Family Time :)

One of our goals this year is to spend more quality time together as a family. Each month we try to do something fun together as a family. About once a quarter we end up doing some BIG activity. Our first BIG activity, back in February, was to go explore Northlake Nature Center.

We had a great time walking along the trail through the swamp.

Sometimes we would check out the map to figure out where we were.

Sometimes we were a little crazy!!

End of the trail...time to head back.

There was also a burned out building there that was pretty cool to look at.

The kids had a good time and found a few cool things along the way!

Mattie found leaves with holes all over them and Andrew found a thorn that looked like a mini sword!!

We caught a few cool sunset shots too! :)

Of course it wouldn't be a Prince outing without a little challenge!! :)

One last picture...our souvenirs of the day...

Rainboots

One Sunday night a while back, Aimee wanted me to take her picture with her rainboots on. We had fun taking these. I had fun playing around with my camera too!

Even though I didn't have the settings just right, I think these pictures are cool!

These turned out better:

Aimee loves rainboots! These are the boots we got her when we first moved here, but they are getting too small. She has some new ones picked out and is wondering why it is taking so long for them to arrive!! :)

BROTHERS

BROTHERS, best friends, buddies = Thomas and Andrew :) :)

One weekend in March ~ March 18th, the weekend after Mardi Gras, Andrew decided that he and Thomas were going to have a campout in the backyard! So Andrew got everything all ready...he got the sleeping bags out, the tent, and even the camping food...marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate!

These two boys had the time of their lives!!!

Especially Thomas!! :)

I don't remember what they had for dinner...but Andrew had it all under control! He even built the fire all by himself!

I had fun watching from inside, but had to come out and get a few pictures of their fun! :)

Once the "S'MORES" were gone...it was time for the LOUP GAROU hunt...is that a loup garou foot print???

There was a full moon that night, and Thomas was a little nervous about sleeping in the tent, but he and Andrew were fast asleep, almost before I knew it!! :)

It is so fun to see Andrew and Thomas have so much fun together!

Andrew had to wait 7 LONG years...enduring 3 sisters...before he was blessed with a baby brother!!

He's been in BOY HEAVEN ever since!!

Andrew is such a great big brother!!! He has helped take care of Thomas since we came home from the hospital!

Andrew has always been willing to do anything for Thomas! Andrew will usually help Thomas get ready for bed each night, and they head upstairs together! Thomas likes to do what ever Andrew will do...even get up early on school mornings! It is so fun to watch them together!

BROTHERS, best friends, buddies = Thomas and Andrew :) :)

Mardi Gras with the COUSINS!!! :)

Our second weekend of Mardi Gras fun started on Friday, March 4th when Edd's brother Dan and Melissa's family to visit! We had hoped to take them to the ORPHEUS PARADE in Mandeville, but it was pouring rain and it took FOREVER for Dan and Melissa and their boys to arrive. So we just played around at the house Friday night. It was also just POURING rain outside so it wouldn't be any fun to go parading.

Saturday, Bethany went across the lake to help park cars and go parading! The rest of us went to the Maritime Museum in Madisonville. It was really cool!! The kids thought it was a lot of fun! When we first arrived, we had to get a picture of the kids on the HUGE ANCHOR!!

Then the was a contest to see who could pick up the most GIANT LINKS!!

I think Uncle Dan won, but Andrew came pretty close!

We enjoyed looking at all the different light house models...

and learning about life in the early days of Madisonville!!

There was even a cool submarine like boat!!

We lucked out and found a few SWAMP MONSTERS outside!! :)

For lunch we headed to our favorite spot: BEAR'S!! What a treat to have those delicious Po-Boys again!! :

The rain caught up to us again! It was WORSE THAN POURING when we got done with lunch!! So the dads ran as fast as they could to get our cars and pick us up. We all ended up pretty wet.

Our next stop was the bowling alley!! The kids had a blast trying to knock the pins down! Sometimes they even got some STRIKES!!

Our last stop was to get a treat at the POPCORN BISTRO!! Yum!!! :) Sorry no pictures...but just imagine, bucket after bucket of popcorn...flavored any way you can imagine!! Our picks for the day were: Nerds, Mississippi Mud Pie, Rainbow, King Cake, Rainbow, Peanut Butter Chocolate. YUM, YUM, YUM!!! :)

It was so fun to visit with all Dan and Melissa's boys and get to know them better, especially little SAM!

Thomas had so much fun playing with George, Ben and Henry!! He had been waiting FOREVER to play with them!

All the cousins had a blast playing together!! :)

Thanks for coming to visit us!!! :)