A trip to Ginny's House

The whole McCoy tribe visited Aunt Ginny's house in Houston during our Fall Break at PRC. The youngest member of the tribe immediately made best friends with Aunt Ginny's puppy, O.D. We had anticipated a trip to the tribal elder's favorite fall Houstonian Hangout, the Texas Renaissance Festival, but Friday night found our gracious host getting called into work. Slightly disappointed at first, we ended up going to Dewberry Farms out from Katy. Turns out, it was an absolute blast! The McCoy gene that Aunt Ginny recieved can always make a great day happen even when you don't get what you expect!

Little man was completely wiped after a day of feeding goats, investigating the living styles of our furry farm friends, climbing pumpkins, riding tractors and sliding on slides...Mom, Dad, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Matt were pretty tired too from chasing after an energetic 17 month old! That night he slept an AMAZING 13 hours!

Poor fella was wiped!

Pictures were provided by the Ginny Papparatzi! Thank you Aunt Ginny for making us a copy of them! We really appreciate it since Mom and Dad don't have a camera of their own!

The reason why....

... In-Door Ice and Water is a BAD idea when one has toddlers that like getting wet!

Hurricane Gustav

Well, the Tribe faired well during the "Storm of the Century"(So named by the mayor of the Chocolate City). We had torential rain fall, lost cable and Internet services and lost power for about a minute and a half. The Elders were without power for about two hours at their domicile. Dad stayed on the coast to help weather the storm there, lost about half of the shingles on one roof at the coast, sounds to me like some Mexican wasn't doing their job on the nail down for that one. While going out to secure the property in Caesar, B and Maw-in-law took a couple shots of the contraflow from NO. Thought those who weren't there might want to see a little about it.

We got TP'd!

It appears that someone decided that our extra supply of TP was in the wrong place so it has been relocated from the bathroom to underneath our bedroom aquarium stand.

After that, the day progressed....and we thought someone was being a bit too silent. It seems that he is really liking to play with the TP these days...
Then he decided to pose for the camera!
Eyes closed, but this fella loves getting his picture taken! As soon as he hears the beep he has to come get in front of the camera and smile...too bad usually the camera is still saving the picture it beeped for when the smile happens. Daddy has finally figured out that if you half press the button it beeps...he smiles...and then finish pressing the button to capture those beautiful pearly whites!

I had to include this one! When what to our wondering eyes should appear but a tiny reindeer!

Thinking about Life...

Been a while since I had a real thinking about life moment...Tonight we watched a great movie called "The Bucket List". Nothing like a good death movie to start you thinking about how great your life is, and how simple "real" requirements are to make a happy life. I think we all get so caught up in the material world that we forget about what we really NEED in life to make us happy. While those material things are fun, I can't stop thinking about the two questions that the movie said were asked upon arrival in Heaven...Did you have joy in your life? My answer, is a definite and resounding YES! Everything that brings me joy is constantly around me. My wife, my son, my Mom and Dad, My Sister and the remainder of my family, and all of my friends bring me more joy than I could ever express. Second Question: Did my life bring Joy to others? I certainly hope so.

I know at times we are all ready to strangle those around us when they do something that doesn't mesh perfectly with our pre-defined ideals of how something should work...So take every opportunity to tell those around you what they mean to you, and how much you love them!

On a lighter note! Officially went to the county planning office today and applied for our 911 address at the Caesar property! Yeah! Also started the process while I was there to get our location approved for our metal building to be erected! Stuck three white flags on the property to mark our driveway and the future location of the "Shed"...hopefully tomorrow we will talk to some building companies about how much this endeavor will cost. At least the building permits won't break the bank...shouldn't be more than $100 for the permits! Yeah!

First Haircut!

Today was the day when our little baby became a little man. Here is his very last picture of the baby curls. After a short drive to Fantastic SAMs the haircut begins. Little man was a big boy and sat all by himself in the barber's chair.
You can see the transformation! The lady that did his haircut was VERY good with him, I would have ended up having to just shave it all off...he was interested in looking at everything in the store! Himself in the mirror, his hair as it fell...he even tasted a bit of it (he didn't like that too much!).
All done! Mr. Man got an orange sucker for being a good boy! The sucker ended up all over Mom and Baby! Think we got most of the sticky off. :)
Our mischievous boy back at tormenting D and T! He looks so grown up! We will miss the curls, but I am sure he will find this haircut much cooler for this summer heat!

Happy Birthday Nona!

Happy Birthday Nona! Hope you had a great day! Nona and Papa spend Nona's Birthday mowing and then went out to eat at an old family favorite that was relocated thanks to Hurricane Katrina (I do so wish they would rebuild the old Rat's Nest). They closed down the joint, and had a great time (despite the bones in Nona's Flounder)! Sunday, The McCoy Tribe went for a visit to celebrate! I attempted to bake Granny McCoy's Famous Pound Cake...needless to say I need about 30 more year's practice to get it as perfect as Granny used to be able to make it (Nothing is the same without her special touch...but I am going to get it close one day!). Papa cooked Shrimp Etouffee (Brandy peeled the Shrimp), and Green beans...Nona and Brandy made Pineapple salads...it was delicious!