Summer Vacation 2007-the conclusion

After a doctor's appointment in Mississippi, we brought my mama back with us for a visit. She cooked some yummy food, helped a ton with laundry, and helped me feel better while I was recovering from a bad reaction to some anti-anxiety med that I only took twice, but threw me for a loop anyway. We went back down for a follow-up appointment and bought my daddy back with us for a literal 60 hour visit. We went to the Splash Pad Park and went bowling. We had a fun, but way too short visit.
Saturday the 21rst, we loaded up the trucks(van and sentra) and moved to Beverly-well we actually took the Natchez Trace to Jackson, but Beverly Hills sounds more dramatic. It was fun but it took forever. We stopped in Tupelo and convinced Imogen she didn't need a $17.99 black stuffed puppy replica of Lewis and Clark's dog, and ate lunch. We split at Jeff Busby so Mark could head out to his friend's place in Carthage. I drove the van with my parents and youngins in the back and we stopped at Cypress Swamp on the way. I thought Imogen was gonna have a nervous breakdown. She said "why did you ever bring me here?" and "I am never gonna come back here." If you have never been to Cypress Swamp-it can be kinda creepy and I have seen alligators there on more than one occasion and it was getting kinda low light time of day and she has watched a lot of scooby doo including the one about zombies set in New Orleans.

When we finally got to Jackson proper, we stayed with my sister half the week and at a hotel in Clinton the remaining portion of the week. Our main purpose for the visit was so Imogen could go to Mrs. Robin's Kindermusik Camp. I knew we would want to visit for a full week so I just chose the week the camp was going on. She had a great time and we had a nice visit. She woke up that Monday morning with her first loose tooth and couldn't wait to tell everybody, but ironically we were just us for the first time in about two weeks, so we called everybody from my sister's house and told them the exciting news. When I picked her up a camp that day, she was playing with that loose tooth-it hasn't come out just yet-but it was enduring how preoccupied she was.

Somewhat begrudgingly, we came home on the 30th. We met Imogen's kindergarten teacher at the park-she has a 4-year old son herself and she mentioned something about a drive-in theatre. I told Mark and he was also intrigued so we investigated further. Neither of us had ever been to one before.
We went this past weekend to Stardust in Watertown. We saw Underdog and Ratatouie. Apparently all the movies are double features.

We went and bought the squirts new shoes last night, and Imogen said "Sketchers!" as soon as she saw the display and wouldn't even try on a brand that wasn't "Sketchers". More proof she watches too much television as if I needed more proof. Clark got a cute pair of New Balances for his chubby wittle feet.

We go Thursday to meet Imogen's first grade teacher. She also has her very first dentist appointment that day. Her first full day of school is Monday. First Grade Baby!
So see ya Summer! Hope next year's summer brings a video camera, a trip to Destin, weight loss and better finances.

Summer Vacation part two

June went by. Imogen went to a fun art camp one week, and we drove down to Mississippi one weekend for a quick visit I think. I have been also keeping a handwritten journal with more detail-it might say for sure. She went to Bible School and even took her friend with her a few nights and on that Sunday morning for the closing service. Mostly I feel like we took June as a happy-to-be-home-from-school month.
My brother had been in an internship this summer out in NC and he and his wife met here over July 4th weekend. We ate a lot of good food, played guitar hero and cards, and shot fireworks. It was so great being with family that weekend and I think it helped me /evade my increasing feelings of anxiety. I hadn't had to take medication for anxiety in over a year, but the slow pace of summer and screwed up hormones and genetics made me all too aware that I was going to have to figure out how to handle it... again.

What I did during my summer vacation-part one

My sister would discern that I have never had a real job because I still call it summer vacation.

It's easier now that I have a school-aged daughter to refer to it in such a juvenile way... maybe.

I didn't feel the need to provide constant entertainment this summer like some parents, but we did some fun things. We started out the summer by officially missing the last day of school(it was only a two hour day) in order to travel over Memorial Day weekend. We visited with Great Grandma in Fort Valley. Grandma and Grandpa came down too. We played Balderdash in the hotel room one night. I actually found the game in a Toysrus in Warner-Robbins. One of my answers was like" in 1956 in San Francisco it was illegal to train... a pig to be a duck" or something. I forgot who won the game, but it was a lot of fun spending time with my parents. We went to Lane's and spent way too much money. Peaches were mostly wiped out due to the drought this past summer, so they were not all that awesome.

We traveled from there to go and check on Mark's mama in NC and we got to spend some time with cousins we rarely see. We will probably go back for Thanksgiving. We came back through Gatlinburg and got out and walked around a bit. Talk about your tourists traps, but the mountain views are pretty. We drove through Pigeon Forge which kinda felt like a redneck Destin without the ocean, but there was a cool upside down building called Wonderworks or something(would be a great place for a link if I knew how to do that). We didn't go in. We just made it back in time for squirt's last t-ball game of the season. We literally drove straight to the field before we even had a chance to come by the house. They had a party with cake and ice cream and pizza and trophies. Her first real trophy! She had only gotten medals before. Mark got a trophy too for being an assistant coach. They were the ladybugs, and they didn't win many games, but all the games were worth watching. Squirt junior really got his feet under him during the end of the season, and I spent a great deal of time chasing him all over the place.