Memorial Day 2008

Thursday afternoon we loaded up the car with two kids, two (tired) adults, an obscene amount of luggage, approximately 1400 toddler-friendly snacks, a basket of movies and markers, and enough baby toys to occupy a daycare for weeks. Our destination?? Mimi and Papa's house! We arrived Friday morning after a short sleep-stop at my parents' house. Our weekend was jam packed with family, fun, and a little relaxing in between.
On Saturday morning we rolled out of bed and into the cars. Our goal was to chase down some hot air balloons! Josh was excited to share this with Brax because he enjoyed it so much as a child. Brax pointed to the balloons, naming them by color and yelling at them as they cruised through the sky. He was a little less enthusiastic when they landed. The loud noise prompted a lot of screams and "It scawe me." However, I think that he really enjoyed it.

After our hot air balloon chase, we celebrated a "family day" with some of Papa Dave's family. Brody enjoyed hanging out with Mama and meeting some of the family for the first time.

Below is a picture of Brody with Josh's cousin Shawn's two boys, Sebastian and Gabe. They are such sweet little guys! They were kind and gentle with the little boys and so respectful to the adults! If you could have seen these three in person you would have noticed that they each have the "Belville blues." What gorgeous eyes they all share!

Kristin's mom and step-dad were able to make the trip from Connecticut to spend time with Rob, Kristin and Caden. Her step-dad takes some amazing shots with his camera and I had to post a few of my big boy. I never get good pictures of him because he won't be still. However, Dave captured some great moments.

Brax loved fishing! He would approach Josh with a sweet look and say, "I go fishing, Daddy?" Of course Josh couldn't resist spending that "man time" with his little boy. So, they would grab their "fishing foles" and head down to the lake. Josh just loves that Brax is old enough to share in some of the activities that he loves.

They're sharing a good laugh about something out there...

Brax had no fear of the fish. He would touch them, try to hold them, and show them off. After all, he got to "turn" them in after Josh hooked them. His pride was quite evident. He loved them so much that he would give each of them a "kiss."

Sweet baby Brody was back to his old self after two weeks of sickness and stomach-altering antibiotics. You can tell that he had lost a little weight, but I'm happy to report that his appetite is back full-force and his diapers are back to normal :) Whew, he had a tough few weeks! However, his smile was ever-present and his laugh was contagious throughout the weekend.

I love my Mimi and my Papa!!

Mimi and Papa have a "beach" behind their house, complete with a community playground. The kids all loved swinging on the swings and playing in the sand.

Last, but not least, I had to show a picture of the weekend's project. The boys like to be busy with some sort of activity when they're all together. This trip's activity was building corn hole boards. They did a great job with the building, and Kristin's step-dad completed the look by tracing a block-O and Brutus on the front, carefully painting and shading them to perfection. Below are Bobber and Brax with the finished product.

The weekend was so much fun. We wore ourselves out (especially Brax) and are still recovering! I know that Mimi and Papa must still be picking up the pieces that our little tornadoes left in their path :) I picked the best pictures, but didn't get to put any of sweet little Caden. Check out Kristin's blog for more pics. Hope that everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend as much as we did!