This Is The Day: July 2019

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Work-cation Part 2

I think the best thing about this trip is the view. It is so gorgeous there. Pictures don't do it justice.

Peanut got to go in the lake for the first time! The girls actually swam in the lake for about ten minutes rather than just a quick trip to the dock and back.

Peaches watched the ducks while she was waiting,

Our third night we decided to go to the conference bbq with Daddy and I once again remembered why we don't usually go, haha. :P Not that anything is terribly wrong with it, but there's just not a lot of space where they do it and it's super crowded with people everywhere and hardly room to walk much less push a stroller. Plus they don't serve dinner until 7 and by then the kids are really hungry and not thrilled about waiting in line. While we were waiting the girls were thrilled to play in the sand, but by the time dinner was ready Peaches was totally soaked and sandy and Peanut was wet from the knees down. Once the sun started to go down they were freezing. It wasn't too bad, but it's definitely easier not to go!

Before we headed over to that we made a quick stop at the park to get their growth pictures. Can't believe how tall Buggy is getting!

The wind puffed Boo's shirt up like a balloon!

It was hard to get Peanut to take a time out from her American Ninja Warrior-ing. Haha.

And it wasn't easy to get Peaches to slow down long enough for a picture either. :)

But Lou was quite agreeable to her photo-op assisted by her biggest sister. :)

Our last morning was a little stressful trying to get out of the hotel even though T had packed the suitcases and bigger stuff in the car already. It still took almost an hour to get everyone ready and to find all the little things strewn about the hotel in the four days that we were there. Plus we had to pack a bag so everyone could change in the pool bathrooms after we got done swimming. But we made it without too much hassle and the girls were happy to swim even though it was only 71. Boo and Peanut only lasted about an hour before calling it quits and Bug talked Peaches into joining her for a little longer.

Bug stuck with it until about eleven while the rest of us stayed warm in the sun.

A boy came and asked if the girls wanted Popsicles since he and his family were leaving and couldn't take them. They were happy to say yes!

After everyone got changed we headed across the street and fed the ducks our leftovers.

We didn't get very many takers, but they ate up all we had.

Then we drove over to the drive in and met Daddy for lunch before heading to Walmart to grab a few things before we left. The little ones were out just a few miles down the road.

And then a few more miles the big ones joined. I think Boo was the only one who didn't sleep.

Our tire sensor had come on when the girls and I drove down on Sunday but T had filled it up and it stayed inflated the whole time we were there...we also didn't drive anywhere. About an hour down the road the tire pressure started dropping again. We stopped at a gas station and filled it up, but once we got back on the road it was losing a pound about every mile or two. We were able to make it to the next town and a paved parking lot with a nice grassy spot for the girls to play.

Thank goodness it didn't do this on the way down when I was all alone with the girls! I definitely knew how to change a tire at one point, but its been many many years, and the spare tire on the Suburbans are especially hard to retrieve. You need keys, a little tool, and then you have to hand crank it down from up under the car. T had changed it a few months ago so he was a pro and had the tire changed in no time. It was a leaky valve stem. We could hear it hissing.

The girls were more than happy to play in the grass while they waited.

God was definitely looking out for us. The tire change was as painless as possible and only ten minutes down the road we ran into this huge storm which down poured on us for many miles. That would have been awful to change the tire in!

The girls and I were super grateful for their awesome Super-Daddy and for a heavenly Father who watches over us and blesses us in every way possible!

All in all I'd say it was a very successful work-cation! :)

Monday, July 29, 2019

Work-cation!

At the end of June we headed for Daddy's annual work conference. Because Noni was still on jury duty she wasn't able to go with us. When we found out there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Not to mention how the girls felt.

Just kidding, haha...of course the girls were super sad and there were a few tears and I considered staying home...for about five seconds, but then I told myself to buck up and get with the program. And the girls actually did great. The last day was a little rough trying to get all of us checked out of the hotel, but I had honestly expected every day to be that way. For the most part they were super helpful about carrying things, keeping the hotel room picked up, and they didn't whine when it was time to leave the pool to take a break and feed the baby.

The first night we got there and instead of going to our traditional dinner at a nicer restaurant we just grabbed Subway and some groceries from Walmart. Then we got the car unloaded and T took the four big girls down to the pool while I did some settling in. He brought Peaches back early because she was freezing. She was shaking with cold so I stuck her in the shower to warm up.

I was looking around trying to figure out what to give her to play with, but then I heard her singing. I snuck a video.

She stayed in there for a good 15 minutes, just singing away. :) I thought this shower was bizarre. That glass was fixed so the only way to turn on the shower was to get soaked. I found of pair of grill tongs and was able to get it on without getting completely wet. So weird.

There were two bedrooms and T, Lou, and I took the bigger one. We did ok with her sleeping in our room. She was a little fussy the first night and woke up super early...somewhere around 6. We put Peanut and Boo in the other room since they are our good sleepers. Bug got the living room couch and we put Peanut's pack and play in the attached dining room. Bug kept Peaches quiet in the early mornings.

Noni had taken the girls to Hobby Lobby before we left and let them pick out a couple fun things that were just for the trip. It kept them busy for each morning until it was time to head down to the pool.

We had three sets of ducks that kept coming around and the girls had so much fun watching them!

Here's a close up I got later. There was one mama with 6 tiny ducklings, one with 4 tiny ducklings, and one with two bigger ducklings. This is the 6. The other two are at the top of the picture.

The girls crafted and drew happily each morning. See that bowl of apples? At one point I looked over and saw Peaches trying to bite one. I said, "Honey! Those aren't real apples!" She looked at me quizzically and said, "They not?"

I took it from her and went to put it back and found this...

Goof ball. Apparently she had tried each and every one! And I totally forgot about it until I was editing these pictures. T had turned them over so you couldn't see the bites and I had meant to see if Walmart had any to replace them and then totally forgot! Whoops. Hopefully it will give the next guests a laugh. :P

The girls and I spent 5+ hours at the pool each day. We would head down around 9:30 stay till 11:30, head back to the room for lunch, come back at 12:30 and stay until 2:30 (the first day, and then they swam with Daddy from 4-5) the second day we stayed till 3:30.

They swam and swam and went down the slide - over to the hot tub - back to the pool, and then repeated the process about a hundred times each!

Lou actually did pretty well. She would get about an hour at the pool until some particularly loud noise would wake her up and then she would sit in my lap and bounce and watch the fun.

Peaches stayed on the steps and refused to go out in the water the first couple hours. Then she would go in her floaty as long as she was tightly gripping someone's hands.

But then by the end of the day after lots of singing and clapping games we got her comfortable enough to float around by herself as long as she had both her life jacket and floaty.

I was worried that she wouldn't want to wear her life jacket because she didn't last year, but I knew without any other adult supervision that she would have to wear it at all times and she did. She never seemed to think twice about it.

Such a cutie.

Daddy had his fancy dinner the second night, and the girls had already watched some tv in the hotel room so we headed out for a walk and decided to eat at the the pizza place rather than having it delivered. Then on our walk back we found a frozen yogurt place so of course we had to stop and give it a try. :)

Lou is rarely still these days, but this particular moment she was just lounging. :)

She loved this King sized bed! I would put pillows all around the perimeter and sit there reading my book and she would squirm and roll all over the bed!

Back to the pool for a nap.

Occasionally the pool would get crowded and have 20+ people there, but they never lasted very long. For the most part we had it to ourselves.

In the mornings I would sit in the sun while Lou slept in her car seat, but in the afternoons I swam with the girls when she slept. Peaches didn't last very long in the cold water and would come sit in the sun with me. It was another cold year. I think the highest it got was 77 and that was in the late afternoon. Most of the time we were swimming it was barely 70.