PEACE. LOVE. FAMILY 2011

After all of the "Closing Fun" we loaded into the car and headed east to Mississippi. It was a long drive in which we arrived in the wee hours of the night/morning (like almost 2am) but it was totally worth it.

Aunt Marie, Uncle Jeff, Peyton and Cameron or The England Fewells as we call them came back to the states. We have been talking about taking a trip to England to visit them, but with an 11 hour plane ride and , a 6 hour time difference and a 3.5 year oldnamed Landry Paige we changed our minds. Not to mention, we felt that if we were going to spend the money going to another country, we wanted the girls to remember it. At the ages the girls are right now, Ashton would absolutely LOVE a trip to England and would remember every detail. Landry wouldn't remember a thing. When we found out the England Fewells were coming back to the US, we decided we wanted to make sure we saw them while they were here...we sure do miss them!!

Uncle Jeff's family has a family reunion in Mississippi every year on Memorial Day weekend which is why they came back home. Uncle Jeff's family let us join their family reunion and welcomed us with open arms.  We enjoyed our weekend immensely!  The theme of their reunion is PEACE.LOVE.FAMILY and it was such a blast!

We know the Fewell Family really well...We adopted Buster from Jeff's mom and dad who owned Buster's Momma Dixie when he was just a puppy.  We are all Air Force Peeps from back in the day!  So this was not an unusual or awkward meeting in any way. We were excited to see Cracker, Lo-Lo, the other Jeff, Landon and Jenna in addition to our England Fewell Fam!  We all stayed in the same hotel and our rooms were right next to each other and across the hall...in fact most of the itty bitty hotel was filled with Fewells in town for the reunion. 

.Saturday.

When we woke up we couldn't wait to see the Fewell Family.  We met up for breakfast with half of the England Fewells and the Barganiers since Uncle Jeff and his mom (known to the grandkids as Grahamcracker--Cracker for short) were out on a Harley Ride.

After breakfast the kids could not wait to hit the pool!!

Landry is becoming quite the little swimmer these days!

We tried to get a good picture of the 4 Bryce Grandkiddos...we even used the "Mamo and Papo want a picture of all 4 of you" tactic and this is the best I could get.  Not what I wanted, but it is all 4 of them TOGETHER!!

After some fun in the pool we cleaned up and headed to lunch in Gulf Port at a YUMMO seafood restaurant. {I LOVED the seafood on the coast!} After lunch (since we were literally just down the street) we took the kids to the beach. Our girls have NEVER been to a real beach before. Even though they only got to walk along the beach...they had a great time. We were so glad the girls experienced their first time at the beach with their cousins...what a fun memory for them!

Landry could not get enough of the sand...

The Barganier Family (Uncle Jeff's Sister's Family)

Lori (Aunt Lo-Lo), Jenna, Landon, and  Jeff B.

Sisser Pictures

Saturday evening we had dinner at another yummy restaurant in Gulf Port...

Aunt Marie and Landry

Peyton and Ashton

Cameron and Landon

and last but not least...Miss Jenna!

.Sunday.

This was party day with the fam. Everyone met down in the lobby all decked out in their tie dye gear ready to go.  Landry finally got her some QT with Uncle Jeff.

This family reunion was planned by pros. They had a huge blow up water slide to keep the kids occupied and cool. I seriously had to make my kids take breaks. Otherwise, they would have NEVER left that thing!  This thing had a name: THE BIG KAHUNA!!

Ashton squealed and belly laughed all the way down!

And our fearless second child went down just like the big kids. I am not gonna lie...this momma was freaked out the entire time. She had a look of terror on her face the first time, but squealed and laughed and couldn't wait to get up the stairs and go again!

These pictures crack.me.up! Her face coming down the giant slide and then all you see is her bitty self amidst the splash!  And she went right back for more!!

This is me telling Aunt Marie that I am known as the "Fun Ruiner" because I tend to be a tad on the over protective side when it comes to things. I had just finished telling Ashton she couldn't go down backwards, feet first because I had visions of her hurting herself from landing wrong. And yes, my wonderful hubs happened to catch this picture!

Another try at the Bryce Grandkiddo Picture...this attempt was better.

Daddy and his Sister

These two pictures need an explanation. Peyton decided she wanted her tattoo on her belly button so she put it there just perfectly.  Then all of a sudden, Landry is pulling down her swimsuit...boobies hanging out and all. She was trying to put a tattoo on her belly button just like Peytie....Lord help me! So before she was completely naked, Daddy stepped in to assist.  Our youngest keeps us on our toes that is for sure!

Landry was the "Tattoo Master" of the day. When I told her she was all finished on the big slide she was NOT happy...so she distracted herself by applying tattoos all over her arms and anyone else who would let her. She had it down to a science and it kept her busy and occupied for a good long while!

After the family reunion festivities, we bathed everyone and decided we needed a low key and easy night since everyone was pretty tired. We ordered pizza and the hotel staff opened up the breakfast area for us to eat in. Then we hung out in the hallway and the kids played in the rooms and we laughed and chatted and had a great time!!

We decided to try one last time to get the perfect pictures of the kids...

back row: Peyton, Ashton, Cameron

front row: Jenna, Landon, and Landry

The Fewell-Barganier Kiddos

The Fewell-Bryce Kiddos

While we hung out in the hallway, Landry took off her skirt and found the goggles...funny kid!

The "Hallway Hangout" was a blast! The kids had such a great time playing together in a low key environment. We enjoyed being entertained by them!

We had such a great weekend with the England and Mississippi Fewells. We miss them terribly and are so glad we were able to spend a few fun filled days with them! This was a great memory for sure and we need these kids to have many more memories like this!

A HUGE heartfelt thank you goes out to all of the Fewells for being so generous to us on our trip. We truly appreciate it!