Celebrating With Jackson

Jackson just celebrated his fourth birthday!!! I can hardly believe that my little baby is now a big four year old. He is definitely my baby and will always be! Jason had to be out in Texas over the weekend, so I packed up my little guy and headed out west while the twins stayed in Nashville with their grandparents. Here's a glimpse of the fun that we had celebrating Jackson's birthday!!!

We opened birthday presents here at home a few days before. He was so excited to get a car carrying case, books, a movie, toy story cars, and a buzz light year lazer shooter. He had also been asking for a cd player like his brother and sister already have, so we made sure to give him one for his birthday. He is thrilled to get to listen to his music before bedtime each night.

Such a happy little guy!

Jackson and I flew on an airplane from Nashville. We had our friend, Elizabeth, come along with me to help out with Jackson. She was also able to keep him for us while we attended a few dinner meetings over the weekend. Jackson was thrilled to be on an airplane again! He finally fell asleep on the bus ride over to get our rental car. 

On Jackson's birthday, Jason was tied up in meetings all day. We headed over to Fort Worth and went to the zoo! It is listed as one of the top ten zoos in America. It was AMAZING!!! We saw so MANY animals and loved every minute of it! They had penguins, elephants, giraffes, chimpanzees, orangutans, white tigers, cheetahs, meerkats, red kangaroos, wallabies, eagles, owls, rhinos, ostriches, and many more animals - they boast of having 5,000 animals!

Checking out the giraffes!

The elephants!

Jackson loved looking at all of the animals!

A statue of a kangaroo

We had fun looking in the underwater tank at the penguins and then we were able to walk outside and see the beach side penguins getting fed.

We took a break from the heat to ride the carousel. At first Jackson wanted to ride the horse, but quickly changed his mind. 

He opted instead for what he called "Santa's Sleigh".

We were able to touch the sting rays and starfish.

After being in the Texas heat and a train ride back to the entrance, Jackson caught a quick little snooze with our friend, Elizabeth.

After getting back from the zoo, we cooled off in the pool until Jason finished up his class for the day. We headed out to Chuck E. Cheese for a little play time before dinner.

Jackson had so much fun!

We ended our night with a birthday dinner celebration at Chili's.

Cake!!!
Jackson will tell you that his cake was "massive" and "to the top of the ceiling"!

Happy 4th Birthday to my Jackson Cash!

My Latest Import

I am so excited that summer is here and we are staying busy! We've had a great start and we've made sure that our days have been filled with fun, fun and more fun! This time a year ago, I was in the hospital after having major surgery. The recovery was much more than I bargained for and I didn't feel as if I really had a summer break at all. This year I am determined to change that and so far we've had a blast!

We've stayed busy with a trip to the Chattanooga Aquarium, visits to the library, t ball games, playing at the pool, trips to the park, Bible Memory Challenge Award's Night, dates with Dad, a trip to the farmer's market, playing in the sprinklers, catching up with friends over ice cream, and we are excited about all the other adventures our summer has in store for us!

I am also very excited to have the opportunity to work on updating my blog from this past year. Jason is knee deep in his work for his Doctorate of Ministry! So, I am finding that I have a lot of spare time to update my blog and read some books this summer.

I was able to upload my recent pictures from my camera. There's a little bit of everything in this most recent import.

Abby Kate dressed up as a princess with her baby.

Jackson checking out the sting rays.

Abby Kate looking over at the sting rays.

In the butterfly garden, a beautiful butterfly came right up to Joshua and landed on his head! He sure is a sweet little guy!

Penguins!

Ahh! Sharks!

Getting a closer look at the spider crabs

Jackson found the perfect spot to watch the fish!

Love the look of focus!

Another at bat

Award's Night for Bible Memory Challenge

I was so excited for the kids to be there this year to receive their trophies. Last year, we missed Award's Night because of my surgery. They worked hard this year learning all of their memory verses and all the books of the Bible!

Our Beach Pictures

Beach Fun

We were able to go down to the beach over Memorial Day weekend for the Junior High Beach Retreat with our church group. We've been blessed with the opportunity to attend this Beach Retreat for the past several years. It is such a fun trip and this year we had an absolute blast! I was able to truly relax and enjoy our time together. The kids are at a great age with the pool and the ocean. I feel like I was able to loosen the reigns on the kids a little. They all know their limits and they don't push them (which is a good thing for me). Abby Kate and Joshua felt pretty secure with their ring floats and Jackson didn't go any further than the first step. A trip to the beach is a perfect way to relax after a full school year! We are excited to be out for the summer and are looking forward to many fun days at the pool!

While at the beach, we took an afternoon off to head over to the movie theater. We all saw Kung Fu Panda 2 and really enjoyed it. We don't go to the "real" theater that often, so this was a special treat for us. We also took a couple of nights and headed out to our favorite restaurant - De Soto's. We've been visiting De Soto's for the past 12 or 13 years! I guess that if you eat 2 of your 4 dinners out at one restaurant, you are a pretty devoted customer.

Jackson's trip to the pool was not complete until he had put on his sunglasses.

Abby Kate can't wait to get in the ocean.

Joshua loved the ocean and enjoyed jumping over the huge waves!

Jackson loved going out in the ocean with Jason, but when he was giving the other 2 a chance to go out, he sat at the water's edge and played in the water. 

Jackson's hang out for the weekend

Abby Kate loves the water!

Silly Joshua

my 3 little cuties

Dinner at De Soto's

Jason and Abby Kate

My handsome little guy

We were able to go crab hunting our last night at the beach! Jackson was so excited and wanted nothing more than to catch a crab. The girls with us took Jackson with them and made it extra special for him. He was really disappointed that he didn't find a crab. After getting back he told Jason how sad he was and it just about broke Jason's heart. So he did what any good dad would do, he took his little boy back out to try and find a crab. The crabs were not wanting to come out, so they turned their little excursion into a seashell hunt. Such a sweet moment between a little boy and his daddy!

Abby Kate sporting her crab hunting hat! The flash was quite bright at nighttime, so Abby Kate is doing her best to smile for the camera with her eyes open.