June 26 - A Blue Bell Kind of Day

When Becky texted me a couple of weeks ago asking if we wanted to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream plant while in Oklahoma, you know I immediately said SIGN US UP. We didn't tell the kids where we were going, and they were so cute when they realized there was a whole lot of ice cream involved. The tour was really interesting; we even got to see one of their big machines completely mess up and dump a whole lot of ice cream on the floor while all the workers made a mad dash to catch all the ice cream cascading to the floor. I thought of lots of great questions when we left, but Becky and I are pretty sure the tour guide wouldn't have known the answers anyway. Cameras weren't allowed inside, btw.

The tour finished with our choice of ice cream. All the adults decided that the tour ended way too early, and we decided to check out a furniture store as a way to kill some time indoors. Remember, the temps were 105+ and being stuck indoors all day with 4 rambunctious children was just about too much to contemplate.

Why we thought a furniture store would be a great place to take kids I have no idea. Brian and I actually found a fabulous deal on some furniture and bought it only to get home (a.k.a. Becky's house) and realize that it was going to be way too much trouble trying to get it back to Tennessee. So we owned new living room furniture for approximately two hours.

We surprised the kids at bedtime with a sleepover in William and Xavier's room, and their reaction was priceless. The adults laughed and laughed at all the giggles coming from their room late into the night. At one point Brian went back to check on them, and he said it was like stepping into a sauna from all the hot air they were producing. My favorite part was hearing the sounds of "Everybody Dance Now" and "YMCA" coming from the room at almost 11:00 p.m.

I completely realize these photos are pretty bad from a photography standpoint, but I still love them because they help me remember one of the best times my kids have experienced to this point in their lives: a simple sleepover with their cousins. I actually didn't even plan to take pictures, but after a couple of hours of giggles coming from the room, I knew I had to at least go try to capture a few.

Xavier

William

Ummm, yes, that would be mittens attached to my daughter's hand with duct tape. She scratches scabs off until they bleed and scar over and over so I've taken to taping mittens on her hands at bedtime in an effort to protect her skin.