Road Trip

At this moment, I am sitting in the car typing while we are on our way from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. As most of you know, we are on our Disney World trip. I really wanted to make sure we stop in New Orleans on the way to Orlando. Cori had donated a good sum of money to the victims of Katrina and we want to show her the city. We are planning on showing her Bourbon street, of course, and the French Quarter area. It has been a long time since either Aaron or I have been here. Last time I was here, I had bought a hat from Margaritaville and Aaron and I had just started dating. He had “borrowed” my hat and I had to marry him to try and get it back, which didn’t work. The hat has seen better days so we are hoping to get another, maybe this time I’ll actually get to wear it.
Here is a picture of Bryson checking out the mirror in our hotel room. He had such a good time smiling at the baby looking back at him.

Yesterday was our longest driving day and Bry started to get fussy. He had woken up and wanted to crawl around and he was stuck in that mean car seat. Luckily I had thought at the last minute to bring one of the DVD players and we popped in an Einstein video and it worked so well! Cori sang and clapped along with him and he was happy. She is such a good, big sister. What stinks is that I cannot sit in the backseat and help or even talk. If he sees me or hears me, it’s all over, he will start crying and reaching for me. It’s better he think I am not around I guess. We are just now driving over the forever long bridge getting into New Orleans, the water is already so high. One thing that I quickly remembered about this area last night is the fishy smell in the air, eww! Cori is wanting to eat some alligator again like she did on our Shreveport trip. I think we may have to do that on our way back, she cannot chew it right now. Poor baby.

Is this the Riverwalk?

No, its the inside of the hotel. It really was gorgeous.

There are koi in the ponds, waterfalls and many beautiful, tropical plants.

This is what it looked like from our floor.

What a great backdrop for some early morning pictures. It's so hard to get a teenager to smile this early.

OK, so it's hard to get a baby to smile this early also.

Ms Cori Lou

What’s new with Cori? Well, her, Bryson and I (Aaron was in Ohio) went to her ceremony on May 24th for her Duke TIP award. The state ceremony was held at Texas A&M University in College Station. There was another ceremony held at Duke University for the national award but we only went to the one in Texas. They gave her both medals there. It was really nice. Silly me had the camera in my hand before we left the house and then set it in our entryway and forgot it at the last second. So we bought a cheesy disposable camera on the way with a slight zoom. We’ll see how the pictures come out; keep your fingers crossed. She was only one of the two people in her school to be recognized nationally for the award. Her boyfriend (yes boyfriend, we’ll get to that later), won for the state level. So she brags to him that she beat him, but he still has to help her in math.

That’s what else is new, Cori has a boyfriend. Believe it or not, Aaron handles these things so much better than I. She had came home and told me on April 30th, I remember because it was mom’s birthday and she was in town. Cori was so excited! I was trying to act all cool. But later I freaked, luckily I had my mom and Aaron both to calm me down. We are so fortunate that Cori shares a lot with us (not everything I am sure), so I tried not to make a big deal of it. It also helps that I know his mom; she used to work at the same company as I did.

Cori flew on Memorial weekend to visit family in Arkansas. She loves to fly and feel independent and mature, it’s still a little scary for us but we are very proud of her. There was a boy, Luke, who she always played with who lives next door to her grandparents. Well, apparently that boy has changed a lot and he says Cori has changed a lot too, uh-oh. So she got his phone number and they’ve been texting ever since. Her boyfriend, Matt, does not have a cell phone so what’s a girl to do?

Cori just went to her orthodontist appointment and they said she should be getting her braces off this summer, six months early! She is so thrilled that they will be off before school starts. What a great first day of school that will be. No braces and at the top of the middle school food chain as an eighth grader. Poor girl though, they tightened her wires so much that her whole mouth is sore. She ate yogurt last night for dinner and a donut for breakfast this morning. We had to downgrade her to creamy peanut butter from her favorite crunchy. I had volunteered to make her a pb&j last night and cut the crust off so it would be extra soft and she was still scared it would hurt. Oh well, a few days of pain to get them off early is worth it, I would assume anyway, she is still undecided.

Teefeez!

Bryson has a tooth coming up! You can barely see it poking through and you can feel it a little. I had heard that when a tooth finally breaks through they will start screaming suddenly, but he didn't; he was just his normal self. He is such a big boy now! I saw a 20 month old last week and he was really not much bigger than Bryson. I am guessing our boy will be very tall; he is very healthy! He has the cutest reddish hair with little curls. He is a crawling fool and he has a hilarious personality. He makes the funniest faces and if you think it's funny then he will make them over and over again. He can stand up on his own and hold his balance for a few seconds but he climbs up on everything. Bryson is still in love with the dogs and the dogs love him when he is in his high chair. He is then at a safe distance where he can't pull on their fur but also at the perfect spot for dropping them some snacks. He says mama still and some other indistinguishable sounds. He can clap his hands and play peek a boo. Half the time he claps his hands together and the other half he slaps one hand on the other arm. Cori says he does this because when she is holding him and teaches him to clap, she only has one free arm and that's how she teaches him. He can stick out his tongue, make indian noises and also gives kisses, really wet ones with his mouth open so he slobbers all over you. It really is amazing to see how quickly he grows and all the new things he learns each day.

Wicked!

No, I am not trying to talk our teenager's slang. The musical! It is so marvelous! You HAVE to see it. We have been waiting almost 2 years to go to this; it was sold out last time we tried. Luckily, since I had known at the time I would be leaving work, I bought the best tickets available. It was so worth it for this beautiful show. It gives a totally different outlook on the Wizard of Oz and they did a wonderful job of incorporating the original story. The musical tells the story from the wicked witch's point of view and how she came to be. We went on Sunday and my parents drove down so my mom could go with us, as it was a birthday gift for her. It was so nice for us girls to get dressed up and do something so nice together.

Messy boy

Bryson is so funny. I have recently been letting him have some teething biscuits. They have proven to be a blessing when I am grocery shopping and he starts getting fussy. I am not sure how HEB likes the mess but oh well I guess. I had to take pictures of him eating one; of course he gets super messy.

Check out these mischevious looks:

I've recently caught him sticking the biscuit down underneath the highchair tray so that the dogs can have some. He thinks I don't see him doing this, it is so cute. Then when he gets tired of the biscuit, he just drops it and one lucky dog gets a snack.

I can't help but laugh when he gets mad. He gives the funniest faces. It probably isn't nice but I sometimes take pictures of his mad faces, which of course makes him more mad which leads to even better pictures.

The Movies!

How do you see a movie all together as a family when you have a 7 1/2 month old? The Drive-Inn! We have discovered one in Gatesville and it is so great. You can watch two current movies for $10 per carload ($5 on weekdays!). We took a friend of Cori's as well and it went really well. I was able to nurse Bryson when need be and then let him sleep when he needed. It is our most recent great discovery. Woo-hoo, hooray for the drive-inn. We cannot wait to go again!

Camping

Oh I am so behind, so I am going to go back a couple of weeks! I am not sure I remember all our happenings but I will do my best to highlight some. Cori had another school dance and sleepover with an afterparty while Aaron went camping with a big group of families. The next day I took Cori out to the campsite and we had a nice time hanging out with everyone. Cori and Aaron went fishing the first night and only had caught some small ones. We grilled steaks, shrimp, etc., on the campfire. Aaron camps out with luxuries! Then we all made banana boats and s'mores, yummy! It was such a wonderful time. Bryson had a blast being held and adored by everyone there. He also loved playing on the big blow up mattress that Mike and Kelley set in the tent for him.

I took off back home for the night while Cori stayed and camped with her Dad and everyone else. I was a little worried about how Bryson would be as a camper so I was hesitant to stay but I have to say that I think next time I will. It was so much fun. The next morning Cori caught the biggest fish of anyone there. I have yet to see it but Kelley took pictures for me. I will have to post them when I get them. Bryson discovered rocks for the first time (I know our kids are so sheltered). He of course wanted to put them in his mouth but quickly found out that they were not much fun to crawl on. Here are a few pictures that we took. I had seen the most beautiful tree as soon as we got there and took some pics of Cori on it. Look how handsome Aaron and Bryson look by the campfire light!