I got all excited and started to tell you about our long weekend with family, but only got as far as Thursday. Whoops.
But better late than never, right?
It's true. I was off work Thursday and Friday last week to drive to Cabot and back (Thursday) then entertain the fam in Fayetteville (Friday and beyond). Which may or may not seem monumental, but around here -- it's a pretty big deal. All Martins in the same place at the same time -- doesn't happen that often. Especially not in Fayetteville!
My Dad came from San Antonio and picked up Laura and Leo in Dallas on his way. Mom flew in from Virginia and Erika flew in from Georgia. Becky is here in Fayetteville, too and that rounded out the group.
We joined The Harbor at Faith & Family Night with the Arkansas Naturals Friday night -- and let Colt enjoy his first baseball game.
He spent every minute of the pre-game festivities (well, until the fireworks) hanging on the edge of the fence, waving to the baseball players warming up. IN LOVE.
And remember what I said about all those Martins? All in one place?
Front Row, Left to Right: Laura, Leo, Erika, MawMaw, Colt, PawPaw. Back Row, Left to Right: Becky, Creed (Becky's boyfriend), Jeff, Sarah.
In this next photo, my friend Nancy managed to capture the perfect culmination of several notable factors:
- I am constantly on the Quest For The Perfect Family Photo and I rarely pass up an opportunity when we are all showered and dressed (and sometimes not even that...) and doing something fun.
- Colt is in that stage (that I assume will last for about 18 more years...) in which he looks anywhere but at the camera and makes my Quest For The Perfect Family Photo a lesson in patience and creativity instead.
- "Got your nose!" is endlessly entertaining. I don't care who you are.
The Double Nose Get! We never saw it coming!
More ballgame pics of families from The Harbor on Facebook - or RIGHT HERE.
I can't remember exactly, but we made it to inning 6ish before the munchkin's bedtime came calling. He really seemed to like it (except for the blasted fireworks) so we might look for a day game to check out this summer.
All that fun and the actual weekend hadn't even started yet! Saturday morning we headed over to MawMaw and PawPaw's hotel to mess around in the pool.
The water was a little chilly and his teeth were chattering out of his head, but he didn't care. He splashed around until lunch time. Lunch, nap and a trip to the bookstore to show MawMaw the train table -- and it was time to get ready for supper!
I mentioned that the family doesn't get together all that often. So we decided to squeeze every drop out of this weekend -- and celebrate everything within 100 miles. Yes, it was Mother's Day weekend, but my Mom and Dad put their heads together and came up with a "Celebration!" that included EVERYONE. We celebrated birthdays, graduations, Mother's Day, Father's Day, green cards, and memorials.
And we ate.
I love this. It allllllmost looks like Jeff and I could be on a nice little date. But then you see the sippy cup peeking over the edge of the picture. Yah family life!
And one with the monkey himself.
And after a few more family photos outside the restaurant (courtesy of the cute prom kids waiting for their table) --
(-- and a quick stop in the parking lot to capture THIS --)
-- it was time for the real Celebration!
Remember? Birthdays, graduations, Mother's Day, Father's Day, green cards (and driver's licenses and SS cards!), and memorials. We celebrated it all!
I know that's more pictures than commentary, but I hope you can tell that we had a really good time together. We ate, we swam, we enjoyed America's pastime -- we celebrated.
And it totally wore out these Hoods. Everyone left early Sunday morning and we played hooky from church just to regroup a little. And I enjoyed what is now my favorite day of the year - with my two favorite people.
Happy Mother's Day to me.


















