this ships a' salin'

I'm so psyched! Jer and I have officially made our 10 year anniversary vacation plans! We are going to be crusin the Caribbean the end of September! :-) I've only been on a short mini cruise once on our honeymoon, and it was a smaller ship, and well, let's just say it did not bode well with me. So here's hoping this one will turn out much better! It's only taken me 10 years to get back on a ship! :) I'm real excited about this one.......157 days to go!!!! :)

from the home of country....

Our family took a mini vacation earlier this week down to Branson, MO.....home of cowboy boots, bright lights, country music and about a jabillion singing/comedy shows. It's a little too, um, country for me, but every now and then it's fun to go down there. If anything just to get away......a vacation anywhere is a good vacation! :-) This time we went there and stayed with my in-laws who were staying the week. We just stayed 3 days, I didn't want to keep the kids out of school all week, and plus Jer couldn't really take off work all week. So we left Sunday after church and drove down, and stayed until Wednesday. As always, it wouldn't be a blog from yours truly, if it wasn't covered in pictures......so here ya go :-)

(Jeremy's sister) Aunt Jen enjoyed some quality baby Gena time.....

My mom-in-law just cracks me up......we go down to Branson, where there are a zillion lot of things to do and she brings 2 huge boxes of crafts and stuff to entertain the kids. They were definately not bored! As soon as we got there Sunday she pulled out the first craft..... :-)

Here she is helping Isaiah make a can-snowman-candy cane holder thing......not sure the technical name it is called - but it was very cute.

At bedtimes, we pushed all the toys outta the way and blew up our air mattress for the kids to sleep on. There are 4 kids in this picture below, but my nephew Ben, ended up moving up to sleep on the couch. I think he felt a little crowded....lol

And below is Grandma telling the kids a bedtime story... just like we always do at home :-)

Here is my 9 year old nephew, Ben....he just loved playing with Gena and spending time with her while we were there, it was so cute :-)

Here is Lilly, showing off her fruit loop necklace she made...........

After spending much of Monday around the room, we got out Monday night and all went to see the Dixie Stampede show. (muchos kudos to my father-in-law for treating us, BTW!) :-)

For those unaware, the Dixie Stampede is a dinner and a show....it's super cute around Christmastime, and have "snow" falling, and show the manger scene, and bring Santa out at the end in a sleigh....and of course, the whole theme of the show, lots and lots of horses. Below is our family enjoying the show....

Oh.my.word. One of my less flattering moments occured at the Stampede that night. (aren't you sad to of missed it? lol) We (as in, me and Jeremy) were chosen from the audience to be a part of the show. We were up there with 3 other couples, and had to compete in a horse/snowman race. Jer had to saddle a play horse (you know, the kind that kids play with, that has a horses head and a stick for a body?) and I had to saddle up behind him. (wow, it's even worse reading it! haha). We then had to run a few feet, and go around a pretend snowman and come back to where we started and go again, as if the first time around wasn't torture enough. Needless to say, we did not win for our team, and it was a hair short of humiliating. All in all, a great night! lol

On Tuesday, we got to do some of my favorite - shopping! Here we are taking a lunch break at Wendys....

And we even managed to get in a visit from an old friend. Robbie used to go to our church and moved to Branson 3 years ago.....she got to meet our newest....

All in all, we had a great trip. If you've never been to Branson, I highly recommend it. at least once. :-)

Vacation - Part Two

In case you missed it, go back and read my last post, Vacation Part One, before reading this one. :-)

Like I said before, I'm only going to post some of my favorites......otherwise this post would be uber long! ;)

We spent lots and lots of time with Joy and her 2 boys during the day. The kids had sooooo much fun, and asked everyday to go back and see them. And of course, Joy and I had lots of fun hanging out and just talking while the kiddos would play. And we would, of course, break up the occassional argument every now and then. :-)

Cole and Gabe had tons of dress up costumes and stuff. The kids loved it and dressed up about every day, taking turns in which superhero they would be for the day. :-)

Several nights we would gather around the table after dinner for some cards or games. It was so much fun. We didn't want to leave - we were sad when we had to say good-bye!





How often do you see superman (woman) with pink hair? Not too often I bet! :-)

I had to throw in this pic, below. I just love Baby Girls look in this photo, and that tongue. Too cute!!!

We spent some time at a park as well. I believe this was on a Sunday evening, when Jer didn't have to work. We had some family time. The kids loved it.

Another day, Joy and I took the kids to a splash park close to their house. We actually had just planned on going to the dry, playset, side of the park. Well, we got there, and of course Sis saw the water park, and wanted to go get wet right away. We eventually caved, and let them play in the sprinklers, fully clothed, because of course we didn't bring our suits. We weren't planning on getting wet that day! Oh well. It was a hot day. It didn't take too long for them to dry off. And they had sooooo much fun!!!

Later that evening, Sis and Bubby put on some of Gabe's clothes while there's was in the dryer, and after dinner, they got a special dessert. :-)

yumm-o!

We even got a visit from the ice cream truck :-)

Me and Joy and Baby Girl (and part of Chris' bald head) lol

We had SUCH a FUN visit to Michigan. Jer got some work done, the kids made some good friends, and Joy and I became closer friends. All in all, a great vacation. THANKS again to Chris and Joy in Michigan for being such great hosts to us and opening up your home. :-) We hope to see you guys again real soon!!!

On the way home, I took one last photo, taken at an Ozarkland shop. They had tons of goofy hats and all kinds of souviniers and memorabilia. :-)

Sadly, our summer is winding down. Tomorrow, I register Sis for kindergarten, and 3 weeks later, she starts school! Is it just me, or does summer seem to go quicker every year?

Vacation - Part One

Finally, I am back and able to blog some vacation photos! We actually got home last Friday (7/23), but I have been having some computer issues the last few days, and so thanks to my hubby:) my computer issues are resolved once again. Shew, I was about to throw this one out and just start over with a new one! ;-)

Anyways, we took a 2 week family trip/work/vacation/road trip and headed out to Michigan. Jeremy had to work while we were there, but did not have to work a lot of overtime, so we were able to do some fun, family stuff in the evenings and weekends. Since we used to live in the Detroit area, I am somewhat familiar with it (at least the Canton area, which is an outskirt of Detroit). And we have some friends of ours who live in Canton, so we were able to hang out with them a lot, which was wonderful :-) Chris, the husband works with Jeremy, and Joy, his wife and I met thru our husbands. They have traveled to the KC area in the past, for work, and we have been able to hang out some. So it was fun getting to visit with them.

Anyways.........here is part one of my vacation pics.........just a FEW of my favorites that captured our vacation :-)

Here we are........packed up and ready to hit the road....7/7/10

One of our many, many, many, MANY stops..... :-) At a McDonalds play place, somewhere in MO...I lost track:)

Stopping at a Taco Bell, around Indianapolis, IN

We made it a 2 day trip (it's about 800 miles from us to MI), so we finally arrived in MI late on 7/8. Here is Sis swimming at the motel...

And we visited our friends, right away on Friday, the 9th, and spent a lot of time with them. Our hotel room was tiny, and I would have absolutely gone insane, had it not been for Joy!!! Chris and Joy treated us so kindly and welcomed us into their home and were so hospitable to us. They went above and beyond :-)

And they have 2 boys Cole, who is 8, and Gabe who is 5. So they bonded well with our kids, and they all had a blast. Here is Sis trying on their pink clown wig. She wore this several times, and in the end, Joy ended up giving it to Sis before we left. She said her boys didn't need a pink wig anyways :-)

And below, Sis took a pic for us. Several times, we ate dinner with them and sat out on their back deck. Michigan summers are nice - I had forgotten! Not nearly as humid!

And several times the kiddos got to swim in their pool....

This is what the 3 boys did almost every evening, after dinner, when us adults would sit upstairs and chat and play cards :-) They would watch a movie.

Back in the room....a kodak moment :-)

Making a DQ pitstop....

Gabe liked Baby Girl ;-)

Joy holding Baby Girl (she is done having kids, so she said she was getting her 'baby fix' :-) I was more than happy to let her, lol)

And guess who lost her first tooth while in Michigan?!?!

She was so excited. :-)

One day, we visited Chucky Cheese....

And back at Chris and Joy's house........we caught some cute bonding moments.... :-)

I just love that little Baby Girl! :-)

come back tomorrow for Vacation - Part Two!