Brian's 20-Year High School Reunion

Brian volunteered to dj at his class reunion and he told Brent and I that we should come so we can see him in action.  I asked a few other girls if it would be weird if we were there and they insisted that we come...I was so excited to get out and socialize with adults without kids!  Plus, I knew Beck and Kinsey would have a blast playing with Ava, Lola and Otto.

The girls did a fantastic job decorating the memorabilia table and dinner was catered by a local bbq restaurant.

Kiki gave me her camera and asked me to take pictures of every body and I sure enjoyed being the photographer.

Let the dancing begin!!!  Tiffany's kids and her nieces really enjoyed Brian's music!  In fact, Melat (Tiffany's youngest daughter) asked if Brian could dj her birthday party.

Denny and Jaime crashed the party too!  He-he!

Brian's main goal tonight was to see the Electric Slide while Erotic City was playing and it happened!  And, it was so much fun!  I. Love. To. Dance!!! (By the way, I'm hiding behind Rachel Floyd.)

Group picture that I took from upstairs but I'm pretty sure a few people were missing.  This is also the night of the barn dance and some classmates left early to see more friends since Yamboree is the time when every body comes back to Gilmer and it becomes one big reunion.  Thanks for the great tunes Brian!  Thanks for baby-sitting Kiki and Pops!  It was a lot of fun!

Last Day of the Yamboree and We Did Not Yam It Up...

10.20.12

Today is the big Queen's parade and I could not wait to see all of the beautiful dresses and all of the creatively decorated floats.  Last night, Brent and I found the perfect spot (in front of Goudarzi's law office) to park his truck so that we could all sit in the bed of his truck and enjoy the parade.  While waiting for the 11am parade to begin, we saw many people that we haven't seen in years.

I thought of Beck's request at yesterday's parade and we brought sandwiches and snacks for the kids to eat in case they got hungry which of course they did.

Seventy-five years ago, in 1935, the first Yamboree festival started and this is the very first year the queen is from Gladewater.  Queen Paige's float opened the parade and the Gladewater band marched behind her float (they have not been in the parade in a number of years).  Queen Paige's dress is encrusted with rhinestones and her court's color is gold.  


The past 74 Yamboree Queens were invited to ride in the parade and this year marks the most queens present.  The queen from my senior year, Kay, walked up beside our truck looking for her car in the parade.  She had to attend her son's games this morning and knew she would be late.  And, little Miss Kinsey would have been on the Footlights float but I opted to keep her with us.  I think she had more fun watching the parade rather than being in it.  She really enjoyed waving at every float!

One of the Ladies In Waiting float had pictures of the previous 74 queens on the clocks and Kiki thought she saw Aunt Gigi's picture on the clock that was on our side but it was actually on the clock in the back of the float.  Yes, I stood in the street to get this picture!

We sure enjoyed the parade which was about an hour long.  Today's all-you-can-ride wrist band is $25 and it's also the most crowded day on the square so we are staying far away from it. 

As we were driving to Brian and Katherine's car, the kids rode in the back of the truck waving to every body!

Pizza for lunch then we went outside to play and to help Pops put the cover on the pool.  While doing that, we found a dead frog and a live grass snake in the pool!  Yucky!  Ava, Beck and Lola found a live frog and played with it for a long time.  Then, Kinsey took a late afternoon nap because we have a date tonight!  We are crashing Brian's 20-year high school reunion and it's going to be a late night for all of us!

Day Three of the Yamboree

10.19.12

This was the busiest day and I took very few pictures.  We started this Friday morning setting up our chairs in front of the band stand to watch the school parade.  It was chilly in the shade but felt great in the sun.

The parade started at 11:00 and before it started, Beck informed me that he was hungry and wanted a sandwich.  I had to explain to him that nobody has sandwiches at the Yamboree.  Luckily, I was able to walk across the street and bought a big, juicy burger from the church booth.  Beck devoured it!  I guess he was hungry after all.

We went home to eat lunch then Kinsey went down for a nap.  Wendy stayed at the house while I took Beck back up to the square to meet Katherine, Ava and Lola.  I was really nervous when they rode the bears because it not only spins around but there is a circle in the bear to make it spin even more.  I had flashbacks of Beck laying down from being dizzy when he rode the carousel at the Dallas Zoo.  They were spinning and nobody got dizzy...yeah!

Lola wanted to ride the dragon roller coaster (she's a brave little girl!) so I took Ava and Beck to the cars ride.

I was really hoping we would get away with all three of them riding the space ship ride but the carnie was on top of it and told me that only two can ride.  Ava, being the sweetheart that she is, gave up her seat.

After an hour of fun, Beck and I went back to the house to pick up Aunt Wendy and Kinsey then we drove to Wendy's house.

I had to rush back to get Kinsey's all-you-can-ride wrist bracelet before the price went up.  Today's price is $20 but it went up to $25 after 5pm.  We got her bracelet then met up with Leigh and her kids, Natalie and Anderson.  We were able to hang with them for an hour and then they left.  Thankfully, Daddy got off work early, met up with us and we ate burgers (from the church booth) for dinner.  By the way, Kinsey loves riding the carousel!

Brian drove in from work and we met up with them.  We stayed up there late again tonight and the kids rode so many rides.  Brian's awesome expression is from looking at the kids get on the fire truck ride.

It has been a very long day for Mommy and I am completely pooped but enjoyed every minute of it! 

Day Two of Yammin It Up

10.18.12

It's day two of the Yamboree and the rides don't open until noon so how do we spend our morning?  At the Yamboree grounds and we saw more animals today.  In fact, the swines were being shown when we showed up so we sat in the bleachers and watched the young boys and girls guide their swine around the arena.  I notice Queen Paige standing near Linda Kay and made a bold decision to get Kinsey's picture taken with her!  She was already posing with other people and she kindly took a picture with Kinsey.  I was so excited and I was also shocked that Kinsey was willing to be held by a complete stranger!  She hardly ever lets anybody hold her.  Sometimes, she tells Neena to stay back if she gets to close too her.  Anyway, I was impressed with my "make-it-happen" skillz.

A sweet young girl let Beck and Kinsey pet her bunnies and they were so soft.  I bet they have a better life than most bunnies.  Then, we went to see the goats and Beck and Kinsey had so much fun trying to feed them.  They were cracking me up!

The weather is perfect...chilly in the mornings/evenings and warm in the afternoon.

The kids wanted to play at the park but I talked them into stopping in the Yamboree building so we could see Beck's yam decorated like a pig.  And, to our surprise, Beck's class won first place for their Noah's Ark!  Way to go!!!  (Beck's pig is the one with the wiggly eyes.) 

We finally made to the park!

After Kinsey woke up from her nap, we finally made it to the square to ride many, many rides and the wrist bands today cost $15 and I had to buy three of them...Yamboree can get very expensive.

Kinsey cracks me up when she wears her sunglasses!  She insists on wearing them when it's bright outside.

Aunt Wendy loves riding the rides with the kids which is great for me since I get sick so easily.  Beck went down the slide with Aunt Wendy the first time but he did it over and over all by himself.  He's such a big boy!

Kinsey and I rested while Beck and Aunt Wendy rode the fire truck that goes up and down and around.  I rode it once last year and wanted off as soon as it started.  I'm not sure what happened to me because I rode everything when I was young.  Maybe it has something to do with my bad ears.

Beck somehow got hurt and sweet little Kinsey Girl gave him a big hug and comforted him.  Now that melted my heart.

Beck and Kinsey love Aunt Wendy and she loves them very much!

Wendy Sue rode this ride numerous times and I cannot believe she did not get sick.  Just watching it made my stomach turn.  By the way, Thursday is the best day to go to the square!  We never stood in line and went from ride to ride.  It was awesome!

My plan was for us to go home, eat dinner then go back to the square with Daddy but he got home a little earlier than usual so we decided to stay on the square and wait for him to get there.  Luckily, I had a cooler full of drinks so all I had to buy were four corn dogs ($3 each) and a basket of fries ($1.50).  Beck and Kinsey wanted me to peel off the bread and they only ate the weinee.  Really!?  They are missing out!  Then, I bought a $3 cup of ice cream and split it four ways.  This was the best homemade ice cream I've ever had!

I guess I should have gone home so we could have had a little break from the square because Daddy ended up running out of gas.  As he was walking to the house to get the gas can, he ran into Cole and Devin (they are living with Aunt Virginia) and they gave him a ride.  By the time he got to the square, I was ready to go home.  I was done.  But, I promised Beck that Daddy would ride the ferris wheel with him and he brought it up when Daddy showed up.  Beck has a really good memory.  Since neither of us had a wrist band, we had to buy eight tokens ($1/token) to ride the ferris wheel with Beck and Kinsey.  This is the view from the top of the wheel...I'm glad we rode it!

Just as the night started getting cooler and we were about to head home, we got a call that Kiki and Pops arrived with Ava and Lola.  We stayed for another hour riding with them but then it got too cold for Beck.  Poor thing was shivering!  I really wish I had gone home for dinner so we could have changed clothes and grabbed our jackets.  Oh well, we made it work and we had a blast!

The 75th Yamboree Begins!!!

10.17.12

We woke up and got ready this Wednesday morning but Brent and I decided to keep Beck out of school today since the stomach virus is going around and we drove to Longview to pick up Aunt Wendy.  Then, we drove back to Gilmer and went to the Yamboree grounds since the rides will not open until 6pm.  We saw some really big pigs (aka swine) and lots of goats but that was it...it's too early to see much more than that.  Beck and Kinsey wanted to play at the city park and there were several kids playing which makes it more fun.

Later in the afternoon, we went to Sarah's house and decorated cupcakes...fun, fun, fun!!!

I don't know what Bodie was doing but he was making Beck laugh so hard and it was the cutest laugh.

Of course Kinsey ate her cupcake and I love how she decorated it!

Beck acted like he was going to eat his but he never did eat one.  Sadie was the last one at the table and she enjoyed her cupcake.

I'm sure these beautifully decorated cupcakes won't last long at Sarah's house.

At one point, I checked on Kinsey and found her in the play room playing video games with Dillon which is hysterical because she has no clue how to play a video game.  I bet she thinks he's cute!

After Daddy came home, we went up to the square to take advantage of half price night and boy did we have fun.  Not sure if you can tell but Beck is waving while riding the spaceship which looks a little dangerous.

The Yamboree has really grown over the past 75 years.  I remember when we could park a truck in front of the western store to watch the parade but we can't do that anymore because there are rides in that area.  They also have rides in some of the grassy areas for the bumper cars, swings and the hammers which back in the day was the BIG ride.  Today, the biggest ride cost $10 or $5 with the all-you-can-ride wrist band.