Our First Family Vacation of 6!

This morning we left at 9:00 am for Nashville, TN. I am not so sure of how this trip will go. This is the first time that we are driving with the kids in the car for this amount of time. This could be a great trip or a nightmare.

Everything was great for the first 3 hours...

then we hit a traffic jam! The boys are telling us that they are hungry and Hailey is starting to scream! We finally get out of the traffic jam, 30 min later, and Hailey has fallen asleep. We stop off at McDonalds, of course, for lunch and to let the kids run around and play. Thank goodness that the McDonalds that we stopped off has a playground set.

2:00 - Back on the road again! Hailey is not happy to be back in her seat again. As we are going through Cinncinati we have to go through the long tunnel wiht lights and Spencer calls over to Tyler "Hey Tyler, look at this pretty place!" I just started to laugh. Jason says "Did he just call this place 'pretty'? It's great sometimes when the kids det to see things for the first time and to hear their comments and to see their reactions!

3:00 - Nap Time - This was a nice part of the trip. I don't have to entertain anyone anymore!

Well, we are almost here. I am surprised as to how well everything is going. The 3 boys are watching movies and Tyler is multitasking and playing his DS. I can't believe the batteries haven't died yet. Hailey and I played catch with the little soccer ball. We are going to meet up with our friend Matt for dinner. It's funny, but coming down here almost feels like we are coming home!

As we are pulling off the exit Spencer asks "Are we in TN?", "Yes Spencer, we are in TN". Then Spencer says "Look it's TN! It even has a gas station, Car Wash, Shopping Stores and a Wendy's. It even has a post office." I am not sure but I think that he thinks we are in a different country.

It was great to be able to see Matt again and to catch up with him. The kids even had a great time with Matt.

We let the kids run around the parking lot for awhile to stretch their legs. Spencer looked at Tyler and said "let's roll down the hill". So Hunter and Tyler laid down to roll down the hill. Matt pipes up and says "how about we roll down a hill that DOESN'T end up in a 4 lane road. Thanks Matt for watching out for our kids!

After dinner we had to run to Toys R Us because I left Cate's present hat home. The kids are all quiet and ready for bed...to bad we aren't at Angela's mom's house yet. It's been a very long day but the kids did great. I am so pround of them!!!

Tyler's 7th Birthday - July 20th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe that Tyler, our oldest, has turned 7. Where has the time gone? After church today we met at Chili's for lunch to celebrate Tyler's birthday. My parents were able to join us,

along with Jason's parents, they are the ones that provided the cake for us!

Here is Tyler with his 2 grandmas.

It was a great time to also hang out with the rest of the family that we hadn't seen in a little while. Here is Hunter with his Uncle Eric and cousin Ruby.

My sister Shannon was able to join us also. The kids all call her Aunt Pokie, Tyler started it when he was little and it just kind of stuck.

Spencer with Uncle Eric.
Hailey made the rounds and was hanging out with Aunt Suzanne (Eric's wife) and was playing with Ruby. They were really cute together.

Hunter hanging out with Papa Friesner and making music while we were waiting for cake!
Mommy and the birthday boy....
Hailey and Ruby were playing while Tyler was opening his gifts.

All Tyler wanted for his birthday was a Nintendo DS....so for his birthday we were able to get him one....I think that this was the best birthday for him yet. I think that he got everything that he wanted.

Papa was sneaking bites of cake to Hailey. She of course didn't mind at all.

Eric and Suzanne Brooks.

Later that night, after dinner at home, we sang one last time to Tyler and let him have one last slice of cake. The kids love it when everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to them. We shall see how long this lasts. But for now, since they let us, I will enjoy it while I can.

Soak City 2008

Well, we spent the day (July 11th) at Soak city. Sheri had planned a "family fun day" outting. It turned out to be a very beautiful day. Jason took the boys into the big wave pool.

All was going well until the waves were turned on. Spencer did not like it at all and I ended up getting the lifeguard to hand him over the fence to me while Jason stayed in the pool with Tyler.

Here are Jason and the boys climbing up to the top of the big slide. The first time I had to carry Tyler up the entire way...he did not want to go. But after he went down the first time he wanted to go down again and again and again.

I really was proud of Tyler for going down the big slide. Only thing was that I caught up with them at the top so that we could all go down as a family (Jason and I and the older boys). Only problem was that when we got to the top, Spencer was 2" to short and then made him get off. So Jason walked him down the stairs and I rode down with Tyler. All Spencer wanted to know was, "when will I be big enough?" and "I'm never going to be big enough". He was one unhappy little boy.

Hunter and Hailey had fun playing in the kiddie pond. I think that Hunter could have stayed there all day playing with the water spouts. He thought it was cool to sit on them.

Jason took Hunter down one of the lazy rivers...this one, however, was the one that had water falls in it and He did not like it at all. He couldn't wait to get off and didn't want to go back on!

We took a litle break for a snack and I was able to lay down and relax for a few minutes. I tried to get Hailey take a nap so that I could take a nap but it didn't work.

I think that everyone had a great time and we all got to have a little fun in the wave pool. Sheri had a few moments where the waves got the best of her. But overall she survived!!!!

Even Shannon got in on the fun and helped the boys on the lazy river.

In the end I think that we managed to wear out all of the children and it was a very quite drive home. We did have to stop and wake them up for dinner but it didn't stop them from falling back to sleep again.

Plans are already in the works for next year. I just hope that Spencer will have grown the 2" needed to ride the other rides...or I will have one very, very upset little boy on my hands!