Memorial Weekend fun in Arkansas.

The Thursday before Memorial Weekend, we loaded our party of six up and headed north to Arkansas.    The purpose of our visit was many-fold.  We wanted to go see Papa and Gigi, of course!  We wanted to meet our brand new niece, Emery.  David and I were running in our first ever 8K.  And, we wanted to celebrate Carter's birthday with family.  No worries, we were 4 for 4!  

There is an awesome visitor's center on the Arkansas/Mississippi border, and we stop here on most of our trips.  I love this picture of the four on the Arkansas sign.  David and I said it would be really neat to get a picture of them each time we visit to see how much and how fast they grow over the years!  

Saturday morning, we set our alarm for 530, showered, and met up with our friend, Jennifer, to head to Little Rock for the Rock Run 8K, supporting the Arkansas Easter Seals.  David and I have been training for the Peachtree Road Race since the end of February, so we thought this 8K would be a perfect race to do before our 10K in July.  It was a super flat course, and we were really proud to participate and finish!  David and I set several personal goals before the race, and we were able to meet those goals, so no complaints here.  Such a fun race for such a great cause.  

Most of our days were spent outside in Papa and Gigi's backyard in the pool.  Everyday during nap time, I had the pool and float all to myself.  A girl could get used to that!

The children had fun playing and splashing with their friends.  The first day, Story took some convincing to get in, but by the end of the second day, she was walking around in the pool all by herself.  

We experienced our very first sno balls of the summertime.  What a yummy treat!

Papa and Gigi's house was taken over by a band of pirates.  I mean, we celebrated Carter's sixth birthday!  

I honestly have no idea how he can be six already.  Six.  

I've mentioned before that Gigi knows how to throw a party.  Complete with pirate hats and eye patches.  The children had so much fun.  

The big 3 at our house love to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  They play pirates around the house.  Carter is Jake, Summer is Izzie, and Tilly is Cubbie.  We thought a Jake party would be so much fun!  

Can you tell the birthday boy is a little excited?  Love that happy smile on his face.  

We enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream.  

Here's our nephew Lincoln enjoying the party treats.  He and Story had so much fun playing together while we were at Papa and Gigi's.  On party day, she not only ate all of her cupcake and icing, but she managed to sneak some of Lincoln's icing, too.  She may or may not have lost the icing all over me later that afternoon, ha!

The birthday boy clearly enjoyed  the cupcakes and ice cream, too.  

Later that evening, we loaded up to head down to the city to watch the Riverfest fireworks.  David found a parking lot out of the way of the crowd and traffic, and we had the best seats in the house.  

Carter was so very excited about the fireworks.  He kept saying, "Wow!"  Over and over again.  

The girls and Lincoln enjoyed the show from the laps of Uncle Cory and Gigi.  

Fireworks make me think of July 4th as a little girl.  My mom always took my sister and me to Savannah, where we would either watch fireworks on Riverstreet or at Tybee Island.  I have always loved those beautiful lights in the sky.  

Carter and Summer enjoying the view.  

Carter and Tilly.  We played musical chairs a few times during the show.  

Except for Story.  She stayed in my lap for the entire firework show.  I loved it!  I know the cuddle days will soon be over, so I'm going to enjoy them while I can.  

I did not take nearly as many pictures as I planned to of our time in Arkansas.  In fact, I didn't get a single picture of our new niece.  Shame.  My sister-in-law has posted lots of pictures of her little family on her blog, though, so you can view them here.  We loved our time in Arkansas with David's family.  But you know what, we really loved coming back home to Hattiesburg.