Vacation Recap: First Leg, Part 3

Kasey's parents have a pretty great set up in their back yard. The yard is pretty big so there's lots of room to play on the grass, but my girls particularly liked the covered patio.

One morning, Makayla was so excited to go outside and play t-ball that she didn't even bother getting dressed all the way. This picture cut off her feet, but she was wearing dress-up princess shoes.

Ellie loved helping her Nana sweep the grass clippings off the cement after Papa mowed the lawn.

This picture is. . . well. . .it's just so darn cute. I had to put it up.

Makayla loves to play dress-up at Nana's house. A few days before it was time to leave, I told Makayla that we were going to see her Nana and Papa. She got all excited and started talking about how she was going to wear this outfit and that outfit when she got there. This purple Jasmine outfit is a new addition to the dress-up chest since the last time we visited. It was a big hit with Makayla. Sadly, this is the only picture out of 5 that turned out decent enough to post.

Vacation Recap: First Leg, Part 2

Monday afternoon (June 23) I took the girls to the wading pool with some friends and all their kids. Unfortunately, there was a daycare at the wading pool the same time that we were there so it was really crowded. But they did share their water toys with us, so that was a bonus.

Makayla loved this inflatable alligator and played with it every chance she got.

Ellie was a little nervous to get in the water with all those crazy kids splashing and yelling.

Eventually, I got her to sit in the water, but only if she was within an arm's reach of the edge and only if Makayla was sitting right next to her. As soon as Makayla got up and moved, Ellie hopped out of the pool.

It was lots of fun. I wish we would have had time to go back a second time.

Joining the Ranks

I'm taking a brief pause from my vacation recap to announce that I've joined the ranks of all the expectant moms out there.

I honestly wasn't going to blog about it for a while longer, but Makayla keeps saying the funniest things regarding this baby I'm trying to grow. I can't not share them.

Here's the first of many funny things she has said. We were sitting in a booth at a restaurant enjoying some ice cream. I had just recently had a discussion with Makayla about the baby in my tummy. She wanted to know how it got in there. So we talked about that for a little bit. Anyway, we were sitting there enjoying our ice cream when Makayla turned to the older couple sitting in the booth next to us. She blurted out, "My daddy put a baby in my mommy's tummy!"

I started laughing while Kasey turned every shade of red and quietly whispered to Makayla, "We don't tell people that."

It was a priceless moment. I'm looking forward to many more of these moments in the months to come.

Vacation Recap: First Leg, Part 1

We're home! Well, for a few days at least. Tomorrow Kasey will go back to work. Wednesday I will head to my mom's house for 4 days. Even though I'm really excited to stay with my parents for a few days, I'm glad to have a few days at home to recoup.

I've been debating whether to write a travel log (which has the potential to bore everyone right out of reading my blog) or simply highlight things of significance and funny moments (which would be less boring to read, but would leave a lot out). I guess I'll just write and see what comes out. I will break it up into several posts. One post would be ridiculously long and too hard digest, I think.

Our plan was to leave the night of June 20 (Wow! Was it really that long ago?!) when Kasey got home from work. I expected him home sometime between 8 and 9 o'clock. I went out to run some errands and returned home to a garbled message from Kasey. The only part I caught was that there was a problem at work, and he would be home pretty late. Crap!

At midnight, I finally decided to go to bed. I knew he would be tired when he got home so I'd have to do a lot more driving than usual. I got a phone call at 3am. It was Kasey telling me that he was just getting off work. He walked in the door at 3:30am. We were on the road at 4am.

I was hoping that since the sun wasn't up yet, Makayla and Ellie would go back to sleep for a few hours. Yeah right! Ellie had no intentions of going back to sleep in the car after enjoying the comforts of her bed.

We stopped at the first big city to grab a little breakfast. Not even an hour later we were stopped on the side of the road cleaning up the donut and chocolate milk that had not stayed in Ellie's little tummy. Gross!

We made it to the half-way mark and stopped for lunch. I was frustrated about being there at 12:30pm when I had hoped to pass through quickly and quietly at 4am. I tried not to be too upset about it. After all, I did get lunch at Red Robin. And boy was it good!!

The remaining half of our drive passed by fairly painlessly. And by painlessly I mean we were forced to choose between listening to Ellie scream and listening to Ice Age for the hundredth time that day. Sounds like an easy choice, but you'd be surprised.

Finally, we arrived at Nana and Papa's house.

So, our vacation started out a little rocky, but it definitely got better from there.

My Sentiments Exactly

I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.

~Marlene Dietrich

A Quick Update From L-town

Whew! One week into the vacation and I finally have a minute to blog. We are having a blast so far: staying up late, eating at our favorite restaurants, catching up with old friends, hanging out with family. I can't believe we have 2 more weeks of this.

We spent most of today at the beach. The girls loved the water, but Ellie was not particularly fond of the sand. In fact, we were there for 4 hours before she would even attempt to put her feet in it. Needless to say, I was a little tired from carrying her back and forth from the water to the blanket in the shade.

We tried really hard to keep up on the sunscreen, but I missed a few spots on Makayla. And my niece is so red. Tonight when Makayla saw Jordyn's sunburn she said, "Oooo! Jordyn got bit by the sun. That was really mean of that sun. He's super naughty!" That got a pretty good laugh out of me.

We have 3 more fun-filled days here before we head home for our 1-day layover. I'm taking tons of pictures and will post some when I get home.

We're Off

Today marks the beginning of what I can only imagine will be a crazy 3 weeks. It's our summer vacation. We've been looking forward to it for some time. Our schedule goes something like this:

-Hop in the car tonight when Kasey gets home from work.
-Drive through the night and into the morning, arriving in L-town approximately 15 hours later.
-Hang out with friends for 5 days.
-Kasey's family reunion for an additional 5 days.
-Back in the car for another 15 hours through the night.
-One day layover at our house to do laundry, pay bills, and repack car.
-Drive to my family reunion, approximately 6 hours away.
-Camping and other fun stuff for 3-1/2 days.
-More driving.
-Home for 3 days to do, what else? Laundry!
-Kasey goes back to work while the girls and I travel to my mom's house for 4 days.
-Those 4 days home include a day with my high school friends (WooHoo!) and all our kids, a trip to the new pizza place (I've heard it's excellent), possibly a day at the beach, and a party for my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary (and I thought 6 years was a lot!).

Kasey got me a new toy to hopefully make the driving a little more bearable for the girls. I sure hope they don't hate us and their car seats by the end of all this.

With this crazy, crazy schedule, who knows if I'll have time to blog. I'll definitely tell you all about our adventures (with pictures) when we get back in July.