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Tonight it was just the girls and I. Lance was on call and had to go in to the hospital, and Luke went to a VBS at a different church with a couple friends of his. We sat down to a dinner of hot dogs and cantaloupe :) and Emma asked if she could say the prayer. I said sure and this is what she said...
"Dear God. Thank you for this blessing. Thank you for the hot dog and cantaloupe and thank you for Momma taking us to Vacation Bible School today. Amen."
Melt. My. Heart. :)
I was feeling a little like a horrible mom this past week. Just stressed with housework, yelling at the kids too much this week, and wondering if I'm screwing up my kids' childhoods! I know that most all moms feel like that at times, but when you are in that funk, it's hard to not think that every one else around you has it all together and you are a loser. :) Lance pulled me into a hug and said, "Honey, you're a great mom. Sometimes, too great a mom." I pulled back from him and gave him the most confused look. He explained that I have been so concerned about doing all the fun things of summer to the detriment of my sanity and our house! Ha! The house isn't a disaster, but it is definitely taking a back seat to a fun summer. At that moment, I realized that I didn't care. I wish it was not as cluttered as it is, but I'm making memories with my kids! And this is such a short summer, I want to make the most of it. :)
So, continuing with all things fun...last night we took the kids to a drive in movie! A double feature! I really didn't care at all that it meant a late night. I told Lance today, that I live under so much stress for 9 1/2 months of the year worrying about bedtimes, that I'm not going to do that during the summer. So we loaded up the truck with an air mattress, cooler of drinks, snacks and camp chairs and had a blast! I told the kids before we got there that I wasn't going to promise that we would stay for both movies. We would have to see how everyone was doing. And at intermission at 10:30, they were great, so we stayed! Ha! Emma is the only one that fell asleep. And the air mattress was the bomb! We blew it up and put it in the back of the truck with blankets and pillows and the kids loved it. Luke announced that we had to do that more often. :)
We all slept in this morning. Praise the Lord! We ate a very late breakfast/early lunch, did chores at the farm, then headed to Tulsa for the afternoon. We went to the aquarium. We were there at the perfect time. The otter did not stop swimming while we were there, one of the beavers came out and swam around, 2 divers were in the huge fish tank cleaning and playing with all the kids through the glass, we petted the sharks and stingrays at their last open time and there weren't a whole lot of people with us!
Then a moment of sadness. Let's all take a minute to mourn. Casa Bonita in Tulsa has closed. :( Ha! That is the restaurant that we ALWAYS eat at when we go to Tulsa. The kids absolutely love it. And Lance and I like it, too. We actually used to eat at the one in Little Rock before we ever had kids. When we got there and saw it was closed, I got a little emotional. :) We will have fond memories of Casa Bonita!
After driving around trying to find another fun place to eat, we ended up at Pancho's. We'd never heard of it, but when we got in, we discovered that it's a lot like Casa Bonita! Not the same atmosphere, but the food is very similar, all you can eat, great dessert bar!, and it was cheaper than Casa Bonita! :) The kids have decided it's their new favorite restaurant!
And the best thing about the weekend, it's just Friday! We still have 2 MORE DAYS! Woopie!!
Happy (day late) 4th of July! So, let's get the negative right out there so we can move on. This weekend was my family reunion. We took the camper. The air went out. Again.
Lance and I were sooooo mad. It just got out of the shop from when it went out on Memorial Day weekend. And it's a BRAND NEW CAMPER!!! Argh! It's back in the shop right now, and hopefully we'll be done with it.
Now, the good stuff! :)
My family reunion has happened every 4th of July for the past 40+ years. I can probably count on 1 hand how many times I've missed it in my life. 2 years ago we took our camper and stayed a couple of days. The kids LOVED it! Last year, Lance was on call, so the kids and I just drove over for the day. But this year we were able to take the camper again. It is such a great weekend of memory making. The frustrating thing is, I didn't get a single picture! We were so busy having fun and visiting, I never got my camera out!
Here's what I want to remember about this year...
- Luke swimming 75% of the time we were there!
- Emma playing on the swingset and sliding down the slide
- Hope swinging on her own for hours
- Sara going off the rope swing
- Playing cards til 1 o'clock in the morning
- Luke helping other kids get on the rope swing
- Emma wanting to go off the rope swing sooooo badly!
- Sara helping me set up the camper (putting away the food and make the beds)
- visiting with my cousins in the river
- Hope going off the rope swing after I bribed her with lipstick! :)
I love how my family has kept this tradition going for soooo many years! And I love that my kids are making the SAME memories that I made growing up. The river hasn't changed in all those years. I can't wait to do it all again next year!
