Our Trip to the Army

Over our fall break from school, we took our first LONG road trip to Louisiana to see my sister and her family. Her husband, Robert, is stationed at Fort Polk in the Army. We left Thursday around lunch and drove to Jackson, Mississippi, which took about 6 and a half hours. We spent the night in a hotel (which ended up being miserable because Emerson would not sleep). We got up the next morning and went to the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science before getting back on the road and heading on to Fort Polk. We had a wonderful visit and drove home on Monday. It took us 12 and a half hours. The boys did great! I was so shocked at how smoothly it went! Here are some (well...lots) of our pictures from our trip.

This was in the hotel. Gamma laid down with all 3 boys. Don't they look sweet? Trust me, it went down hill from this point. If it tells you anything, at 11:15PM I put Emerson in the car and drove him around for 30 minutes until he fell asleep. He still woke up the next morning at 5:30.

Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. The Boys loved it (especially Parker).

This was the Bone Yard where they could put large fossil pieces (puzzle pieces) together.

Even Emerson got involved!

Davis "reading" about the whales.

This was a real honey bee hive.

Sweet Boys!

Parker LOVED this part. It was the earth, but the projection on it moved so that you could see the continents and seas moving. He loved trying to figure out what was what.

This was the hit....a two headed snake. It was alive. According to Parker (he read the information on it), it uses the right head, primarily, to eat with. Creepy, but cool!

Here is a better picture of his head.

Leaving, of course my boys broke the rules and climbed to the top of the exit bars. Guess who did it first? That's right....Davis!

Once we got to Fort Polk, Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Robert gave Davis Patrick's old Army Fatigues. He thought he was hot stuff in them! That is probably what he is going to be for Halloween.

Gamma gave the kids a collectors book to start collecting all of the State Quarters. She got them started with some, now we are on the hunt to collect the rest. It's been lots of fun!

Looking for the right states.

The cousins at the park.

They even got me involved.

One of the days we were there, we celebrated Rachel and Rebekah's 5th birthday. They turn 5 next month, but since we won't be together then, we went ahead and celebrated early.

Emerson was SO happy that he got a cupcake too!

On our last full day there, we went to Jump City because it was raining. The kids had a blast! Doesn't matter where they are, as long as they are together.

Eating a Popsicle.

Emerson loved getting to play too.

Davis loved telling Uncle Robert about the tanks we saw!

It was very important to Davis to get to see some tanks, so we made a stop at the area that has different tanks on display. All of the kids loved it, but Davis couldn't get enough of it. It was so sweet to watch him!

Davis stood in front of this monument to get his picture taken. No one told him to salute, he just did it on his on. How cute is that? He LOVED his "army outfit" he got to wear that day (looks real good with the red crocs, huh?)

Aunt Jennifer showing Davis the monument.

Davis got to sit on the tank. The sign said not to, but Aunt Jennifer broke the rules a little for her Davis!

Look at his face in this one. If you click on it, it will enlarge. He was SO excited!

All of the kids.

Emerson LOVED this Frisbee. So much, that he would take it to bed with him while we were there. Strange boy!

We had a wonderful time in Louisiana. Makes me miss them all even more. Parker and Patrick were inseparable. They are such good buddies. All of the kids did great. We can't wait to see them again at Christmas!