The Dickenson Dozen...

Every year, we try to have a Dickenson family vacation. This is when all the Dickenson brothers and their families come together with Nana and PaPa and we do something fun. There are 12 of us, total...well, until Raegan gets here. This year, we went to Shawn, his wife Sandra and their two girls in Nashville. Shawn is Shannon's identical twin brother, pictured on the far left, Shannon in the center, and their older brother, Todd on the right. Todd and his wife, Kerry live in Montpelier, Va.

These pictures were at our wedding, 2 years ago...they haven't changed all that much. Well, Shannon's gained about 20 lbs, but that's a good thing!

Here are the kids at the Nashville Zoo. Pyper, on the left is ours, holding her is Hannah, Shawn's oldest, she's 13. Then sweet Willow, she's 3 and is Todd's, and then little Emma on the right, she's Shawn's youngest and is 9.

Pyper watching the monkeys, Hannah holding a monkey, and Emma looking at all the monkeys.

Todd and Willow looking at the monkeys.

Pyper on the trolley at the Zoo...

Todd giving a crazy face, I guess because he was the chaperone on the trolley with the kids.

Pyper watching the Bangle Tigers. Sandra, Shawn's wife, loves the kids and her enthusiasm was contagious.

A sweet picture of Pyper and I. The flamingos were my favorite. Pyper's hiding my 8 month preggo belly!

Their coloring was spectacular...pictures can't do them justice.

I really liked the elephants. They are so majestic.

Pyper was pooped after 4 hours at the zoo in 97 degree heat. The heat index on this day was 115. Whew!

The next day, we went to the Build A Bear workshop. Pyper picked out her bear, and here, she's watching the stuffing twirl around....

Watching the worker fill up her bear, Peeper, with just enough love and cuddles.

Pyper kisses Peeper's heart...

Puts it in Peeper for safe keeping. Then sews up Peeper really tight...

Trying to find an outfit for Peeper proves to be too much thinking and hard work. Pyper can't take the shopping stress... Peeper is adorned with hair bows. Build A Bear was a great experience. We had a great time the next day at the pool, where Pyper learned to go down the water slide. We didn't get pics of that because Shannon forgot the camera. Coming back, was uneventful, but certainly sad, as it was a fun trip.

Once we got home, Pyper spiked a fever. Then on Tuesday morning, as I was getting her ready to go to Nana's, I noticed she was burning up. She had a temperature of 101.7! I called the Dr, and was tested for Strep. It wasn't step, but instead, viral pharyngitis.

Even sick, my girl is still happy. Here she is at the Dr's office, enjoying a sucker...

In this picture, she's dancing for joy that she doesn't have Strep. Just some stinkin' virus, but she's tough...

She's already feeling much better! Getting ready for Mamom to come visit all next week!