Branson baby - Vacay with BFF's

Vacations with your best friends and their kids is really an underrated adventure. We already knew this BUT this summer's vacation with our BFF's (the Hammer's) proved that our friendship can withhold anything ... even living with 5 young kids and 4 adults in a nice, but small 3 bedroom condo for 5 days.  GRanted we drank a lot (the adults .. not the kids) but every day was packed full of events, including water parks, theme parks, boating, shows, river boat rides, tubing, swimming and lots and lots of eating! Before I forget to mention this, is was 100 plus degrees almost every day!
Our kids adore each other, well all of our girls adore each other. Benny (the only boy) has his moments but his 3 year old personality doesn't always mesh well with the little girls.
The week was a success and we are already looking forward to our next adventure together. I did a terrible job at taking pictures - Paige did a much better job but she does old school pics (still has them developed and doesn't keep anything on digital file) .... so kiddos, if you want more pics of this vacation check with Paigie. I almost forgot about the cheesy tourist pics I purchased out of guilt for not bringing my camera!

First of all ... how can you not love this family! Can you see why they are our best friends?

TABLE ROCK LAKE
We all voted and our favorite day was the day we rented a big ole pontoon boat with a tube and went out on Table Rock lake. It was the Hammer's first tubing experience. Of course I have no pics but it was a fantastic day!



WHITE WATER
Taking 5 kids under 8 years old to a huge water park can be intimidating. But all of our kids did awesome. My kids LOVED LOVED LOVED the water slides ... much to my surprise. They went on every water slide they were tall enough to ride (which was all of them but 2) and begged until the very end to go again and again. Even Quinn!

Ready for our first water park experience!



It was 5,000 degrees this day and we had just tracked across 1/2 mile of black asphalt. But we still managed smiles ... except Benny ... love this face!



Jenna, Hassie Clare and Quinn with us in the wave pool.

SILVER DOLLAR CITY
What a fun day .... but it was smokin' hot outside. This was suppose to be the coolest day of the week (high was only 98) ... but of course it was 98 all day long with sky high humidity. But we managed to keep our kids hydrated, ride lots of rides and tour an awesome cave. In fact ... the highlight of this day was our adventure down in Marvel Cave. Jamie had talked to the girls about it for weeks. Hassie Clare was super excited and Quinn was pessimistically optimistic:) It ended up being a wonderful learning experience and an awesome way to cool off!

Hassie Clare, Quinn, Jenna riding the tea cups.

The kids (minus Morgan) and Dad's riding a kiddie roller coaster.

Jenna and Quinn (kindred souls) riding Aladdin's Carpet ride ... I think.

Mom's and babes.

Dad's and babes .. resting in the shade.

HC was PO'ed that she was not tall enough to ride the big kid rides but some of them she could ride with an adult. Oyiee .... I don't enjoy rides like I use to but I better get use to it! And last but not least ... Quinn's first "real" roller coaster!

Had to buy this pic .. it is Quinn's first "real" roller coater ride. The girls were not big enough to sit in the front or back so I doubt they saw much ... but we got drenched on the log ride!

SHOWBOAT BRANSON BELLE

We took a dinner cruise with live entertainment on the lake. The kids loved the singers, dancers and comedian. Not sure I would do this one again but it was fun to do once!

30 years and counting of being best friends.

My oh my how their friendship has changed throughout the years.

The girls felt so grown up! Morgan got called up to the stage to be the magician's assistant and she did a fabulous job!

The Farkel family:)

Quinn. Morgan and Hassie Clare

Teaching Jenna how to be a sweet southern belle.

**Although we spoiled the heck out of our kids this week, they still managed come up with a way to give back to others. Hassie Clare and Quinn are huge advocates for St. Jude and they have recruited Morgan and Jenna to join them in their love for this amazing children's cancer research hospital that never turns away a child. They all decided, on their own, to have a competition against each other to see who can raise the most money to donate to St. Jude by December - when the Hammer's will come down for the St. Jude Half Marathon. The only rule is that they have to do something to earn the money for it to count. They started by making and decorating paper fans (out of paper plates) while we were in Branson and selling them for $1. HOW COOL ARE OUR KIDS!





We are so lucky to have such a loving family that wants to be a part of our lives. We could not ask for better friends. We love them unconditionally and always will.

 

10 years ... and counting

This magically beautiful life of mine was all made possible because 2 people feel in love.



Happy 10th Anniversary to my best friend. Thank you for making my dreams come true.

It takes 2 hands to count how old we are now!

My sassy six year olds.

Time sure does fly when you are having fun! Instead of having a big bash at our house like we do most years to celebrate their special day, we all decided to have their party at this super cool, new indoor trampoline park. The place is BAD TO THE BONE. My highly opinionated 6 year olds decided they were too old for a "Barbie" party or a "American Girl" party ... whatever. They decided on a gum ball themed party since they love gum!

I got lucky and found some cute gum themed invites, party favors and balloons. In keeping with tradition, my girlfriend / hairdresser / cake baker made their cake and I think she was more excited about the theme than any of us! I booked the deluxe jump package at the trampoline park and I was done! I thought it turned out cute and it was just what Hassie Clare and Quinn wanted.



Invitations and little gumball machine party favors

The picture does not do the cake justice. It looked JUST like a real gumball machine in real life.

Uncle Dave, Aunt Jenny and Jojo

Quinnie and her long standing BFF Anna Peyton (even though they never get to see each other - AP is a year older and goes to a different school)

Quinnie with some school buds.

Hassie Clare and slightly over stimulated. She is much more into the action then hanging out with her friends. She had a BLAST!

Some of the grownups had just as much fun! I was one of them but there is no way in hell I'm posting any of the pics of me on here. Note to self - never wear a skort (skirt with built in shorts) to a trampoline park and always wear a sports bra x's 3!

The girls individual cakes were a dime and a penny..... for the gumball machine of course!

My birthday girls. I absolutely can not rap my mind around how 6 years has gone by. How is the world did I get this darn lucky???? 

Quinnie's big toe nail feel off as we were handing out the party favors. It was slightly traumatic for her and horribly disgusting for the rest of us.

We ran out of time at the birthday party so we opened presents at home. Soooo much easier this way with two kids opening presents at the same time without 28 other kids trying to help.

As always, Maema made the trip down for their party and spent a few days spoiling them rotten. Spending time with her was hands down their favorite gift. Nana and Paw Paw ventured out and joined us at the party. Hassie Clare and Quinn were surrounded by family and friends and they said, "this is the bestest birthday party ever!"

The morning my babies turned 6:

Adventures of living like a redneck ... and loving it!

Our little river rats.

I mentioned to Jamie a few weeks ago that we should take the girls camping. I was always envious as a child of the families in our neighborhood that went camping. They would occasionally take me with them and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! Well, Jamie quickly reminded me that I am not your typical outdoorsy type girl. Tent sleeping is not my cup of tea. So I suggested we start looking for a good deal on a used pop-up camper with a good air conditioner. BAM ..... 3 days later we were the proud owners of a nice pop up camper. I was impressed with how far they have come. It has a sink, fridge, potty, shower, heated beds, outdoor shower, screened in porch. I think I can handle that kind of camping!

When I booked our first trip I made sure to book it at a campground not too far from home in case we needed to bolt in the middle of the night. :) Oh ye of little faith.

Little did I know that we would LOVE camping. Even me! The girls and I swam in the lake, we ate like champs, we snuggled lots, swam at the campground pool, rode bikes, and went on several adventures. In fact, Quinnie learned how to stop and start by herself on her bike now that her training wheels are off! The girls loved the freedom of the campground. We went on walks and checked out every bug, leaf and dead fish. I taught them how to skip rocks on the water.

We are hooked to say the least!

All camping trips require a trip to the Walmart. Look closely at our basket. HC is the opposite of a claustrophobic.

Our own personal chef.

This is what Quinn thinks of her Daddy's pancakes:

Roasting s'mores.

Eating junk food and watching movies at night time... talk about roughing it!  

Hassie Clare was trying to be so tough in front of her new camping buddies:

Quinnie was a wild woman on her bike once she got started... but always safe and cautious.

JT's home away from home - we like to kick it redneck style:)

Skipping rocks.

Sparklers - end of the year party

FINALLY ... my first head coaching gig is over. Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of my girls ... all 12 of them. They made HUGE improvements throughout the season. Most of them were super cute, well mannered and fun to be around. I learned a lot about myself coaching these little rug rats princesses:
1 - I don't want to have any more children.
2 - I really have no idea what it takes to be a good coach.
3 - I sometimes have a hard time communicating with parents when their kid is a brat.
4 - I like winning more then I thought I did. We only won 4 games all year.
5 - I really do love little girls.
6 - My love for softball has diminished greatly now that I no longer play.
7 - My heart will no longer be broken if my girls don't play softball.

With all that said, GO SPARKLERS! Can't wait to do it again next year!

Team pic after I handed out their super cute trophies - they have a big pink diamond on them. I had no idea how important trophies were to 5 year olds!