Branson Vacation

Ok, I am still here!!  No falling off a cliff, really. *smile*

Seriously, summer is getting in the way of blogging.  But better that than vice versa, right?

We were actually on vacation this past 7 days.  Woot!  What fun we had.  What an amazing time together.  We went to Branson/Table Rock Lake with Brandy's family.  We left last Wednesday and got home yesterday.  The rest of the family left Sunday, but we decided to make it a longer family vacation with just us.  So glad we did.  I had forgotten how wonderful it was just to spend time together, without the responsibilities and duties of being home.  The kids took the looooong drive wonderfully, only a couple little meltdowns.  And everyone got along 99% of the time.  Balm to my soul.

I hope to post more details later.  But truthfully, I might not.  Thankfully, a picture says a thousand words.  So here's about 27,000 words.

In front of the theatre where we saw "Noah's Ark, the musical."  Wow, the musical was breathtaking.  A don't-miss if you get there. 

Brandy's wonderful parents...

Pool times...

Sisters are awesome...

All because two people fell in love...

Our niece and nephew-in-law, Cari and Adam, expecting their first.  So exciting!  Love this picture...

Fun times on the lake, the water was gorgeous...

 

 

 Our girls with future niece-in-law, Martha...

No, we didn't actually pull them on the tube.  But aren't they cute playing on it??

Hanging out with Brandy's cousin, Stacy.  So cool they were at Table Rock at the same time we were!

Boating can be exhausting...

Look out, Daisy!

A different kinds of boating...

Watch out world, Jaden's on the move!

Beautiful ending to a beautiful vacation...

Wet and Wild!

Ok, so it's not so much "wild," but there is a water theme going on here! And...with seven kids one could just always list life as "wild," right? =)

Here we are, last week Sunday, our first time on our boat for the season. Between the weather and my ankle, it just hasn't happened. It was a beautiful day, and we hope to go again after church tomorrow!

Getting ready to put the boat it. Yes, we pull the boat with Bob!

Who cut this kids hair?!? Good thing he's so cute!

I'm hot stuff!
Daddy helped me in the water for just a few minutes.

Snack time...
Svanna wasn't sure about getting in the water (she and Gabe didn't like the whole idea of fish in the lake), but after she did she had a great time! Here she is playing on our friends tube. Since she's not a good swimmer (yet) we didn't let her go for a ride. But she had fun playing.

Gabe had fun, but wasn't too interested in getting in the water. Neither was Tye! Tye did last year, but he takes a while to warm up to it again.

Then this past week, I had the older 5 in swimming lessons. They did so well!! And now Gabe is much more confident about the water, and both Svanna and Gabe are a little safer when it comes to swimming. They've got a ways to go but they did so good!

The oldest fish, making her splash...

Svanna enjoying the water. The first couple of days they FROZE, even though it was noon. But the rest of the week was nice enough to swim comfortably. She was brave from the start, and did great.

Always a pose...=)

Gabe started off quite uncertain (plus it was cold). The first day he hung on to the edge almost the whole time. We've been to pools but he had a life jacket on when not in the baby pool. But ever day he improved by leaps and bounds! All the teachers did such a good job with the kids.Gabe's first time ever off a diving board...
closer...closer...

Here he goes! He was so brave!!

First Time Swimming...Ever!

A week ago today I took the kids over to a pool that my friend is close to. She offered to help me, which was very gracious of her, since she already had 5 kids there! So that meant 12 kids she'd have to chase after!

We took the life jackets along, because I'm fairly certain Svanna, Gabe and Summer never went swimming before. They took to the water like fish though! Well, Summer was a bit caucious at first, but that's her nature.

After a bit I let Svanna take her life jacket off if she stayed on the shallow side of the rope. It was a really nice pool with a gradual entry. That was nice, that way we could all be in the same pool instead of the little ones in the baby pool. Svanna did get into trouble though for not listening. Had a little bit of a scare and Brenda ran to the rescue. And since that was the second time she went into the deeper area without a life jacket, she had to sit by mom for a bit.

Gabe had a scare in the deeper end (by deeper, I mean probably 4 1/2 feet), but he had a life jacket on. He was bobbing to the side, to the front, to the back...again, Brenda to the rescue! He stayed in the shallow part after that. He was fine, but didn't like that one bit!

Overall, the kids LOVED it and can't wait to go back. Kaitlin took them to the local pool a couple of days later. Since it was our anniversary (did I forget to post that?!?) and we were going out that night I bowed out of that one. She had a friend and Grant helping her. AND I'll have to get pictures from her, since these pics below are the only ones I have from their first swimming EVER!

I'm really not that bad of a mom! I took lots of pics! But I downloaded them onto my computer and then decided it was high time I formatted my camera card. For some odd reason not all of the pics downloaded. UGH!!! UGH!!! UGH!!! Ah well, at least I got a few! Enjoy.

Ok, don't tell him, but he'll be a heartbreaker someday! What a handsome dude!

Mom chillin' on the side. The kids would come over on occasion and get me wet since it was NINETY EIGHT degrees F that day. Take a look at the pic and you can see the garbage bag over my cast. Do I know how to be fashionable or what? Yes, basically Brenda had 13 kids there! LOL! Ok, I may have been a teeny tiny bit of help. I was an oaf though, and forgot to put sunscreen on my back. And I'm a huge sunscreen advocate. Guess who's peeeeeeling? I told Brandy he could let me have it, since I'm always nagging on him about it. He said he figured I was giving myself enough grief, he didn't need to!

A passel of great kids, waiting for the whistle to blow... A beautiful smile on a beautiful girl...