Old Timer's Day

October 5th was Old Timer's Day.  Last minute I decided to take Liam to watch the parade.  Ryan had to work, so I called Mark and Maggie to see if they wanted to meet us.  We packed up and went to dad's office and waited on everyone to get there.  Dad was already there and had chairs for us to sit in.  Mark and Maggie made it on time (which I never thought they would, hehe) and brought their dogs with them.  We all took turns trying to keep Liam from running out into the road.  It took Liam a little while to catch on that they were throwing candy and what to do with it once he picked it up, but he got it.  This year was hot.  Old Timer's Day is supposed to be cold and rainy!  After the parade was over we walked around the square to see what all it had to offer.  This year was definitely bigger than last year.  It just won't ever be like it was when I was growing up.  Dad and I were hungry so we skipped out on the food there and went to eat at Cracker Barrel.  Even though it's not the same, I'm just glad that Liam will grow up the the same traditions that I did!

Bella Barker

Bella Barker is the new addition to our family.  Bella is the puppy of Maggie's dog Taylor.  Ryan and I had talked about getting Liam a puppy that would grow up with him.  So when Taylor had her puppies I thought now would be a good time.  I wanted one of her puppies and since it was her last litter we jumped on it!  We got the only girl out of they three she had.  I eventually want to breed her.  We named her Bella because of their last name Bell.  So Bella just stuck.  Well, Liam calls her " Bellwa."  Bella was born on July 5, 2013.  We picked her up after we got back from Florida when she was around 7 weeks old.  Bella is now 13 weeks old, weighs 6 pounds and is full of spunk!

Ryan doesn't do puke well ... I had to take a picture of this before I helped him clean up! HAHA!

Liam loves to lay down by Bella and let her lick all over him.  It is so cute.  He has his sweet little smile and belly laughs because her licking tickles.   When he goes to another room he always says "Come on Bellwa"  

As Bella has gotten older Liam has fallen more and more in love with her.  A few nights ago at my parents house Bella yelped for some reason.  Liam was sitting in his high chair and in he most concerned voice he said "OH NO BELLWA!  You OK Bellwa? You OK?"  It was so precious.  He kept asking her and I kept reassuring him she was fine.  I think he was waiting on her to answer him.

I took this picture yesterday at nap time.  I couldn't help myself.  Look how precious this is.  

Fair

This year's fair experience consisted of more walking around than riding.  Liam was a little too little to ride anything this year, so we just walked around and played games.  We decided to go grab some fair food with Mark and Maggie.  Of course the first thing when you walk into the fair is the tractors and we just had to sit on them!

I ate my favorite fair food, ball park pizza.  Ryan had a burger, pinto bean and cornbread and Liam had a corn dog and fries.  After we ate we started the hike around the rides.  We came up on a ride that I wanted to ride and Aunt Maggie took Liam to play a fishing game.  

Liam won a stuffed dinosaur at the fishing game! 

The last ride we came to was the carousel.  We had just enough tickets for Ryan and Liam to ride so I let them go while I took pictures.  Liam loved it and would wave everytime he came back around to me.  Im sure next year he will have so much fun riding all the little rides just for him!  Unlike Ryan, I love the fair and hope Liam will too!

The Sunday before the fair we went to watch Adalyn in the pageant.  She did so good and wore a beautiful little yellow dress.  She got called back in the top ten!  Even though she didn't win the pageant she won in my eyes! You can't get more beautiful than her.  I mean look at those curls!!! I guess I am just biased! :)

The boys shared a bag of popcorn and some of Landon's tractors while they cheered Adalyn on.

Liam's 1st Beach Trip

August 17-24, 2013  we took a family vacation to Port St. Joe, Florida.  I have to say that I was skeptical because I do not like change.  I loved this place.  The trip didn't start off as planned.  We left late Friday night so that we would get there early Saturday morning and have all day to play and unpack.  I had the Armada's oil changed, tuned up, tires rotated, professionally cleaned and a new tank of gas put in it.  We all packed up and started out after a few stops to get snacks and caffeine to keep us up.  As I am driving down the interstate something is wrong with the Armada.  When I get to 70-75mph the whole car starts shaking.  So we pulled off on the Pelham exit and tried to think of all the things that could be wrong.  We finally decided it had to be the tires so we turned around and headed back to the house to change over to Ryan's truck.  Once that was over the rest of the trip went smoothly.  The guys rode in my dad's truck.  The girl's drove Ryan's truck and John and JoAnn drove the Crossfire.  I don't see how they drove 8 hours in that little car!  I have to spread out!  Liam did good and slept most of the way.  A few melt downs but we made sure to make pit stops and get him out and move around.   

We finally made it Saturday morning and started unpacking.  We all couldn't wait to see Liams reaction to the ocean. His first time to the beach was so cute.  I figured he might freak out with the sand but he loved. it.  It took him a little while to get used to the water washing on the shore but he got over that real quick.  Here he is wearing his birthday suit.  

First steps in the sand!

Here was our house.  It was amazing!  It was right on the beach.  Except for the color pink, it was perfect.  I wish we could just pick it up and move it to Manchester.  It had the perfect layout!  Each couple had their own king size bed and bathroom.  School had started back and we pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves.  The water was not as clear as I expected it but it didn't stop us.  They say we were so close to the bayou and we were getting stuff coming from there and that the water always looked like that.  There were more shells than I had ever seen on a beach.  We picked out some and brought them home to make crafts.  

The beach wore him out!  He couldn't even finish his PB&J!

Liam and Papa spending some quality time at the beach.

Here was our view.  It was so beautiful there!

Building sandcastles with Aunt Maggie.  I was surprised how much he loved the sand!

As part of the Barker tradition we spent a few days flying kites while we were on the beach.  It was super windy at times and perfect for kites.  Some were better at it than others.  I blame it on the kite :)

Eating out at Killer Seafood.

Ryan and I decided to save our Anniversary dinner for Florida.  We took out the Crossfire with the top down.  We ate at a place called Sunset Bar & Grill.  We both had tuna steak, which is my favorite Florida meal!  On our way back, out of no where, it started pouring down rain!  We had to pull over and put the top up.  But it was still a good anniversary dinner!

Grandpa, tell me bout the good ole days. 

My three favorite men!

Eating out at Papa Joe's Oyster Bar.  I loved all the little hometown oysters bars.  There weren't any chain restaurants which was nice.  We found one of Liam's favorites while we were there, Shrimp!

The house also had a hot tub and pool so that when we wanted a change from the beach we could swim in the pool or soak in the hot tub without having to walk or go somewhere else.  Drink of the week was Pina Coladas! They were yummy!  We cooked breakfast every morning or ate cereal.  Lunch consisted of sandwiches and dips.  We ate out half of the week and the other half we at in.  On the first night we ate at a place called Bailey's Oyster Bar.  I am so used to eating at chain seafood restaurants what when we pulled into this place we were all skeptical.  Besides the wait for our food it turned out not too bad.  My favorite place was Indian Pass Raw Bar.  It was a little hole in the wall place with some of the best crab legs I have ever had.  It reminded me of Freddie's.  They had coolers with drinks that you would pick out your drink, keep your tab and then when you went to pay for your food you gave them the tabs and that is how they charged you for drinks.  Talk about honor system!  Apalachicola has some of the best oyster beds in that area, that is why all the restaurants are oyster bars.  Turns out this year the oysters weren't so good because of too much fresh water and a lot of these places didn't have the oysters they were used to.  Food is one of my favorite parts of vacation.  I am regretting all the food I ate now that I am home and have gained all the weight I worked so hard to loose all year long!

On the day we left we spent the morning packing and taking pictures of the place.  I would put those on here but I already have too many pictures so far.  We were sad to leave because we had so much fun and enjoyed each others company.  Most people can't say that a week with parents and in laws turns out to be fun but it was!  We all get along so well and I am so thankful for that!

On our way back home we decided to go through Panama City Beach.  We made a pit stop at Pineapple Willy's for lunch.

Liam loved the fact that everyone was in the same house.  He had everyone there to tend to his every need.  He had about 4 Ipad's to play on if one was taken.  He had his own play room with a TV to watch his movies.  It took some adjusting when we got home.  It is definitely a tradition that I hope we keep up!

When we got home we took the Armada to the shop.  Come to find out one of the tires was separating and we had to buy new tires.  I'm glad we found out before we got too far into the trip!