Our First Vacation

This week we had a chance to get away for our very first vacation as a family of four. John ended up taking the week off, so we scrambled to find hotel rooms and somewhere we could drive to relatively quickly. Branson seemed like the best choice. It turned out their "Season" was just starting, and it was not crowded at all. We stayed at the Hilton at Branson Landing, which is where I have been wanting to stay since it opened. Put this girl in a hotel room above a shopping center, and she is happy! :-)

Before we left, our poor Abby dog knew something was up. While we were loading up the car, she quickly escaped at took her seat.

Sadly, she got left behind with Mimi.

We drove straight into town, ate lunch and headed to Silver Dollar City. Hope remembered a lot from when we went with my sister and my mom last summer. She couldn't wait to show her daddy everything.

We learned pretty early on, that neither kid enjoyed riding in the stroller. Awesome. SDC is so hilly. Not fun carrying kids, drinks and pushing the empty stroller all over the park!

The most awesome attraction at SDC for our family...The ball place. Thousands of foam balls, guns to shoot them out of, tubes to vacuum them up...seriously, entertainment for HOURS for both kids. We spent the majority of both days we spent at SDC in this area. And, consequently, most of my pictures are off the ball area as well.

Hope was much braver this time. She loved Grandpa's Mansion, and rode a ton more rides than she would last summer. She rode the little roller coaster, the fast little pirate ships, and she was ready to brave the big pirate ship again. It was a complete disaster last time. It was not much better this time. She quickly recovered though, thankfully.

Daddy tried a new ride too. The Giant Barn Swing. John and I both love rides, and I will ride just about anything, but I am deathly afraid of this thing and will not ride it. John loved it. I love that he is the only adult in this picture. Look who's talking, the chicken.

I wonder how many candles my family has dipped at Carrie's Candle Shop. I have so many memories in that place. Some include Vince dipping one of my candles in black and saying it was an accident. Does anyone buy that? It still hurts me a little. He owes me a dollar for my therapy jar for that one.

Hope was so sweet (other than the few I'm WAY too tired to function meltdowns.) She would just stop and say "This is the best vacation ever." And "You're the best, Daddy." and "I love you, Mommy." She can melt a heart.

On day two, Hope and Daddy started the day with a trip down into the cave. I was was worried about her on the one hour tour, but she did great. She said she was going exploring. Daddy says she got scared a couple of times, but for just a few seconds and then she was back to checking it out. How many times has my family been down in this cave? Way too many. I am seriously okay if I never go down in it again. I could probably give the tour myself.

And here is the only proof I have that I was also on this lovely vacation. And, aren't I looking oh so lovely? Here we are trying to help Hope recover from the train whistle. Hope is very sensitive to loud noises, and the train passed us a whistled very loudly. Both kids were crying, but it took an especially long time to calm Hope down. (On a side note, I am seriously considering writing SDC a letter asking them to not toot the train whistle by the path to the Barn Swing...am I over reacting? It was really loud and every kid in the area was crying after that happened. We didn't go back to that part of the park for the rest of our visit either.)


Back at the hotel, we just kicked back and relaxed. Ahh. Noah loved being the King of the remote control.

I have no pictures from our last full day there. It was full of outlet shopping, go carts and Putt Putt. We all had a great time, and it was good for all of us to get away like that. It also makes me more confident that we can travel more. With John's job, we had a lot of opportunities to travel when Hope was little, but we came to a screeching halt when Noah arrived. Noah has yet to board a plane, so maybe that is the next test.

John and I were talking about family vacations and basically he asked me what I thought of them. Family vacations are absolutely my best childhood memories. (My mom always referred to it as QFT...Quality Family Time. We hated that term, but turns out, it was important. Yes Mom, bask in your glory for a moment...you were right.) There is just something about being together without the stresses of home and everyone enjoying our time together. I know as the kids get older, vacations will be even more important.

Barack Eggbama

Every year, my family has an egg decorating contest. It is a very serious competition. Everyone votes for one egg (other than their own) in each of the two divisions (Child and Adult.) John and I are both really get into this and spend a lot of time planning our egg, and then stay up late the night before making the egg.

John really should have won this year with his Barack Eggbama! He came in a close second though...


Wanna know who won?

Drumroll please........

Eggs-hausted! By yours truly.


I came up with the idea a couple of weeks ago when my friend Shauna asked what I was going to make. I told her I was too tired, and that I was just going to take a blank egg and title it "Eggs-hausted." So, the idea just built from there. When I saw this recliner in Hope's dollhouse, I knew exactly what I was going to do! Not my best work, it was fairly simple, but it got the job done! Oh, and her sleep mask is removable and when you take it off, she is sleeping. The egg definitely represents me and the past year with Noah and me having slept through the night less than five times since he has been born. I really am exhausted.

Here is the child division...

And the adult division. Minus Betty's Bunny Egg which was so cute. Jenn, send me a picture so I can add it. You were in my way when I was taking pictures. :-)

And here is a picture of some really cute kids. More kid pics to follow soon!

Want to see last year's competition? Click Here

And see 2006's Here

Sleep

One night this week, Noah slept from 6:30 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. It was glorious.

Spring Pictures Sneak Peek

Don't worry, Grandma Sharon...we've got some for you!

Photoshop Rookie

I bought Photoshop Elements and wanted to play around with it. I need to read my book before I can do much though. I am pretty confused by the whole layers thing right now. I don't even know what I did to this picture. Obviously I have some work to do.

Hope and Will

I really wanted to post this picture of Hope and Will from the Easter Egg Hunt, but I wanted to get permission from his mom first. I got it! Hope was coming down the slide and Will was coming up. I think these two have a mutual admiration for each other and it was fun to see the fun surprise for both of them when they unexpectedly ran into each other!

You Might Be A Redneck Geek If...

You Might Be A Redneck Geek If...


You put Mentos in Diet Coke to watch it explode.



My husband loves the show, Mythbusters. I mean really loves Mythbusters. He wants to be a Mythbuster. He is just not quite cool enough. He would really love to do all the experimenting whateverness that Mythbuster's do, but most are too dangerous, or too expensive to do. But he has been wanting to do the silly Mentos in Diet Coke exploding fountain FOR.EV.ER. He had his whole new and improved experiment, of course, which I think involved drilling a small hole in the cap, and stringing 3 Mentos superglued together in the cap and then dropping them into the bottle so the explosion was forced to come out a smaller hole...yada yada yada. I tell ya I have been hearing it forever. He finally bought all his supplies, drilled a hole, stung 3 mentos and was ready to go. I did have to step in and tell him he needed to do this in the alley behind our house. He agreed.

If you ever see this smirk on John's face, he is up to something...

Setting Up...

Getting the heck out of Dodge...

He is as happy as an 8 year old boy would be with this experiment. It's okay, I still love you, even if you are a geek.

I don't think there is any question that Noah Red is a Geek in training as well! :-)

Easter Egg Hunt 2009

Yes, we are still alive!!! I have my computer back! Life is good!

It will take me a long time to get back up to date on this blog thing. Oh, who are we kidding? I am not a finisher and I will most likely never go back and post the pictures from the last few weeks. No need to pretend. This way if I actually do, you can just be pleasantly surprised, right? Right. Things are a little yucky with the computer. They replaced my hard drive, did not back it up like they said they would, and did not load all of the programs that were on here that they said they would. Therefore, I have not edited any of these, and they are huge files, so I am only doing a few until I download some editing software.

Today was our church Easter Egg Hunt. Working in Children's Ministries can sometimes make Palm Sunday a very stressful Sunday. Today was no exception with teachers out, all the kids processing in "Big Church," getting everything loaded up for the Egg Hunt, plus the threat of thunderstorms looming, and some less than competent bounce house setter-uppers. Once the hunt was underway, though, everything went really well (even if there were no bounce houses.) I was able to help Hope hunt eggs and check in on Noah as well and visit with friends. Tear down is always alot easier than the set up, and we even got out of there a little early. I guess that is a success! No way I could do it alone though. Shauna, you are the best!

Noah was so funny, he really did spot the eggs and go after them!
Singing and hunting eggs. Are you surprised? Didn't think so!

Who is happier?

Noah was not so sure about the Easter Bunny!

This Easter Bunny is Abby, who is also the only babysitter the babies have ever had. She is so much fun. Hope sees her every week at church, but we saw her one time at Chili's, so now when Hope is talking about Abby, she refers to her as "Abby from Chili's." Everytime!

Mommy tip of the week: Go to the zoo the day BEFORE free zoo day

When I heard that Saturday was going to be free zoo day at the zoo, one thought entered my mind: You could not pay me to go to free zoo day. We have been down that path once before. When Matt Jones came to free zoo day a couple of years ago. John played basketball with Matt Jones back in high school, and he thought it would be fun to go say hi. Fun, it was not. We stood in line for.ev.er. Just to get into the zoo. You know, the zoo that we have passes to anyway. And once you tell your kids you are going to the zoo, well, you have to go to the zoo. Then the line to actually see Matt Jones was as long as the one to get into the zoo, and there was not any way in this world I was going to stand in it. John did get to say hi to Matt as Matt was passing by in a golf cart and he stopped it just to talk to him. If only we had had some time to pass on some friendly "just say no" advice to him. Errr. We won't get into that here. Other than I will say..oh, never mind. I like Matt Jones.

Anyway, enough bird walking. I said no to free zoo day (where 27,000 people came...seriously), but yes to Friday zoo day. The day before and the zoo was all spiffied up for the big day. Just me and the babies. Noah was sick for several days and Friday he seemed much better. So off we went. Hope always loves the zoo. She took her "Noculars" to be able to see things from very far away. Noah just bebopped along in the stroller most of the time.

Noah's first train ride, I think...

I noticed he started sinking, acting like he didn't feel well. And so began the stomach bug. He had 2 blow out diapers while we were there. Then we came home and he began vomitfest '09. Not fun. Also not fun was when Hope got the bug Sunday night during the night. John was able to stay home with her, thankfully. He does handle vomit much better than I do. The saddest part of her being sick was that she was so upset because she threw up on her beloved Ooh Ooh Monkey. Thankfully, he has been washed and has forgiven her.

I.want.my.laptop.back.

I am totally getting stressed about not getting all these pictures on the blog. I am a procrastinator anyway, and as we have discussed, I am not a finisher. I don't want to not get these pictures up just because my laptop is down, so here is a random assortment of the latest pics.

Biker Chick

A Determined Biker Chick




Asleep in Noah's Bouncy Seat with Ooh Ooh

Hey!


My new favorite thing... "Baby Legs" They are like leg warmers for babies. Noah's knees are so red and raw from crawling everywhere, I thought these might help. John hates them. Oh well. They are just for him to wear around the house anyway. I love the little roll of fat on his thigh that hangs out! :-)

Another fabulous find...a $6 dress from Wal-Mart. Hope wants to wear dresses to school every day, and I am ok with her getting paint on a $6 dress.

My sick boy.

These are old...before tubes, but I never posted them.


My mom has started a trend for Hope. She made her a little braid in her hair one day and Hope Looooved it. Now she wants a braid all the time. She asked for two one day and so I did this. She looked in the mirror and said "I look like a MOOSE!"
My new favorite picture. Hope was playing outside when John came home from a trip. He ran outside to suprise her and scooped her up. I love how she puts her hands on his face like she is making sure it is really him. She does love her daddy.

Baby Doll

Posting from my phone again, so no pics. I am so ready to get my computer back.

Noah did not go to bed until 2 am last night. It was not fun. I thought I had him down at 730, but that lasted 20 minutes. Anyway, then he slept until 8 am, which was fabulous. He definitely felt better today. Not quite 100%, but much better than yesterday. I kept him home from school, and Hope wanted to stay home too. I let her pick out whatever she wanted to wear. She wore a rhinestone Mickey Mouse shirt, polka dot pants, purple socks and light up pink shoes that are 2 sizes too big. I took a shower, threw my hair in a ponytail and put on some black sweats and brown crocs just to run to the bank. After the bank, I decided to run into the mall and promised Hope some " Chikala" So we are in the mall when I realize that Hope and I are both dressed in clothes we never meant to be seen in. It was bad. I am a casual dresser anyway, so when I say it was bad, trust me, it was. But, did we leave? Nope.
Anyway, a girl about my age and her mom stopped us to tell me that Noah looks just like a Lee Middleton baby doll. As they are talking, I realize I know the girl, I cheered with her at the U of A. It was fun to see her, even if I did look like death. Now, the Lee Middleton doll thing was very sweet, but some of you also know that this creeped me out just a tad. Oh yes, there is a story there. One I cannot share on here, but ask and I will probably tell you. It's a classic.

still computerless

My computer is still getting fixed,so I am trying to post from my cell phone. Noah got kicked out of school yesterday with a fever. he is feeling pretty crummy. We saw Dr. Laura this morning. We did a chest xray, flu test, and blood work, but didn't find anything. Just a "normal childhood virus."