The Dent Family

Friday, October 21, 2011

My First Mississippi State Fair

Of course, we would pick the day to go when all the farm animals were being switched out and there weren't any to see, but so goes life.

One of my favorite animals continues to be a llama. I often tell Momma (which, tricky as it is, is exactly how I say "llama" because I can't say my Ls...a problem for my mother when deciphering what I'm talking about) that there are llamas in the back yard or sleeping in her bed :).

Enjoying the circus. Who says fun isn't free? We had a great day at the fair for $0. Mommy says she can get away with this for a few more years until I understand that all the stuff we walk by you can actually TAKE HOME if you pay some money.

Frog Hunting with Mamena

Almost every Saturday we go visit Mamena (my great-grandma) while Daddy plays Angleball. Last week we found a small frog on her patio.

She showed me how to gently nudge him and make him hop. After awhile he got tired and just sat there and I moved on to other things.

And here's Tyson, playing in a puddle.

Love

Mommy says she's reminded every day how blessed she is.

Just what the firemen need...

Just what the firement need...a bunch of children running around, pulling on levers, pushing on buttons, hanging on their gym equipment, giving them heart attacks. But they let us come anyway. Here I am on the front of the firetruck. That bell to the left was a big hit once we figured out how to ring it from inside AND outside the truck.

It took me a few minutes to warm up to this idea, but once Simon got in the driver's seat, I felt safe.

Here's Freeman and I, making sure the tailgate is jump-proof.

What a fun day!

But there's only so much you can look at on a firetruck before you find something else to play with...

Our Stay-cation

Several months ago Thomas and I had an idea. Wouldn't it be fun to go stay with his grandmother (who we call Mamena) for a night as if we were going on vacation to her house? Since she lives in town, we usually just see her for a few hours at a time. So a few weeks ago we did! We packed up and had a slumber party at Mamena's house! On Saturday morning we decided to take it a step further and take her with us to the zoo. She hadn't been in over 15 years. She can walk, but the zoo would be a bit much, so we took the wheelchair and thankfully didn't have any catastrophes resulting in her meeting the pavement. What a fun time we had!

Below is Cole on the carousel (you get to do a lot of fun things when Mamena comes along) before it started. A little worried, a little excited.

Here's Mamena and Tyson watching Cole on the carousel.

And here's Cole, enduring the carousel, hating every moment of it once it started.

Here's one happy great-grandma. I think she may love my kids more than I do...what a blessing to have her in our lives and have her in town to do fun things like this with. I pray that God gives us many more years with her!

Summer Fun for $1

Momm would like you to be thinking, "Oh, what a creative mother!" Unfortunately, this activity lasted all of 30 seconds. But she should still get some points for it I think. She tried...it was a dud, but she tried :).

Mommy has recently picked up her love of garage saling and we have lucked out. She found this sprinkler mat for $1 at one (normally she would've bargained them down, but it was for a mission trip and she felt bad).

It was a big hit!

I don't like "uncontrolled water", so this is perfect for me. I can see what's going to shoot where at all times. Tyson ended up with a lot of ant bites from this, but he was having so much fun he didn't cry.

Washington State - the land of beautiful weather

In August we went to a big family reunion in Washington State. My Grandma Sharon was one of 8 kids so there are a lot of kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. Almost 60 of us all together to be exact. But the last time they got together was 10 years ago for my great-grandparent's 50th anniversary. So this year they all planned to get together for their 60th anniversary, but my great-grandpa Wagenaar went to be with Jesus just a few weeks before the celebration. We decided to still get together and celebrate his legacy (remember, there's almost 60 of us!) and the wonderful family God has given us. So we took Tyson on his first plane ride and flew to Lynden, WA for 10 days.

Mommy's Aunt Lu is a hospitality genius. Between her house and 3 campers, she housed 26 of us, everyone who came in from out of town, at the same location! And FED ALL THOSE PEOPLE meal after meal for 10 days! What a wonderful lady! We spent a lot of time in their backyard enjoying the 70-degree weather. It only rained one night the whole time we were there. It was sunny and beautiful!

We even got to see Uncle Daniel!

And we played at a lot of different parks. With that many kids, you need some activities, so we hit up every park in town.

Here we are, only 3 or 4 people are missing from this picture. My great-grandma Wagenaar is sitting in the middle, then her 6 children (Grandma Sharon and great-Aunt Glenice are with Jesus already), their children, and their grandkids. What a great testament to God's goodness to 4 generations!