DELTA BREWS 2ND ANNUAL PIG ROAST

The trail half I'd been training for over the past couple of months ended up getting cancelled at the last minute yesterday (due to all the recent rain, which flooded trails, causing the park to close them to traffic to maintain their integrity), but luckily I hadn't registered yet (since their reschedule date will fall at the start of our Disney trip). Instead, I ran with friends at the military park, then Jay and I got a bunch of housework AND yardwork done, before heading over to the Martin's house for Delta Brews 2nd Annual "Pair with a Pig" (and "Welcome back to the 'Burg" party for Sandy and Barrett, recently returned from 6 months in DC). The party was as great as last year: enough meat that most people took home trays of leftovers (we're making pork tacos to start with!), plenty of sides and desserts, and 7 different homebrews to sample. The kids behaved quite well (James mostly played his Kindle, and Cora mostly played with Lauren), so we stayed past their bedtime until 9:00pm (Jay stayed until 11:00pm, but the kids and I drove separately so we could get to bed earlier). I hope the group keeps up this tradition, as it's become one of my favorite parties of the year!

The pig pickup

Heating up the coals in the "pit"

Gettin' cookin'

Jay and the guys transfer the pig to the carving table

John and Lisa Martin start cuttin' it up

Carey, Nick (pet care extraordinaire!), Jay, and Zack

Lauren and Cora, chillin' out in the sunroom

You can always spot the beer tent by the crowd size...

James escaped Cora for a while and "hid" near some random adults he doesn't know... (and John and Lisa)

Feeding Trixie some ice and enjoying some blueberry cobbler

Shortly after this (and following  multiple other wake-ups to Cora and myself by his flailing arms and legs and head), I made a pallet for him on the floor beside us (though I still didn't sleep well - bad night of insomnia for some reason). Jay slept downstairs in the kids' rooms once he got home, knowing the kids would be upstairs snuggling with me (my deal with Cora to get her to leave the party quietly).

TINY SNAKE

Daddy found this while blowing off the leaves before I pressure washed the front patio and walkways. Cute little thing...

TEAM BLUE

TWO WEEKS!

We all have BLUE Magic Bands because both James and Cora wanted blue, and were arguing over who "got" to have it. Then Gramma wanted blue too. So Jay and I decided that we were ALL getting blue...

STORIES FROM DAYCAMP

On Wednesday there was more Lego building, more swimming, and lots of outside playtime. The kids even ran into Christina while she was trying to finish her run around the track, and hijacked her for 2 laps worth of recaps of their days and birthday party talk...

Thursday started off with coloring and Lego building (James has been thrilled to see Sebastian x2  here - one, a boy he was friends with at Agape, but who went to a different school for kindergarten this past year, and the other a buddy from soccer). During outside time, Cora failed to catch a frisbee tossed her direction by James, which resulted in enough dramatics and a bloody nose that a call to mama was in order to calm her nerves. Luckily all was well (nothing broken or bruised) and she recovered quickly enough to join the rest of the kids in the pool shortly afterward.

Today we found All About Me banners being strung throughout the room. Each kid created their own (though Cora admitted to getting help with hers, in the form of having someone somewhat assist her in spelling things out while she wrote them down). We haven't found James' yet...

 Cora may have misunderstood the directions here, but it still makes me laugh:

The most important thing about me: "To pay attention"

FRIDAY FROYO

My precious.....

ELI JOINS THE GRADUATING CLASS

Sweet cousin Eli had his kindergarten graduation today!

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Very well, thanks to all the rain we've had recently.....

DAYCAMP BEGINS!

All ready to head inside and start their summer vacation!

Instead of staying at Agape through the summer, as we usually do, we are sending the kids to the YMCA Daycamp. Cora is old enough to attend this year for the first time, and we are really excited for the kids to have the opportunity to put the school books and seatwork aside for a couple months in lieu of sports, crafts, and games. Don't get me wrong - the kids will still spend time reading with us in the evenings, and we have some great workbooks to do with them on the weekends (to keep those skills polished for the fall), but this is their first real summer vacation where their days will be structured more around play than schoolwork. Yes, they played more during the summers at Agape than they did during the school year, but their facilities are quite limited... I'm sure you recall our constant playground fundraising attempts - they never did raise enough to buy playground equipment. Therefore, Agape summers consist of seatwork and lots of movies, interspersed with outdoor play time (in the dirt) when it isn't too hot or raining (so, obviously there were plenty of days where they were stuck inside all day long). On the flip side, because of the facilities at the YMCA, rain or shine, the youth leaders there will provide the kids with 1-2 hours of swim time each and every day (the indoor pool is only closed during thunderstorms), gym time to play basketball and tennis (they played for the first time today and James LOVED it), track time for running and field time for group games (remember those games we used to play in PE in Elementary school, like parachute and Red Rover?), table time with buckets of Legos and tons of board games, coloring and craft projects throughout the day, and a widescreen TV with movies for kids who need a break from all the running around. Oh, and no naps (Cora is so very happy!) They knew a couple kids going into the program, as well as one of the youth leaders (Miss Hannah watches them there in the evenings when we go to spin class and the kids think she's the most fun girl ever), and they made lots of new buddies today. New "best friends", actually. (I love how everyone the kids meet immediately becomes their best friend - if only it was that easy for adults!) Day One is in the books and the kids had only good reports for us when we picked them up (other than needing their goggles for swim time - how could we forget?!), so we're hopeful that they'll have a great summer at Daycamp! (And yes, bedtime was early and very easy tonight - they're going to be worn out by the end of every day this summer!)

TISHOMINGO STATE PARK

Tishomingo State Park is located in the extreme northeastern corner of Mississippi, at the base of the Appalachian Mountains. I've been wanting to visit since we moved here over 8 years ago, but it's a bit of a drive (~5 hours) and the timing just never seemed to work out. With the kids starting a new school this fall and thus starting the YMCA Daycamp this coming week (for the rest of the summer), no lulls in available childcare other than the last 2.5 days of last week (when Gramma came out to watch them), a 3-day weekend for us, and a need for Gramma to get through Georgia and back home well before our upcoming Disney trip (rather than stay in Mississippi longer), we figured there was no excuse NOT to take the time to go up and camp this weekend. When we booked our campsite a couple weeks ago, there were just 4 spots left and the requirement to stay (or at least pay) for all 3 weekend nights (Friday-Monday). We snapped one up and figured we'd head up there early Saturday morning when Jean left for Georgia, and stay through Monday afternoon, taking our time on the return so we could stop at a few spots along the Natchez Trace that we hadn't yet seen (since we'd never been on the Trace north of Canton). We found a house/dog-sitter (Mr. Nick to the rescue!), packed our gear, and headed out! The only problem was the weather, which unexpectedly turned sour very late on Sunday afternoon (we got caught in a thunderstorm and HEAVY rain about a mile away from the car while hiking with the kids along the Outcroppings Trail). With the threat of worsening storms and a tornado watch, and a completely flooded campsite (and wet tent/sleeping bags) by the time we returned to the campground (and at least half the sites suddenly cleared of campers... ominous!), we made the decision to leave early for safety's sake. We packed up in the pouring rain, quickly showered, and headed back to Vicksburg at 7:00pm (snagging "dinner" at a gas station around 8:00pm), arriving well after midnight with two sleeping kids and two wish-they-were-sleeping parents. We haven't had much luck with camping weather lately (wind storm in Ruston, ice storm in Mandeville, and now tornado watch in Tishomingo), but it was still totally worth the drive and packing effort. In about 28 hours on site, we hiked almost 4 miles on 3 different trails, canoed, swam in the river, had a campfire and s'mores, fished, "rock climbed" and tree climbed, danced, bird-watched, captured tiny toads, ran the trails, played with glow lights in the dark, saw a bunch of wildlife (turtles, water snakes, deer, opossums, birds, frogs and toads, cicadas, etc.), and splashed in a couple little waterfalls and streams. It was a memory-packed trip and we all had a great time!

Watching the donuts be made at Shipley's with Gramma before leaving town

Stopping at some mounds for a potty break along the Trace

Watching daddy chop wood for the campfire

Camping bonus for the kids: s'mores, Oreos, chips, and root beer

Scaring mama BADLY on the swinging bridge (making it swing and bounce, and walking at the edge)

Breaking out their dance moves on the boulder "stages"

Continuing to scare mama by leaping through the air over and over...

The tiny waterfall wasn't enough to capture their attention for long... not when there were rocks to climb!

Get a little closer kids. Mama hasn't had a heart attack yet...

Calling in a Hooded Warbler with our pishing

The campsites here had no fire rings, yet campfires were allowed. Weird.

So many tiny toads! (Just like at home! Capturing them remained the #1 activity at camp when we were there though.)

Heading up Saddleback Ridge to start my trail run Sunday morning

Running alongside Bear Creek for a while

This tilting bridge was closed. I turned around rather than cross it!

Sunday morning canoe trip - Jay and Cora setting out just behind James and I.

My co-pilot was part strong-arm helper (part hindrance to staying the course...)

Pretty sure Cora only paddled for the first 10 minutes of the 2-hour trip

Lots of shade on this river!

Paddle up after coming out of some little rapids (so mama could keep us pointed forward)

He was exhausted by the end of the trip - he worked so hard to "beat daddy and Cora!"

One of the sections with "rapids" (plenty big enough for these kiddos and very exciting!)

At the halfway point and way ahead of the rest of the group...

...so we stopped for snacks and river splashing and swimming

Mama stayed in the boat. An hour of paddling after an hour and a half of hilly trail running had me worn out and happy to sit back and just watch my beautiful family for a few minutes.

This is the "help" she gave Jay most of the way... (and he had to retrieve her paddle a few times...)

Hunting for fishing bait after a quick (late) lunch

Attempting to catch some uninterested sunfish. (Uninterested in the cicada parts and raisins we had managed to scrape up for bait, anyway.)

We accidentally flushed a bird off a nest while stream splashing, so we retreated (after taking a quick photo). My best guess was Louisiana Waterthrush, but I didn't get a good look at her.

The bridge across the old CCC Pond

A bigger waterfall, bigger rocks, and a bigger hike (2 miles). This photo was taken about 5 minutes before the thunderstorm unexpectedly rolled in...