The Bright Eyed Brunette

Me and Kena Faith Feeding the fish  Trey, Eli, Carlie, and Noah eating lunch Ellie Kate and Jamie (not pictured) were my table buddies Makena and my mom We ate facing the elephants Carlie with her gimped up knee! Prairie Dogs are my favorite!  This is what you get when you try to take a selfie on the carousel!   Friday we (my mom, the kids, and I) met my sister and her kids at the Little Rock Zoo.  The weather was pretty nice when we first got there, but man did it get hot right before we left.  It was a fun day of cousin together-ness!

This year Makena didn't have a big party with friends. Instead we had a small party with family at my parents house. It fell on a Sunday this year, so there wasn't a lot we could do. The day started off with Carl cooking her pancakes...number pancakes! Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl! We are so proud of the young lady you have become. Love you to the moon and back!!

  Big Gator! My Gator Boy! Baby Gator!     On our way back from Alabama we stopped off in Moss Point, MS to visit the Gulf Coast Gator Farm.  Trey had the most fun, but the girls enjoyed it too.  We bought food and fed the gators.  We were amazed at how many there were and the size of them!  It was a lot of fun!

On our way back home we made a couple of major stops. One being the Duck Commander Warehouse. We stopped last year for the first time and saw Jep and Jase as we were pulling in. This year we didn't see anybody, but it was still cool. After we left there Carlie was very adamant about going to Duck & Dressing (Rebecca Robertson's boutique), so we went. I was impressed with the store. It was very quiet, smelled nice, and had quality (yet pricey) clothing. We also got to see Rebecca! She came in while we were there and even spoke :) We also got to meet her cute little doggy! I resisted the urge to ask for a pic with her because I didn't think it would be appropriate. Right across the street is the Yoga place where Willie did yoga (in his camo tights) with Korie. Fun Adventures in Monroe!!

This is definitely not a big deal to most people, but we were SUPER excited to visit our video school while we were in Florida. In case you are not familiar, my kids attend a Christian school that uses the ABEKA curriculum. They have an in-class teacher, but they also have video teachers and watch all of their classes on video. Pensacola Christian Academy is where the videos are taped. Of course with it being summer there were no teachers on campus. We went to the bookstore at the school and the kids each got a water bottle. While we were checking out, the cashier told us that she is a student in the 9th grade Bible videos. The girls thought that was pretty cool. Trey couldn't have cared less! Fun times!

As we walked in to pay for our tour we past this sign! The lighthouse has been featured on the SciFi Channel and a ghost hunt has been filmed there. I don't believe in ghost or anything like that, but I thought it was pretty cool!  The girls walking up to the keepers quarters While we were there the lighthouse was under a little construction.  They were painting a black strip on it.  There is no way I could have that job!  I was scared to death of falling on the stairs climbing up and coming back down the actual lighthouse.  Part of the keepers quarters.  They couldn't have picked a creepier looking "fake" man! The view was absolutely beautiful from the top.  I was fine when I got up there, I just couldn't hardly handle the stairs.  They were so narrow and winding....at one point I thought I would have a panic attack!  I guess that's why I was so relieved when I made it to the top. Me and the kids....it was really wind

We took a little time away from the beach and headed to Pensacola FL to visit the National Aviation Museum and the Pensacola Lighthouse. #5 and #6 of The Blue Angels coming in to land  Let me just say that this is an awesome place to go and the best part is that its free! There were so many rooms with planes, helicopters, and even aqua planes. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. We rode a shuttle around to see some of the planes they couldn't keep inside. At first we were a little disappointed when they told us that The Blue Angels were practicing down at the beach and wouldn't be flying our way...BUT while we were on the shuttle two of them flew around and landed! This is something Carl was really looking forward to. We didn't get the best pictures, but we got to see and hear them and it was WAY COOL!!