Jones Family Vacation 2011

Every two years my dad's family gets together for a Mayhle family reunion. This year we all met in Cave City, KY which is about 13hrs from us. We wanted to make a family vacation of it so we also went to Branson, MO on the way back. We left our house at 3am on July 1st and drove all day.

Thank goodness for the DVD player! Jensen was happy the whole time and Jorden did ok too even though he did talk a whole lot and it got tiring for us to hear after a while

We did make one stop on the way at Cooter's place, a Dukes of Hazzard museum in Nashville, TN. Jeff loved the show as a kid and now he and the boys love to watch it together

Jeff. Jorden and Jensen with the General Lee

The reunion was at Jellystone park, a Yogi Bear themed campground with lots of fun activities for the kids. We stayed in this cabin and it was perfect for us. They had a pool with a waterslide, a little parade and fireworks. We also loved making s'mores over the campfire.

 

My dad and his sisters Ruth, Dolly and Patty. His sister Gloria and brother Jim could not make it. We had a fun time visiting with everyone but I wish we could have stayed longer. I also wish we had time to go visit my mom's side of the family that live a few hours from there but there just wasn't enough hours in the day

Mammoth Cave was right near the campgrounds so we went on a tour. It wasn't as impressive as other caves but it felt good to go underground out of the heat

We left the reunion on July 4th and drove about 8hrs to Branson. We had two day passes to Silver Dollar City which is a theme park set in the 1880's and has rides and people doing craftsmanship from the time. We also took the boys to a go cart track with an arcade so we had a lot of fun.

 
This was our van we rented. The drive was great, the boys slept really well away from home and we made tons of great memories so I'd say it was a success. We made it home safely on July 6th

Hi June...Bye June

WHEW! June was so busy for us it seemed like it came and went in a flash of activities. Jensen did swim lessons for two weeks, went to a fire safety class in Edmond for two days and started summer basketball at the Y. I had MOMS Club elections, our end of the year banquet and had to submit our yearly report. Jeff went to LA on business and Jorden had Chicken Pox! We had a lot of fun despite being so busy so here are some pics

Being sweet brothers at story time at the Y

We had some great family time at the science museum and the boys
 were excited to see Otto the robot

 On a rare day at home we played with some shaving cream

Sandbox fun

The boys got Daddy a shiny new grill for Father's Day

Jorden's favorite thing to do right now is put on socks and shoes by himself
He's good at putting on Mommy and Daddy's since they are bigger

I don't remember buying these at the grocery store :)

Jensen was lucky enough to have all 4 of his grandparents at his basketball game
L to R- Mimi, Grandpa Mayhle, Grandpa and Grandma
Grandpa Mayhle was in town looking for a place to live when he moves here soon

I had a lot of fun creating this masterpiece at an event called Wine and Canvas where you get an art lesson while drinking wine. I'm not sure why this loaded sideways

Mini Vacation

We decided to go on a mini vacation with the kids since a friend of ours invited us to go on a trip with their family. Jeff has a friend from high school named Misty and she did my hair forever so we became great friends too. She and her husband Ryan have two boys that are 2 and 8 years old so it's great to spend time with them. We went to Dallas, TX for two nights and has a great time. It was a challenge staying in a hotel with Jorden but he slept pretty well for being away from home.

We packed up the car and drove to the Texas border and stopped for a picnic then we went to Medieval Times dinner theater. Jeff and I have been talking about going there forever so we are glad we took the kids. It was a whole Medieval theme with a king, knights and swords. We ate a huge dinner with our hands and cheered for our red and yellow knight. Jensen loved the sword fights and jousting.

Medieval Times castle

Mason 8 and Jensen 5 at Medieval Times castle

Jones family with the king of Medieval Times

Jensen and Jeff cheering for our knight

Jorden enjoyed seeing the heesies (horses)

The next morning we went to Lego Discoveryland at the Grapevine Mills Mall and had a great time playing with legos and riding a few rides. 

City of Dallas made from Legos

Jorden building with the big Legos

Big boys Mason and Jensen making cars to send down the ramps

Even bigger boy Jeff building something

I thought this would be a cool picture of Jensen in the pile of Legos but I think it was painful!

 We had never been to Rainforest Cafe so it was neat to eat dinner there. They have animatronic animals and you feel like you are in the rain forest.

Boys checking out the aligator. We just happened to dress all 4 boys in orange that day!

Ryan, Misty, Tapley and Mason/Jeff, Kristi, Jorden and Jensen



May 2011 Random

 Fire station tour with MOMS Club

 Trying on Daddy's boots

 Grandma and Mimi wore the same shirt to Jensen's track meet without knowing it. They say "Grandma/Mimi is my name and spoiling is my game"

 Aunt Jamie with Jorden and Julia Kate

 Jensen had 80's day at school so he dressed in his version of Marty McFly from Back to the Future. His teacher also dressed up and what she wore was hilarious!

 Doing puzzles at their little table

 Jorden thinks my strainer makes a good hat!

 After searching forever I finally found something decorative to hang the boys' art work on in our family room. Jamie found this at for half off and I love it

Jensen had a mishap with the soap dispenser in the bathroom at Taco Mayo

Holy Tornado!

On Wed May 24th the weathermen had been talking all day about a high possibilty of tornados in the afternoon. Sure enough we had severe weather starting at about 3pm. Jeff came home early and shortly after dinner it started to hail A LOT. Then they announced that there was a possible tornado at 149th and May and we live at 141st and May eeek!! We got the kids in the closet and listened to the weather radio. I came out for a minute when Jeff told me to look out back. I have lived in OK my whole life and this was the first time I had seen a tornado in real life, rightout my back door!

 Golf ball sized hail in the front yard

Big hail from the yard 

 after the storm passed us we let the boys go out and play in the rain since everyone on our block was outside checking out the hail damage. We had all 3 cars outside so they got pretty banged up.

After it was over, we learned how lucky we really were. In other parts of the city huge tornados destroyed everything in it's path and injured and killed lots of people. The saddest story was a family that was taking cover in their bathroom like they should have but the tornado was so powerful it severely injured the pregnant mom and her 5yr old daughter and killer her 3 yr old and 15 month old boys. They couldn't find the 3 yr old for 2 days and it just made me sick to my stomach and hold my babies a lot longer. I just can't imagine.....

Bye Bye Pre-K

 

Jensen with Mrs. Wiegle and Mrs Gappa

When we were kids kindergarten was a big deal since it was the first time you went to public school. Now that public Pre-K is the norm it's the first year of real school. Jensen really loved half day Pre-K and he learned a lot from great teachers. To celebrate the end of the year they had a little program where they sang a few songs and they gave certificates to everyone for completing Pre-K. They also gave certificates to all the kids who knew all the letter sounds, colors, shapes etc. and we are proud that Jensen was one of those students. He's one smart cookie!