Camping Adventures

June 3-June 9

Monday the 4th was supposed to be a pretty boring day when I got a call from my parents saying that they were ready to be picked up from the airport! I thought they were coming in on Tuesday! Lottie and I rushed to the airport and got there just in time. Lottie screamed most of the way home, which has been a common theme in the Gentry household lately. Anyway, we were happy to see Nanny, Pappy, and Ryan. They came in our house and passed out gifts from their trip to Europe. I received a cutting board from Paris and a decorative spoon from Switzerland. Matt got a large mug from Germany. Lottie got a cute little bumble bee toy to go in her room, and Hudson got a cow backpack. The gifts were all really neat, and Hudson loved his backpack. Hudson also received a gift from us that day. We had bought him a toy digital camera, because he is always trying to take pictures or look at them. It arrived in the mail Monday too, and he had a blast with it. I think by the end of the day there were over 300 pictures on it. He has some work to do on his technique, though. Tuesday was pretty exciting, because we got to experience a venus transit across the face of our sun! It is the last time that it will happen in our lifetime, so we thought we would try and make the most of it. First, I had to go to the Pink Palace, where we first heard about it, to get some special viewing glasses. Hudson and Lottie made the trek with me, and Hudson made it out of the gift shop with a cute squiring fish and a real desire to come back to the museum. That evening, we packed some snacks, our lawn chairs, and our glasses, and headed out to the Mississippi River to have the best view of the sun possible. It took us a really long time to see Venus on the face of the sun, but we found it eventually. Hudson and I walked down the ramp to toss some rocks in the River. We saw 3 huge barges, and Hudson made some good use of his camera. After awhile, we headed back and just watched some footage of the eclipse on the computer.

Wednesday was another really fun day. It was nice out, so we decided to head to the zoo. We had a blast. It was kind of crowded, but we enjoyed ourselves. It was Lottie’s first trip there! She did really well. We took a lunch and at near the farm animals. We spent a lot of time in the aquarium. The most fun part about the zoo was playing in the water. Hudson finally had the courage to get in the water/ fountain at the front of the zoo. I stepped in with him, and he had a blast. He “swam”, jumped, splashed, and ran. He didn’t know what to do with himself! It was so fun getting to see him enjoy it.

Friday was extra special, and a day we had been anticipating for a long time. MADAGASCAR 3! We actually had let Hudson watch the first 2 leading up to this. We all headed out that afternoon, bought some popcorn and a coke and had a great movie experience. Hudson was mesmerized, and enjoyed every moment, from eating the popcorn to  enjoying the movie. We even took some picture in front of a big Madagascar 3 cutout. Ever since the movie, Hudson has been singing the “Afro circus” song, or at least asking us to sing it. Lottie did great, and the movie was a great family event.

June 10-June 16

Sunday the 10th was lot of fun. Hudson and Daddy went to church, and then when they got home, we all loaded up and headed to my parent’s house. They had just opened their pool and we wanted to go swim. We had a good lunch with them, and then all headed to the pool. Hudson had a blast in the pool, playing with daddy, Pappi, and Ryan. Lottie made it into her swimsuit, but didn’t make it into the pool. It was still a little too chilly for her. After a few hours, we all got out, and the Bargery clan got ready for church. Pappi and Nanny asked to keep Hudson, so we took them up on it. Lottie, Daddy, and I headed home, while Hudson went to church with Nanny. Hudson stayed until Tuesday night. We did miss Hudson so, so much, but it was a really sweet time getting spend some time together and some time alone with Lottie.  We didn’t do much but stay home, organize things, watch TV, and play with Lottie. We had a lot of fun just talking to her, and playing with her on the bed. She obviously like this, because she gave us her first real smile on Monday the 11th! It was so sweet. We spent a lot of time trying to get her to do it again, but she isn’t quite a pro at it yet.

Wednesday, I spent all day preparing us for our camping trip. We decided  to leave Thursday, so I had a long day of shopping, packing, and cleaning. Thursday morning, we packed up and left at about 10am and headed to Crowley’s Ridge State Park. This would be Lottie’s first camping trip, and our first in a long time to sleep in tents. It was a fine drive there, but it took us forever to set up camp. We got to use our new camping equipment, and all of it was very useful, but it was lot of work, especially with 2 kids. Hudson did meet a friend while we set up camp who showed him a frog that he had caught. Hudson was so proud to have a kid around. That evening, we went to the lake to swim. It was a neat swimming lake, with slides and diving boards. Hudson and Matt got in, while Lottie and I just watched. They had a blast. We also went and explored a nearby town. When we got back to the campsite, we cooked dinner and then headed back to the lake to watch the sunset. It was beautiful and we had fun taking pictures on the dock. It had been a long day, and we were exhausted, so we headed to bed. Lottie and I stayed in our own tent, while Hudson  and daddy bunked together. Lottie didn’t sleep much, so I had a long night, but Hudson and daddy had fun chatting together before they went to bed, and seemed to sleep okay. The next day, we got up and headed to do some hiking. We only got to do one trail, because it was so hot outside! We did enjoy ourselves on the trail. There was a really cool suspension bridge that we had fun running over several times. When we made it back to the van, though, we were drenched in sweat and didn’t think it would be safe to keep the kids outside, so we headed to Jonesboro, which was nearby to see if we could find anything to do. We stopped for lunch at Larry’s Pizza Buffet, which was probably the worst restaurant decision we have ever made. The pizza wasn’t good, and it made us feel terrible afterwards. BLEH! It was still scalding, so we headed to the mall. There was a Barnes and Noble there, with a train table! Yay! We probably stayed there 2 hours, letting Hudson play, while I played on the Ipad, and daddy read. It was really nice, and so cool inside. After a couple of hours, we went and explored the mall. There wasn’t really anything too interesting, but there was a playground area, so we stayed there about another hour. Hudson entertained himself, and we got to talk and just hang out. It wasn’t really our first choice, but it ended up being a pretty good day. We stopped and got custard on the way back to the campsite. We almost packed up and left that evening, but decided to give it another go. We switched tents that night, and that actually worked out better for both of us. The next morning we packed up and headed home. We were exhausted, and had learned a few things that would make our next trip a bit easier, but overall the trip was a success. We won’t be going back there in the middle of the summer again, though.

Hudson, you are getting smarter and smarter by the second! You are improving on your vocabulary so much. You really love to tell us the things that you love right now. Honestly, you pretty much tell us that you love everything. You will tell me, “Mommy, I ‘ove noodles” “I ‘ove dewie”, I ‘ove fimmin'”(swimming). It is really cute. You are also still jumping on and off of almost everything. We bought some sleeping pads for us to take camping. The also double as a great wrestling mat for the living room. One day we had them all out, and you had a hay day. You wrestled, rolled, and flipped all over the place. One time daddy mention that before we know it, you would be doing flips off the couch. You decided that it was time, so you stood up on the couch and tried to flip off! We both had a heart attack! We were so scared for you, bu you were fine. You  hit your head on the ground, but you recovered quickly and kept on going. We also really love taking you to bed and talking with you. You will ask “you ‘ay with me?” (You lay with me?). Pretty much every night one of us will go lay with you in your tent for a few minutes. We will talk and pray with you and the kiss you goodnight. You love to talk in your bed. You have been telling us all about your day and what you learned. It is so fun to see what stood out to you as the most important thing in the day. You will get your mind focused on one thing, like, you got a boo boo, or you played baseball. You are growing up so quickly!

Lottie, you are growing so much too! Your first smile and my heart melted! We had so much fun with you for those few days that Hudson was gone. We wish we could spend more time with you, and hope to try to integrate some more one on one time with each of you. I love getting to see your big toothless grin. You are happiest in the mornings, but still like to cry a lot of the day. I still carry you around most of the day while you are awake, because you are fussy.  You did amazing on the camping trip though. I think you really enjoyed experiencing the sights and sounds of the outdoors. The heat also wore you out quite a bit, so you slept a lot. You did sort of make a scene in Barnes and Noble, though. The trip wasn’t without its crazy moments. You are starting to sleep a little better at night. You will go to sleep aroung 11 and not wake up until about 3am, so I am getting about one long stretch of sleep each night. You are just like your brother when you sleep, in that, you like to wiggle yourself into a corner. It is really cute to see you all wrapped up and snuggled in the corner when I peek at you in the mornings. Although it is tiring, we are really trying to take in every moment of this precious newborn period. I know I won’t remember most of what happened, but I am trying to treasure every time you snuggle or flash a cute grin, because I know it will be gone so fast.