. Alex worked all day this particular day (as he does and has almost every single Saturday since we have been married.) We headed home so that we could spend all of Sunday with him.

This was my sunset between Carrollton and Jacksonville as I drove home.

There is just something about a Midwestern sunset...

The kids slept most of the drive since we started driving around 8 pm. We got home a few minutes before 11. I was able to talk on the phone, Charlotte watched tv/slept, and Sawyer slept fabulously. 

It was a great 4th of July weekend.... Very busy. Lots of family time. Lots of time outside. Absolute perfection.