Wedding, Walhalla Steakhouse and Fair Rides!

On Friday, I picked the boys up after nap and we headed West to the Upstate! We stopped in Columbia to eat with Kevin after his all day Professional Engineering Exam (the main reason we were going to the Upstate without him was to let him relax for the weekend)! We got to Nana and Bopa T.'s and played a bit before I got the twins to bed. Then I did probably the craziest thing I've done since I've had children (definitely the latest I've been out since having babies) - but of course, that's not saying much!



My cousin Tonya picked me up and we were off to find our cousin Kelly (the bride!) - we had this elaborate plan to surprise her at her hotel "in our pajamas" with gifts and food! "In our pajamas" is in quotations b/c Tonya failed to tell me that part before I left Conway! So, my PJs were old ratty ones and hers were nice new ones! Anyway, we got to her hotel, and she was gone! Not just gone - out on the town! So, what else, but go try to find her! We found her at Tiger Town and got her to come over to the truck for a semi-shower outside of the bar! We did not go in, thankfully!
Here we are all together - notice my penguin pajama pants!
Here's the groom - Tony!

Tonya is giving Kelly the first present!

I'm dressing Kelly with the bow from package #2!

Kelly makes a good model!

Kelly's modeling everything at once!

The three cousins with Kelly modeling the lacey bra and panties!

Saturday we went to the best place ever - the Walhalla Steakhouse! Here's Aunt Suzanne, Uncle Ned, Zane and GG!

Carson, Me, and Cade enjoying the yummy food and great company!

Big Papa is walking behind us at the Steakhouse! I think this was the only picture I got with him this weekend!

Here's Cade and Carson's Great-Granddaddy and Great-Grandmama!

Carson and Cade with the chef!

Suzi went over to stand with him, too, but the twins left!

Time for the wedding! It was outside at Uncle Ken's property and was very beautiful! Carson and Cade are playing in the mud!

The boys had lots of fun in the woods!

Uncle Ned, Zane, and Aunt Suzanne with Tonya in the woods!

Suzi with Aunt Suzanne and Zane!

Carson plays at the Gazebo where Kelly is about to get married!

Uncle Ned with his baby boy Zane!

Kelly and Tony are tying the knot - I love that TJ (Tony's son) is in the picture watching!

Kiss the Bride!

Carson and Cade are watching the big campfire with all the people eating in the background!

The beautiful cake!

Checking out all the danger!

Nana and her grands!

Here's two of Big Papa's sisters (my Great Aunts): Aunt Barbara Ann, Aunt Margaret, and Uncle Bill!

Nana and the twins were showing off dance moves!

We had a great time and got up the next morning (after sleeping late - thankfully til 8:00) and had breakfast and played before making the long trip home! I must say that my boys really do impress me that they tell me every time they need to go potty! We had no accidents the whole drive up and back (with lots of pit stops). And I'm getting to where I can make a 5 hour trip without going at all (since I let them go in the potty in the back or just out in some grass depending on where we are, I don't get to go)! It's really just easier than taking them in somewhere and worrying about all the germs!

So I was getting restless about Florence, so we stopped for this little Fair!
Here's the boys riding the carousel!

Carson really enjoyed it! (I was holding Cade by that point!)

Cade and Carson riding in a helicopter!

Cade and Carson checking things out!

There's several pictures of them in the helicopter b/c that was our last ride. - Yes, I'm too cheap to buy more tickets when they cost $3 a ride per child!

They are figuring out how to get out all by themselves!

They had fun and it was just enough to let me stretch my legs without a huge urge to have to go potty!

Pumpkins and Tractors!

Cade is driving to place his painted pumpkin on the porch!
Carson is too!

Cade is showing me where he put them!

Carson considers moving his!

These silly boys love to pretend! They are "getting the mail" as they pick up all the pine straw from our driveway!

Apparently, we have a lot of mail in our driveway!

We also wound up with a sting of mushrooms in our yard this week!

Carson and Cade are playing on the top bunk!

Carson is about to throw Cade's Elmo!

Not too happy that it's time to get down to eat!

This is actually a different day with different Khaki pants and the same little jacket! The boys wanted to go check their pumpkins! They have parked here at the steps and are able to back up and turn around and follow the curvy sidewalk back to the driveway - such good little 2 year old drivers. They are also excellent backseat drivers. They love to sit on "Mommy's side", and I try to explain to them that both sides are Mommy's sides b/c it is Mommy's van! They still cry sometimes though. I just tell Carson his side is the driver's side and Cade his side is the passenger's side and Mommy sits on the driver's side some and the passenger side some!

Speaking of driving . . . They love to learn and teach! They are constantly "teaching" (or retelling) each other what they've recently heard from me or Kevin! They love to tell me at traffic lights when I have to stop, slow down, or go based on the color! So the other night they noticed on their pillow shams (the big pillows that I leave lined up on the floor right by the edge of the bed for when Cade falls out - he doesn't do that much anymore =) that there's a stop sign (colored red) and a yield sign (colored yellow). Carson said that means stop and that means slow down pointing to each one, respectively! And it just happened that the next day they were learning about yield signs (really just triangles, but come on these boys have known their shapes for a long time now) in DayCare and were able to tell Mrs. Debbie what they knew (even when they colored the yield sign red like it's supposed to be)!

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They decided to move those pumpkins! (Notice our "Welcome" wreath on the front door has slid all the way down the glass in all the pictures - I decided to leave it there since that is better than on the mat where it used to always end up!)

Cade decided to put his back and direct Carson to move his over there (as he points)!

Then he moves over to show Carson exactly where it should go!

Then we went for a "walk"!

Carson and Cade driving by our house!

Playing in the Cul-de-sac!

Running up and down the little hill where they parked their tractors (before we tried to finish our walk and Carson's battery died and I had to push him back down the road)!