Summer Vacation Part II: Tablerock Lake

The real purpose for this pilgrimage back to the Midwest was to celebrate my parents 50th anniversary.  Would you believe that there was only ONE week out of the whole summer that worked for everyone due to camps and college and babies wanting to be born?  And still not everyone even made it - we were down one nephew and two nieces.  They were sorely missed.  BUT the other 26 or so of us (I lost count somewhere along the line) had a great time boating and swimming and mini golfing.  And apparently some of us have even been paying attention to the family history stories that have been passed around at various family gatherings.

I think one of my favorite things about these kinds of events is how well my older nieces and nephews take care of and play with my kids.  The Mister would disappear for hours with his cousin Brenden and Brian.  Baby Sister got her nails painted by Merinda and Mikaela.  And Saraiah is always good for on call babysitting :)  And they loved playing legos and other games with their little cousins.

I loved spending time on the lake.  The Mister took his first ride on a tube behind the boat.  He loved it.  Baby sister and I weren't so lucky...due to slow speed and improper placement on the tube we shortly started taking on water and rolled frontwards off of the tube.  I held onto her the whole time but she was not impressed and wanted to be done.  Also, I'm no good at wakeboarding.  Couldn't even get up this time.  Brad is quite good though.  We need a boat.  Maybe then I could actually learn.  Plus, Brad is cute driving a boat and even cuter on a wakeboard :)

No trip to Southwest Missouri would be complete without spending a day at Silver Dollar City.  As a kid I remember it as a place with mediocre rides and where old people would go to buy apple butter and make candles.  I must say, it has improved a lot.  There were tons of kid friendly rides and my kids absolutely loved it.  Brad and I got to ride on one rollercoaster - Outlaw - it was seriously intense!  But I was happy just spending time with my kids and doing the things that they wanted to do.

And some additional photos I took on the trip just because I think they are cute.

Summer Vacation Part I: KC, KS

The nice thing about Brad and I being from the same general area is that when we make a trip home we usually get to see both of our families.  This year my parents celebrated their 50th anniversary (well it was actually last November but we were all able to get together this summer).  So, before heading to Tablerock Lake for a week with my family, we drove to Kansas to visit with Brad's family.  His parents and his sister both still live there. I feel like we need to make these trips more often.  It's so much fun to watch our kids play with their cousins.


Cousins are reunited.  They roll down the hill in front of Grandma's house to pass the time :)

There is the coolest farm in Kansas City and it's free!  We paid extra to do some of the activities like pony rides and feeding the goats but it was so much fun for the kids.  This is where the Mister discovered his love for gem mining.  He has requested to do it three or four more times since.

We were invited to Brad's former college roommate's house for dinner.  He married a girl that Brad had known growing up and Tony and his wife subsequently moved back to Kansas City.  I met Tony the same summer I met Brad.  They were both up in Seattle painting houses for the summer.  The last time we all saw each other was probably at a BYU game and we were all childless.  Now we spend a lot more time running interference and keeping our kids from beating up other people's kids.  We were pretty successful except for one baseball bat to the head.  The Mister says it was on accident.  I didn't see the whole thing, but I'm pretty sure he is telling the truth.

Of course there was some time for swimming in the back yard.  Even Grandma got in one time!

 

And there were fireworks on the 4th of July...and the obligatory running around in a field before the fireworks.  Grandma was also nice enough to read to the kids in the back of the truck while they waited for the show to start.

June

Somehow I let three months pass without a single blog post.  I am trying to rectify that by posting condensed versions of what we have been up to for the last several months.

We went on a ward campout the first weekend of June.  I really had high hopes for this trip.  We got to use our new camp stove and our mostly new giant tent.  Friends were going to be there.  Brad bought giant marshmallows to roast.  It was actually quite fun except for two things: 1) It was fairly hot and humid that day so we opted to leave the rainfly off when we went to sleep since it was a clear, starry night.  We quickly regretted that decision when we were awoken by a brief rain shower.  Especially since the rainfly was in the car about 100 yards away.  By the time we got it on the rain had stopped and the tent just got hot. 2) The great thing about ward campouts is that our kids have lots of other kids to play with.  The bad thing about ward campouts is that even if your kids miraculously sleep well all the other crying kids around you will keep you up all night.  It has me seriously considering if I will ever do that again. 

 



The Mister had his last soccer game.  All the kids got a trophy and I FINALLY got a picture of all three boys together.

We went to the Columbia zoo with my college roommate and her kids.  It's sad how close we live to each other and how seldom we actually see each other.  I vow to do better.  I haven't been to that zoo since before I had kids.  It's a really great zoo and even more fun to watch them have fun.  I think my favorite part was feeding the giraffes.  Their favorite part was the pony rides and the slushies.

May

Our beach vacation...it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  The first weekend of May we went to Edisto Island.  Our idea was to go early in the season before the crowds (although I don't think it is ever really crowded there) and the summer prices on beach condos.  We knew the weather might not be perfect but that area is known for its sea shells so we figured we could still have fun playing on the beach even if it wasn't swimming weather.  We arrived on Friday night just in time to settle in and have dinner.  On Saturday morning we woke up and it was a little rainy and very, very windy.  Also the surf was very rough. I think it was the tail end of some hurricane that I have now forgotten about.  We still went for a walk on the beach and found a spot near a cement wall where we could be protected from the wind and the sand flying into our eyes.  We weren't the only crazy one's out there.  The first day and a half was pretty windy and rainy and we tried to busy ourselves with as many rainy day activities as we could find on the tiny island.  For about an hour an a half the power was out in our condo, so that was super great :)

On day two it cleared up and we spent a beautiful evening on the beach.  Our last day there was perfect beach weather - of course, that's how it always happens for us.  We spent several hours soaking it all in and then headed home.  Both kids fell asleep on the way home.  It was a glorious and peaceful drive.

 



The Mister had a Mother's Day program at school and he graduated from pre-school.  They put on such a cute program.  His teacher's were amazing this year and I am really going to miss this school.  They put together a book for us of his work throughout the year and some pictures, plus they made a hand-print painting for us.  I just love them and am so happy he had this experience.  He is so excited to go to kindergarten, or as he calls it "five year old school".

 

 

On Memorial Day Brad took the Mister to see a movie and Baby Sister and I spent the afternoon playing in the sprinklers.  It was a perfect way to kick-off summer!