We are leaving today to go camping with all the Ward Family. We will be camping on Lake Sam Rayburn. I'm excited to see everyone (I think there will be at least 35 people there) and because this is the lake I grew up camping on and no other camping has ever compared. I am looking forward to getting there and making lots of new memories with lots of great family! We will be enjoying lots of boating, swimming, great food, beer, horseshoes, visiting and singing the Family Trip theme song "Little Ole' Wine Drinker" at least 100 times.
My Dad's family has been having an annual trip planned at a convenient time for Fantasy Football drafts for several years. I'm not sure exactly how many years, but I know for sure we were there in 1997 because I remember watching the coverage of Princess Diana's death in the Condo in Florida.
Here are a few pics from some of the previous trips:
Gulf Shores 2003--This was Maddie's first trip.
The five Ward brothers...left to right: Frank, John, Pat, Robert and Dan.
Hot Springs, Arkansas 2005 This was Maycee's first trip.
Mississippi 2006
Gulf Shores 2008
We were evacuated for a hurricane and had to head north and fly home from their. We only stayed a few days and I don't have many pictures. I was planning on more pics later in the week :(
The beach and pool as we were evacuating. So different from the day before.
P.S. I am changing my music player to Dean Martin's "Little Ole Wine Drinker" for the weekend. Enjoy!
Yesterday was Maddie's first day of first grade. She was very excited. Here she is before we left to bring her to school. I made her outfit and she was very excited about it. You can't really see them in the picture, but I think she was most excited about the flip flops I made with bows on them.  This is what Maycee was doing while we took Maddie's picture. (fixing Ruthie's hair) I thought Maycee would be sad that Maddie was gone all day, but she really enjoyed having the house to herself. She was ready to go pick her 'sissy' up in the afternoon though. She was full of questions for Maddie about how her day went.  Maddie with her backpack and lunchbox. Notice she is wearing a bow, but it's on a headband. That was our compromise. She loves headbands.  Maddie and Elli waiting for their teacher in the cafeteria.  Headed to her classroom.  Maycee telling her bye. Maddie gave Maycee a little kiss right after this, but I didn't get a pic. It was super sweet.  Maddie and Kai.  She had homework last night to bring 3 things that fit in a lunch sack to tell about herself. She brought 1) a disney picture so she could show she likes disney and that she has a little sister and a cousin (poor Kennedi isn't in the picture,but she said she was gonna say she has 2 cousins) 2) a ballet necklace to show whe like to wear jewelry and that she likes ballet 3) an American girl cheerleading book to tell that her favorite thing to play with is her American girl dolls and that her favorite sport is cheerleading It was interesting to see what she picked to bring. Maddie on her previous First Days of School.  |
This weekend Maddie, Maycee and I went to Austin for my cousin Danielle's bachlorette party. It was at my Aunt and Uncle's house and was for the whole weekend. I couldn't stay the whole weekend to go and enjoy the lake with them, but I did go up on Friday for the lingerie shower.
Me and the girls stayed with my cousin Wendy and her husband Jason. They recently move to Austin and we are very excited to have them so close now. They have kids that Maddie and Maycee couldn't wait to go and play with. They were so excited to see Taylor, Madison, and Bryce.
Jason was so nice to keep all the kids while Wendy and I went to the party. He said they were very good, and that they all played great together. I sure hope he was telling the truth :-) They had a great time with him. He grilled burgers for them and made banana splits with them.
 This is Bryce showing off his cool sunglasses.
 Taylor and Maycee. When we came home from the party we went to check on them in bed. Maycee and Taylor were sleeping in the top bunk and Maycee was snuggled up right next to Taylor. It was sooo sweet. Taylor even told Wendy in the morning that Maycee had put her arm around her in the night.
Maddie and Maddie. Actually I'm not sure how Madison spells Maddie, but I'll have to find out. It gets kinda confusing because they both go by Maddie. They both love American Girls and they played lots of babies while we were there. They played so good together.
They dressed up and had a fashion show for us. Wendy even let the girls take home some princess costumes and a Tinkerbell costume to borrow. Actually we came home with both of the costumes that Maddie and Maycee are wearing in this picture. We are going to use them when we go to Disney. I'm so excited because none of our princess costumes fit Maddie anymore and they had a Cinderella costume and Aurora costume to fit her so we won't have to buy one for either breakfast. Maycee wants to wear Tinkerbell for Halloween and to Disney. (Thank you so much Wendy!! They will get lots of use and we will take good care of them. They already had a fashion show for Guy.)
Left to right: Tinkerbell (Maycee), Winnie the Pooh (Bryce), Mickey Mouse (Madison), a Witch (Taylor) and Aurora (Maddie).
They also put on a karaoke show for us. You can't tell in the picture but Taylor and Maycee are playing the keyboard.
On the way home, Maddie wanted to know why we couldn't stay longer. I told her we had to finish getting ready for school and that I still had hairbows to make for some of her new outfits. The conversation continued like this....
Maddie: Starting Sept 1st I'm not wearing bows anymore. Me: Really? Maddie: Yeah! I made a decision. Me: You are still gonna wear bows. They are cute. Your friends wear them. And I like them. Maddie: (with a little attitude) What are you, an animal? (followed by a little pouting) Well...I'm not sure what that meant, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to be nice. LOL!
I sure hope she doesn't push this no bow issue because it will make me very sad. I'm not ready for her to grow up. I probably shouldn't have given her the whole I'm the Mom that's why type line, but I wasn't prepared for the thought of no bow. I'm counting on bows at least through First Grade. Lot's of her friends still wear them. The bright side is at least she had the courtesy to give me a 1 week notice :-)
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Daytime Fun!!!
Nighttime Fun!!!
All the Kids!
Dad and Uncle Dan frying fish. We had a weekend packed with Yummy food. Awesome Fried Fish, Gumbo and Burgers. Not to mention fantastic pancakes and bacon. Why does everything taste so good when you're camping?
The view from the beach. In the water (Uncle Chuck, Aunt Kathy, Guy and ), on the tube (Maddie and Madison), on the boat (Dad, Uncle Dan, Kaleigh, Maycee, Aunt Diane and Jason.)
Adam, Ashley Addison and Kennedi
The Party Boat! Yes they are dancing (Adam, Kaleigh and Danielle) and yes that is the infamous Captain Tina driving. The only thing left to your imagination is hearing Low (Check out this link , this kid is hilarious. I don't know who he is, but I saw it on Facebook a few days ago) by Flo Rida blaring from the radio and Danielle blowing that air horn to announce their arrival. Don't worry they aren't the only ones that did some dancing on the party boat over the course of the weekend. :-) 
