Trip to Nashville

Wesley headed to Orlando for 11 days for a Youth Leadership conference. With the combined factors of the heat, being pregnant, the long lines and Wesley being tied up all day every day, Jackson, Philip and I decided not to join him on this fun, free trip to Disney.

Instead, we headed to Nashville for Hillsboro's VBS and to visit with the family. Even though we had just spent a week with Susan and her crew, with the stress of VBS, we didn't get to really enjoy the time together. So, this week it was all about playing and enjoying time with family.

An added bonus was we were able to celebrate Jackson's birthday!  The first birthday celebration was with Aunt Emily. We joined her at work for a tour of Lipscomb, lunch and some cupcakes!

The Bison!

Cupcakes from the Painted Cupcake

The next celebration was on his actual birthday - July 25 - with Mimi, Susan, Joshua, Caleb, Rebekah, Benjamin, Mommy and Philip at Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had a blast! Susan and I bought TONS of tokens and just let the kids run wild. The adults even got in on the fun too! Susan and I enjoyed Skee Ball and Mimi tried her luck at Air Hockey!

Jackson put in three tokens at once for this game and all of a sudden the tickets started coming!
I had no idea what had happened but I sat back and watched his smile get bigger and bigger. Soon, his cousins and others joined around him to watch the tickets pile up. It didn't take long for the game attendant to notice and run over to shut the game off! Something had malfunctioned but instead of telling Jackson that, we told him it was because it was his birthday!
117 TICKETS!

 

Mimi tried her luck against Bekah but Bekah's skills were too much for Mimi! 





She then went for a win against Joshua, but again was defeated!

The kids with their loot!

After Chuck E. Cheese, we went back to Susan's house for Jackson's birthday lunch. Pizza, breadsticks and "salsa." Jackson was in food heaven! And to make it even better, his cake was a Krispy Kreme donut! Happy Birthday, Jackson!

While Philip and I rested after the party, Pop Pop took Jackson to Target (this kid had the best birthday ever!) and let him pick out another birthday toy. He picked out a Star Wars lego kit that he and Pop Pop put together before we left for home on Thursday.

To make the week even better, the boys were able to participate in VBS. Jackson was so excited because he was in the Kindergarten class and he loved it! Philip enjoyed it as well, but he was harder to transition. Someone would sit with him during the group sessions and then sneak out during snack.

Jackson was all about VBS and the animals they searched for each night.

Olivia and Philip
Thankfully, Olivia was in Philip's class and she helped each night with the "sneak out." This picture is so dear to me because when Olivia was Philip's age, I was helping out with VBS with her! LOVE the Richardson family!!!!!

Olivia snapped this picture of Philip loving him some craft time!