Bumbo and Pirates

My mom and I took the boys to Disney at the end of September. This was Jack's 5th time and Coop's 3rd. We do Disney a lot! We usually stay at the Old Key West, but this time we stayed at the Contemporary. I loved it! Staying on the monorail line is wonderful, but being in walking distance is, well, magical.
What a great time to bring the boys. They were so much fun, and it was so nice not having any diapers to change! Something tells me we won't have another Disney experience like this one for quite some time. Jack's favorite rides are Pirates of the Caribbean, Toy Story, Buzz Light Year, and Norway. Coop's favorite ride is "Bumbo". There are several different versions of Dumbo: the actual Dumbo ride, the dino ride in Animal Kingdom, and the Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride in Magic. They were all Bumbo to Coop and all loved equally.
Coop loved the rides but not the characters. Last trip he would not go anywhere near the characters, and Jack got in every line to see the characters to sign his autograph book. This time both boys wanted to get their books signed, but they wanted to ride rides over seeing characters. Thank goodness! The 1st half of the trip, Coop would hand his book to the character and move away real fast. Gigi convinced him to do a group hug half way through the trip. He finally has eased up a bit around them.


Jack loves the characters!

And Coop loves his distance!

A little hot

The boys loved swimming in the Contemporary's pool. There was a little slide for Coop and a big one for Jack.


It rained one night and Magic Kingdom emptied out. We did so much and had a blast this night. The boys were troopers in the rain. I let Jack steer the car on this ride and he thought he was the coolest thing ever. He kept saying, "I'm driving so crazy!" with the biggest grin on his face.

Coop being so brave and Jack so proud of him!

Football Time!

I have been very MIA from the blogging world. I got caught up in enjoying the end of summer with my boys. I have taken so many pictures and participated in so many activities with the boys that I have no idea what to choose to blog about. So I didn't.

I am so excited it is football season! I love everything about it - the fall weather that will get here one day, going to football games, tailgating (not really), and watching games with friends. The downside to football season is we never get a break. October is the busiest month of the year for us. And I would like to have a baby in October eventually - am I crazy? I need to rethink that.

This year we bought season tickets to LSU. How fun! And how time consuming. I think we should leave the house for 11:00 am for a 2:30 game. Christian thinks we should leave at 8am. So we compromise which is still way too early for me. The games are fun but not when all day every Saturday is spent there. But I am digressing from my "I Love Football" post.

We spent Labor Day weekend in Dallas for LSU's opening game against Oregon. We had a great trip being together, spending time with Christian's college buddies, and visiting with my aunt and uncle.




Neil and Lacy brought us to the Cowboys suite for the 2nd half of the game

A Hard Goodbye

Brooksie Nicole (Jones) Walker Reiss
May 2, 2003 - September 19, 2011


I have wanted a dog for as long as I can remember. Every year for my birthday I would ask my parents for a dog. They even appeased me a couple of times. Sandy was my first dog and she was C-R-A-Z-Y. Of course, my parents blame yours truly for her craziness. I use to play outside all the time with her. She's the only dog I knew that would climb our tall slide backwards and slide down. She was awesome. So we gave her back. Nice. Thanks Mom and Dad. So they got us a new dog. Fluffy. Cutest dog ever! Sadly after having her for a short couple of months, she got out of the open gate and ran away. I won't give you my theory on how "she" got out. From then on, I would get a stuffed dog anytime I asked for a birthday. Nice again.

My sister-in-law called to tell me her mom was getting her a Cocker Spaniel from Texas. I asked her to pick one up for me too. I got Brooksie June 2003 and I never looked back. She was my dog and I was in love with her. I have so many wonderful memories of her. I will admit once I had children, she fell down or got kicked off her pedestal. She could bark with the best of them, and a woken child from sleeping does not equal a happy mother!

Brooksie got sick around 6 years old. Her last 2 years were on medication with frequent trips to the vet. Eventually it was kidney failure that ended her life.

The boys know she is in Heaven and Coop likes to tell people that. Great conversation starter! They miss her but have done surprising well. The only time that they don't miss her is when they have food. They use to act like starving children around Brooksie. If they didn't she would eat their food from them.

I never imagined it would be a as hard as it is without Brooskie. She is greatly missed by me and Christian. Sept. 19 was a lot rougher than I expected. I knew it was coming, and I thought I was prepared. I was not.

Brooskie was more to me than a dog that I fell in love with. She was my dog that I wanted for years and years. I was in love with her before I ever knew her. She was often dressed up and brought along everywhere with me. She even had her very own first birthday party with lots of people to celebrate. She was spoiled! Brooksie was my first child that I fell in love with, and I still miss her dearly.