Kacie wanted to have her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese Pizza.... It was total chaos, 3 other party's going on kids running everywhere, but the most important thing Kacie had fun, she even gave Chuck E a big hug (she wouldn't even go near Big Al at her preschool)
For Riley's Birthday he wanted to have his party on the UA Quad during The Homecoming Bonfire & Pep Ralley. We had good food and good times. The kids got to bust open an almost LIFESIZE Pinata that Grandma Velma got and painted to look like Riley in his Jaguar football uniform.
July 5, the kids and I headed to the Tennessee mountains to spend time with a dear friend of many years, Edith Trost Kirkland and her family (12 kids and 11 adults). We arrived to a old cabin that has been in the family for over 100 years. No TV, no computers, just running around in the fresh outdoors using their imagination. The kids and I shared a king size bed...they slept and I enjoyed being poked with little feet and rolled on all night. But they were cute sleeping! In the morning we had a family breakfast with the whole Trost clan and played some more. In the afternoon we would load up and go on adventures. We hiked to a waterfall, the mini library, "pottery"- where we watched a man throw on the wheel, a 2 mile hike where we got to see a real rattle snake...by accident! Kacie did the 2 mile hike with no carrying! Riley just kept up with the other kids. he was a real trooper. I got a book read and a lot of visiting. The food was great, the weather was super, the company was fun!The kids still talk about it and look forward to visiting again.
To explain a few of the pictures...
Kacie with her head back: Kacie fell at the pool on July 4 and got 5 stitches in her chin. I was nervous that she would hit it and split it open... she never did and it never slowed her down!
Riley and friends: Riley and Turner played a lot during this trip!
Kacie pushing a stroller: Kacie liked to push Gus in the stroller (Gus is a year older than Kacie...she is such a momma.)
Riley near a metal box: Riley was facinated by an old well
Group picture: Riley and Kacie with Edith's 3- Millie, Turner and Gus
Large group picture: The whole clan
I went to Vegas for an IPI (Independent Photo Imagers) Convention and show. IPI is a group of people like me who own independent photo labs, and provide us all with more buying power. It was my first time to attend this show since we just joined this group 8 months ago. I had a great trip, the convention was at a great resort, Green Valley Ranch (http://www.greenvalleyranchresort.com/), that is located way off the strip, but it was an extremely nice resort. They even had their own
little vineyard, which my free upgrade to a suite, overlooked. Probably one of the finest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in... too bad I was bymyself. The pool was really cool (temperture wise it was darn right cold.. I thought Vegas in July the water would be warm) too, it had a sandy beach entrance.
The convention and show was great, I meet several new people and got lots of new and fun ideas for the store.
OK so we decided to buy tickets and go see a space shuttle launch on Febuarary 13. For this trip it was Me, Dad, Riley and My Uncle Glen (Dad's baby brother). The Shuttle was scheduled to take off early on Saturday Morning, we had to be on the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) base by 12:30 am. So we left early friday morning and drove down to Sandie's dad's house in Cocoa Beach Florida, we arrived around 6:00pm. We all tried to grab a few hours sleep before heading over to the KSC base around midnight. We arrived at the gaurd house for the base and were told that the launch had been scrubbed and would launch at a later time. So we head back over to Sandie's dads house and crash for the rest of the morning. Saturday we can't check in to the hotel till after 3:00 pm so we pretty much hang out at Sandie's dad's house and try to rest, since we pretty much didn't sleep much the night before. So we found out that the reason the launch was scrubbed was a problem in the system that vents excess Hydrogen from the external fuel tank. Wouldn't be good to have extra hydrogen aroound the launch pad when the engines fire off. We finnaly get checked in to the hotel and get a good nights sleep. Sunday, June 15th we hang out at the Hotel and beach, Riley body surfs in the Atlantic Ocean. For dinner we go to Jack Bakers Lobster Shanty, a great spot to eat dinner and watch the sunset. We ate outside on their deck that over looks the Banana River. You can feed some type of catfish that live in the river and hundreds of them come up to the surface when you start feeding them, kinda neat and gross at the same time. After dinner we played a round of Put-Put golf, then headed to the Cocoa Beach pier to hang out for a little while and a stop by the Dairy Queen for ice cream on our way back to the hotel. Monday back to the pool and beach .. no shuttle launch today either. Tuesday we head into Orlando to go to Sea World, Shuttle supposed to launch early Wednesday morning. So we spend the day at Sea World, Riley and Poppy ride a BIG log flume ride, we see shows with dolphins, whales, birds, you know, you've been. Dad and Uncle Glen finish the day with a ride on the New MANTA RAY roller coaster, looked like fun!! Tuesday night we pack up the truck, head over to the KSC for what we hoped would be the launch..we had to be on base around 2:30 am this time. Once we get there Uncle Glen and Dad get in the bus line, they catch a little sleep in their chairs while me and Riley head off to play around the KSC, we have hope they open the bus lines to actually get us on the buses then.... launch gets scrubbed, next oppuortunity for launch is in July. So disappointed, we get in the truck and head back home to Tuscaloosa, we all have stayed longer than we planned but had a great trip. I believe Uncle Glen took more pictured than I did.