And so the month with our extended family begins!!
On July 1 we flew back from our California vacation with 3 extra kids - Bobby Herbold, a friend of Peyton's, & brothers Jermal & Jordan Pitman. Jermal & Trace were in school together and he & his brother spent a lot of time with our family, particularly last summer. Bobby will be here until July 18 and the other boys will be here through the end of July.
July 1
We flew through LAX on the way home and as we boarded the prop plane in Fresno, taking up 8 of the 24 or so seats on the plane, one man asked if this was a school trip! Nope, just our family for the summer. We had a little moment of apprehension when we realized the plane was oversold and Bobby didn't have a seat. There were a few others with the same problem, and one man was quite irritated that he might not get on the plane. He was at the counter and turned to look at Peyton & Bobby and said, "I
have to get to Minneapolis tonight so one of you boys won't be getting on this plane!" Well, they both got on, that man's wife got on, but he didn't :). So we finally departed for LAX and although the 3 1/2 hour layover at LAX was LONG, we played a lot of UNO, enjoyed some burgers and explored the airport. After haggling at the counter with the United Airlines attendant, we managed to get seats close enough together to make it all work and headed for Wichita. It was the Pittman boys' first plane rides, and they did great - loved looking out the windows. When we departed LAX it was cloudy, but after we got above the clouds it was sunny which was really cool.
July 2
We didn't arrive in Wichita until after midnight, so the first day here was pretty uneventful. I made the kids a late breakfast of homemade pancakes, unpacked, did a little laundry, fished & swam. Then fished and swam. Then fished and swam. You get the picture. Hillary, Jordan and I managed to make it to Wal-Mart for a couple baskets of groceries - after being gone a week the cupboards were pretty bare! Peyton & Bobby went over to Jase's pond for a few hours to fish there before heading back home for supper. We decided to make the kids' favorite supper - Taco Pasta Salad! Four lbs. of ground beef and a full box of pasta later, they were finally full.
July 3
The next day everyone slept in a bit although Peyton had to be up early for weights and basketball and I had a training session. Later in the afternoon we had the May's over to swim and play in the pond. Bobby and Peyton also started on their cleaning out the barn project. Peyton had already logged a few hours and made a little dent, but recruiting Bobby seemed to give him a renewed energy for the job! Hillary, Jordan and I got out the 4th of July decorations to make the house a little more festive. For supper that night it was 4 lbs. of oven-roasted chicken! They all eat great and are pretty helpful around the house and kitchen.
There was a lot of fishing going on all week. The boys decided to have a fishing derby of sorts - Jermal & Trace vs. Bobby & Peyton. They are keeping track of all the fish they catch and at the end of our time together we'll add up who has the most. Not sure what the prize is but they are committed!
July 4
Friday was the 4th of July! After a few hours doing chores and barn cleaning, we loaded up and went to buy some fireworks on our way to Mark Nett's for his 4th of July party. The California crew had never seen such big tents selling fireworks! We gave them all $20 to spend on fireworks, and we ended up with some great baskets of goodies. At Mark's house we enjoyed hot dogs, brats, burgers, yard games and a silly string fight between Hillary and Mark. The evening ended with an awesome 30-minute fireworks show! It was awesome and Trace had a great time helping him set them off.
We came home and although the kids intended to set off a few of their own fireworks, it was pretty late so we convinced them to wait until the next night during our post-4th of July party. Everyone slept well!
July 5
John took the 4 older boys out to the farms on Saturday morning while Jordan and Hillary hung out here with me. We made a Texas Sheet Cake and I learned just how much Jordan likes chocolate! We had a great time cooking, licking beaters, bowls and snacking on chocolate chips. We also made some triple-chocolate cookies and when he wanted more dough to eat I told him, "Jordan, your momma probably doesn't want me to feed you all this chocolate!" to which he said, "why not? I AM chocolate!" He makes me laugh so hard! Our party was fun - we had the Mabry's, the Beckmann's, Darcie Lowry and the kids, & Mark, Hallie and her friends from Nebraska over for a cookout and swimming. The kids and John set off all our fireworks and although the show wasn't as big and loud as Mark's, it was fun!
July 6
The next day was Sunday so we all loaded up for church. Paige Lowry had spent the night so we drove both cars with all those kids! After lunch the boys worked in the barn some more, and John gave Trace & Jermal the job of cleaning out the smaller pen on the other side of the barn. Although they did a little more complaining than the other boys, they did get a big chunk of it done. They thought they were done but then realized they had to do it to OUR specifications rather than their own! Meanwhile, the big boys accomplished their goal and the cement barn floor on the west side is now clean!
We swam a bit more on Sunday evening, escaping the mosquitos and flies for a while. Everyone enjoyed Sunday "fun night" for supper with chicken nuggets, wings and fries. Peyton missed out - he went to a basketball practice for a team in Andale that he may be playing with in the future. Bobby was a good big brother, filling in while Peyton was gone.
July 7
Monday morning brought another training session for me, after which we made waffles and I took Hillary to Andale to a basketball camp with Mark & Tammy Kerschen. She was all set to go when she went to bed but woke up saying she didn't want to do it after all. So I sent Jermal up to talk some sense into her...when she told him she didn't want to play he said, "well, the only way you get better is to go and practice - even when you don't want to"! She said, "that's true", got up and got dressed :). After camp she went home with Emery and Lily to play for a bit. The older boys & Jordan fished while Jermal & Trace worked in the barn. After lunch we all loaded up to pick Hillary up and head to town. Peyton got a haircut and then we went to Sports Authority to get him some cleats. Jermal & Trace hit golf balls and then we all made a trek to Wal-Mart. We needed to restock a few things and the big boys needed some snacks for their trip. It's always interesting to have 6 kids (5 of whom are boys) in Wal-Mart :).
Supper was smoked teres major from the freezer, corn on the cob and salad. Jordan shucked his first ear of corn, and the boys ate their weight in meat - they loved the peppery rub! We polished off the rest of the giant cookie and the boys shot Little Tykes until Peyton got home. They got all packed up for the trip and everyone hit the sack.
July 8
John and I started the day by trying out one of the P90X3 workouts, then he worked a little before loading up the boys to take them to West Campus. Unfortunately they had fallen back to sleep after the alarm went off...so in their rush to get everything together and loaded up, Peyton spilled his smoothie in John's truck - hopefully the rest of the week goes a little more smoothly!
Jordan was up first and he decided on eggs, cinnamon toast AND 2 pancakes for breakfast! I made the rest of the kids breakfast sandwiches and then took Hillary to her camp, although it took some encouraging from Jordan to get her out of bed this time! The boys worked in the barn for a bit before we all went to pick her up and spent about 45 minutes shooting baskets in the gym after her camp was over. We came home for lunch and of course some Little Tykes in living room, and then the boys finished the barn! We had talked about going to town and playing miniature golf, but the big boys wanted to fish. Jordan, Hillary and I played PIG in the big gym, then set up our own putt-putt in the front room. Then we went out to the outdoor court, lowered the goal and played HORSE. Jordan won both the basketball games and I was the golf winner. Then I needed a break so the kids rode bikes down to "meet the neighbors". They came back to tell me they had met Angela & Wayne, which turned out to be the gal who had called me about training. I rode back down with them and we had a good visit with them. Hillary and Jordan stayed to play with their 6 kids, and Hillary was excited that they have some girls around her age!
Darcie text me around noon that they stopped for lunch in Hays and "Big Tall Eric" came up to meet them for lunch - Eric Overmiller! What a neat surprise for Peyton. Bobby had the first spill of the trip - his drink at Freddy's :). Guess he and Peyton have nowhere to go but up!
We actually were able to have leftovers for supper (a first!). The boys came in just long enough to eat, clean up their dishes and use the restroom before heading back out to fish. They asked to "night fish" and took out a couple of flashlights.
I must clarify something...since Bobby and Peyton are away from the pond for 4 days, the fishing derby is on hold. Jermal and Trace will obviously continue to catch fish but they won't count toward the prize.
July 9
Everyone arrived safe & sound in Colorado Springs, and today their first stop was at a laser tag facility. They spent a couple of hours there and from the pictures one of the gals sent me, they had a great time!
After that they were at the Desperation conference or at the hotel.
For us back here in Kansas, we started the day with a few chores, then it was fishing, swimming and Little Tykes in the living room. John flew back from San Antonio, and after he mowed the grass we headed to Cheney to take in the Sedgwick County Fair parade. We ran into the Andree's, so we sat with them to watch the parade and the kids running after various candy being thrown from the floats and parade participants. The boys' eyes were wide when the big combines drove past, and they also liked seeing all the antique tractors drive by. After the parade we headed to the fair.
We started our trek through the fair at the carnival area. We by-passed most of the booths but let the boys shoot a few quick baskets at a rather "rigged" hoop game! Then we visited the petting zoo...this seemed to be a harmless event until we realized that they host a cage of kitties needing to be adopted...for free. Thus we are now the proud owners of two kitties - but we all agreed they are BARN CATS to catch mice. We originally thought one was a boy and the other a girl, but after we had them a couple of days we realized they are both girls. I think a trip to the vet as soon as they are old enough to be spayed is in order!
We visited Mac Brand at the cattle barn and walked through all the animal barns. We stopped in the 4-H building as well to see some friends, and the kids were able to see what it means to bring a project to the fair. I think 4-H will make more sense now that they have seen some of the displays.
When we got home we agreed to keep the kitties in the garage until they are a little bigger. They took to their box of sawdust and basket of blankets quickly and after wrestling a bit they fell asleep on top of each other!
July 10
Today was a big day! It was Hillary's last day of basketball camp, so after taking her to Andale and then tackling our chores and laundry, we loaded up and headed for El Dorado for a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Playing on our team was Jermal, Trace, Evan Dome & Jake Cocking, and even though 2 of the 4 hadn't played ball in awhile, they did great! John got there in time to "coach" so they weren't stuck with me, and they beat the first team (which consisted of Baron Biermann, Jack Nilles and another friend) pretty substantially, then beat the second team from another school as well. The third game was tougher - they played an 8th grade team and lost by just a couple of points. The 4th game was the big challenge - they played a 9th grade team and they let us play 4-on-3 considering they were huge kids! Yes, we lost, but it was a pretty fun game!
After the games John took all the players home and I went to pick Hillary up at the Kerschen's where she had spent the afternoon. Then it was home to eat, fish a little, swim, do more laundry and hit the hay.
July 11
Another big day! We spent the morning getting packed and ready to go to Kansas City. John got home around 2 and we hit the road! Of course we had to work in a stop at Dairy Queen on the way :). We arrived at the stadium about 30 minutes before the first pitch, found our seats - which were awesome thanks to John scoping them out online before we left - and settled in! It was $1 night so the kids feasted on hot dogs, peanuts and drinks which were each $1! Of course we had to work in a little popcorn for Jordan which he generously shared, and Hillary bought herself some cotton candy. Whose kid is that anyway?!?!
The Royals had a lot of hits but just couldn't get the scores they needed and lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers. It was a hot & humid but fun night, and the kids all enjoyed the stadium and the game. Jermal and Trace never moved from their seats and as luck would have it, two boys about their age were sitting in the 2 seats next to them. April was at the game too, so she and her friends came over to our section to watch the fireworks After the game we loaded up and stopped for a quick snack before heading to Nortonville where we were spending the night. We arrived at Grandma & Grandpas house just after midnight and the boys loved how big the basement is and all the beds she had made up down there! Everyone crashed and slept really well, anticipating more fishing at Uncle Eric's farm in the morning.
July 12
No one was up too terribly early :). Grandma made eggs, zucchini bread and fruit for breakfast and then the whole crew loaded up to go help feed Grandpa's cows and fish at Eric's pond while I went for a run and helped Grandma with the garden produce and lunch. Her garden is amazing!! It was overflowing with so many vegetables - we had a fabulous lunch which consisted of everything from their farm! Jermal declared that it was the best spaghetti he's ever had, and the fresh corn on the cob right out of the nearby field was amazing. Everyone had caught a lot of fish that morning - Jordan caught 21, Jermal 15, Trace & Hillary caught 20. John and the older boys tried their poles out at Pete's pond next, but didn't have too much luck there. Jim Higley paid us a visit, and just as we were finishing lunch Eric & Lois came by to say hello. After a nap we loaded everything up and headed to Wichita to meet Peyton & Bobby at West Campus. They arrived from Colorado just before we did, and although they had a great time, they were ready to be home!
The verdict on Desperation was that it was a great event, although on the final night the worship was pretty lengthy! The only other "complaint" was that they should have taken more cash for food - the daily stipend wasn't quite enough for their appetites. Thus they were excited to see the steak, baked potatoes and vegetables we were having for supper!
July 13
Everyone slept in but got up and ready for church in record time - apparently using the "you can have a donut at church" incentive worked pretty well. Overall, church was a little different today since the youth who went to Desperation gave testimonies during service. It was awesome to hear all the different perspectives and the work that God did in their lives during the 4 days. At least 10 youth gave testimonies, as well as 4-5 leaders/parents. I was so proud of Bobby and Peyton who went up in front and spoke from their hearts how they connected with Christ and with others on the trip. We also took communion and was able to share that with Jermal for the first time.
Monday, July 14
Waterpark day!
We packed up snacks and lunches and headed to Derby. It was also VBS week so we stopped by West
Campus to drop off our supper to have later. We also picked up Caleb &
Paige Lowry to take with us to the water park.
It was a really great day to go since it was really hot and sunny! They enjoyed the slides, lazy river and most
of all the diving boards! There was a
regular diving board and a high dive – I’ll bet between all the kids they went
off the boards at least 200 times! As
the afternoon wore on the clouds rolled in and we just made it under the
shelter before the sky starting dumping rain buckets! We waited it out for 15 minutes then headed to
the car for a stop at Braum’s for some ice cream on our way back to West Campus.
VBS had a science theme this year. Hillary and Jordan were participating, Trace
was playing on the worship team, I helped with snacks & Bobby, Peyton,
Trace & Jermal were helping with games. We changed, Trace rehearsed with
the worship team and we ate our supper before helping kick off a great week.
Tuesday, July 15
See Wichita day!
I had a full day planned for the crew and they didn’t know
where we were going! We headed out the
door at 9:30am for our first stop: All-Star Sports to play putt-putt! We played a round and then I loaded Trace
& Peyton up to go across the street to their orthodontist appointment while
everyone else spent a few bucks on video games inside All-Star Sports.
Next on the list was John’s office. He gave us a brief tour and then we all went
to lunch at the Old Time Tasty Shop. Everyone had a great lunch, topped off
with milk shakes. After dropping John
back off at his office I made a surprise stop at Gander Mountain to see the
deer, antelope and aoudad mounts that John and Peyton have hanging there. We walked around the fountains and canal in
front of Gander Mountain for a bit before making our way to the Keeper of the
Plains. The kids enjoyed climbing around
on the rocks, tolerated some picture taking & skipping rocks. Peyton took the rock skipping to a new level
when he and Bobby hauled some big rocks up to the bridge and threw them off
into the water. Big splash!
The last stop downtown was at the Nifty Nut House. When we first pulled up they weren’t real
excited – Peyton said, “a nut place?” But when we went inside and they saw all
the different candy their excitement increased 100-fold! I gave them each $10 to spend and they all
stayed within their limit – pretty well!
The biggest hit of the day was Spree’s candy and Skittles, although
Jordan’s big bag of MnM’s should last him at least until they leave!
Our last stop before heading for the West Campus for VBS was
Sedgwick County Park. To Trace’s chagrin
we weren’t fishing, but the plan was to play basketball…until I realized that
one of the kids had taken the basketball out of the suburban! So Jordan & Hillary played on the
equipment, Trace & Jermal hand-fished and Peyton & Bobby chased (and
Bobby caught one!) geese. Trace found a
piece of fishing line and tied it to a stick to try his luck that way! Before we left we did a little devotional
activity about working as a team using the verse about a cord with three
strands is not easily broken.
Wednesday, July 16
Catch up day! We
spent the day doing laundry, swimming, fishing and buying a new farm! Yes, John went to a land auction and things
worked out for us to buy the farm he’s been looking at for a couple of
months.
Thursday, July 17
Today was our second 3-3 basketball tournament. Playing today was Jermal, Trace, Mac &
Jake. Bobby woke up with a really stiff
neck so he and Peyton stayed home with Jordan, and Hillary went to work with
dad. They played 4 games and truth be
told, they didn’t play very focused in 2 of them. After bribing them with Taco Bell they picked
up the pace a bit! The team didn’t click
as well as they did last week, but the boys still enjoyed themselves and also
meeting Mac.
It was water night at VBS, and unfortunately it was only
about 68 degrees so a bit chilly! Many
of the kids still braved the weather and got soaked in the outside
tug-of-war! Trace seemed to really enjoy
helping lead worship and I thought he did a great job.
Friday, July 18
A little bit of fun for everyone today! We took Jermal & Trace to Sedgwick County
Park to fish while the rest of us went to Men’s Wearhouse to get Peyton fitted
for a tux. He is Calli Caudle’s escort
tomorrow night for the National American Miss pageant and is going to look
fabulous in his tux! We made a stop at
Academy for Bobby to get some KSU gear, and then I took Peyton & Bobby to meet
Matt Lowry for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.
After they ate Matt dropped them off at Auburn Hills to golf while
Jordan, Hillary and I went to pick up Trace & Jermal and then stopped at
Wal-Mart to re-stock the pantry and fridge.
The plan for the evening was to tailgate and go to the
Wingnuts game, so we got home, unloaded groceries, packed coolers and headed
back to town to pick up the boys at Auburn Hills and meet John and the Pruitt’s
in the parking lot. It was a great
evening for baseball, and the game ended up being pretty exciting at the end
when the Wingnuts came back from a 2-1 deficit and won! Even though we opted to miss the last night
of VBS where they were cooking burgers for all the families, we had a great
time. After the game the kids and John
went down to the dugout area and attempted to throw the balls we bought as a
fund-raiser in a bucket on the field.
Peyton’s last ball took a good bounce on the field and hopped right into
the bucket! Only three balls made their
way into the bucket, so the three winners split the $75 pot. Since Peyton was throwing a ball that
technically belonged to McKinley, he split the money with her!
Saturday, July 19
Sad day…Bobby’s flight was leaving at 4:20.
John took the boys fishing at some new ponds they looked up
online while I went for a run and Jordan & Hillary took it easy at
home. I finished washing most of Bobby’s
clothes and got him ready to pack…I was so sad! When the boys got home we
packed him up, grabbed some lunch and headed to town to Calli’s rehearsal at
the Hyatt. After stopping at Wal-Mart to
pick up the pictures for Bobby’s scrapbook we took him to the airport for a sad
good-bye. It’s been SO great having his
positive presence in our home. He ended
up being delayed for 2 hours in Denver due to the captain not showing up for
the flight! But he arrived home safe and sound around midnight.
The NAM event with Calli was awesome. Peyton looked great, and all our kids were
dressed up nice as well. Peyton and
Calli made a really beautiful couple, and they seemed to have fun doing
it. After the event we all went to
Braum’s for ice cream – Calli had quite the challenge to ride in the car in her
dress! It was fun hanging out there and we even convinced her to run through
her “introduction” she had to deliver the next day as part of the contest!
Sunday, July 20
Trace and I left for church first so he could rehearse with
the worship team and I could meet with some gals about prayer ushers and prayer
training. Church was awesome – the VBS
kids sang and it was so cool watching Jordan sing up front with Caleb and Tyson.
Trace did great on the worship team, and he even had a kid ask his mom if he
could play guitar like Trace!
We had a short rest in the afternoon before Neil &
Brandon Caudle and his parents came out to see the house. After they left it was time to load up and
head back to town to watch the finals of the NAM contest. Calli didn’t win or make the top 10, but she
won 2nd runner-up in photos out of 69 girls. She did great – most of the girls on stage
had been competing in pageants for at least 5 years, and some 10! This was her second year to do any sort of
pageant or modeling and we were so proud of her.
Monday, July 21
Welcome to Texas day!
I loaded up the kids and we headed to Dalhart! The night before we left I saw on Facebook a
post by Tara Lancaster with a list of “50 things to do this week”. I printed it off and we modified it a little
for our week and started marking things off!
We tried to make it to Sonic before 4 so we could mark
“happy hour drinks” off of the list but we didn’t pull in until 4:05. We thought our server was going to feel sorry
for us and give us half price, but he didn’t L. So we’ll have to try again! We made it to the ranch around 4:30 and after
a quick tour of everything they found the bumper pool table. If we were at home and not eating or working,
they were playing bumper pool (or “pool bumper” as Jordan called it a few
times!). Jordan and Peyton put together a few legos, we played a lot of UNO and
talked a lot! The boys took up residence
in the bunk house while Hillary slept upstairs with me.
Tuesday, July 22
This morning the boys came in and did a P90X3 workout with
me before a great breakfast courtesy of Nana.
Jordan and Jermal decided they really like Nana and Grandad’s
bread! After breakfast the boys all went
with Grandad while Hillary and I worked on booking our tickets to Austin.
Grandad took them to meet his “pet” mama cow and her calf – even though Jermal
wasn’t sure at first, he joined Jordan in petting them! Later Jordan went into the corral with Brandy
and pet her too but Jermal wasn’t quite ready for that.
We ate lunch (which included Nana’s rolls!) and then we got
ready to leave for Amarillo – of course we had to take 2 cars since there are
so many of us J. After each vehicle ran a couple of errands,
we went to Abuelo’s for a birthday supper for me – so good! From there we drove on to Palo Duro Canyon to
see the outdoor musical drama, Texas. We
were about 2 miles from the scenic overlook when a huge rainstorm hit and it
was raining so hard we had to pull over!
It was crazy. The temperature took a dive from 100 to 64 but as the rain
stopped about 15 minutes later it recovered and the evening was quite
nice. We took a few pictures at the
overlook, then drove on down into the canyon.
We parked and as we walked to the gift shop, Grandad gave everyone $10
to spend inside. When I mentioned to Jordan he could use the money to buy his
mom something he thought for a minute and then said, “that’s okay, I’ll just
keep it for later”!
The show was awesome – they added a lot of patriotic
features at the end, and the fireworks were great. They started a little late due to the rain,
so we didn’t end up leaving Palo Duro Canyon until 11:30pm! It was a late drive back to Dalhart, but Nana
kept me entertained with her various driving fiasco stories! We all finally hit
the sack around 2am.
Wednesday, July 23
My birthday! We all
slept in a bit and after a good birthday P90X3 workout, we were treated to
Grandad’s famous oatmeal for breakfast!
Then it was time to head to the barn to ride horses. Jermal decided that petting Brandy wasn’t so
bad, and Jordan gave all three horses a little love. Peyton, Trace, Hillary and
I all rode for a bit, but since it was pretty hot we didn’t stay out too
terribly long. We had a mini-birthday
celebration after daddy ate some lunch – mom and daddy gave me some cash and Hillary
gave me a really cool clip-on pendant for a necklace that I had seen at the
Texas musical gift shop.
Unfortunately we had to pack up and hit the road back to
Wichita. We planned to stop in Stratford
at the Dairy Queen, but literally got stopped before we got there at the train
tracks for almost 15 minutes!
Finally
the train passed and we enjoyed our lunch and a treat before getting back in
the burb. We stopped again at the park
in Greensburg to play a bit, but with the heat and humidity we didn’t stay too
long. We finally got home around 8:15pm
and after unloading the car it was time to hit the pool! We had a snack supper and then everyone was
ready for bed. It wasn’t the most
exciting birthday, but getting to spend it with these kiddos was awesome.
Thursday, July 24
Today was our last of the three 3-3 basketball tournaments
in El Dorado. As much as we didn’t want
to get back in the suburban and drive anywhere, the boys were ready to play
again – this week it was Trace, Jermal, Mac and Connor. Since the tournament didn’t start until 1pm,
we dropped Hillary & Jordan off at the Lowry’s to play for the day, and
then drove up to Mystic Lakes where the Beckmann’s live so the boys could fish
while I went to a couple of meetings in town.
I met up with Mac & Connor, we picked up the fishing crew and headed
to El Dorado. The boys won 2, lost one
and tied another. Two of the games they
played against 8th graders, one of the players had to weigh
200+! They played really well and held
their own even against the big guy.
I had told them if they played well we would hit Taco Bell
after the games…and since they did GREAT, Taco Bell it was. After some tacos, burritos and freezes we hit
the road for Wichita. We met up with
Connor’s mom, picked up the kids at a friend of Darcie’s, then made a stop in
Goddard at the chiropractor and library.
We arranged for Mac to spend the night and headed home to swim, fish
& watch a movie. I embarked on the
mission of cleaning out the car and of course, started laundry :).
Friday, July 25
Catch up and pack day! It was HOT and humid, so we did a bit
of swimming (including me!) and of course, fishing. We had a late breakfast of waffles, finished
a few more loads of laundry and started packing for the lake. John landed around 12:30 and ran a few
errands before darkening the door in the early afternoon.
Saturday, July 26
On the road again!
This time we are heading to Table Rock Lake in Missouri. Tonight we are staying at Bill Thoni’s family
cabin on the lake with Casey, Tammy & the kids, and then tomorrow we hook
up with the rest of the Niemann/Kiehl clan tomorrow to enjoy Silver Dollar City
before checking into Big Cedar Lodge for 3 nights. We are celebrating Bill & Mary Ann’s 50th
wedding anniversary!
The cabin was awesome – right on the lake where the kids
fished, and although it was a little muggy and the mosquitos were out and
about, we had a great time with Casey’s family.
The kids all hit it off, and we enjoyed pizza from the little general
store for supper.
Sunday, July 27
After a stop at McDonald’s for breakfast, we hit the road
for Branson & Silver Dollar City. It
wasn’t too far of a drive, and we were right on time to meet the rest of the
family, driving up right next to Mason, April & Spencer in the parking lot!
Inside the gate Peggy & Ella, Lori, Don & Nolan, Bill & Mary Ann
were waiting with our matching red shirts that we quickly donned for a group
photo. Even though we weren’t the only
family in the red “Silver Dollar City reunion” shirts, we were pretty easy to
spot and keep track of all day.
We all started out on a lazy river water ride where you sat
on a boat and shot the other boats with huge water guns. Since it was hot and humid, getting soaked
right off the bat was actually quite nice! The rest of the day was filled with
roller coasters, the Barn Swing, a cave tour, pizza, ice cream and more water
rides. Even Jermal, who wasn’t too sure
about the roller coasters at first, gave them a shot and ended up enjoying the
rides all day long! We did a little
window shopping, and spent a little time watching the glass blowing
process. With ovens at 2400 degrees,
that glass was hot! It was pretty
fascinating to watch them form and shape the hot glass.
A great day all around – everyone had a great time, and even
Hillary did a roller coaster at the end of the day J. We loaded a bunch of wet, tired families into
the vehicles and headed for Table Rock and Big Cedar Lodge.
It was our night to fix supper, so we found a grocery store
to buy a few items we hadn’t brought before arriving at the Lodge. We cooked hamburgers, hot dogs & hot
links, roasted some vegetables from Mary Ann’s garden and had a great time
catching up with everyone.
Monday, July 28
Lake day! It was a
beautiful morning and our view was awesome.
John and I checked out the workout center, which resembled a log cabin
complete with various mounts and lots of windows which overlooked the
lake.
After breakfast courtesy of Lori & Don, we headed to the
pool and swimming hole/beach area. We
spent most of the day there with just a quick break for lunch. We did kayaking, canoeing, paddle boats,
fishing and lots of swimming. Later in
the afternoon some of the group went to play putt-putt, while others started
the showering process. We had 12 people
in our cabin with one shower so getting everyone clean was definitely a job! We
had reservations at the Devil’s Pool Restaurant at 5:30 to toast Bill &
Mary Ann.
Dinner was excellent. The restaurant was really unique, and
the food was great. Lori, Peggy, John
& Casey each gave a toast to their parents, and Casey’s kids gave them a
card they had made. Peggy had ordered a
huge chocolate cake for dessert which was fabulous! After dinner we walked down to a grassy area
by one of the pools and circled up for each of the grandkids to give one thing
they loved about Grandma & Grandpa.
Some of them had a Bible verse to go along with it. We ended with a prayer and then headed back
up to the cabins where we enjoyed a bottle of wine and the kids (and Grandma!)
watched the movie Frozen.
Tuesday, July 29
Another beautiful morning!
Breakfast was hosted by Mary Ann, and then we started the day with many
rounds of putt-putt, shuffleboard and sand volleyball. After a salad lunch courtesy of Tammy, we
embarked on a short journey to Big Cedar’s Top of the Rock Lost Canyon Nature
Trail and Cave Experience & golf course.
Even though they were still in the process of finishing areas of the
cave tour, we divided up into groups of 4 to enjoy our own self-tour of the
scenery and one large cave. One highlight
for some of the carts was the drive through bar where you could order drinks on
your way by! Some of the group got
stopped for a bit because the road was one-way in and one-way out, and a truck
emptying the port-a-potties had to get in and out of the area :). We didn’t want to impede his progress!
After finishing our tour we drove up to the golf course to
enjoy the view from there. Jermal,
Trace, Peyton, Jordan, Hillary and I played a little pool in the game room next
to the pro shop, and we all agreed that it would be a beautiful venue for a
destination wedding for, ahem, anyone in our group named April and Spencer!
Unfortunately, Casey & Tammy had to leave to head back
to Iowa so they could get unpacked & repacked for their trip with the
Hoobler’s later in the week. After saying good-bye to their family, we drove
back to Big Cedar to swim for a couple of hours before going back to the cabins
for dinner. It was Peggy’s night, and
she opted for Mexican night. She
introduced us to “forbidden rice” and it was a hit for everyone – yummy! That and her guacamole were the bomb, and we
all had plenty to eat. The boys ended
the night with an extended game of wiffle ball while Hillary and Ella did some
crafts before coming out to roast marshmallows and snack on s’mores by the fire
pit.
Since we had extra space with Casey’s family gone, Ella
spent the night at our cabin with Hillary.
Even though we had a spare pull-out couch bed since Alex was gone,
Jordan still opted to sleep with Peyton in one of the cubby twin beds! Another great day at Big Cedar!
Wednesday, July 30
Departure day! The
early morning was beautiful once again; Nolan went down to fish while I jogged
down to the workout center. On my trek
back it started raining, so packing up and leaving wasn’t quite as difficult as
it would have been if it had been sunny again!
Breakfast was whatever we could find in the fridge, and then we all
packed up and headed our separate ways.
We said good-bye in the parking lot, but apparently we forgot something…we
had driven about a mile when my phone rang and it was Don. He said he was “doing some paperwork” and
didn’t get to come out to say good-bye!
John had tried to find a place for him and the boys to fly
fish on the way home, but with the rain and our schedule we couldn’t fit it
in. Instead, we stopped at a Fish
Hatchery where John used to go when they came to Branson as kids. It was really interesting to see all the fish
and how they raise brown and rainbow trout.
I learned a lot and we all agreed that could be a job for Trace!
It continued to rain all the way home, but it didn’t deter
us from finding a Dairy Queen in Augusta!
How could we not stop? We
literally drove right past it! We were all glad to be home, and it stopped
raining just in time to get the car unloaded.
I started some huge loads of laundry, and it wasn’t long before the kids
braved the cool water of the pool to swim.
Actually, Trace & Jermal didn’t last long, but Jordan convinced
Peyton got in a good last swim together.
Thursday, July 31
We waved good-bye to Jordan & Jermal early this morning :(. They rode with John to the airport and at
least got to go home in style – via the Cargill plane! So even though we were sad and yes, I shed
some tears, we are SO thankful that they got to come and spend the last month
with us. John delivered them to their
momma – who was very glad to see them! – and I have no doubt we will be
Facetiming soon!
Jermal said his favorite three things about the trip were the 3-on-3 tournaments, TEXAS, and Table Rock. Jordan said his favorite things were watching Trace & Jermal play in the 3-on-3 tournament, swimming and going to Wal-Mart with me :). They both said they couldn't think of anything they wouldn't miss - even the mosquitos! And will we miss them for sure. They brought an element of joy to us that is hard to explain.
