Cousin Cabin fun-August 2008

My brother, Shannon and my niece and nephew came to Mentone to the cabin the week before we left for the beach. Kendall went up with mom and dad a couple days before Kasey and I came up, so him and Eliza could play together. This gave Kasey and I some time alone too which was nice. I think they had a good time together. I wish we all lived closer. I know Kendall and Eliza would have so much playing together all the time. I think Kendall was trying to wrestle with Eliza! At one point I saw her riding him like a horse too. That picture is a bit blurry to post though. We can't wait to see them again in October. Paul just smiled at everyone. Give him a few years and he will be right in there wrestling too.

Do you know what I'm doing today???

Getting ready to go here:

My parents left today to go to Canada for 10 days. They have been at the cabin this week visiting with my brother and his family, so Kasey and I have been taking turns picking up Kendall from school this week. Today was my day, so I have been home this afternoon. Saturday morning we are leaving to go to Destin, FL for a week. We are meeting up with my Mother In Law, Kasey's stepdad and his brother, Kasey's Aunt and her friend. We went to this same house last year and had a blast. Best of all Joe pays for it! We LOVE JOE! It has a seperate cabana pool house that we stay in, so we are not even in the main house with everyone else. So my afternoon has been folding laundry and getting things ready (starting to at least) to head to the beach. There is just one problem-Fay is headed that way also. Oh well, our life on vacation is never craziness free. I'm really looking forward to a break from the real world and having some fun with my family. Kendall was just starting to walk last year and just 14mths old, so it is going to be so much fun watching him this year. He is going to have a blast and so am I. Hopefully we will come back with some more beautiful memories like these taken last year.

Making Sugar Cookies

Kendall and I baked sugar cookies yesterday for the first time. We went to Hobby Lobby on Friday and got a bucket full of cookie cutters. He enjoyed it, but I will tell you that I won't be doing it to often. What a mess!

Growing as big as a Giraffe!

Everytime we go to the zoo, we take a picture in front of the Giraffe's. Look how much Kendall has grown!

Nashville Zoo-September 2007-15 months

North Carolina Zoo-May 2008-23 months

Birmingham Zoo-July 1, 2008-2 yrs old


St. Louis Zoo-July 17, 2008-2 yrs old

July in review

Where did July go to? Seems just yesterday we were celebrating Kendall's 2nd Birthday and now here we are in August already and Kendall is almost 26 months! July was a very busy month for us. Here are some pictures to show what all we did.

On July 1 I had a check up with the dr. that did my surgery last September in Birmingham. Mom came with me and we headed to the Birmingham Zoo for the day after my appointment. We had a great time and the highlight of Kendall's day would be none other than the train. We rode it four times I think.

On the 4th of July we had a BBQ at my parents house and then we went to watch the annual fireworks display in their neighborhood. Kendall still wasn't so sure about it. He wore his fancy swimming earplugs and was very tense, but overall I think he enjoyed them. He hadn't felt good that morning, so this picture is not the greatest. It really shows how he felt.

On July 5th, we headed to downtown Huntsville to the Huntsville Train Depot. Kendall really enjoyed that too. He LOVES trains and he got to see plenty of them and even ride around on a trolley on a track. He got to also climb all over a firetruck. That was very fun to him as well.

July 16 we all headed to St. Louis, MO including mom and dad. Kasey, Dad and I were going to go to the Nationwide race that was there that weekend. Since we have family in St. Louis, we were able to see them for a couple of days. Kasey worked on Thursday and Mom, Dad, Kendall and I met up with Paula and her kids at the St. Louis Zoo(the best zoo ever that is). My mom's sister Barb also drove down from Iowa to meet up with us. We had a blast. Friday Kasey and Dad went to the race track all day. Mom, Kendall and I went to the Magic House Children's Museum and then on to St. Charles for lunch with Barb, Paula and Sydney. Saturday mom kept Kendall and we spent all day at the race track. It sure was hot, but we had a good time. We left on Sunday morning to come home. Here are some pictures from all of that. Dad even got to hold the pit sign during the race. He was pretty excited to do that.

The weekend after St. Louis, Kasey traveled to Indy to the race.

July 30 brought another day of excitement in the Brown Family. Kasey started having some severe stomach pain the night before and it was still there that morning, so I took him to the Emergency Room. He was having ulcer like pain, but we knew we could not get him in to see the G.I. dr. that day. We spent about 5 hrs in the E.R. and got sent home and told to go to the G.I. Anyway we called Kasey's G.I. dr. and they got him in for an Endoscopy the next day, so I spent Thursday in the hospital also while Kasey got that done. He did not have an ulcer but his stomach lining looked a bit weird. They took a biopsy and also scheduled him for an ultrasound of his gallbladder which he had done on Friday. He goes back to the dr. on Thursday, but the hospital called us Saturday and some of the blood work they took in the E.R. on Wednesday came back and he has the H-pylori bacteria which can cause ulcers. Now he is taking 2 antibiotics, and some other things to try and kill that off. He also has scratched his eye and has to put drops in it too.

As far as me and Kendall, we are doing good. I'm really tired these days. Kendall really wares me out. He is a two yr old in motion for sure. He is going to Montessori School 3 times a week now and will start back at Asbury too next week, so he will be in school 5 mornings a week. He loves school and talks about his teacher every day. He is starting to really talk and make sense! We are headed to the beach in 18 days with my mother in law and some more family. We can't wait!

So there you have it, a rundown of us and what we did in July and how we are today.