The Parks: 4th of July 2010

We traveled up to Columbus for the long 4th of July weekend. This was our first time up as a family since 4th of July last year. I must say this was the best Columbus trip to date. It was filled with lots of quality time with family and friends, and great food. We drove up Friday night and got into Columbus around 3am. Driving overnight made the trip much simpler as we didn't have to worry about snacking, stopping as much for restrooms, fighting over which dvd to watch, etc. For the most part it was just me and Terry talking and the kids sleeping. Perfection.

Each morning in Columbus we were treated to wonderful breakfasts thanks to Grandma and Granddaddy before we would head out to make our rounds around Columbus/surrounding areas. One of our firsts stops was to visit Terry's friends that he grew up with. We had an awesome time just relaxing with Mike, Mike's mom, Brian and Brett. It's always entertaining to sit to the side and listen to Terry interact with these guys. I was able to spend time with Mike's mom who is so very similar to my mother. She made the kids the best fruit plate to snack on complete with whipped cream! So good. The kids enjoyed themselves so much that they kept asking us if we could go back to see "Daddy's friends".

After the kids took a looong nap on Mike's couches, we wrapped up our visit and went to visit my old college suitemate, Monica, in Union Springs, Alabama. It had been about a year and half since I had seen her - I was in her wedding - and ohhhh how things have changed since then! She has a new baby, Marckella (I'm pretty sure I misspelled her name) and another one on the way! Marckella was absolutely adorable and Monica, as you can see, is a beautiful mother/mother-to-be.

Teague Hall 111 and Teague Hall 112 - 13 years later!

Here is our "twins" shot. I am not even going to try and spell Monica's twin niece's names...they were so good with TJ and Olivia. TJ and Olivia had so much fun playing with all of the kids and their toys. Great visit!

Monica's son, Kylan, challenged Terry to an NBA game (I'm not a video gamer so I don't know what it was called) on his Play Station 3.

Here is Olivia, who is absolutely enamored by other kids / babies. It came as no surprise that she wanted to be Monica's helper with baby Marckella.

Granddaddy had spent the entire day Saturday preparing all of the delicious food that we enjoyed for the 4th of July. I must say that I especially took a liking to the BBQ ribs and the caramel cake. I am definitely going to request that for the next time we visit! Here is TJ playing with one of his favorite toys of the weekend - a flashlight.

As you can see Olivia also found the flashlight entertaining. They were so disappointed when I told them that they couldn't use the flashlight outside in the daylight. At this point, however, she was more worried about drinking her juice box...

This is one of the few pictures that I got of them together in their somewhat coordinated outfits for the day...

After we ate, the kids and I headed to visit my Auburn family while Terry went with the guys to play golf. I don't get a chance to get to Auburn much so when I found out that one of my oldest friends/sister, Kamilah, would be in town I HAD to get over there to see her since we hadn't seen each other since the kids were 11 months old. What a wonderful time we had! We had an amazing visit with The Johnsons and the Tolberts while we were there. Here are the kids thanking Mrs. Tolbert for welcoming us into their home.

And here are Kamilah and Ms. Johnson entertaining the kids. It honestly was like visiting my own family. They treated TJ and Olivia as if they were their grandchildren/niece/nephew. I can't wait to see them again...

I can't believe it has been 22 years since we met on Shelton Lane!

Monday was another great day of family fun and visiting. We had a great time at Lake Bottom Park. What a beautiful area...nice playground, wonderful shade. The kids had a blast sliding and swinging...

Olivia even made some friends!

We tried to teach the kids how to play frisbee...

...but they didn't quite catch on!

And look who showed up! Mike and Brian! While the kids and I swung, the guys talked and played around with the frisbee...good times!

Our last stop was to visit The Williams family. They had a beautiful house and were so welcoming. Their daughter is preparing for her freshman year of college at Savannah State where she will be playing volleyball. Best of luck to her!

After we returned from visiting the Williams family, Granddaddy put on an encore fireworks presentation especially for the kids. I think he enjoyed doing it as much the kids enjoyed watching!