Summer Vacation

Our summer vacation took place 2 months ago.  I wanted to get some of the pictures on here so that I don’t forget the things we did while we were gone. (not that I’d ever forget anything)  ;)

We were blessed to be able to go with family … unfortunately not quite all of the family.  Brent & Kelli were unable to go, and same for Mike & Pat.  So that left us, Wendi’s family, Mom and Jason.  Our destination was Osage Beach, MO (Lake of the Ozarks).

Day 1: we left home at 9am on 7/16.  By the time we got to the resort and got all of the stuff unloaded it was midnight. LONG day.  One of the cool towns along the way was called Chilicothe, MO.  Just thought it was a neat place.  There were several clusters/neighborhoods of Amish families along the way too.  Wish we could’ve stopped by some of them – they had some roadside stands selling baskets, jams, vegetables, etc.  Looked so interesting.  Everyone crashed when we got there (especially Jason and Matt who rode the distance on their motorcycles). 

Day 2: We SLEPT IN!  Once we woke up, Brett, Trevor and Eli went swimming with Matt (and Wendi’s family).  Later, Matt went for a motorcycle ride with Phil, Matthew and Jason. There is a helmet law in MO (yay!!) so they had to go and get a helmet for Matthew first.  Mom and I went to Walmart to get groceries.  While we were gone, Wendi was sweet and took the kids to her place to watch a movie.  After we came back, we took the kids swimming again.  The water felt great because the temps were in the upper 90’s. 

We grilled for supper – had burgers, brats, chicken and hot dogs.  It was so nice to be able to relax after a great supper. 

After eating, we all went mini-golfing at Pirate’s Cove, and then got some ice cream at Culvers.  Eli LOVED mini-golfing, and kept saying it was his favorite thing! 

It was a GREAT day!

Day 3: I woke up early (7:15).  Matt and the boys slept in longer and I took the chance to sit out on the balcony.  It was so nice to listen to the water and the boats.  The lake was so beautiful.  Thick, green trees made a distinct line between the light blue sky and the dark blue water.  God has some very impressive handiwork!  I decided today that I should have never made so much fun of Matt for wanting to live in this state.  If a person could enjoy this view every day it would be awesome! (but I think I’ll stay where we are) :) 

We swam a while and then ate lunch (just sandwiches and easy stuff).  We all left to go to the outlet stores around 2:00. Only got to shop for a short time before we headed to the Big Surf Waterpark.  We stayed there from about 3:00 – 6:00.  We had a great time in the water and sun (and shade)!  Mom enjoyed watching all of the grandkids having so much fun!  Jason and Matthew skipped the waterpark and went for a motorcycle ride instead. 

After everyone had enough of the water and the heat (temps reached at least 99 degrees), we went back and ordered some pizza.  We decided to just get it delivered to the resort.  Definitely another great day!

Day 4: Brett & Trevor slept over at Wendi’s for the night, so that was fun for them. (I’m so glad all of the cousins get along so well – I know it could be so much different, so I do not take this for granted!)  Once everyone woke up, Matt, Jason, Brett, Trevor and I went to the outlet stores another time.  Mom was so nice to come and stay with Eli since he was still asleep.

We shopped until around 11 and then came back to the resort.  We all headed to The Bridal Cave.  It was very interesting – I had never seen anything like it before!  Mom, Wendi and Juli stayed back in the gift shop instead of going on the tour (Juli wasn’t feeling so well, and the stairs/inclines would’ve been pretty tough on mom’s legs). 

We took a scenic route back to the resort and then everyone ate lunch.  Some people took a quick cat nap and then we made our daily visit to the swimming pool. :)  At night we had to make another trip to the store (it’s hard to know how much to buy when you don’t want to take tons of back home)!  There was just so much to see and do here – and the kids even spent a lot of time on this day just sitting on the balcony watching boats, jet skis and people on the water.  The temps today were above 100 degrees.  Loved it!!

Day 5: We started this day off with Matt making breakfast for the boys :) which was awesome!  Mom and I went to the outlet stores another time so that mom could go to a few that she didn’t get time for during the first trip there.  (okay, and I really could’ve spent all day just bumming around in those stores and pretty much window shopping)  There were 110 stores, so there was no way to get to all of them. 

We came back to the resort and Matt and the boys had already finished 1 trip to the pool.  We ate a quick lunch and then headed over to watch some helicopter rides.  Matthew, Traci and Juli took the first ride.  Mom and Nick did the second.  We chose not to do this activity, but it was so fun to watch them!  It was something that mom had wanted to do – so it was a priority for the rest of us to make sure that it happened. 

We came back to the resort pretty much to get ready and turn around head to the boat cruise.  This was where we cruised around part of the lake.  It was a really nice cruise on a big boat.  (it was also very hot!  I think it got at least to 105 out there)  There were some amazing homes around that lake! (it was hard not to covet!) ;)

We came back to the resort again and spent MORE time at the pool.  The kids got some pretty awesome tans during the week!! 

We grilled again for supper and then went to a family fun place.  Everyone except for me, Eli, mom and Wendi rode the go karts, and then a few people decided to go on the bumper cars as well.  Poor Eli didn’t get to do any of it & wasn’t too happy about that.  Sometimes it stinks being the little guy!  I felt bad for him because he had really been looking forward to riding a go kart with Matt.

After all of that, we ended up at Wendi’s place for movie night (well, not everyone).  She made malts and we watched Despicable Me… pretty sure this is one of my favorite movies!!  It was a busy day, but we enjoyed every single minute!

Day 6: Eli slept in until 11 am (again!) … what a BUM!  Matt, Brett and Trevor ate breakfast, and then guess what they did?!?!?!   You got it … they went SWIMMING!  :)  Mom came to our room and hung out with me and Eli.  By the time we were ready to go to the pool, the others were done.  Eli played in the water for a little bit, but was fine with heading back to the room.  We grilled hot dogs for dinner and chilled out in our room.  We got the cooler, a bunch of towels and sunscreen and headed down to the dock.  Wendi, Phil and Jason had headed to the marina and picked up a pontoon and 2 jet skis for the afternoon.  We just spent some time on the lake and bummed around for a while. 

Eli was getting tired of spending so much time in the sun.  He stayed on the boat for about 1.5 hours or so.  Then he and Grandma went back to the resort and relaxed in her room with some books and cartoons. (Grandma didn’t mind getting out of the sun either – but really Eli loves hanging out with her… all of my kids do – so it’s just so awesome that we all live so close and can spend so much time together)

The whole afternoon on the water was so fun!  Phil & Wendi took their tube along, so the kids did that for a bit.  Everyone got to ride the jet skis (and Matt wants one now), and we chilled out on the pontoon. The temps were in the low 100’s, but it felt awesome out on the water!

We had to have all of that stuff returned by 6pm, so at about 5:20 Phil dropped some of us off on the dock (which was right by our resort).  We unloaded our stuff and then they brought the stuff back to the marina.

Everyone took showers and then we all went to Bob Evans for supper.  It was SO GOOD!  We were all pretty stuffed by the time we left. 

                        

We thought a lot about Brent, Kelli, Kim and Jenn on this day.  They were all getting ready to leave for Rocky Mountain High in Colorado.  Brent & Kelli are youth group sponsors, and Kim and Jenn will be going with their church as well.  RMH is just such an awesome event and I’m so proud of all of them!

Day 7:  Matt, Phil and Jason went golfing in the morning (just 9 holes because it was HOT, and it also cost a lot more than golfing at home) ;)  Brett and Trevor went swimming with Wendi’s kids (shock!), and Eli slept in again.  He totally got the hang of how things should work on vacation – that is for sure!  When he woke up, I took him down to the pool.  Brett & Trevor had just gotten done and headed to Wendi’s room.  We stayed at the pool for a while.  We kind of spent the day just relaxing (and doing laundry and starting to pack a few things). :( 

Matt, Jason, Phil and Traci went to a few more outlet stores too – that’s 3 guys and 1 girl. There is hope for them yet!! 

At night, we went to Randy’s Frozen Custard for one last hurrah … it was so good, and the weather was perfect to stay outside and eat ice cream! 

Day 8: we headed out bright and early (by my standards anyway), I think it was between 8:30 – 9 am when we left.  We made a few quick stops, but nothing fancy.  The guys rode their motorcycles for much of the trip (well, Jason didn’t have a choice, he rode the whole way there and back on his bike).  The drive back was not quite as long, so we saved time somewhere.  We actually did stop at one little Amish stand on the way back, so that was cool.  It made me think of modern conveniences that I take for granted.  Talk about a group of people who WORK HARD.  It’s actually really impressive to me …

We could have never experienced this time away if it hadn’t been for mom booking the trip.  I know we can never thank her enough – she means the world to all of us.  We really missed Pat’s family and Kelli’s family on this trip.  And the whole thing DEFINITELY made me (all of us) miss dad.  I would have given every dime that we spent on this trip (x 10) to have him back here.  Okay, truthfully, I wouldn’t wish for him to leave the glory he is in now … but missing him hurts so much sometimes (a lot of the time).  It helps to know that he was watching out for us and that he would be so happy to see everyone having such a good time together.

I love being a part of this family – and I will not take it for granted.  I will cherish every memory that we make together!  I pray that my sons grow up to love family time as much as I do!