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| The 5 cousins together for the first time! |
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| Me and my daddy... aren't we a good looking pair?!?! |
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| I think Dudley enjoyed my gift as much as I did!!! |
Now, for the long awaited party! As I said in the last post, the baptism was so special and all of the church members and the priest, my family, and friends welcomed me into the fold and made my day very special with their presence. After the baptism, we all went either to grandma and grandpa's or to the local motel to change into our party clothes, which if any of you have been to the Akers before, that equals swimsuit, shorts, t-shirt, and of course a towel (my ensemble also included a bouncy chair). As we drove out there, we were able to see exactly how dry this part of Texas really is. We are in drought in the Brazos Valley, but the Junction area has been plagued by wildfires and the north Llano is a pitiful form of its former self (the South Llano still looks pretty good). The Akers have a beautiful piece of property that is thousands and thousands of acres with two(I think?) spring fed creeks on it that feed into the Llano River (just ask grandpa if you want all the specs, he will show you a detailed map on Google Earth ;)). The house is a ranch house that was built in the late 1800's by Mrs. Akers family; they were the first family west of Fredericksburg. Can you imagine how scary that would be with all the Indians in that territory at that time? It sits under pecans that are at least 100 years old and the beginnings of Copperas Creek run right behind the house, with a dam, that allows for some really good swimming and canoeing :) They have goats, cows, horses, cats, and dogs along with many pecan orchards. It is paradise for kids and kids at heart. They actually had quite a bit of water behind the dam, even though a few miles down the road, the creek was completely dry. Everyone definitely enjoyed this! It was pretty hot that day, but between the pecans, the water, and a breeze, it felt pretty great. I sat on the porch for most of the time staring at the dinosaur tracks that made up the patio stones. No, I am not telling a tall tale...they really have dinosaur tracks that they found on their property and they even had a team of geologists that came out to check the tracks out. One of the first attractions for all the males was the swing that hung high from one of the pecan trees (well mom, Michelle, and my girl cousins tried it out too :)). Daddy decided that he was still about 8 and as nimble and light as he used to be so he decided to climb the tree that had railroad spikes sticking out of the trunk, and jump off it onto the swing king kong style. He made it, but scared mommy to death in the process. Dudley then decided to try it with a boost from daddy but chickened out the last minute (or maybe he was the smarter of the two? who knows.). After that we rallied the troops and everyone ate BBQ, except for me and Lincoln...I got spoiled and was fed by Aunt Kara and Lincoln was kept content by Michelle and Craig. Grandma cooked other side dishes on top of what the senior citizens center provided, so daddy was in hog heaven because of 3 words, broccoli rice casserole! Grandma did such a wonderful job of coordinating all of this and we all really appreciated it. After lunch and a lot of chatting, some people decided to go to the dam and swim, while I choose to stay with Nana and Grandma with Lincoln. A few people went out in canoes, as you can see from the pictures, while others decided to swim over to a rock outcrop and jump off of this one large rock that hung over into the water (which was about 20 feet deep around that area). Check out the picture of Dudley and Kyler in one of the canoes...Kyler is riding almost all out of the water, but having the time of her life! After that, we all helped clean up, well I didn't because too busy being adored by everyone :) All you gotta do is give them a little smile and they are suckers! As you can tell, we all had a blast! I want to say a special than you to the Akers, who are such wonderful people (and also brave) to host this shindig of Thomson's and Frederick's out at their place. Thanks to everyone who sent or brought a gift...I love all of them and promise I am sending out thank you notes once I feel a little better and mommy recovers from the craziness of the last couple of weeks. A couple of highlights of the gifts were some books, money for my college fund, ornaments, picture frames, a lamb that instantly became my buddy, and this crazy chicken that sings and then starts laughing when you tickle it (check out the picture!). Thank you to Grandma who put so much time and effort into coordinating this. Thanks to those of you who were with us in thoughts and prayers but were unable to make it. Thanks to the church for welcoming this crazy group. Finally, thank you to everyone who attended my baptism and made me feel special.
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| Me and Lincoln (my cousin) hanging out |
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| Mommy with Jackson and Kinsey |
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| Canoeing on the dam |
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| The lamb that the California Thomsons sent me |
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| Kinsey on the cool swing |
Love to you all,
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| snuggled with my lamb :) |
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