The Neal Newspost: Our Trip to Louisiana

I know, it's been almost 2 months since I've blogged but we've been busy busy! In June, the boys and I went to Jena for 2 weeks. We had such a good time! We were always on the go while we were there but it was well worth getting to visit everyone. One day we took the boys and some cousins to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. The kids loved it! We have a lot of family with pools so we did A LOT of swimming. Austin and Kamden didn't mind until the end of our stay. I think they actually were burnt out on swimming. However, it didn't take them long after we got home to start begging everyday to go to the pool. :) Kamden is now swimming like a fish. I am so proud of him considering he never had swim lessons.

Austin doing tricks for the camera.

Kamden showing us what he can do.

We also fished several days while we were there. The first attempt me, Aunt Glenda, daddy and Kamden got in the boat while momma and Austin fished off the dock. That didn't last very long because Kamden was scared of the boat. He kept telling us "I'm gonna drown. It's winking!(sinking)" So, we took him to stay with Maw Maw then momma and Austin joined us in the boat. Needless to say, we had hooks, crickets and fish flying every direction! But it worked because in one afternoon we caught 76 fish. Daddy and momma cleaned them for us and we got to bring them back to Tulsa. FYI, you don't get good fish around here.

Waiting on the boat.

Heath flew into Alexandria on the last Friday we were in Jena to spend the weekend. His flights were delayed about 7 hours but I finally picked him up after midnight at the airport. The next day we had Kamden's 4th birthday party at Carol & Marty's pool. It was HOT but the party went well and he had a blast! He got a little embarrassed while we were singing 'Happy Birthday' to him but that quickly passed and he loved opening all the presents. It was a Toy Story 3 party so all the Woody and Buzz Lightyear gifts were a definite hit! Actually, today he was playing with Woody and he told me to make Zeke sit because he wanted him to be Bulls-eye (the horse). Of course, Zeke ran to his crate. (I really didn't blame him! - I think he's figuring Kamden out!)

The Birthday Boy

After the party, we went to Grammy & Paw Paw James' house to eat and pop fireworks. Grammy made cupcakes for the kids to decorate for Kamden's birthday. She had candles that keep relighting for Kamden's cupcake. He LOVED the 'magic' candles. I don't think he has ever sit in one place for so long. He would make a wish (out loud) and then blow real hard and when the candles would light back he would crack up laughing. It was quite funny just watching him. I'll bet he did that for at least 30 minutes.

Blowing out the candles

"They're magic!"

"Let's do it again!"

On Sunday, Austin was baptized at Pritchard Baptist Church, our old church before we moved to Tyler. He was saved 2 summers ago at VBS but he never wanted to get baptized because he didn't want to be in front of that many people. So, a couple of months ago he told me he wanted to be baptized at Pritchard by Bro. Terry. He was still very nervous but he made it through.