Tupelo Buffalo Park

WARNING: LONG & PICTURE HEAVY

Tuesday, July 6, Terry & I took Natalee to the Tupelo Buffalo Park & Zoo. It's about 2 hours away & we have never been, so we thought it would be fun for just the 3 of us to make a day out of going to Tupelo, since we were both off. It wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be but it was fun, nonetheless. We took an open air trolley ride around the park & saw many different animals.


Riding the Trolley


They had a white buffalo which is very rare & worth 1.2 million dollars!



They had a camel named Joe.



They had some zebras. They had a new baby born the night before and several born within the week or two prior, however, we didn't get to see them.



We got to feed the buffalo.




The next couple of pics is of the water buffalo. You may need to look closely to see them, but they are there!




This is the biggest buffalo they have. He was HUGE!



One of the baby donkeys they had.



Below is Oliver the famous monkey. He has escaped 3 different times from the zoo, by picking the locks. They now have it fixed to where he can't get out. You can google him & find different articles on his escapes.



Natalee (we) got to feed some of the animals. They had goats, kangaroos, llamas, giraffes, hogs, emus, antelopes & many other animals.





This is a picture of Patches & Tall Boy. They were gorgeous! Honestly, I think they were the prettiest giraffes I have ever seen!



This next picture is of a Zedonk. It is a mix of a donkey & zebra (like you couldn't tell that from the name). It looks like a donkey with black & white striped leggings on.



They also had an area set aside to celebrate the Indians. Every May, a certain tribe comes and they have a Pow Wow Celebration. I forgot what they actually celebrate, so sorry for not explaining too well. This area has a HUGE Indian statue, a teepee, a hut, an inground firepit & some grills.




Besides the animals mentioned above, they also had different monkeys, a black bear, a lion, porcupines (huge by the way), wolves which were gorgeous, snakes, alligator, giant tortoise and I'm sure I'm forgetting several things. They also had a play/picnic area for the kids & an area that had the horse swings made out of tires along with play houses.

Monday, July 5

Monday, I was off work. Terry took off to spend the day with me & Natalee. We met some great friends at Spencer's in Grenada. After lunch, we headed to the lake. This was Natalee's first trip to the lake this year, & her first trip to the beach. We had a blast. Jenn & Mike brought Owen (Jenn's son) and Kathlene (a young girl they took in). The beach is usually pretty busy on the weekends & with it being a Monday that several people were off, we were pretty shocked that it wasn't that many people there. Natalee loved the water more than the sand, which is not a shocker. Terry & Owen swam & played in the water for a little while. I would take Natalee back to our little area & the little stinker would run back towards the water! She loves water though, so I couldn't really blame her. Terry took her to the edge of the water & sat down with her & played. Jenn & I got to catch up on a lot, since we haven't talked much lately, we got to know Kathlene, & Terry buried Owen in the sand. We had so much fun & are looking forward to doing it again. When we left the lake, we stopped back by Spencer's to get ice cream. Natalee LOVES ice cream & Spencer's has the best around! We weren't 10 minutes into heading home & Natalee was OUT! She slept all the way home, I gave her a shower, fed her supper & she was out again. Terry got in the bed around 5:30/6:00 & I took a short nap on the couch. When I woke up, I was lazy the rest of the night. Natalee slept all night, til about 8 the next morning & Terry got up around 11 to play on the computer for a little while. All in all we had a great day catching up with great friends & enjoying the fresh air.

Happy Birthday America!

We celebrated the holiday for 3 days. It all started Saturday. We went to Grenada to one of Callaway's cousin's house. This was the first time I ever met Missy. She & her husband are some nice people. They have a daughter in her early 20's who is recently married. They are all super sweet! We had a big feast with some homemade cupcakes & some homemade ice cream.


On our way


Madison


Natalee with Papaw


Madison eating a cupcake


Natalee & Madison swinging


Sunday, Terry, Natalee & I went to Stewart. We went to church & celebrated the 4th with the Mitchell's. When we left there, we went to Debbie's. We swam, watched Natalee & Madison play in the little pool. They definitely kept us entertained! We had a lot of food & great company. When it started getting dark, we shot fireworks. We all sat around Debbie's new patio & watched the kids (AKA Ryan, Austin, Dustin, Clay, Shane & Terry). I think Shane & Terry had more fun shooting than the actual kids did!


Natalee with Mamaw & Papaw Mitchell


After church




Swimming


Watching fireworks with 3d glasses

Where Has the Time Gone?

The year, 2000. The date, May 14. The event, High School Graduation.

I graduated from Carroll Academy on this date, along with 42 classmates. This past Saturday (June 26) we had our class reunion. We reminisced about old times & talked about what all we have been up to these past ten years.

We had a family picnic at the school playground at 11:00. Fourteen of us showed up. All the kids played & the adults caught up on the past 10 years. All of the kids were adorable! That night we met up at Charlie Ray's BBQ. There was a total of 18 that showed up then. The food was good & the company was great! They had a band that played, but it was really loud where we were sitting, so we all decided to go outside & hangout. We all arrived around 7:30 & left around 12:30! We all had so much fun & can't wait to see everyone again, hopefully it won't be another 10 years!

Oh, I just realized something I thought was pretty cool...my sister & I both graduated from the same school, on the same day, on the same date, 6 years apart! How many times could that happen?


The Food


The Invitation I Designed


The Part of Our Class that Showed up for the Picnic


My BFF from HS, Courtney & her husband Kendall


Me & Terry

Giveaways...

I LOVE giveaways! Just wanted to post a little note about them. Brandy over at You Don't Know hosts giveaways every Saturday. The first week she had a giveaway, I won a set of matching mother/daughter headbands. I got these midnight strawberry poppies.

They are really cute & look really cute on, but Natalee will not keep it on her head! I am hoping within the next week or so to get her in her zebra print dress with her headband & get a good picture before she rips it off her head! I will post as soon as I can get a good pic.

Just this past Saturday, I won this camera strap over at You Don't Know.

Brandy said she would get it in the mail either today or tomorrow. Maybe now I won't leave my camera in the car! Don't get me wrong, I got a camera strap, but this one is way cuter & maybe I will want to show it off!

You should go on over & check out her giveaways. She always has something great! There are several other blogs I read that have giveaways. I entered one for this adorable crayons.

How cute are they! Anyways, I won! I got to choose between the princess set & the boy set. Of course I chose the princess set for my little princess! They came from Lil Boo & Co. They have the cutest crayons! Go check out the cupcake ones! Too cute! So far, those are the only 3 things I have won, but I'll keep entering! Now go on over to You Don't Know & visit Brandy...I hope she doesn't mind me advertising her blog. She always has something funny to say & her little boy is just too stinkin' cute! He was born in December 2008 too, so he & Natalee are both 18 months.

Father's Day

Hope all the father's out there had a great Father's Day! Natalee gave Terry his gift a day early. He got a Tervis Tumbler with a Mississippi State symbol on it & a fry daddy. Terry went to town yesterday to see his dad & grandfather. Natalee & I went to Debbie's for a swim. After swimming, we all cooked for Callaway, Shane & Terry. They (we) all enjoyed steak, chicken wings, baked potatoes, salad, garlic bread, homemade ice cream & chocolate cupcakes with homemade cookies 'n cream buttercream frosting! Of course I made the cupcakes! I'm planning on taking a pic of one when I get home and I will post it. They were sooo delish! We will be celebrating Father's Day with my dad tomorrow night. Since we have so many family members we cannot see/visit with everyone in one day, so we will always have to split up the time & see them when we can! We usually make time on the holiday for one, the day after for another, & either the next day or the day before for the other. I guess it will always have to be like that though. Anyways, Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, my daddy, my step-daddy & my father-in-law. Love you all and hope you all had a great day!!

A Fun Filled Day

Saturday, Terry & I took Natalee to the movies for the first time! We know how much she loves Toy Story, so we went to see Toy Story 3. Before the movie started, she kept getting...I guess you could say anxious...she didn't want to sit still & wanted to get down. As soon as she saw "Buzz & Oody" she got quiet & still! We didn't have but one crying session that lasted about a minute. She got mad at mommy, because she wanted daddy's drink & not hers, which was the same thing! Other than that, she did surprisingly well. She sat there & stared at the screen the entire time & didn't say a word, unless she wanted her "dink". After the movie, we had planned on going to Chuck E Cheese, but it was kind of crowded & we didn't feel like fighting the crowd, so we decided to go during the week of the 4th when I will be on vacation. Since we didn't go to CEC, we went to Bass Pro Shop. We bought Father's Day gifts & Natalee got a "tub" of cheetos. She also got her first BPS shirt & a new hat. The hat is pink with a camo butterfly. It's too cute, except she won't keep it on her head. I'm hoping I can get some good pics of her before long. I have been slacking in the picture department. Everytime I take it somewhere, I forget it & leave it in the car! After BPS, we went to Sam's Club & got Natalee some cereal & a huge box of animal crackers. Needless to say, she won't need any snacks at the house anytime soon!!! We finally went to eat about 9:00 that night! We ate at the Olive Garden which was sooo good! Love me some Olive Garden. That was about the extent of our day, but it was fun non the less!

Weekend Recap

There wasn't much going on this weekend, but Natalee & I did manage to get out of the house for a little while. Terry had to work an extra shift Thursday night & his usual 48 hours Friday & Saturday. Friday night, Natalee & I rode to town with my mom. She had to bring a birthday cake to town that she had made, so we decided to ride with her. Deadra & her family were on their way here so we stopped by her house, where Joyce & Callaway were, for a few minutes. Natalee & I had to leave before they got there though. We went to eat at Peppercorn with my grandmother. We go eat with her a lot. Ever since Grandaddy passed away, 4 years ago, I really try to do as much with her as I can. We usually go eat a lot but I try to take Natalee to see her as much as I can & do things with her. We will go to Wal-Mart every once in a while or something like that. Anyways...Saturday morning, we got up & head to moms. We were supposed to leave at 9:15 to head to Grenada, but didn't end up leaving til about 10. Grenada was having their annual Thunder on Water, which is NOTHING like it used to be. We looked around the arts & crafts area, didn't buy anything. The Corps of Engineers for the lake always have a booth set up where you throw this life saving device towards this wood artwork, which is a girl set up like she is drowning in the lake and you get a free t-shirt. The shirts were really cute this year. We ran into Debbie & her family there. So Katie Lauren helped Natalee throw it & she got her t-shirt. I threw it & got mine too. We walked around a little more, but it was SOOOO hot! Mom bought some loaded fries, which were to. die. for. for us to share. They were covered in nacho cheese, ranch dressing & bacon bits. I bought Natalee a hot dog & some lemonade, which she LOVES! I also bought some fried oreos. When I first saw them I was thinking, gross, but they were AWESOME! When we left the lake, we headed to Wal-Mart. We took mom & Callaway home & Natalee got upset because we were going home. I decided to stay for a little while, but not too long. She still got mad when we had to leave. She kept saying "No, No, NO" & shaking her head. When I went to pick her up, she ran away from me then decided to lay on the floor. She was fine once we made it outside. We went home & put up groceries. Terry's parents came over for a little while. They had just gotten back from Missouri & had bought Natalee a stick horse. They wanted to bring that to her. She liked it. She played with it for a little while. After they left, I made Natalee a grilled cheese & some cheetos. She ate most of her cheetos & about 2 bites off her grilled cheese. Within 5 minutes, she was sound asleep in her highchair...again!! She is always doing this. This was about 6:15. I was afraid when I put her in her toddler bed, she would wake up, but she slept all night!!

Terry got home Sunday morning about 9:30 or so. I fixed biscuits, bacon & hashbrowns. Natalee ate 1 1/2 biscuits, a half piece of bacon, several bites of hashbrowns, along with about 10 or so grapes! Apparently, the little booger was hungry!! Terry took a 3 hours nap since he didn't get much sleep at work the previous 2 nights & Natalee & I took about an hour nap. She decided it was time for her daddy to get up, so she went & woke him up. We decided to head to the pool. Natalee had so much fun! She played & splashed with Katie Lauren & Ryan, however, I think Terry had more fun. He kept chasing Ryan & Katie Lauren & dunking them & playing with them. Every Sunday night is "family night" at moms, so we eat supper over there every week. After supper, we went walking. All in all we had a great weekend. Looking forward to next weekend already...

Roasting Weenies & Playing Dress Up

Last Thursday, Terry & I went to pick up Ryan & Katie Lauren. We set the fire pit up in the front yard & roasted weenies & marshmallows. This was a first for Natalee & she loved it! She had so much fun just being outside, roasting the weenies & riding the golf cart.


getting ready to go get Katie Lauren & Ryan


Roasting her first hot dog!




enjoying her hot dog


"driving" the golf cart

Sunday, Natalee decided she wanted to play dress up. She had found her tutu in her toy box. I put it on her, then she decided she wanted her lime green crocs on, so we put them on. She already had on light pink shorts & a grey shirt. I also put her hair in her first pigtails. They were too cute! This is the end result...



Here she is pointing to her pigtails


Here is an up close picture of the pigtails



And this is the back

Here is a picture of her earlier that day.


Later that day, we decided to go swimming in Debbie's new pool. This was Natalee's first time in a big pool. She didn't like her float so we found her some floaties & put them on her. She loved them! Probably because she could move around better. I didn't get a picture of her in the floaties, but here is a couple from that afternoon.




And yes this is a different swim suit than the previous post. She has 4 total!