More Alabama

I know it's been almost a week since we got back from Alabama, but I kept forgetting to update the blog whenever I'm online (or I mean to, but some little boy prevents me from doing so!).

Anyway, while in Alabama, we were able to visit a dear friend of Matt and Paula's. Melissa has a great pool at her house and she conveniently lives about 7 houses up the street from them! So, we were able to go to her pool a couple of times to cool off, although, the pool water was a warm 98 degrees! Yes, that is just how hot it has been down there!

As a lot of our family knows, Austin is not exactly a water baby (or kid now). Living in Hawaii for 3 years did not help this kid out with his fear of deep water at all. In fact, we are ecstatic to get him in water that is deeper than his baths. However, he was excited about going into Melissa's pool and even put on floaties, which is something I never thought he'd do.

When he was tired of walking around the shallow end, he'd climb into this chair and have Nate or Anna pull him around the pool.

Colten on the other hand, is the ultimate Water Baby! He LOVES the water and doesn't take his eyes off the water that he is splashing all around. As soon as you get him in the water his arms start going and he kicks his feet. He is SO happy to be in the water.

Auntie Paula and Colten

Nate and Colten...notice Colten hasn't looked up at the camera at all!

Anna and Colten after a little while of being in the pool...finally some baby eyes!

When Daddy and Uncle Matt joined us in the pool the next time, they tried to get Austin to go under water, swim with them in the deep end, and be carried in the deep end. He wasn't doing any of it at first. He then let Brian take him out there, then Matt bribed him out there. THEN, Daddy dunked him underwater without warning him...but he said it wasn't too bad and didn't cry or anything.

Right after Daddy dunked him.

Mornings in this house is the same as our...kids getting up early! At least here, we had Anna making Austin breakfast! :-) Uncle Matt loved taking Colten outside on their swing and sitting with him. Colten loves being outdoors and it instantly calms him when he's having a cranky morning.

All the kids with Matt one morning. Yes, it is hard to have everyone looking at the camera at the same time and not have have anyone blinking, etc! I love this one though because you see so many emotions.

On Father's Day, we drove into Florida and ate at FudPuckers in Destin. It's a touristy place with food and alligators! You can learn about them, take your picture with them (if you pay, of course!) and even feed them while waiting for your table. Oh, and if you ever have the chance to go there, make sure you bring a Sharpie marker...you get to write on anything you'd like (walls, tables, doors, even the T.V.s have been written on!)

After FudPuckers, we went to an outdoor mall (like the Promenade here in NWA) and watched the 3D movie UP. We also walked around Bass Pro Shop.

We stopped by the beach on our way home...probably not the best idea since Austin has a HUGE meltdown and had to be brought back to the van in hysterics while everyone else stayed for a few more minutes.

This picture was taken pre-meltdown. You can see that he's a little moody already in this picture:

Daddy and Colten at the beach. There were so many more ideas I had for pictures, but the meltdown took care of all of those for me! I guess we'll have to take Colten to the beach some other time and do more pictures.

Again, we had a great trip and loved visiting with Matt, Paula, Nate and Anna. Just the other day, Austin asked if we could go see Nathan and Anna tomorrow. I don't know how he can forget the 13 hour drive each way, but that just shows how much fun he has with his cousins!