Trip to MO - Week 3 in Jackson

Our last week in Missouri was spent at my parent's home in Jackson, MO.  It was packed full of your typical fun moments: movie nights, cousins running around playing, more visits with Aunts and Uncles, trips to our favorite restaurants, and a very fun afternoon spent at a water park.  The best part though, was seeing Mitchell continue to strengthen his relationship with his cousins.  I love watching them play together and becoming such great friends!  We really had a fantastic trip to Missouri and we miss all of our family so much!  We can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Here we go again... strapped in his car seat.  As much as we traveled, he did very well on this four hour trip from the cabin to my parent's house.  He's such a happy baby:)

A trip to MO isn't complete without a visit to our favorite restaurant, Lambert's.  And thank goodness they had this playground to entertainment Mitchell while we waited an HOUR!  Ugh, I didn't miss that wait though.

Action shot!  Christine and Alex caught rolls at the same time!

Mitchell enjoyed his meal of buttered rolls and fried okra.  Although, he didn't really like the okra as much as the year before.  He ate a couple pieces anyway.  Oh, and Aunt Christine also gave him her croutons, which he loves.  Haha, gotta love our bread kid!

Holy huge salad Batman!  Kathryn didn't really need a fork for this giant monster.  Lol!

Duncan was his usual, well behaved self.  Though, I don't know if he got much out of his first trip to Lambert's:)

Mitchell was putting out the vibe in the gift shop with Uncle Richard.  Lol!

Mitchell enjoyed hanging out with his cousin Dawson, who was kind enough to show Mitchell the inner workings (games) on his tablet.

Aunt Winnie's house has the best snacks.  Haha!  "Feed me!!"

Duncan gave us a little sitting up action at Grandpa and Grandma's!

Grandpa and Grandma have the best toys!  Haha, and thank goodness they have two of these spinner thingy's, otherwise there might have been a war over them between Mitchell and Rhett.  Haha, instead, they played nicely together:)

Mitchell has discovered the long held secret knowledge that my siblings and I used over and over when we were younger to do what we wanted... Grandma is oblivious to things going on around her when she's reading a book.  Haha!

One afternoon we went to a local water park, Cape Splash, and the cousins had a blast splashing around!  Mitchell and Rhett loved running through "the circles" (as Mitchell called them).

He loved running through the water spouts!

This water slide was probably his favorite thing.  He just kept going on this over and over again... until he got kicked off of it.  Yes, that's right, my darling little boy was eventually banned from this slide.  Haha, he just couldn't stand waiting his turn to go.  There was a lifeguard on top of the slide, making sure kids went down the slide only one at a time.  Well, as soon as the kid in front of him went down, Mitchell would want to follow right behind him.  But, you know how water slides work... the lifeguard will make you wait until the person in front of you has completely cleared the slide.  He just couldn't wait, he was too excited.  Ugh, I talked to him, the lifeguard talked to him, and every once in a while he would wait like a good little boy.  Haha, but then he started crawling through the lifeguard's legs to go down it, so that was the last straw.  He was banned.  What can I do at this point but laugh.  Poor kid, just didn't understand; he couldn't see the bottom of the slide to know there was still a kid down there trying to get off, so from Mitchell's perspective up top, he was just staring at an empty slide.  He'll learn one day:)

Of course, we can't forget snack time when at a park!  Lol!

Rylan, Mason, Colton, and Dawson spent most of their time on the big water slides, so here I caught them all "taking a break" in the pool:)

He really didn't seem to miss the water slide that much, after he discovered how much fun swimming around the pool was:)

While we were at Cape Splash, Grandma was kind enough to babysit Duncan for me.  And it seems he had fun staying with her:)  And if you look close enough, you can spot his two bottom teeth!

Bath time!  Mitchell and Rhett both agree how fun it is to play with bubbles!

This was our last day together with my sisters, Karen and Nicole's, families.  Nicole was heading back to Australia and Karen was heading to the Smoky Mountains for a family vacation.  We would be leaving MO ourselves in a couple more days.  But for this moment, the cousins enjoyed one last hangout together:  Mitchell, David, Rhett, Mason, Jillian, and Rylan.

We spent our last day in Jackson at our Uncle Dale and Aunt Winnie's house.  I love spending time with them!  When Chris was on his mission in Germany, I spent a lot of time with my Aunt Winnie and she became more than just my aunt, but a very great friend to me.  Visits with her and my Uncle Dale are always full of laughter, great conversations, wonderful stories, and great food (Which is must with any family visit, right?  Lol).  Our cousins were also there and Mitchell had a great time as Ellie gave him a few tips when coloring:)

Duncan enjoyed meeting his cousin Brenda for the first time!

Some last minute cuddles with Aunt Christine before we head back home.  We had such a great visit in MO with our family!  We only wish Chris could have come with us, but other than that, it was a wonderful trip!  We love and miss everyone so much!

Shenanigans with Grandpa!  Grandpa always knows how to make Mitchell laugh.

"Hot Rolls!"  We're all pros at catching rolls at Lambert's.  Haha, Mitchell doesn't quite know what to do with them because the rolls are too hot.  He even says they're too hot at the very end.  Cute kid:)

Alright, I apologize for the next few videos with the annoying farting sounds.  Haha, but they tell a great story!  This farting gun was Mitchell's favorite thing.  We eventually had to hide it from him after hearing this noise over and over for more than an hour.  Lol!  You can just see how much he smiles when playing with it; he loved it!  I don't know what it is with boys and tooting noises, but they just think it is hilarious for some reason:)

The next day, Mitchell wasn't too happy about having to share his farting gun with Rhett.  In fact, he would rather whine and pout than take turns with it; he wanted it all to himself or not at all.  Haha, who would have known what a popular toy this would have been?  My favorite part is when Mitchell yells the whole way to get his milk, and then turns around and yells on his way back.  Haha, oh the humanity!

Alright, I hope you can stand a couple more minutes of this toot gun.  But, what a turn around!  Awe, the boys learned to share.  Haha, they made sure they each got to make enough toot sounds; I know, how thoughtful.  And now our tooting gun story ends (thank goodness).  Lol!

Duncan's first Cheerio.  Haha, poor kid.  With his reaction, you would think we gave him the most disgusting food ever.  He is so attached to me feeding him and he really refuses to eat anything else.  Oh well, I guess he'll learn to like solid foods some day:)

Cape Splash!  Everyone had a great time cooling off at this water park!

Mitchell and Rhett loved this water slide!  Well, Mitchell loved it until he got kicked off of it.  Ugh, what am I going to do with this kid?  Lol!

Haha, and for some reason, Mitchell felt the need to do a little pole dancing.

And sometimes a game of kissing cheeks turns into wrestling.  Lol!  Boys will be boys:)