Only in Mississippi...

Yep.... that's about all you can say...

She's An American Girl

My best friend Cassidy is finally back in the good ole U.S. of A. from year one of teaching in Japan and has just 20 days left until her wedding. We kicked off the wedding festivities this weekend with two showers and an old-fashioned slumber party to catch up.


She got lots of great gifts at both showers, and we had a blast lounging around last night and reminiscing about old times over a few drinks. My parents were out of town for the weekend, so we had their house to ourselves. We listened to an old college CD and looked through our old yearbooks. My cheeks hurt today from laughing so hard. I LOVE this girl and am so glad she's back, even if it's just for a couple of months.

I can't wait for her big day... July 18th will be here before we know it! :)

Say what you want...

But Michael Jackson made some great music. I dare you to try to sit still when his oldies are played. I think it's impossible. And who doesn't have "Thriller" on their Halloween mix? Good thing he left a legacy of greatest hits...

Go Gators!

What do you do when you win your first softball game of the season? You go drink monster margaritas at the Mexican restaurant, of course! We decided after sweating off a few pounds in the 100-degree weather that this was the perfect way to cool off and celebrate our win.

The team we played was pretty mean, so we were even happier to have won this game. Now we’ve got a 1-2 record, and we’re officially no longer the Bad News Bears. It’s definitely a lot more fun when you win. :)

I'm on a boat

Today is the official start of summer, and it's already too hot to spend any time outdoors unless you're on a boat or in the water. Gotta love a sweltering Mississippi summer. We headed out to the lake after work on Friday with some friends to beat the heat. Three of the five friends we brought had never been out there before, so we had a great time introducing them to Eagle Lake.

Here are a few pics from our day out on the boat at the Redneck Yacht Club. :)

We had a great time and ended the night at Chotard, where we pretty much had the whole bar to ourselves. This morning our friends hit the road and the rest of the Greys came out for Father's Day lunch at the lake. Since I spent two days in the car with my dad last weekend, we celebrated an early Father's Day, but he did open his gift, Tiger Woods 2009 for the Wii, today.

I'd have to say the highlight of the weekend was watching Gary open his gift... a gift certificate to go skydiving!

When we were out at the lake over Memorial Day, he made the comment that he'd really like to go one day, and with all that has happened here lately, we decided there was no time better than the present! We're going to pick a weekend and just go with whoever wants to do it. I'll be on the ground with the camera, but I know Derek will do it. That will definitely be blog-worthy. :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a wonderful Father's Day! Another weekend gone already...

Never too old for Nintendo...

Who needs television when you have new Wii games?? Not us! A few weeks ago, we bought Super Mario Galaxy and Mario Kart… only the two best games EVER (besides Rock Band, of course.)

Derek’s gotten to be a pro at both games, but I think Super Mario Galaxy is hard. The controller is kind of hard to figure out, I think. Of course, this coming from a girl who was only able to play old school Nintendo on the joystick because I wasn’t that coordinated to work the little controller. The old Super Mario Brothers used to stress me out once I got to Bowser, so I’ve learned that these days, when it gets hard, I just hand it over to Derek. I only play the fun worlds.

Mario Kart on the other hand is super fun, and I feel like I’m 12 again and playing for hours until the TV starts to turn strange colors in the corners. Only this time, there are no wires and you don’t have to blow the dust out of the box to make it work. The graphics and the music both remind you of updated versions of the old games.

Of course, Derek and I can play at the same time on Mario Kart, and inevitably he always places first and I’m usually in last place. I’m not very good at it at all, but it’s still fun! Needless to say, our DVR is full of shows we have to catch up on because right now all our TV time has turned into Nintendo time.

But don’t worry, fans, Touch of Grey will soon return to the Rock Band tour after our summer hiatus… :)

Family Road Trip

Friday night after work I met my parents in Meridian for the long drive to Decatur, Ala., to visit Grandma. Thursday was her 86th birthday, so a road trip was definitely in order to celebrate with her. Derek stayed behind and spent the weekend at the lake, which he probably really needed. Plus, I had the whole backseat and hotel bed to myself… not too shabby. :)

Once we hit Birmingham just as it got dark, the weather started getting pretty rough. Before we knew it we were driving through a storm strong enough to knock out power in almost all of central and north Alabama. Not pretty… I, being a nervous backseat driver anyways, was on edge the whole time. If it wasn’t for the wine my mom had packed (neither one of us was driving, of course), I don’t think I would have made it. About two bottles and two hours later, we made it to the hotel in Decatur by about 10:45, and we were all worn out.

Saturday we got up bright and early to pick up Grandma and head to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Because of the weather Friday night, we never stopped for dinner, so we were pretty hungry, and a big country breakfast was just what we needed to start the day off right.

The plan for the day was to visit the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Yes, indeed, and it was totally worth it just to see my dad act like a kid at Christmas. He used to beg us to stop at the U.S.S. Alabama on the way to Destin every summer, too. He’s into that stuff. Big time. Here are a few pics from our space adventure…

Here's my dad, the rocket man...

Here's Dad giving a space lesson to the rest of us...

Here's a short video of my mom and dad on the Space Shot ride. If you listen closely, you can here Mom yell a not-so-kid-friendly word. She was next to a six-year-old. I think it scared the poor little girl. :)

Afterwards we explored downtown Huntsville for a while and then enjoyed some Mexican and margaritas at Rosie’s Cantina, which was like the Disney World of Mexican restaurants. We had a quiet night in the hotel Saturday night and hit the road about 7:30 Sunday morning to head back home.

It was a very nice visit, and I think Grandma had fun, too… so much fun that she fell asleep during the first two minutes of the IMAX movie on space exploration. :)

I think Mom and Dad are still sore from the rides, but it sure made for some fun memories. We traveled 630 miles in less than 48 hours… talk about some fun, family bonding time!