Vacay - Day 4 & 5

Hello RAIN!  We woke up to rain yesterday & it was pretty much rainy or overcast all day.  We decided we would go bowling.  We went to Knuckleheads & they had cosmic bowling, kids loved it!  Every time Boston thought he did well, he walked around strutting!  It was pretty funny.  Madi thought we should play “teams” girls vs. boys.  Well, wouldn’t cha know it, the girls won…duh!  Mamasita was the big winner though!  DJ didn’t even break 100 & only beat Boston by THREE points.  He says it’s because Boston had bumpers, but the score pretty much says it all!

 

**PROOF**

Order of Scores: Boston, Madi, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa

The girls ROCKED IT!

After bowling we went next door to Buffalo Phil’s for lunch.  It was supposed to be pretty cool & train delivered food for the kids.  The food was OK, but there were only so many tables where the train delivers the food  & it’s no Fritz’s, that’s for sure.

Not the best picture, but they're standing in front of a Buffalo

After lunch the kids & I went to Polka Dot Pots.  It’s a paint your own pottery shop.  Very cool, but pricey!  The kids painted their goods & left them there until today when we could pick them up.  We came back to the room for a movie & a rest before we got ready for “date night”.  DJ & I went to a locally owned restaurant, High Rock Café & a locally owned bar, Nigs, for a few drinks.  Both were pretty cool.  Madi & Boston hit up the arcade (AGAIN) with Grandma & Grandpa.

Madi painting the sign she picked out for her door

Boston painting his monkey "Buster"

Before their pieces got fired

Today the weather wasn’t exactly beautiful for the outdoor water parks & that means the indoor ones would probably be PACKED, so we decided we’d give horseback riding another chance.  We went to Canyon Creek Riding Stables.  Way better luck this time!  Only one group was in front of us in line!  Once we got in the stables, they picked horses for us.  DJ  & Boston rode on “Ajax”, Madi rode on “Tubby”, and I rode “Big Prince”.  They told Madi she’d have to give Tubby a couple kicks because he is lazy & only likes to eat, hence how he got his name ;) Tubby had a mind of his own, that was for sure.  I gave him a couple slaps on his butt and he just stood still!  Big Prince liked to just stop in the middle of the trail and hang out for a little while.  Ajax definitely seemed to be the most cooperative of our horses.  Madi started off a bit nervous & not a lot of smiles, but by the end of the ride (about an hour) she was all smiles!  Boston was a bit nervous at first as well, but riding with DJ helped him a lot.  Seemed as though everyone had a good time.

Don't they look like regular cowboys?!

Madi riding Tubby

DJ & Boston on Ajax

Happy little rider!

We came back for lunch and to meet Grandma & Grandpa who had decided to check out downtown, go to an antique store and then to a winery for a tasting.  After lunch the kids, Grandma & I went to the pool even though it was sprinkling as we left.  I’m glad we went because the kids got to tie-dye shirts!  SOUVENIR! We didn’t take any money with us to the pool but Grandma said, make sure to tell Grandpa thank you when we get back & we’ll just charge it to the room.  We got in the pool, but only for about an hour, it was a little chilly.  … I’m going to regret saying that in a couple days when we’re back to the 100+ temperatures in Kansas!!  We picked up our finished pottery projects on the way back to the room!  The kids did a great job!!

Finished projects

We went downtown for dinner to Taste of New Orleans, it didn't look pretty, but it was tasty!  Came back and hit up the arcade to finish off our play card. The kids bought all kinds of JUNK with their tickets & we came back to watch a little TV before bed.

Bedtime for me, we're goin' golfing in the morning.... all six of us.  Should be interesting, but the kids are excited about golfing like on TV.  They've been putt putting a few hundred times and have been to the driving range plenty, but only Boston has been golfing before and that was two summers ago, so he probably doesn't even remember it.

Night.

Vacay - Day 3

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

Madi, Boston & DJ letting the waves "take them back" at the indoor wave pool

indoor wave pool

having a snack at one of the outdoor parks

MadGrace having a snack too

Boston driving the little go-karts

Madi driving the little karts too

air-hockey at one of the arcades

Boston playing 'lil hoops' -he beat Madi!

She beat him tonight though ... by a LOT

a dance game that Madi did really well at & Boston ... uh, not so much!

Onto today's blog... Vacay - Day 3

When we woke up today it was a little chilly for going to the pool, so we decided we would try to go horseback riding.  Well, when we got there, there was a line of about 15 people in front of us & no one was moving.  It was pretty obvious we weren’t going to be doing any horseback riding anytime soon.  Boston hadn’t had a chance to go shopping to spend his money so we went to the outlet mall.   He bought one shirt & three big CARS cars.  Quite different than what his sister bought!!  As we were walking to the car after we were done shopping we were talking about what we were going to have for lunch.  Boston said he wanted a hot dog and DJ said “how bout we take your hot dog & roll it in one of the tortillas?”  Madi said “oh yea, that sounds good.”  I said “ha, like a pig in a …. poncho.”  She laughed so hard she snorted.  The rest of us thought that was funnier than the pig in a poncho comment.  She was just laughing harder and harder after that.

After lunch we went to the water park from the 1^st day.  I got my tan on, while DJ played with the kids.  My mom tried to read her book & get some sun, but she burns too easily, so she didn’t last outside too long.  We came in for naps & dinner then … duh duh dun… LASER TAG.  Boston had been waiting since yesterday to play.  I have to say, it was A LOT more fun than I thought it would be!  It was just the four of us playing and it was every man for himself.  I think we all had a lot of fun.  It kept score for us & mama was the big winner J

Ready for action!

looking for Madi

searching for Boston

he's a little dramatic!  He got shot & fell to the ground!

Back to the arcade we went after that.  The kids are loving the skee-ball action every night & the racing games!

Tomorrow is “donut day”!  The kids are going to get donuts with Grandma & Grandpa in the morning.  And then it’s “date night” for DJ & I tomorrow night.  It’s been a while since DJ & I have been to dinner by ourselves, somewhere nice, so it will be nice to be able to do that & not have to drive an hour to get there!  (Just the 9 it took us to get here HA!)

Enough for me tonight!  Night.

Vacay - Day #2

Going to try & keep this post short and sweet because I'm TIRED.  (seems to be the theme of my posts lately!!)

Well, we all slept wonderfully last night - YAHOO! This morning though, Boston was NOT interested in getting out of bed to go to the water parks... ruh roh!  I thought he was just faking because he wanted to go back to the arcade instead of hitting the pools, and a lot of times, if it's not about Boston, he's not about it!  My parent's were about to leave for their tee time and Madi & I were ready to get on with the day.  DJ said he would stay in with him, but I REALLY thought that if Madi & I said we were leaving, he would come with us.  Didn't work.  Madi & I decided to go to the outlet mall down the street.  My parents save their coins all year & then split them between the kids when they go on vacation, so she had $$$ burning a hole in her pocket ;)  She came away with some super cute Nike's ($12!!), 2 shirts, 8prs of earrings, a BFF necklace and some new shades!

We came back to the condo to pick the boys up from lunch & see if Boston was "feeling better".  Guess I would have lost money if I would have bet on Boston really being sick.  DJ said he "blew up" two times while we were gone.  He was however ready for lunch.  We were a little hesitant, but went to lunch & he ate great!  We came back & decided we'd try the indoor wave pool.  The kids loved it.  We went to the outdoor park that was attached to it & did some more indoor & outdoor slides.  I even rode one with Boston that was pitch black & there was no sickness involved!!  Must have been the riding backwards on the other ride that made me sick.

My parents went to a nice steak place on-site, DJ & I are trying to decide where we're going to go on our "date night".  We took the kids to Monk's Sports Bar.  Food was good & sports stuff all over - never been anywhere like that before ;)

After dinner we went to ride go-karts, play at the arcade and Tombstone Town for the mirror maze & Haunted Hotel.  All 6 of us went through the mirror maze with Boston saying he wanted to go back, but there was no way to find your way backwards any better than finding the way out forwards, so we kept going.  Needless to say, he didn't make it far into the Haunted Hotel before I carried him the rest of the way because he was scared.  Even Madi, who had been begging to go to anything haunted said she wanted OUT!  We all made it out alive, now I'm just hoping there are no nightmares!!

***Bruce-ism for the day - While Madi & Boston were playing air hockey (and Madi was winning), Boston scored and said "It's like taking candy from a baby" ... he got WHOOPED btw!


BEDTIME!
night!

ps. I tried to upload pics, but it's not working, so I'm off to bed!

Vacay - 1st Full Day!

First off, I have to say, I didn't get anymore sleep last night than the night before!  But I'm not sure if I can feel sorry for myself.  My poor little guy had night terrors!!  Madi has almost always been a sleep walker & talker, but Boston has only had a bad dream here or there.  Last night was COMPLETELY different!  He woke up crying & almost screaming.  We turned the light on & he still didn't really wake up.  His eyes were open, but it was like he didn't see us, but someone else in our places.  The poor guy was trembling.  DJ & I had never seen anything like it!  We tried water on his face and hugging, but every time he pulled away it was like he saw whatever was in his bad dream again & would start shaking again.  Finally I gave him CoCo (his stuffed monkey) and that seemed to calm him down enough to get into bed with DJ.  He slept the rest of the night with no more nightmares, but DJ & I didn't sleep much worrying about him.  Once we all got up, I talked to Boston about having bad dreams & he doesn't really remember a lot about it except that he had a bad dream, not what it was about, not being up & his whole body shaking, just a bad dream!  I guess that's a good thing?

The kids were DYING to hit the water park today, so that's just what we did.  We ate breakfast & hit the pools.  They loved it.  We went to two different outdoor parks today & an indoor park.  We went down tall slides, outdoor slides, indoor slides, slides that make you feel sick.... wait, who gets sick riding on a water slide?  Yep, that's right, I do!  We went down this water slide that all four of us could get in a raft together & ride.  It was COMPLETELY dark & I was riding backwards.  The ride lasted all of 20 SECONDS, but that was enough to make my head jacked up for at least 20 MINUTES.

 

both of the kids getting DRENCHED when the bucket fell over them:

climbing across the water: 

that's Boston in the 2nd from the left row: 

and that's DJ in the same row, 2nd from the left: 

Boston going down one of the little slides at the indoor park:  

more climbing!  Boston would have stayed on the climbing net until the closed the pool!! 

After enough water for one day we came in for dinner & then another round of 3d mini golf.  This time we did pirates instead of under the sea. 

catching a ride to the play area:

pirate Madi

pirate Boston

After that the kids played for quite a while in 4-story indoor play area.  Lots of tunnels, slides, crawl spaces and balls.  ***Bruce-ism for the day - the kids come out of the play area to tell us that Madi is thirsty & Boston needs to go poop.  DJ takes him to the bathroom and while they're in there Boston tells him, "I'm not going to take as long as I normally would dad, because I gotta get back out there"  After that the kids get back in the play area for a while until Madi had had enough.  We came back to the room about an hour & a half ago.  DJ & Boston JUST got back.

night.

Space Invaders & Noise Makers!!!

The trip to Wisconsin was going to be close to 9 hours.  That's a whole LOT of "are we there yets" & "mom make him/her quit hitting/looking/touching me!" SOOOO we decided to leave last night & head to Des Moines.  We met Grandma & Grandpa and stayed the night in Des Moines & you would have thought these kids thought we'd made it to our destination!!  They absolutely LOVE staying in hotels.  ALL we did last night was get to the room, get some jammies on, have snacks & go to bed.  Or that's what I (and little miss) wanted to do! Little did I know DJ & Boston wanted to stay up all night chit chatting & watching TV.  I ended up trading spots with Boston so the boys could annoy each other & us girls could get some sleep - too bad they STILL kept me up.  After falling asleep, Madi kept invading my side of the bed.  I'm hoping after a long day today we'll all get some sleep!

The kids at the hotel in Des Moines....

We got on the road with Grandma & Grandpa and headed North!  Madi decided she wanted to ride with Gma & Gpa and Boston would ride with us.  They did REALLY well.  Only when we were in the car & actually getting close did they start asking if we were almost there!  Hopefully the ride home will be just as painless.

We made it to Wisconsin around 4pm & weather channel said it was only 81* but feeling 86* - AMAZING!!  It got a bit hotter, but nothing like the 104* feels like 111* temps we left in Atchison just the day before!!  We went to dinner at Moosejaw Pizza & Brewery, it was pretty tasty!  They gave us these pretty sweet antlers too:

After dinner we decided to hit up the grocery store & then played some 3d golf.  There were some really cool 3d effects, but if you know me, you know, I put the glasses on a time or two, but definitely didn't wear them the whole time.  Just the little amount of time that I had them on was giving me a headache.  I took a lot of pictures, but only a few came out :(

Tomorrow, we're on to the water park & the kids couldn't be more excited!

****

Some Bruce-isms from this week:

While out shopping, I kept waiting for the kids to tell me they were getting hungry, mostly because it was getting late but also because they're always looking for something "better" to do than shop.  Madi asks me "What time is it anyway", I say "almost 8", that was it, that's all it took, "Well, do you think you're EVER going to feed us?"  as if they've been STARVING this whole time & I was ignoring that fact.  I told them we would eat as soon as we were done at that store, but from then on it was "I'm hungry" from both of them until we were at the check out!

Laying in bed the other night, Boston comes in & says, "uh, mom, Mammo broke one of the curtains in my room, it fell down" I said "ok", he just looked at me & said "well, we're gonna need you to come fix it".  Of course, buy the time I got in there Sheila already had it back up.  uhhhh... I'm gonna need you to get your butt in bed ;)

I feel like I'm definitely missing some of the funny things they've said, but there's just so many, I can never keep up!

Night all!

Monday Monday Nah Nah . . .

Monday came a bit early for one little girl this week!  Madi started basketball camp today.  She has been up by 8 almost everyday this summer, but for some reason today was hard to get her little booty out of bed.  The camp is 8:30-10:00 M-Th this week... she already LOVES it!  This little lady is not short of confidence that's for sure!  She was paying herself compliments the moment we walked out the door.  I got there early enough to watch her finish the last 5-10 minutes of camp today & I have to say, she did look pretty good, but I'm the mom so I'm pretty sure I'd think she was doing excellent anyway ;)

Today was DJ's day "off".  He had to meet our HV/AC guy though this morning to talk about the ever increasing HEAT!  Our AC in Willie's just isn't keeping up with the level of heat that we're getting!!  They decided to install some ceiling fans in hope that it would help the situation... so, off to St. Joe it is for DJ & Boston.  Madi didn't want to go, so she hung out at Willie's until lunch was over & we could go home.  DJ & Boston got the fans & since Boston was SO GOOD (so his dad says) they went to play mini-golf.  Boston tells me he beat daddy.  While they were in St. Joe they picked up my birthday present:

I have been wanting a ceiling fan for our porch to help cool it down AND to help keep the nasty, disgusting, blood sucking mosquitoes off of me!!  I think I got about 20 bites in about 2 days!!  So happy to finally have it, now let's just see if we can get it installed!!

After dinner & of course, America's Got Talent (Madi & Boston are judges, btw) the kids, Sheila & I walked down to Snowball for some ice cream!  mmm mmm good!

As for the rest of the night, I can't wait to get back to reading "The Help" so that I can get started on the other two books I bought yesterday!!  I didn't even know Chelsea Handler had a FOURTH book!  I'm ready to start it now, but I want to finish "The Help" first!  I want to read "The Kid" too, but am afraid it's going to be super depressing.  Maybe I should read it next & then "Lies That Chelsea Told Me", it will be a spirit lifter for sure!!

night!

Happy Birthday to Me!

WOW!!  What a week/end!!  My birthday was on Wednesday & I feel as if we have been celebrating since then.  On Wednesday, my beautiful daughter brought me breakfast in bed, waffles, strawberries & OJ.  Boston was supposed to be in on this little gift, BUT he didn't want to get out of bed HA!  That night we celebrated with my parents & DJ's parents.  I share my birthday with my mother-in-law, so if DJ ever forgets, he's in DOUBLE TROUBLE!!  We went to Bonefish Grill, it was delish!  After dinner, the waiter brought us these desserts . . .

Thursday was the BIG celebration!  Sheila, Jodi & I wanted to celebrate on "the town".  We opted to do the "tour" of Atchison's finest establishments :)  We had SO much fun, especially sending pictures of Kelsey "passed out" to Shelly . . . you're welcome Sheddy!!  We hit up Bill's (aka Willie's), Rosie's, tried to go to the Full Moon, but they were closed, The Milk House, Duck Inn Waddle Out*, Mueller's, & Pauolucci's.

*we are now lifetime members of the Duck, thank you Stephenie for making sure we jumped on THAT opportunity!!

My phone died, so these are the only pics I have of the night . . .

back row: Linda, Jana, Becky, & Kelsey

front row: BDAY GIRLS: Me, Jodi & Sheila

*We're missing Steph, Theresa & Kilee in this pic*

I'm thinking this is at the Duck after we got our memberships!

While we were out on the town, Lauren took the kids to the carnival!!  THANK YOU LAUREN!  I am NOT a fan of carnivals, but the kids love them & Lauren had been asking to watch them so I thought this was a perfect opportunity for both of us.  Lauren sent me this picture.  This was BEFORE they all (Lauren too) felt like they were going to be sick.  Poor kids!

On Friday afternoon we packed up and got OUT OF TOWN!  It was Amelia Earhart Festival weekend & there were going to be people EVERYWHERE.  Normally it would only take us about 15 minutes to get to Mammo & Papa's to enjoy the pool, but since the river has flooded it takes us an hour.  The kids rode over with Cody & Jenn (and Cahtah Bruce) so by the time we got there they were already in the pool.  We swam until Boston invited himself to stay with Carter!  Madi couldn't stand to be left behind so they both went up to St. Joe to stay the night.  The next day we were "too cool by the pool" again until about 9 and then it was time to make the drive back home.  We got back to town in time to see most of the "concert in the sky" fireworks.

**another great Bostonism was said this weekend:  "Carter, you're my brother from another mother"

I think we all had a great weekend, except daddy.  He was working!  Hey, someone's gotta support this family ;)

This week we'll be preparing for vacation with my parents!  We're going to the Wisconsin Dells & the kids couldn't be more excited (I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty pumped too!!)

Here are some things we're looking forward to while we're there . . .

... and this is what grandpa is looking forward to while we're there: