We tried to find a campground not too far away for this weekend so that I could leave from work and meet up with the family.  Families on spring break had other plans for us.  No local campground had an opening, so we had a fun, non-camping weekend.  It began with me working Saturday (as usual) and Doug and the boys went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. When I came home from work I found the boys playing with our adorable next door neighbor Amelia in her driveway. They got to play with all kinds of new toys there. We then had a play date with Cassie, Elliot, and Chandler at the park. The boys enjoy rough housing with Chandler to which he replied “I love this! I have been training for this for years!” All 5 whole years that he has been on Earth 🙂 We then all ate lunch at Moes and visited Pet Smart. That place is like a free mini-zoo. We also shopped at Sams, where we finally became members. That place may get me into some trouble:) We ended the night back at our house hanging and we were worn out! Sunday Daddy and Sawyer ran a few errands while Braddock and I had some one on one time and later we met Aunt Mandi to do their live bunny Easter pictures. There was only 1 moment of drama when the bunny tried to run away. Bunnies sure can run/hop fast. We ate dinner at Applebee’s with Uncle Derek and Aunt Mandi (who is expected out FIRST niece or nephew). I feel sure there was applause once our rowdy boys left the restaurant (or maybe just a big sigh of relief). I correct them over and over, they just do not fear their Momma. We then met a guy that lives in my childhood neighborhood so Doug could buy a new toy for himself and the boys, and of course I had to tour the place to see the tornado damage from January. A place that lived the 1st 22 years of my life was almost unrecognizable. I almost missed the turn to our street. I grew up on Pine Road which was filled with pine trees, and now they are sparse. There are piles of debris and trees sometime 6 feet high in places. My childhood home seems to have suffered some damage, but it wasn’t demolished like others in the neighborhood.
On the playground with Elliot:

A few pictures of the place I grew up:

This was the older home that was our bus stop (used to be surrounded by trees):

This is my childhood home’s driveway…they still have so much work to do.  They have already installed a new roof (again, the area was filled with trees, we didn’t even have a clear view of our nextdoor nieghbor shown in pic, much less a view of the homes in the background):

This area used to be filled with pine trees, so that you couldn’t see any of the homes in the middle of the picture (my childhood home is next door to the house on the right in this picture):