Celebrating after the game

After the big game we went to Beef O Brady's for supper. We needed something failry quick because it was going to get late. Tony sarcastically laughed at his "40" card that the kids and I (and Nate) signed for him. : ) We bought a TV for our bedroom so that was Tony's present. Not too much of a surprise... but he's not much into surprises. He did NOT want a birthday party...even if he is a big 4-0 now!!! Quinn got an airplane bank for his collection, a gift card to Best Buy (like father, like son) and we gave him a Nintendo DS for which he was wild about. Check out the WILD eyes he has going on in these pictures. "This was the best birthday EVER!!"

Birthday Boys

Don't I have some handsome men in my life???

Our 9 year old!

Softball 7-22... OUCH

We were on the losing side tonight... it was like the Bad News Bears out there. We played one of the other Concord teams. We played them once before and lost 3-4...just barely. We've lost to the same team twice now; our only losses. I liked these pictures from after the game tonight. Madison and Tony sat down in the backyard and just talked about the game while they threw the ball to Cocoa. Madison tried racing her a few times (and always lost). Finally they got the hose out and laughed as Cocoa tried her best to bite the water.

We Haz Jazz...5th grade musical

Tonight was Madison's musical at school. They've been working very hard on this during music class at school. They all did a very good job. Madison was a hobo and was supposed to wear old, torn, clothing, and look kind of dirty. I told her before we left that I was having a little bit of a hard time with this look! She literally went outside and found some dirt to smear on her clothes and face. Nasty! We went out for icecream afterwards. It was a nice evening.

Quinn's Quips

Dear God,
Thank you so much for my brilliant family. If I wasn't born into this family...well... I would have been born into a different family.... and wished that I was born into this one.
Amen

Scores

Too tired to write much.

Quinn's baseball team won: 10-0
Quinn's soccer team lost: 2-3
Madison's soccer team won: 3-0
Madison's softball team won: 12-2

Beginning Band

Last night was the band open house at the high school. I have to say it was very well organized and everyone was SO NICE! Madison has her heart on playing an instrument next year. When will she possibly fit this in you ask? This was one of my questions too. The 6th grade band meets before school for about 50 minutes, M-F. They catch the junior high / high school bus and it takes them to the junior high. After band, it takes them to their elementary school. During 7th and 8th grades the band class is one of their classes during the day.

So, she played a few instruments to "test-drive" them. She went in with her heart leaning towards the trumpet...


but said she sounded "like a dying goose" when trying to get a sound. (It wasn't that bad!!).

Next it was the trombone.


Much easier to get a sound out of. But pretty big to be hauling around on the bus.

On to the percussion section...


and she left beaming... signed up to play the drums! The percussion teacher had her play a few lines from a drum book... basically checking to see if she had any rhythm. He told her he would love to have her in the percussion section and that her 3 years of piano will definitely help... even though she thinks she doesn't remember much now. AND, she only has to carry a set of drum sticks in her back pack... and will use the school's drums at school during band class.

Watch out Ringo, here comes Madison!

rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat

PS... Does anyone know of a good used snare drum or xylophone we could borrow/buy???

Happy Birthday Addi!

Today was Addi's birth-month...er, I mean, birthDAY. Happy Birthday Addi! We hope it was a memorable day for you.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and my mom-in-law! I'm blessed with 2 of the sweetest and neatest women in my life. Two Godly examples to follow as I walk where their shoes once walked in mothering children. I truly am blessed today in many ways! I'm always thankful for healthy children. I don't take this for granted! It truly is a blessing. I also pray for their future mates. Today they are children some where, and I pray that they are growing up in loving Christian homes with positive role models to mirror some day as a spouse and parent to my children and grandchildren!

Today I sang a duet with Angie in church during communion. It's always good to sing with her. I don't like going out to eat on Mother's Day so Tony grilled a delicious dinner for us, including B & P. It was very good. The kids made cards... Quinn's was a booklet that he made at school. He told me his favorite page was the acrostic. To answer the sentence, "What Mother Means" this is what he wrote.

M=me (being a mother to him)
O= outstanding
T= thoughtful
H=helpful
E=exciting
R= reliable

Aren't you glad he thinks I'm reliable? I thought that was so cute.

Don & Isy brought me this really pretty/cute planter. She brought her delicious chocolate sheet cake which I've eaten too much of already. They stayed until about 4pm. They are having their small group over tonight. I was SO TIRED from yesterday... I had to take an hour nap after they left.

It's been a good day... I feel very blessed to be a mother today!

A day outside...

It was a beautiful day on Saturday... a great day to be outside! We were outside from 8:30-5pm so it was a good thing. My face is sunburned.

Madison's softball team played at 9am. They won 14-4 and got to finish after the 5th inning because of the 10-run rule.

Quinn had a soccer game at the same time. Tony went to that and I went to the softball game. The soccer game was tied 1-1.

Madison's soccer game was at noon. They played Shipshewanna and easily won 13-0. I'm serious! The coach tried not to run up the score... he traded our offense and defense around. Madison and our other 2 defenders played as forwards. That was weird. Madison scored 2 goals so he eventually took her out. : ) He tried to have the girls pass the ball around a lot. Our goalie touched the ball one time the entire game. The other team seemed younger and definitely hadn't been playing together for 2 years. The poor things. I felt sorry for them. Our first season was filled with games with scores like this! We always had the 0's so we know what its like! I asked Madison what Marcus (the coach) said about the game.. He said, "I'm not very impressed with some of you"... too much dribbling, shooting and scoring! That's a change... to get into trouble for scoring too much! (He wasn't talking about her).

Quinn's baseball game was at 2pm. His team won 7-2. It was a good game. This picture is of Quinn batting and Pakka as the umpire behind the plate. If the pitcher walks the batter, the batter's coach comes in to pitch to them until they hit it, or strike out (it eliminates any walks). The "highlight" from this game was Nate hitting a line-drive straight to Tony after Tony pitched him the ball and hitting Tony on the right wrist. It swelled up pretty good and is pretty sore today. Nate was close to tears but I'm not sure if its because he hit Tony or if it was because his solid hit bounced off Tony and was then easily fielded and got Nate out at 1st base. It all happened so fast.

You thought our day was over huh? Nope. At 8pm we went to Jeremiah's pop concert at the high school. Jeremiah had a solo and was involved in a lot of the singing throughout the whole show. He did a very nice job singing in front of all of those people! We didn't get home until almost 10:30. We melted into bed. The kids were asleep with their lights on, within minutes of climbing into bed.

It was a fun but tiring day.

Concord 28, Baugo 3

An easy stress-free night at the ballpark. I think Madison made it home like 4 times. : ) Promise, we weren't trying to run up the score!!!

The Whirlwind Monday

Today right after the bus dropped off the kids, Madison and I drove back to the school for Peyton's volleyball game. It only lasted 1/2 hour. I can't say it was the most exciting thing I've ever watched but we were glad we went and watched her friends play (Peyton, Holyn, Paige, Lillie, Gabby, Megan etc...). See... that's one sport Madison does not play! Madison went home with Peyton and they went to the Sports Center for some batting practice tonight.

Quinn and Beppe went on a field trip today to the South Bend Chocolate Factory and Notre Dame. As Quinn described it... "We walked 2 square miles today!" He described him and Beppe as being dead at the end of the trip. I guess he fell asleep on the way home. Beppe said he was very sweet, stuck by her when she fell to the back of the walking pack, cuddled on her lap etc... That's my Quinner. Sweet as sweet can be. His teacher even came up to Beppe and told her what a sweet boy he is. That was so nice. He really did look tired when he came home too. Get this... they gave the class chocolate covered raisins at the Chocolate Factory! COME ON PEOPLE! Beppe said kids were spitting them out after tasting them, or refusing to taste them at all. Who in their right mind would give that to 2 bus loads of kids? Obviously, someone who doesn't know any kids. They both decided that the church on the Notre Dame campus was their favorite part. They said it was beautiful. All the kids were quiet and reverent inside. They had their sack lunches along the river walk. I wish I could have gone on this field trip so badly! It was a beautiful day but Dr. P is gone to China for 2 weeks so my patients needed me more today I guess.

Tonight Quinn had a baseball game. We won, like 21-3 or something. I don't even think Tony knows the exact score. Quinn pitched one inning and struck 2 boys out. He did really well and said he wasn't nervous. Nate had an awesome diving catch play. I asked him for his autograph later. Quinn's first hit was a triple! After that he had 3 singles. He had a great game. I was feeling sorry for the other team. There is a 5 run rule per inning...but not a 10 run rule in the 5th. Thank goodness for the limit on the runs per inning!

I had a Little League board meeting from 8-10:15pm so I had to leave his game a little early. I was home for about 15 minutes today. I guess I need to go back to work tomorrow so I can rest up. Really I'm just too busy to have a job! Ha!

Special thanks to Randa, Cheryl and Addi... I brought in my video camera and made them watch Madison's soccer goal from yesterday. Aren't they so sweet? (They really had no choice in the matter!).

Well, I just finished my supper of a PB & J sandwhich so its time for bed now! Good-night!

Another trip to Chesterton, IN

Today was an absolute gorgeous day! So different than yesterday. I had a meeting, immediately following church. It got over at 1:45 and we left for Madison's soccer game in Chesterton at 2pm. Yes, another trip to Chesterton this weekend! Yesterday was nasty, rainy and freezing. Today was sunny, warm and beautiful. We've never beaten this Northwest IN team, we've tied them... until today!! We won 2-1. And guess who scored the goals? Madison and Peyton! Yes! Madison stayed overnight at Peyton's house last night and so now that is the "good luck charm"... staying overnight. Ha! We've so rarely let them do this, on a night before a game. Madison slept on the way there...and on the way home! Madison had a sweet goal, scored from just over the half-line (towards the goal)...a penalty kick off of a hand ball. It sailed clear to the goal, caught the goalie off guard and it slipped through her hands. I think Madison was just as surprised. She put her hands on her head, like she couldn't believe it! It just so very rarely happens to a defensive player. AND guess what?!... I got it on video! I was so excited! We went out for pizza afterwards and got home at 8pm tonight. Quinn had homework to finish and I just started washing Quinn's baseball uniform for tomorrow night. It was an awesome day!

Back to work tomorrow so I can rest up for the next weekend! Ha!

How we did...

This morning Madison & Quinn both had games at 9am. I hate that we have to split up but there is no other choice. Tony & Quinn went to his baseball game (because he is coaching of course). This was their first full game of the season. They lost 3-4 but I was told that it was a very good game and that Quinn got a hit and 2 RBI's and also played well at 1st base. He plays again on Monday. He'll probably pitch so that will be exciting.

>>>>>>>>

Madison's soccer team played the Goshen Stars at 9am. Her team also played well and won 2-1. It felt good to beat Goshen because we have had a tough time with them over the years. Last year we played terrible when we played them.

>>>>>>>>

Quinn's soccer team played in Chesterton which is 1 & 1/2 hours from here. We left sunny and a little bit windy/chilly Goshen to arrive in Chesterton with gusty wind, no sun and rain! The majority of our boys didn't even have long sleeve shirts on under their shirts. The other team had long sleeves, some even wore sweats and stocking caps! I couldn't believe the change of weather, just in 75 miles! This was Quinn's best game this year. He played more like his old self, feeling more comfortable on the field and perhaps a teeny bit more comfortable with his new coach. Our team scored the first 2 goals of the game, went to half-time behind at 3-4 but got trounced in the second half and lost 8-3. Ouch. The other team was very good and hopefully our boys will learn just from playing against them. This team won their first two games, 6-0 and 11-0, so if you look at it like that, at least we scored against them! I took just a few pictures of their game. Thankfully it stopped raining for most of the game. The weather was so nasty that they even started the game early. Let's skip the warm-up (because there isn't such a thing) and get the show on the road!! Their Flames record is now 0-2-1.

(Quinn is on the far left in the huddle).

>>>>>>

We were back home around 5pm. Quinn invited Nate and Nater to stay overnight tonight and Madison is staying overnight with Peyton. Nathan stayed overnight here last night. (Do we have a lot of Nathans in our life?). The boys are having lots of fun with the Nerf dart shooters. They're good boys.

Good-night!

Cookies and Coffee Anyone?

Are there any other moms who are tired of fund-raisers? I have my hand raised too!!! I know volunteer organizations can't survive without fund raisers but it takes so much effort on my part! Ha! Lazy aren't I? At least I don't have to pull mustard weeds in Iowa! Actually Madison was born a door-to-door saleswoman. She and Heather hit their "beat" as soon as they can. They walked around in the rain earlier this week...not minding a bit! Heather doesn't even play softball! I bet they were gone 2 hours... and sold 7 items. : ( She was thrilled though! Quinn on the other hand is more shy about his selling. He did take his order form to school ... spilled his water all over it... laid it out to dry... forgot about it...and now it has finally made it back home... with no sales. : )

So, most of you missed out on the school's fundraiser for Peelers because they are only good in our local communities. We just turned that in last week and now it's on to the Little League fund raiser! Yahoo! (not).

Anyone interested in some cookie dough or coffee? We bought the cookie dough last year and it was actually very good. You can freeze it... and refreeze it again if you want. All of the products are $12 each. On the link... look for the different kinds of cookies and coffee. It is cookie dough... not the dry ingredients for cookies. What?... You live too far away? Oh, not to worry. I can donate your cookie dough to our church for VBS if you would like.

Anyway, sorry for the marketing pitch. I know Concord Little League relies HEAVILY on their one and only fund raiser to make it a successful organization.

NO PRESSURE!! (Unless you are Grandma Jo).

Love, Leah

Should I?... or Shouldn't I?

Have you ever felt like this before? This was Cocoa after our walk tonight. She was more tired than usual by the end and came home and plopped down on the couch. At one point she thought she should probably get up and go do something (what, I don't know) and got only this far off the couch. She just couldn't make her caboose follow her. She stood/sat like this for about 30-45 seconds... just looking around, before she got it all in gear and headed on her way.

Grand Rapids Soccer Tournament

(Sorry, Blogger refuses paragraphs tonight!)

The girls' first game was at 9:30 this morning. They played a very good and FAST team from the Vardar-East soccer club. I still can't figure out what part of MI they were from. Anyway, we lost 0-3.

After the game the girls had a chance to walk around, watch some of the other teams etc... There were 16 teams just in our age group alone. A lot of the girls bought these soccer balls on an elastic rope that the tied around their waist. A great thing for eye/foot coordination. Madison couldn't leave hers alone. I told her to stop she wouldn't get worn out... still a full game to go. She told me "it's addicting, I just can't stop." Ha! Sounds like she'll use it a lot. They also got a little silly and made this pyramid...while the moms worried they would fall and hurt themselves... a silly sounding "soccer" injury.

The 3rd game was at noon against Alliance FC. They were the hosts of the tournament. We won 4-3 in a nail-bitter!!! The last 5 minutes took f-o-r-e-v-e-r because we were ahead and trying to defend. I'm sorry to be bragging all the time. Madison did a great job as captain, and gave good directions to her team on how to stall... and run the clock. Their coach isn't very verbal from the side lines so she did especially great without his directions I thought. The other team got multiple breaks from the refs. It was so tense that I got a bad headache afterwards... sometimes that happens to me. A let down of adrenaline I think.

They have some fancy way of scoring teams based on wins, goals scored, goals gave up etc... Out of 8 teams in our pool, we came in 2nd...and 3rd place out of 16 teams. The two 1st place teams in the two pools went to the championship game. We were really, really happy with that high of a place... especially for our first tournament like this. I honestly was afraid we would lose all 3 games so 2-1 was great!

We got home at 5:30 tonight. At bedtime tonight Madison asked me a question about church tomorrow. She had to pause and figure it out when I told her today was Sunday and that tomorrow was school! It did feel strange not to be in church on Sunday!

Last night she told me she couldn't wait for today to come... because "Number 1, I get to play soccer. Number 2, I get to buy a soccer ball (on the rope thing) and number 3, I get to play soccer!" She has a nice big bruise from an elbow she got in the upper arm and some sore feet but she went to bed smiling from ear to ear.

Whew!!! I didn't play even one minute, but I'm having sympathy fatigue for the girls myself!

Softball, Baseball, Soccer Tournament

Yesterday it was nearly 80 degrees but of course because it was Opening Day at the Little League fields, it was 45 with strong winds! It was FREEZING! What a cruel joke from mother nature! Madison had pictures at 8:15 and her first game at 9. Her team lost in the bottom of the last inning after they stole home after a ball got passed the catcher, 4-3. Bummer. Her team played pretty well for their first game though. Madison didn't have any errors while at 1st base and even caught a high pop fly. She struck out once and grounded out twice. Overall she played very well, considering the weather, lots more layers of clothing, the wind and her nerves. She was very nervous to bat against a fast pitcher.
Pictures, L to R:
Opening Ceremony and our friend Grant was the cub scout holding the flag.
Madison fouling a ball off.
Madison and Pakka on the field. Pakka was a base ump for 1 inning while Tony ran and got his pictures taken with Quinn's team.



Quinn's game was at noon. By now the heavy clouds were gone and every now and then the sun peaked out. It was still cold, but was better. Quinn's team scrimmaged for 3 innings. This was his first time to pitch and he did great! He said he wasn't nervous at all and really looked like he was having fun. Three different boys each pitched an inning. Quinn struck out 2 batters! He did so great! He also played 1st base. We were very proud of him. Nate pitched too and did a nice job as well.



After Quinn's game we traveled to Grand Rapids, MI to the Alliance FC Spring Invite soccer tournament. These were nice fields out in the middle of no where! The actual address was Lowell, MI but seriously, the closest town of Lowell was a 15 minute drive. This was the first tournament outside our league. I had no idea what to expect. Our U-11 girls played GREAT tonight! We played the Tri-City Strikers from Grand Haven, MI at 6pm and won 3-0. The girls were so excited. It was a great start to their tournament and a big confidence booster. Madison about took 2 girls out. Two of her kicks hit them so hard that they had to take a knee two different times (for an injured player, they take a knee). One of them was mostly drama and I caught Madison and a few close teammates trying not to snicker!


We had some starving girls to feed afterwards. We ate some wonderful Italian food afterwards. The girls got a little giddy. The pictures of Mariah D. and Kiley H. were taken by Madison.

Quinn and Grant were the only little brothers along for the weekend. They weren't quite sure what to do with all of these girls!

More weekend adventures to come!

Mid-Week

Last night we handed out all of the uniforms. Out of over 1000+ items ordered I only have a few things to fix yet (they sent a few pairs of wrong pants, some late shirts are coming). I would say that's pretty good.

The kids have had lots of practices lately and we are frankly all tired of practices...let the games begin! Softball/baseball starts on Saturday. Never in my life have I thought so much of Little League as this year. It's amazing that it takes year round work to pull off a season. I'm praying that Opening Day will all go very smoothly. Madison's team has never played a full game on Opening Day... usually just "exhibition games" on that day. She plays a full game at 9am. Say a prayer for her as she is still quite nervous when up to bat...ever since she got her tooth knocked out. She thinks she is going to play 1st base again and she's happy with that. Quinn plays an exhibition game at noon on Saturday. I've only been to one of his practices (since Tony is the coach) so I'm excited to see his team and how they do. Tony thinks they'll be pretty good.

I had a board meeting at church on Monday night, 6:30-9:30. We interviewed a person for our Outreach Pastor position. I think it went pretty well. We'll see...

Well, I've got 1 hour before I need to go do the pick-up from baseball/softball practice. I have a mountain of clean laundry that needs to be folded. I thought I would take 5 minutes out to say hello to all of you.

Love, Leah

U13 Flames game

Today was a busy day. Previously I spent 6-8 hours planning the worship service for this morning. It was a lot of work! I never imagined that it would take that much time! Anyway... the service was very nice I thought and it went smoothly....and I am glad it is over.

Right after church Madison and I picked up Holyn and took off for Fort Wayne. Madison agreed to be a substitute for Coach Todd's U13 team (girls 13 or under). This is a league two age levels up from the one she is used to... they play with 11 on the field (instead of 7) and on a MUCH bigger field.

This is the first season that these girls have played together... and most have never played club soccer. We actually scored the first goal and kept up really well until towards the end of the first half, we went into half-time 1-4. They got creamed in the second half and lost 1-9. Madison played probably 2/3 of the game which was more than we expected. She had fun... even against girls much bigger than her.

Quinn played this afternoon too. Tony said he was still more timid than usual but played better. They tied against the Jr. Irish, 1-1. I wish I could have been there too.

We got back into town about 5:30 and met Tony & Quinn at B&P's for homemade pizza and icecream for dessert. We got home about 8:30. It was a good but long day.

One question for you... Where in the world did this weekend go?!

Quinn's Quips

While taking a shower, Quinn said to me...

"Mom, I think that it's really good that we have central nervous systems and everything, but in a way, it might be better if we didn't have any nerves at all."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, because if you cut your leg off, it wouldn't even hurt."

I tried to give him the mini-symposium about how pain is also a protective mechanism etc... but I think I lost him.

Flames, records both 0-1

Today kicked off the Spring soccer season for the Flames teams. Madison's U11 team played at 9am. They played pretty well... it was a better start than last year. They lost to the South Bend Invaders, 1-0. The only goal that got by was a ball that was wet with dew and it rolled right between our goalie's legs. Painful to watch. Poor thing. Madison told me that she encouraged Kiley to just laugh about it... they both knew that was an easy one that she normally would always have gotten. I was proud of her for encouraging her and not getting down on her.



Quinn's game followed at 11am. This is their coach's first season with this team. He is the high school boys soccer coach. He seems like a nice guy. Just have to figure out how to get 8 & 9 year olds functioning as a team, instead of teenagers! Quinn was quite nervous and didn't play his best. He was quite tentative which isn't his usual. He wasn't jumping into the action like usual... playing it "too safe" I think...trying to not make a mistake. First time jitters. He has only had 2 practices with this coach, so what can you expect? His team lost to the Goshen Stars, 1-4. One of his teammates accidentally scored on our own goal. Wrong place at the wrong time and your body is the thing that redirected it in. (Thankfully it wasn't Quinn though!). Madison has had that happen to her. It will be fun to watch this team change, grow and improve. They are playing U10 (under 10) and the "gold" division... which is harder than the division they played in last year.

Traveling Light

Heather stayed overnight on Friday night and will again Monday night. Her dad is working out of town right now and her mom works the night shift at the hospital. Jennifer walked her over after Heather "packed." This is what she brought! I had to laugh. Max Lucado's book, "Traveling Light" popped into my head. What a cutie. (No, Madison is not standing on her tip-toes).

Earthquake in Indiana

I'm sure most of you have heard that we had an earthquake this morning at 5:37am EST. I missed it by 8 minutes! My alarm went off at 5:45. Shucks. Madison however, felt it. She said she was up going to the bathroom at that time. I asked her what happened, she said she was sitting on the toilet and their toothbrushes started rattling in their holders and the water splashed her on the bottom. I laughed so hard! I asked her what she thought had happened... she said she was so tired, she really didn't think much about it, and went back to bed. Ha! How can you get splashed by cold water on the bottom and not wonder what happened? Anyway, her teacher was quite excited by the whole thing. She noticed it too. They went to a web site and registered what they were doing when it happened... and she made sure Madison registered her unique experience too. She'll have some interesting memories of her first (and hopefully last) earthquake! : )

Mid-week post... at the end of the week

Seriously, last night after I went to bed I thought, "Boy, I really should post a mid-week note to my blog soon"... viola' it is already Friday night. AND THEN... I got this harassing email from my Mom today at work telling me that Cheryl and Addi get all the information and BTW where have I been?!?!?!

Here are a few words to explain my week.

679 little league uniforms
8 different sports practices

6 hours of planning this Sunday's church service

3 major softball teams to organize

4 days of work for pay

*********************************************

Memories made... priceless.

(And I'm not implying that they are all good memories!)

First three soccer games of the season this weekend... watch for the ESPN Sports report.

The long road home

It took us 11 hours to get home. The kids traveled great. We got home at 10 tonight.

Interesting things we learned/saw while gone...

Matt & Lisa can drive past 41 (literally) signs for the Meramac Caverns and not notice one of them.

We saw buffalo, emu, long-horned cattle, a fox and coyote (ok, these last two were road kill) along the way...well, some of us saw them... one van did not.

Madison can some how find the accidental way to get her long hair caught in the cooler's running fan. We thought about leaving her little head plastered to the lid of the cooler for awhile... but Mom gave in and climbed into the back with her to cut her hair out.

We saw a crazy person riding their bike along the interstate (well, some of us saw it).

Madison and Dylan counted 31 Mustang cars while on the trip.

We already knew that Matt & Lisa were super great friends and so easy to get along with. We had a GREAT time traveling with you guys!

Cocoa had a successful week as well. She had her "fixed" surgery on Friday. Karla picked her up yesterday morning and had her waiting for us at home when we arrived. (Thanks Karla!). We were all happy to see her (OK, and Tigger too).

Our last day in Branson

We spent our morning playing ping-pong at the Activity Center


and pool too...

In the afternoon, the guys and kids threw in some more laser tag and went to see the movie, "Nim's Island" while Lisa and I did a little more shopping at the Tanger Outlets. We made a taco meal for supper and then it was back to the Activity Center for swimming and Euchre...



and then back to the condo for Jocker, cookies and icecream.



The week went really fast. We are getting ready to take home lots of good memories of Spring Break 2008.

Silver Dollar City

Today we went to Silver Dollar City. We've been watching the weather all week, trying to decide what day would be the best weather-day to go. It turned out to be beautiful, in the 70's and sunny so we were thankful for the right choice. We spent almost 7 hours here. The park usually has 20-30,000 per day. Today their count was 1,020. We basically had the park to ourselves. There was never a line and on most of the roller coasters, they let us stay on and keep riding and riding. At one time Tony and Brock were in the front car and Quinn and I were in the last car... with no one in between. Eventually 3 of us got tired out and Quinn was the only one on the whole ride! We definitely got our money's worth. We went to the Chinese Acrobat Show as well was the Irish Dancers. The kids weren't into the shows as much but tolerated them for the 30 minutes each. We went to Mazzio's Pizza for supper, then it was back to the condos for ice cream and warm cookies, swimming and euchre, melting into bed about 11:30. Tony hasn't worn his watch all week on purpose... not wanting to live by the time like we usually do. Hope your weeks are going well too.

Dixie Stampede

The Dixie Stampede has definitely been one of the biggest highlights of the trip. The kids loved it and is was especially fun because Matt and Lisa were chosen out of the audience to do some "barrel-racing." They told the guys to run to the horse that they wanted to ride. As soon as they got to the real horses, they had them stop and said "not those horses... THESE horses" and showed them the stick horses. They won the race! It was hilarious and fun! Brock was yelling at the top of his lungs... "That's my mom and dad and they are going to win!" It was so cute. They got medals to keep. We didn't know that we would be hanging out with such famous and talented people! : )

More of Dixie

Just a few more pictures of Dixie for you. We came back to the condos and some of the kids went swimming, some played video games and Lisa and I got smoked in Euchre by the guys. We are staying up late and sleeping in. Our sleep is going to be all off schedule but we sure are having a fun time!

Ripley's Believe it or Not

Lots of unusual things... they had hundreds and hundreds of these nail aprons with the company's name on it. We looked for Kalona Lumber but didn't find one. The kids enjoyed looking at all the unusual things. The picture in the top right hand corner is the vacuum cleaner designed for the Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang movie... a favorite in our house.

Catch Phrase

This morning Matt & Lisa went and sat through the Fairfield/Wyndam time share talk. We played Catch Phrase with the kids for an hour and then watched a movie. It's rainy and over cast today.

Highlights from Tuesday

Happy Birthday Karla! Hope you had a wonderful birthday in DC! I've never been on vacation on my birthday... I'm sure that puts a different spin on things.

Today Lisa and I went shopping to some of the outlet stores here. We found Crocs for the kids for $20 a pair. That was our biggest bargain. Guess what? I ran into Myrna who used to work at the CCC at GGH in the Croc Store. It really is a small world isn't it? It's so weird to run into people... 10 hours from home! I wonder who else is wandering around here from our area.

The guys took the kids to play laser tag while we shopped. They had fun and were all a buzz about their scores etc... That was the first time for our kids so they really enjoyed it. Lisa made us a sloppy joe dinner for supper and then we went to the Hamner-Barber magician/ventriloquist show. It was very funny. I don't know that it was the MUST SEE as was advertised to us but we all enjoyed it. Quinn was chosen out of the audience to receive one of two DVD's that they gave out. I think it was the 3rd-grade-arm-waving-with-the-correct-answer type of thing that sold him. He was quite delighted about that and stood in line after the show so that they could autograph it for him. We stopped at Sonic on the way home. It was a day with very few pictures taken. Cameras weren't allowed at the Hamner show and of course laser tag is in the dark so you'll just have to use your imagination today.

The weather was rainy and cool today...and looks like more of the same is predicted for the rest of the week. The kids have spent quite a bit of time at the activity center... swimming, playing basketball, ping-pong etc... They certainly haven't been bored.

Today (Wed) we are planning on going to Ripley's Believe it or Not and then our family of 4 is going to the Dixie Stampede tonight. Yahoo! More adventures to come...

Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf

(As usual, double click on pictures for a close-up look).

The afternoon was perfect for 18 rounds of putt-putt. This pirate's cove place was super neat. The flowers were gorgeous as were the water falls. I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep and I realized that I never even heard what my score was. Quinn was quite concerned for me... I'm sure he didn't want me to lose. Ha! There were several holes in one (not by me). You'll never believe this... we actually ran into one of the Ox Bow teachers and her family here at this Putt-Putt place. See... may be Branson really is a hot-spot for Spring Breakers. : )

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out at the condos... going on a walk, reading, watching the NCAA Championship game. We ate such a big late lunch that we really didn't need much more the rest of the whole day. The adults had dessert for supper (icecream and brownies)... hey, we can do that, we break rules for vacation! : )

Lambert's

We made it to Lambert's! We went at 2pm on a Monday and got right in! Are we clever or what? The food was delicious as advertised and the rolls melted in your mouth. The kids loved the rolls flying through the air. Most of the kids bought the big drink coolers as a souvenir. Madison chose the hat instead.

Wish you were here....

Fish Hatchery

We even managed to fit something educational into our trip. We went to the Fish Hatchery which is less than a mile from our resort. Highlights from this stop was seeing a 4 foot black snake when we went on a walk in the woods... enough to make Quinn declare that "I'm never coming to Missouri again!" (Cheryl, thought of you down here in the holler). Of course we saw lots of fish and the kids fed handful after handful of fish food. We stood and watched some fishermen fly fishing for awhile. The weather cannot be any more perfect.

Just for Addi

Take some more insulin now....

Just for Dad!

One of my Dad's favorite TV channels. : )

Snap Shots

The flowers are gorgeous! This is a picture of our condo and of the kids eating supper tonight. I made a spaghetti dinner. Check out that blue sky behind Quinn. Awesome!

Wyndam Classic

Tonight was a 2 on 2 basketball tournament at the resort. Our group had 3 teams and there was 1 other group of two guys that showed up. It was great fun to watch. Quinn took it so seriously. He ran all the way back to our condo (a jaunt for little legs) to report that Madison had dropped off of their team and that it would now just be Dad and Quinn together...no subs. Madison and Lisa formed their own team. He wanted Tony to put on his shoes and come practice with him...and "are you going to be able to keep up with me Dad, because I'm going to run back too." (We take sports very seriously, can you tell?)

This is how the tournament came out.... (thanks for reading!)

Madison/Lisa vs. Tony/Quinn

Matt/Brock vs. Josh/Dylan

Young guys vs. Tony/Quinn

Young guys vs. Matt/Brock

Young guys were the champions

The Track

Today was a beautiful day in Branson. The sky matched this pool water color...not a cloud to be seen. As you can see we went and drove some go-carts this afternoon at The Track. The kids loved it! Quinn and Brock especially loved the bumper boats and were soaked afterwards. Quinn would not back off from squirting this poor girl out there. I was yelling at him, trying to get his attention but of course he couldn't hear me. He was relentless and laughing the whole time. He made us laugh! In Madison's competitive style, she made it a point to win as many races as she could. She was quite delighted when she finally over took Dylan in one close race, shortly after the middle picture was taken.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!... all the way from Branson. We hope you have a great today. I would post a picture but I don't have any of you on my laptop here. Here are some interesting things about my dad.

Ever since my brother won 4 lambs at the 4H fair, my dad has been a shepherd of a flock...every single year since, what do you think... since the early 80's?

My dad is retired but only because that is part of his age description. : ) He drives a school bus, takes care of his sheep, is restoring an old wooden wagon, cuts all their wood for their wood burning stove...and much more.

He has something that Quinn covets... "Grandpa has one and it's what I've wanted most in my whole life"... the pack of gum that shocks you when attempting to take out a stick!

Loves John Deere tractors, antique tractors and cars. He even drives his antique John Deere tractor in a local parade each year... just because it's fun.

Has been an active member of the local Optimist Club F.O.R.E.V.E.R.!

Likes to tell jokes... and likes to laugh at the jokes that he tells. : )

One of favorite memories of my dad is how he tucked me in bed when I was a kid. He would always pick up my feet and tuck the covers in snug around them and say "Good-night, don't let the bed bugs bite." That was our good-night typical saying in our house forever.

I love you Dad! Happy Birthday!

Our Condo

We finally checked into our condos last night at 8:30pm. They are right next door to each other. Tony called the front desk and reported something was wrong with Matt & Lisa's door bell. When you push the door bell button it buzzes so loud it sets off a bright flashing light on the fire alarm... alas, that's what it was supposed to do! Other than Matt & Lisa's being equipped for the hearing impaired... they are great! Ha! We quickly made the ruled of NO ringing their doorbell! for the kids! The guys took the kids swimming and Lisa and I went to "Jubilee" to get groceries. It felt good to melt into bed tonight. It feels wonderful to get off of our usual spinning world into a different one for a week!

Lambert's Cafe... almost!

We attempted to go to Lambert's Cafe when we got close to Branson. SOooo many people have told me about it. The "home of the throwed roll." There was an hour and 20 min. wait and we were tired and hungry so we opted to find something else. We borrowed a GPS for the trip and she was supposed to take us to Mazzio's Pizza (we didn't know that was a chain!) but took us in circles. We never did find it. We finally chose what was sitting in front of us... a Shoney's. The food was bad, the kids were complaining... something smelled really "fishy" about the whole thing when we walked in (literally). Some how we lucked upon the all you can eat seafood. Now for those of you that know us well... Tony and I do shrimp and that's it. Long story short, this was the sign that we should have seen annoucing this buffet but it was facing the opposite direction. We all decided that this was the last bad choice we were making for the week! How we got from Lambert's to an all you can eat seafood buffet, we aren't exactly sure. Nasty.

Baseball Game

Today we went to the St. Louis Cardinals vs Washington Nationals game in St. Louis (obviously). The Cards won 5-4. It was an absolutely beautiful sunny day. It actually felt hot sitting in the sun but when we moved to the shade, it was too cool. Weird. We got to the brand new stadium (it's really nice) early. We bought tickets off the street from a guy who lied to us about every single thing he said but we ended up getting the tickets for $12 off the ticket price... Let's just say that the tickets weren't behind home plate and there were no free drinks through the first inning! Ha! I've learned at work that if people say "I'm not lying to you"... they usually are! We wanted cheap tickets and that's what they were... even if they were in the outfield, the highest level. The kids all brought their gloves to catch a foul ball. Check out Quinn's "ready position" to catch a ball up in the nose bleed section. Ha! We had a great time though. The kids got free t-shirts at the entrance. They got to do some batting in a cage and threw balls to measure their speed. The field is right downtown within walking distance of the arch. The flowers are starting to bloom here and the trees are budding already. There is Spring around the corner! (sorry about the center spacing... it has a mind of it's own today)

Spring Break 2008

I've been scurrying around this week, trying to get ready to leave for a week of vacation. We are all so ready for a break from the real world! This year we are headed to Branson, MO and are staying at the Mountain Vista Resort. Matt, Lisa, Josh, Dylan and Brock are going with us so that will help add to our fun. We've never been to Branson and have heard good things about it. It's not your usual spring break "destination hot spot" but we made our plans only a month ago so we'll take what we can get! ha! The weather is supposed to be in the 60's so that's a 20 degree improvement from Indiana. We are leaving tonight and planning on staying overnight east of St. Louis and may be going to a Cardinals game tomorrow. Cocoa is going to "doggy camp" as we've been calling it. She is going to be kenneled at our vet's office. Madison was already in tears last night at bedtime because "I miss Cokey" already...even though she was right downstairs. : ) Quinn asked me this morning if I thought they had "highly trained workers" at the vet's office, to you know, take good care of her. I told him that they don't come anymore highly trained than your own dog's doctor. He suggested that we "stop by Minnesota on our way and drop Cocoa off at Uncle AJ's and Aunt Bonnie's house" since Bonnie is a vet. A little out of the way so we'll just use our vet that's 1/2 mile away.

I'll be taking my laptop and will try to blog faithfully. Stay tuned... more adventures soon to come... and you know there certainly will be ADVENTURES!

Trip update

We left at 7:30 tonight... only about 2 hours later than planned. Tony thought he could be home by 5 but it was 7 instead. It actually worked out fine because Matt didn't get home until about that time any way. Tonya called to see how our trip was coming... we were sitting in the Wendy's drive-thru lane in front of Meijer's. Ha! All 5 minutes of the trip had gone great so far! We stayed in Highland, MO tonight. We got here at 2am and went straight to bed!

A less than perfect world

Madison asked me the other day, "Mom, why don't we live in a perfect world?"
I answered her by telling her that God gave humans the ability to choose... between right and wrong. When Adam and Eve made their first wrong choice in the garden, when they chose to disobey God, this was when sin entered the world. We live in a world with sin present and it will never be perfect on earth again.

She replied, "Well, way to go Adam and Eve!" and then... "Actually I'm kind of glad... because if they wouldn't have sinned we would all be walking around without any clothes on!"

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Last night Madison and Heather were sitting at our kitchen table working on their homework. I heard Madison say, "Did you know that if Adam and Eve wouldn't have sinned that we would be sitting here naked right now?" They had to giggle about that... and then got all grossed out.

I love to listen to their conversations. : )