Our Little Vacation

First of all...here is my new hair cut...though you can't really see it because this pic is dark....but I tried. :o)

So....we left town on Friday afternoon after a good 2 hour work out at the gym for me and hubby. Things were going great until we got hung up in traffic for about an hour going at a maximum speed of 5 mph. (AUGH!) Matt said he was "about ready to chew his arm off." It was just long and grueling and the kids wanted out of the car BAD. In all though, we made it there just fine and only an hour later than schedule. For our first night, we just grilled burgers with Matt's mom and new husband, Duane and hung out around their new house. The weather was perfect and it was just so relaxing. While we were playing outside in their back yard, we heard the ice cream truck coming down the block. It's been forever since Brooklyn has gotten to do that and NEVER for Grant...so we ran out and stopped the guy and Nana treated them to an ice cream of their choice. Then Matt and I took advantage of being in a neighborhood and took out their bicycles for a ride. Wow! It had probably been a good 15 years since I've been on a bike so I was a tad bit nervous stopping and rounding corners...but like they say...you never forget how to ride a bike and before long Matt and I were racing---going as fast as our legs/feet could pedal. We were both totally sweaty and exhausted after that. We enjoyed it so much and mentioned how fun it would be to do that together more often....but we have no where to ride unless we pack up and drive 15 minutes to a trail.

Saturday: We woke up to Duane fixing eggs, bacon and toast out on the grill. Yum! How nice to have breakfast cooked for ME for a change! After eating, we went for a walk and came upon a garage sale. We didn't buy anything (not even the Victoria Secret nighty that Brooklyn BEGGED me to buy for her! ha ha) but the kids had fun looking through the stuff. They especially got excited about finding pennies on the ground all throughout the walk! We actually found 14 cents, which they thought was awesome! ha ha

Next I got cleaned up and had lunch with my good friend Joy. We went shopping at a few of my old favorite places and I picked up a new apron to add to my collection. They have SO many cute ones but this one just stood out to me right away and I had to have it. I am really becoming addicted to aprons these days. I wear one EVERY day and sometimes, I actually keep it on most of the day. They are so cute though...and they hide your tummy....and they keep your clothes clean. Perfect!

So after lunch, we changed into our swim suits and took the kids to the sprinkler park there. Our nephew, Jaxon, came too and they kids had SO much FUN playing together. Usually when we go visit, we are just at peoples houses and they never really get to run around and go wild...so this was a special treat.

Saturday night we had dinner at Matt's Mamaw's house. She is so sweet and dear to us. There has been some family "drama" going on lately that has made her feel aileniated from the family so it was good to spend some special time with her. Man, I just despise how the enemy can come in and cause division in a family!

Sunday, we had another special treat: We got to go out the lake where my friend (and fellow blogger) Kandy was camping with her family! It was so fun to see one another in person (instead of just e-mailing). The kids finally got to meet one another and play together. It wasn't nearly enough time though. Someday we need to go camping WITH them for a couple of days so we can really hang out!

Sunday evening we had dinner with Matt's other grandma, Nane. She is the coolest grandma ever. She dressess totally chic and cute and has GREAT taste in decor and everything really. She's so much fun. There we got to visit with Matt's little brother and his wife (Cale & Lindsay) and also with his aunt Jenna and uncle Bob. The kids got to play together again so they loved that.

On Monday morning, we headed off to White Water for a day of fun in the sun and water. It turned out that Grant was too little to go down most of the slides and Brooklyn was too scared. There was one that we could all ride together, The Big Kahuna, and that was a lot of fun. Then another one we each rode down individually on a raft. It was pretty big and loopy and at times it felt like you were gonna go over the side. Brooklyn was really nervous about going down it and didn't want to at all but I just knew if I could get her to try it...she'd love it. Well...I was wrong. She cried and cried afterwards and said she hated it. Oh well....who knew!?! Then there was a slide called The Cannonball. Grant wanted to try it so I told him I'd take him on it. I saw a sign that said you must be 42" to ride...but at that point, we hadn't measured him so I didn't know if he was tall enough or not. There wasn't a measuring pole anywhere so we just got in the line and waited our turn. When we finally got to the top, I was going to send him down first. So I got him sat down at the top of the slide and was just about ready to give him a push when the attendant said, "whoa...wait a minute. We need to measure him" Well, it turns out he's only about 38" tall...so he didn't get to ride. I wasn't going to walk back down though after having waited that long so I just left him there with the guy while Matt came up and got him and I went on down the slide. AND OH MY GOSH! What was I THINKING???? In all the excitement, I hadn't even payed any attention to what the slide was going to be like. I flew off that thing like a speeding bullet and hit the water so hard my bottoms went right into my crack, my top flew up and my hand shot off my nose...thus sending gallons of water up my nostrils. When I finally came up, I was gagging and coughing and spewing water everywhere! Man, I guess I am getting old! ha ha Anyway, needless to say, my enthusiam for trying new, adventursome slides dwindled a bit after that. I had actually totally planned on going down "The Big Wedgie" where it is STRAIGHT down...until I had that experience and then I wimped out.

Also to note about our WhiteWater Adventure is that Grant POOPED HIS PANTS while going down a water slide! Ugh! I went over to get him after he'd come down on his own little raft and when I walked over there, I thought, "man something stinks"....then I pulled open his swimming trunks in the back and was agast at what I saw! The kid had had major diarrhea and it was running down his legs!!! Of course, we were at the slides farthest away from the bathrooms so I had to carry him for like half a mile like this....of course....the "stuff" was running down my legs by the time we got to the bathroom. I had to have Matt go out to the van to get another pair of swimming trunks for him to change into. Thank GOD the place has showers and soap!!! So, we get all cleaned up and head back for the slides. We walk the 30 flights of stairs(carrying huge tubes) to the very top and finally get to the front of the line when Grant looks at me and says, "Mommy, I have to go poo poo again." Oh man...I was STEAMING! I carried him all the way back down the 30 flights of stairs and to the bathroom again where I discovered that he had gone again in his pants. Poor little guy. I was so mad--and it wasn't his fault. He'd been having stomach aches all day and he probably couldn't help it...but this was just NOT what I'd envisioned doing half the day at the water park! We ended up deciding to just leave then and go to the hotel.

So, we got to our hotel and got cleaned up (while Grant took a nap) and then we headed over to the riverwalk for dinner. We ate at Toby Keith's restrurant (which cost a fortune) and then took a canal ride through the riverwalk on a little boat. We all enjoyed it. Then we went back to the room and zonked out. The next morning, we woke up whenever we felt like it which happened to be around 8:30 am, ate the free breakfast and then went swimming in the hotel pool for a bit before we got cleaned up and headed out for our day. We had lunch at a cool place called City Bites. The bathrooms there are made of 2-way glass (or at least thats what I think its called) but you can see out and see all the people sitting around eating....but they can't see you. It makes it a little hard to pee when you can see everyone in the restruant around you...but it was fun for the kids.

After that we went to the Omniplex Science Museum for lots of fun brain stimulation. They had all kinds of brain teasers and little experiements you could do and it was all educational. Then, finally, we headed home! Whew! That was a lot of typing. I hope you guys didn't get too bored reading it all!