true boy tales: Labor Day in Memphis

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Labor Day in Memphis

Per my Aunt Alicia's request (my Dad's sister who lives in Atlanta), we held a mini family reunion of sorts at my parents house this past weekend. It was for whoever could make it. Unfortunately my little sis, Claire, had to work, and my brother and his wife are just too darn far away. (We all hope that someday that won't be the case ;)
It was the first time we were at their house with Seth and Bethany and the girls so of course, that was a lot of fun for the kids to have their cousins there. We had a fun weekend, albeit not at all relaxing :)Hopefully in a few more years these road trips will be more fun and less work! Channing still doesn't sleep well at all in the car. He took four naps on the way down with a cumulative total of 35 minutes. So not fun. What are the chances he'll change his ways in a month when we drive down to Florida?? Crossing my fingers.

Jon and I and the boys stayed at a friend's cottage. There wasn't enough room for everybody at my parents so we volunteered to stay here instead. My parents lived here for 6 weeks before they found a house and we visited them here last year. Its the cutest little place in the woods and its the most peaceful thing ever to sit out on the screened-in porch in the morning. (Ok, so I lied. About half an hour of each day was relaxing ;)

The big kids with Grandad! I just love this shot because everyone has such big natural smiles. A rare thing from a couple cute but stubborn kids :)

Every time they've been in a pool this summer, they've gotten better and better. This weekend, Jon taught Bennett to get a dive stick off the bottom of the deep end!! Holy cow, this kid is amazing in the water:

Dawson has done a little bit of swimming without floaties this summer but he definitely got more confident this weekend and went further. His eyes were always red and burning the whole weekend because he spent so much time swimming with his face in the water and wouldn't keep goggles on! So proud of my little fishies:

Example A of stubborn kids ;)

With Aunt Alicia. She worked hard to make friends with all our kids (who were too little to remember her last visit) and she won each and every one of them over by the end of the weekend! It was so much fun to have her there with us.

We even fit in a little kid-free shopping trip on Sunday afternoon (!!!!). I love shopping with my mom since we have such similar taste. I got a new light fixture for our dining room which I will blog about soon. And a trip to my favorite store ever, Anthropologie, made me one very happy girl. Our family came home late Monday night utterly exhausted but overall it was a wonderful visit, and so fun to get a few more pool days in!

1 comment:

TABSeptember 14, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Happy family time!
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for the book lovers {my recent favorites}:

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan: An incredibly haunting medical memoir. There's a lot of medical info to read through but I didn't find those parts boring and difficult to wade through. I thought she shared just enough. But if you like a book that's easy to read, this isn't it. I couldn't get this one out of my mind for a very long time. An unforgettable true story.
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarty: I'm just going to lump these two together because they're in the same category. I'm calling them deep chick lit. A perfect summer book to get lost in. Read them. Both. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that you will LOVE them. (I liked them both way better than Where'd You Go, Bernadette.)
These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner: Most of my favorite books have a main character with a whole lotta grit. I wasn't quite sure about this one when I first started it but, oh, did it sweep me in and not let me go til the last page. I also love a book that makes me "emote out loud" as I like to think of it. This one had me smiling all the way through and crying my eyes out at the end. It follows a young girl through her life in the Arizona Territories in the late 1800's. A must read for anyone who likes Historical Fiction.
Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill. I LOVED this book. Its a very well researched historical fiction novel about a young girl kidnapped from her village in Africa and sold into slavery. It follows her through her whole life and the unbelievable heartache and trauma she lives through. I've been telling people I liked it as much as Unbroken but the main character is so much more endearing and has so much spunk.
Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison. I have a thing for modern day memoirs of utterly heartbreaking stories (Like Breaking Night and Blackbird). This is a Foster mother's first-hand account of the children she took in over the years and the unbelievable trauma they went through before they came to her.
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. I loved this lighthearted yet emotional story of a strong woman making the best of a hard life in the Southwest, beginning in the 1930's. I love her writing style--just cuts to the point of every story without too much "fluff" and yet tells it in a way that you can picture everything in vivid detail. Her memoir, The Glass Castle, is one of my all-time favorites, and this true-life novel about her grandmother didn't disappoint.
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Modern day fiction about a girl raised in Foster homes and her struggles throughout life. She learns about the Victorian Era language of flowers and that becomes a huge part of her life. I finished it in two days. An easy read but very emotional and moving.
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. The true story of a man's experience after Hurricane Katrina when he decided not to evacuate in order to look after several properties he owned. Quite an unbelievable story and so hard to believe this happened in the US only a few years ago.