Our Kearney Trip

After taking a 3 week break from the blog, I hardly know where to start!

Let's see...we had a big time over at Grandmother Beth's for the 4th of July. There were 10 great grandkids to keep all the adults entertained.


Four days later, the boys and I hit the road headed to Kearney.


I was a little unsure that I could make it. Last year I drove the boys home from Manhattan Kansas okay...but that was only about 16 hours of drive time. To get all the way to Kearney is about 20-21 hours, plus we had to make a detour due to the flooding in Missouri. With that added hour, plus stops, I figured it would take us two 12 hour days. It did.

But it was great.

I snapped this picture of the boys just before I remembered that Trevor is not supposed to use headphones for a year so as not to mess up any progress he made in his therapy sessions last fall. It's still a cute picture.


Trevor was in charge of snacks, and was a cheerful helper whenever things needed to be passed around the car. We spent hours and hours listening to Narnia books on CD. All the kids loved that, and it kept me from feeling sleepy.

We left home just after 6 a.m. and made it to our favorite hotel near St Louis in time to order a pizza and swim...a tradition that we always look forward to.


By the end of the second day my feet were swollen and my back felt like it was going to break...but we made it. :) God was so good to us to keep us safe and happy. And we apparently escaped contracting any diseases, even though we ate at what could be the nastiest fast food joint I've ever patronized. (Why did we eat there? We were desperate!)

Here's some of the highlights from our 2 week stay (a combined effort from 3 cameras and at least one phone)...

Chronologically:

Having Sunday "lunch" at my fav-or-ite donut shop: Daylight Donuts. Yum.


The kids love making messes. This one might have been some sort of trap or something...


Not sure who likes doing puzzles better...the kids or Grandpa?


Samuel found a new game to play...Snorta. It was a lot of fun.


My aunt and uncle came down from Walden Colorado for a visit. It was so good to see them, and we ate some really tasty food.


William got lots of 1-1 time...you'll see. He loved mowing the yard with Grandma...


It tickles me that there's a picture of me getting a back rub...but it was one of the highlights...so...


Ahh...here's a good one. We taught the boys how to play Hand and Foot. It's one of the family's favorite card games and the kids picked it up pretty fast. They loved it.


Grandpa took (er... dragged) the kids downtown to see the car show...


And then he rewarded them by taking them swimming...
Trevor:


William:


Samuel:


Chillin' out with Grandpa...


My Grandma and I spent time looking through old photo albums...


While we were doing that, William was downstairs with Great Grandpa learning to use the flight simulator. He loved it!


We ate lots of Nebraska Sweet Corn, which the kids helped shuck...


More Hand and Foot...




My Grandpa took us out for breakfast at a local joint...Tex's Cafe. Tim used to eat there every week when we lived in Kearney, but I had never been. I was glad to see that they now have a no-smoking policy. The atmosphere was great, and the food was great too. Lots of fun!


Oh yeah...Tim flew in after the boys and I had been there a week!

My grade school friend, Jenny, came down to visit with her 3 boys. Among other things, we went swimming...


William was really excited to get out the slip-n-slide.


Another mess...this one is a cat trap. The cards on the stairs all have pictures of cats or mice on them...to lure the cats. :)


We went to the Children's Museum in Kearney with my friend Andrea and her 3 boys and 1 girl. I almost couldn't believe it when I told the kids to look at me for a picture and they all did--AND smiled. It was almost weird. I'm not complaining, though. :)


William went fishing with Grandpa...


And golfing...


We put up sweet corn for me to bring home...


We played more cards...


...celebrated my dad's birthday...


...and posed for pictures...


Tim and I have left the boys for a week, and are back home by-our-selves. It is really, really quiet here. I celebrated my independence by shopping at Wal-mart, and cleaning my refrigerator. It was NAS-TEY. But, now it's clean. Nice. And now I have blogged, and I will go make dinner, and fall into bed one exhausted mamma.

The End.

It feels like it has been ages since I have written on here. Life feels fast and furious. Last week I posted on our business blog HERE...you can visit it to read about our first try at setting up a booth to sell our stuff, and to find out why we named our business as we did.

We headed downtown again today to set up shop. It was so H-O-T. Five hours later and I'm still recovering. Right now Tim's doing the Wal-mart run while I stay home to recuperate. What an awesome husband. We did have a great time, though. We weren't there long before we sold this fun new piece...


I only have a couple pictures... Here's one of the boys helping Tim out with his job:


They helped him load up a bookcase that he made. It's so fun to see them really be able to help. One day last week I left William down at the warehouse with Tim to help out. William LOVED it. He was ready to go help some more the next day :)

William loves to work on things. He's been begging Tim to make him a blackboard that he can use in school (so he doesn't have to waste so much paper). I think he got the idea from the Little House on the Prairie books. Well, Tim made him a frame and brought it home. Then he taught William how to spray paint, and turned him loose.



Look how pleased he is!


So sweet. After he did the base coat, William brushed on a nice crackle finish. Then Tim put the black board in. William is so proud. He used it in school this week. :)

I've been wanting to write about our pregnancy...nothing too exciting, just wanting to share what we've been learning. But I think I've hit my limit for the day. So...

Happy 4th of July!!