Vacation week

This past week we took a vacation to Mississippi to see some family, mainly PawPaw and GiGi. We had a really great time and got to see several aunts, uncles and cousins, too.

We spent most of Tuesday swimming in Uncle Freddy's pool. Evan loved going down the slide and jumping off of the diving board. He even stopped his dad from catching him and swam to the ladder all by himself. Joel went down the slide once, but I tried to catch him and it didn't work out so well, for either one of us. We did survive, but Joel wouldn't go down the slide again. He loved the diving board, though.

Wednesday we all went to the Gulf Coast (including PawPaw and GiGi). Evan had been asking when we could go back to the beach, and I told him it would be a really long time. He was very excited to be at a beach so soon and played for hours. The boys played in the sand and even swam with the fishies in the water. (Yes, we really saw schools of fish swimming around us. I tried to catch some of the smaller ones, but they got away.) I got sunburned in some weird places, but the guys who stayed in the water escaped without damage.

Thursday morning we went to USM for a little bit. It sure has changed a lot in the ... years since I have been gone. There were new buildings and roads were closed off, but we made it around the campus and took a short walk through the rose garden. Then we hung out at PawPaw and GiGi's house for t rest of the day, until we went fishing. PawPaw and GiGi had a fish fry yesterday for the 4th and we helped them catch some of the catfish. Evan and Joel each caught one fish and then they were done. Everybody else caught a lot of fish!

Friday morning we went back to PawPaw and GiGi's house for a final visit before we drive home. It ended up being a little longer than we had planned, due to a trip to the ER. Joel had an accident just a few minutes after we got there. He dropped a heavy metal truck on his foot and cut his big toe pretty deeply. PawPaw drove us to the ER like a Nascar veteran (minus the wrecks) and the staff was very nice, quick and efficient. Joel was x-rayed, cleaned, stitched, and we were on our way in about 2 hours. We were worried that we would have to wait 2 hours to even see a doctor. He got seven stitches, and is doing pretty well. He complains about it hurting every now and then, but he is happily playing on the floor right now. He slept a good bit on the way home yesterday, and the trip back was actually a lot smoother than it could have been, given Joel's injury. Evan is being very good with Joel and was trying to protect him this morning. If Joel dropped a toy, Evan would say, "I'll get it for you. You might hurt your toe." I had to convince Evan that Joel could get off the couch and walk around and play if he wanted to. Now Joel is even running around the house. I think that he will be just fine.