WHILE THE KIDS ARE AWAY...

...the parents will play!

We went straight from camp drop off on Sunday down to Natchez for an afternoon/evening checking out the Natchez Brewing Company and enjoying a lengthy dinner (with appetizers, even!) at The Camp (we'd have stayed for dessert too, if we'd had any room left...) After dinner we walked along the river (letting our food and beers settle) and attempted to take some fun photos, but it was too sunny for selfies and Jay was too silly to stand handsomely in front of the gazebo (in the below photo he's literally saying "This is me! In front of a gazebo! This is ridiculous!")

We had a very quiet and fun "Freedom Week", spending most nights at home (and all days at work - it was not vacation). We did go out to Cottonwood one night with some friends, then had an early dinner at 10 South on Friday night to celebrate. We did much better this year about not worrying over the kids while they were gone, but we did miss them a lot. It was a nice change of pace and we'll definitely be looking forward to camp week again next year. Maybe we'll even save up enough leave to take a day off and go on a bigger adventure while they're away...

CUB SCOUT SUMMER ACTIVITY

James' Pack had a summer get together / party at Excalibur today. Despite being tired and still needing to pack for camp, we joined the fun and drove over to Monroe for the afternoon. The kids had a blast and finally got to use all those tickets and tokens they had leftover from James' birthday party there a couple years ago.

James was SO PLEASED to be tall enough to drive a cart by himself!

Cora was just a half inch or so too short, but she didn't mind riding with me. She knows mama is the fastest and craziest driver out there! (Thank goodness my skirts are all skorts or this would have been very awkward...)

They each bargained for one more activity ticket. Cora climbed the rock wall while James took another spin around the track.

Money well spent, right? I mean come on, look at these amazing prizes!

DAYCAMP OUCHIE

Friday ice cream is one of our favorite "traditions"!

(That nasty cut ended up getting infected while he was at sleep away camp. We were grateful we noticed before we left camp on Saturday morning - the nurse there was able to clean it up well and treat it better than we could have at home.)

NOT YOUR TYPICAL MONDAY

The kids wore their concert shirts to Daycamp and told all their buddies about the show (a few other kids had been there too - the show was surprisingly well attended by younger kids). Upon pickup, we realized we really had nothing in the house for dinner, so we went to Cottonwood. Jay had a meeting, so we left him there solo and went home to find one of our neighbor's new puppies (Copper) outside his yard (he had somehow gotten himself out of his electric fence collar). He followed us home (all while his sister, Pepper, cried for him from the confines of the yard) and wouldn't leave (he must have run up and down our driveway a dozen times, sometimes just standing in front of the window looking at me with those pitiful puppy eyes). He is not leash trained. The kids tried multiple times to get him to stay in his yard without success, so we eventually had to Facebook message our neighbor (who was on a cruise) so he could get his dog caretakers to come over and find the collar to get Copper home and keep him safe.

IMAGINE DRAGONS - LOVELOUD

The kids introduced us to Imagine Dragons about 6 months ago, we bought their CDs and listened to them almost constantly in the car, and couldn't resist getting tickets to see them in concert when they came through Mississippi on tour this summer. It was the kids' first concert and they LOVED it (and so did we)! We drove through a torrential downpour to the outdoor amphitheater, making a last minute stop on the way to buy some rain ponchos and get dinner before the show, but thankfully the rain stopped before showtime while also cooling the atmosphere a bit to make the evening show a little less sweaty. We grabbed some drinks and treats, splurged on concert shirts for the kids (first concert milestone deserves a little splurge), and then found our seats and excitedly waitied for the music to begin!

We saw lots of friends at the show (friends from school, Delta Brews, work, soccer, Scouts - clearly Imagine Dragons is a popular band with our crowd), which made it feel like such a small town event it was almost funny (except that we've grown to expect that after living here for so many years). Grace VanderWaal was the opening act and she was totally adorable. The kids thought it was really cool to see someone up on stage who was not a whole lot older than themselves (we had watched her America's Got Talent debut earlier in the day because none of us knew who she was and they were shocked that she was only 12... then Cora said "I can sing like that too!"...).

Once the headliners came out, people were on their feet screaming and singing (and videoing EVERYTHING... just a wee bit annoying, but we did our best to ignore it). We let the kids stand up on their seats so they could see over the crowd and they thought it was the best thing ever.

Towards the end of the show, the main stage went dark and the band moved up to a small stage in the middle of the venue and it was really fun to see the energy of the crowd explode. The guys played a few songs there, then Dan started roaming around the audience singing (and his body guards had a hard time keeping up with him) while the band played on.

(Not my picture - one of our friends was sitting just a few rows behind the small stage)

(Again, not my picture - one of our friends was in the pit)

These sweet kids were exhausted (home from vacation yesterday, out late partying tonight), but SO happy! We're glad we went and enjoyed this milestone with them. We continued the Imagine Dragons obsession at home with a viewing of the Believer documentary (available on HBO) and we highly recommend it! Jamie had told us about it while we were in Florida and it was great to hear the backstory on a lot of their songs and learn about the LOVELOUD foundation and why they started it.

FLORIDA SUMMER TRIP: PART THREE

Mama and Daddy are back and they brought souvenirs! Timbers gear and a bigfoot stuffy:

Grocery shopping for 4th of July dinner (the commissary let us shuck the corn right in the store!)

At the beach with Uncle Jamie (Cora had been asking us WHEN she could sit and build sand castles with Uncle Jamie and have him teach her to make the fancy ones - she stuck to him like glue):

(Jamie, Jay, Cora, and James are all in the below photo)

4th of July BBQ and swim party at the Birdsongs:

(Betsy and I enjoying the cool pool and shade)

(Cora and Sophia, born just a couple weeks apart)

(Scott, Jay, John, and Geoff)

(James in the pool with Jackson and one of his buddies)

Cupcakes and hugs before we headed back to Gramma's house:

Getting to the beach early (to play) before the evening fireworks display (those pictures were all too dark or blurry):

Spending the morning at Marineland, where Gramma spoiled the kids with a dolphin encounter:

(He was answering questions that the tour guide was asking)

Souvenirs are fun (I took the kids shopping in Jax Beach so they could spend a little of their money, which they'd been asking to spend since we got to Florida two weeks before):

Last trip to the beach for this trip:

The monarchs emerged the day after we left:

Until next time (in 6 months!)