GREAT GRANDMA SMITH!!!!

With all the craziness of moving and trying to figure out what school the kids would go to I did not realize that their school start up date was TEN DAYS after all the other schools! With this pleasant surprise of extra time we decided to take a trip to ARIZONA! I have been so sad that my Grandma Smith has never gotten to meet Bailey. The life of a responsible, busy adult sucks sometimes. Finally the timing was right and we booked flights for the kids and I to Phoenix! Daddy had to stay home and work. Not fun! But we are very grateful for all that he does so we can do all that we do. My parents and little brother were in town at the same time, so that was a huge added bonus!

My kids LOVE flying. Spoiled! Every one of 'em! Bailey, Braxton and I sat together and McKenzie was across the aisle waiting to find out who would sit by her. She was very excited about sitting next to a stranger, because she is a social butterfly, and weird! Three tall, young, handsome cowboys, hats and all, came sauntering down the aisle and I saw her eyes widen with excitement. SHOOT ME NOW! WE ARE SO HOSED WITH THIS KID! One sat by her, the not cute one, and he slept the whole time... bahaaaa. The other two sat behind us. Why is this important? Because they were in our ear shot as they flirted with the flight attendants about the rodeo they were flying to and the hard life of a lonely, tough cowboy, etc. One of the "tough cowboys" apparently was not a fan of flying. He can risk his life riding a bucking bronco, but throw a little turbulence at this kid and he LOSES HIS MIND! He was white as a ghost and death gripping the arm rest when the flight got bumpy. To add insult to his injury, my THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER sat directly in front of him with her hands thrown up in the air on the big bumps giggling uncontrollably between squeals of delight, "WEEEEEE... IT'S LIKE SIX FLAAAAAAGS!!!" All the excitement got to her and she crashed hard shortly thereafter. I love sleepy pictures : ) We had a layover in SLC - ANOTHER BONUS! Grandma Bowman and Great Grandma Buttars met us at the baggage claim to hang out and chat until our next flight. It was so sweet of them! I'm so glad they came! We had a great time and the kids got to tell them all about their flight. Then it was on to Phoenix! I caught Braxton multiple times pretending like he was in a fighter jet shooting down enemies (insert full boy sound effects here). It was a riot! I caught a picture of him in the act. At PHX the kids loved the cool plane suspended above the escalator. We almost tripped at the bottom because we were all staring up at it. The red rocket is our sweet Mazda ride for the week. MAN that thing was comically tiny.

Oh my goodness. Words cannot describe the feelings and memories that come back to me as soon as I spot my first palm tree. Pulling in to Grandma's driveway I am simply flooded with emotion. I absolutely love this place and all that it has meant to me in my life. I am so excited to share it with my children so they can start building their own memories here!

The kids were immediately smitten with Grandma. How could they not be? Every time Bailey walked by her she would sneak a quick hug. It melted my mamma heart pretty dang good! I am so thankful for all of the extended family members that took the time to come by and hang out with us. We got to see The Squire family, The Springer family (our kids hit it off right away and played for HOURS!), Cheryl Smith, Butch & Michelle Watkins (Butch recruited Kenz to make him koolaid just like he did to me every time he came to our house when I was a kid), Brandon and Christie Watkins (they brought their dogs and my kids "babysat" them for hours). Bailey just loved my cousin Megan! She still talks about her all the time... how sweet she was, what great hugs she gives, and how many cookies Megan's mom and dad snuck Bailey when I wasn't looking LOL! Bailey also loved Grandma's little dog, Sophie. Usually she is terrified of all dogs except her own, but not Sophie!

M Y   K I D S   A R E   F I S H ! ! ! ! ! 

The first morning at Grandma's house they woke up at SIX AM READY TO SWIM! Oh my heavens. They swam EVERY day we were there except for Sunday. Kenz even got comfortable swimming in the deep end! It's just so cool to me that this is the same pool that I LIVED in at their age. I had all kinds of pool stories to tell them - like how every male in the family (including their uncles, their grandpa, and their DAD) would sneak out and jump off the second story balcony into the pool without Grandma knowing. I love this pool and I love that my kids now love this pool!

This is Jackson Springer, Braxton's long lost brother! They look so much alike! He is my cousin Katie's kiddo. They sat and talked baseball, watched baseball, and threw the baseball for HOURS! It was so funny! The bottom pic is my super weird son who insisted, when we walked to Coco's for brunch one day when it was 113 degrees outside (not an exaggeration), to order HOT CHOCOLATE! I am sweating just thinking about it!

Very convenient that my baby brother Matthew's  17th Birthday was Saturday while we were in town. Even more convenient, Justin Timberlake was also in town! Of COURSE I had to get tickets for a birthday bash date night with big sis and JT!!! Words cannot describe the amazingness that is a JT concert. Mind blowing is putting it lightly. It was absolutely incredible and worth every penny. We had so much fun! I am so grateful for Matt and I love him to pieces. I am so glad I got to spend his big day with him this year - it has been a long time since I have gotten to do that. Love you little bro!!!

OH - THE BOTTOM PIC!!! HILARIOUS!!! WE FOUND WALDO OUTSIDE THE SHOW, LITERALLY!!!

Sunday we got to go to church with Grandma! We got some great pics with Grandma in our Sunday best. The best part of the day... Grandma leaned over as Sacrament was coming to an end and asked if she could take Bailey over to meet her friends. Of course I said yes. Grandma grabbed Bug's hand, ditched her walker and practically ran to the other side of the chapel to see her friends. It was so sweet and so funny how fast she moved! She is amazing!

Sunday afternoon we found a big box if random family pictures in Grandpa's office. They ranged in age from pics of when my dad was a kid to when Kenzie was a toddler! We spread them out on Grandma's bed and my mom, Grandma, the kids and I looked through them and talked about family memories for hours! Braxton was hooked! He was taking pictures of his favorites with his Nintendo DS. At one point he said "I LOVE GENEALOGY!" Grandma chuckled and had a huge smile on her face. It was one of the best times I have ever had with Grandma. I can't get enough of the old family stories from her past. My very favorite - "Grandma, how did you meet Grandpa?" Grandma worked in a salon and with her best friend, whose mom owned the salon. They kept bugging her about meeting their brother, Howard. They finally met and Grandma was NOT interested at ALL! Grandpa stopped by every day trying to convince her to go out with him. She said he had a whole lot of facial hair and she hated it. She thought she finally found a way to get rid of him... "Shave that mess off your face and I will go on a date with you." She thought she would never hear from him again. The next day Grandpa came in to the salon all dressed up, handsome, and CLEAN SHAVEN! She was shocked and stuck! She laughed as she retold the story, "Now I didn't have a choice! I HAD to go out with him!" And the rest is history : )  

The night before we left we got to hang out with my crazy cool cousins, the Mortimers. I so wish we lived closer to these kids. they are so much fun and my kids adored them! They brought out a giant bin full of legos and the kids were in heaven! We got to hear them play some of their instruments (these kids are ridiculously talented just like their mamma and daddy!) We had a great time. I wish we could have stayed longer and I hope we get to visit again soon!

Before we headed to the airport we took Matt and visited the Mesa Temple, where my mom and dad were sealed! It was just as beautiful as I remembered. My cousin Katie met us out there to give us hugs before we headed home. It was a great way to end our trip!

When we would head home from Grandma Smith's house when I was a kid she would always have goody bags and a five dollar bill for each of us to spend on treats or toys on the way home. She has not changed, except she has apparently accounted for inflation! She gave each kid a crisp twenty dollar bill as we were saying goodbye. THEY FLIPPED OUT!!! They don't ever have that much of their own money to spend at once. Big shocker - the girls didn't even make it to our GATE before they spent it all. Bailey bought a cute ballerina baby that she named after Great Grandma Smith. Meet Baby Lucy! Kenz bought a walking piggie and Braxton saved his money for a Grimlock Transformer he had been folding laundry and doing dishes for for WEEKS! He was $7 short when we went to Arizona and he was the happiest kid on the planet that he could buy his toy without taking out the trash any more! 

Saying goodbye to Grandma was so difficult because I have no idea when we will be able to see her again. The kids and I cried the whole way tot he airport :( I am so grateful that we were able to come. As always she made us feel like the most important people on earth. Her home was our home. It was a trip the kids and I will never forget. I hope we can come back sooner than later. WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA!!! THANK YOU!!!

Summer's Miscellaneous Adventures

Summer is quickly drawing to a close : (

We are squeezing in as many fun things as we can before school starts. Here are some random fun days that couldn't just sit in my photos file on the laptop...

SOOOOSHI! So I had a Groupon for our favorite sushi date night place, "Drunken Fish". Problem is that with selling the house and the move we didn't get to use it. Rich conveniently had a day off the day it expired so we packed up the kids and had a sushi lunch since we don't have a babysitter yet. I figured the kids would eat Miso Soup and sushi rice and we would eat the goodness. I figured WRONG! They are HOOKED on the fishy stuff (pun intended). Braxton was all about it - "Mom pass me some more octopus and soft shell crab please!"  He ate more than I did little stink! And he tried edamame. He said it was "okay" and then we reach over to get some and he had EATEN IT ALL!!! We ordered a non fish roll, Philly Cheesesteak. Kenz LOVED it. Once it was gone Rich slipped in tuna, salmon, you name it and told her it was cheesesteak since she refused to try "nasty fish". She is a sucker. After we were done we told her all the fish she ate. Her eyes got big and she yelled "I LOVE SUSHI!" I quickly realized what we had gotten ourselves into by getting them hooked when I saw the bill. Oops! It was so much fun though., I love watching my kids try new things! And I LOVE me some sushi! Not going to lie though, my favorite part of the meal was watching them try to use chopsticks. They have a long way to go! :D

More sunny day fun at our favorite new splash park!

Amanda, Chris, Rilea, Dylan, and Sandy came to play one Saturday. The kids had a blast going for a walk around our new place. They love "sploring" as Dylan called it. We live next door to the fire station so D was in HEAVEN looking through the giant glass doors. They also played a rousing game of Uncle Rich the Jungle Gym and pull the iron out of the huge cement black by the power plant. It was like sword in the stone - ghetto style. D almost had a hernia trying to win!

The Magic House is a summer staple to get out of the heat and have some fun!

We had  a blast with trips to the Zoo, a new splashpad, and Aquaport with all of our awesome friends! B's goggles picture is NOT at the pool... or the splashpad... it is in the shower... he is weird... and hilarious...that is all. 

We FINALLY had a free weekend to go hang out in Quincy with the Doellman Fam and see there new house! YAAAAAYYYY!!!! No idea what happened to Amanda and I and our usual "take 50 photos a day" shutterbuggedness but I literally only got a few pics the whole awesome weekend! DUMB! We got in late Friday night and went out to "The Farm" (Chris' dad's amazing property out in the woods) on Saturday. The kids ran around like kids did back in the day, exploring, Searching for critters, playing tag, getting dirty! Love it! We shot guns, ate, played games, ate, road the four wheeler, and ate some more! Nothing beats brats and dogs over a big ol fire pit followed by Reese's smores. Yes, I said Reese's. Try it. It will blow your mind! Amanda made us try them and OH...MY...GOODNESS! We all went to church on Sunday and then had a relaxing afternoon just hanging out and goofing off. It was a great weekend away. Thanks Amanda and Chris for letting us come play! I'm just sorry that it took us so long to get out there : (  And thank you Jim & Lynn for letting us take over your place for the day. We really appreciate it! Can't wait till we can come back!!! The pic of Kenz on the drive home is the best proof of an amazing weekend!

We squeezed in one last trip to one of our favorite places, the Science Center. And just like, summer was over:(  Now it's time to GO TO SCHOOL!!!

SPLASH!

One of our big finds since moving in to our hotel in Illinois is the most amazing splash pad! It has 2 little creeks, 2 playgrounds, a huge pavilion, and the largest splash pad area we have ever seen! We have spent quite a few hot summer days here! SO much fun, and it makes for cute pictures, too : )

Double DATE - CRABS & CONCERT!!!

Before we sent Jim and Juanita home we wanted to have an adult night out on the town! We packed SO much in to one day folks... our big night happened ON OUR WAY BACK FROM VACATION! Hard core? Yep!

The plan... Crab Leg buffet till we all POP, and then Steve Miller Band and Journey at the Verizon Amphitheater!!! We dropped off the kids with some great friends and started our double date off right at the Hollywood Casino to crack some crab like there was no tomorrow! We have made believers (and addicts) of Jim & Juanita. They are hooked for life!

Not quite sure how we got to the concert. I must have blacked out for a little while during my crab coma. We have NEVER seen Verizon packed like that! It was CRAZY! We had lawn seats, expecting to sit and relax and enjoy the show. NOPE! Try standing room only on the back fence! SMB was SO good. Journey was a little disappointing. It's just not the same as the original. Steve Perry just simply can't be matched! We are Bowman's though, so we still had a great time and had a lot of laughs!

Best In-Laws ever people! Can your in-laws party like that? DOUBT IT! Okay, Jenni and Micah, maybe yours can because they are the same in-laws... so that doesn't count.

What a freaking fun night! LOVE THEM!!!

The last picture = vacation success!!! All three out cold before we hit the freeway!

Lake of the Ozarks!!!

We have not had a family vacation, except for visiting extended family, in a very long time! We went to the Kansas City Temple Open House two years ago for a weekend, and before that our last vacation was when Bailey was two months old! It was time! We wanted to go somewhere new, relaxing, and decently close by. We decided to try out the Lake of the Ozarks. We were so excited that Grandma and Papa Bowman got to come play with us!!!

Reader Warning:

This post will most likely, okay most definitely, be a REALLY long one. I have so many great memories that I know I will forget if I don't write them down. So, because of my terrible memory, you get to wade through way too many details to get to the good stuff... The PICTURES! Some of the details might make your side hurt from laughing though, just FYI  : ) Okay, back to the vacation...

We rented a sweet condo on the water for a few nights. It had a deck with incredible views where we spent a majority of our time! The pics in the middle are a panoramic-ish view from the deck. We could sit and watch wave runners, water skiers, and speed boats on the lake. The sunset was beautiful! It was so incredibly relaxing. JUST what we all needed! No rush rush, just chill!

 We made a trip to Walmart for groceries once we explored our new home for the week and got settled in. This was exciting only because we had been living in a hotel for weeks with only a mocrowave to cook anything. I was THRILLED to have some real, homemade food! I was even more thrilled that I had Jim and Juanita in the kitchen cooking too!!! While we were shopping we got sidetracked in the Fishing department. We went home with WAY too much food for seven people to eat in four days, a couple little fishing poles, and all the gear we needed to catch some fishies!

We didn't get to fish the first night, but the next morning, bright and early, when I asked Kenz what she wanted for breakfast, she said, "I don't want breakfast, I WANNA GO FISHING!!!" About the same time poor Braxton was puking his little guts out. TERRIBLE timing, Stomach Bug! Seriously? Battling high fever, body aches, calling on dinosaurs, NOT on our vacation to-do list! It just breaks my heart when my kids are hurting and I can't fix it. Seeing them miss out on fun times and memories makes it that much worse! He kept moaning and saying, through his tears, things like, "This is the worst vacation EVER!" It sounded very similar to the last time Kenz had the stomach gunk... "This is the worst Christmas EVER!" I can't say that I disagree with them when putting myself in their shoes : ( Good thing it usually only lasts 24 hours! Vomit is awful!

Rich and I took turns nursing our sweet boy and making sure the girls still had a good time. I took Kenz and Bailey fishing off the boat dock outside our condo. It was a RIOT! I should write a graphic novel about those couple of hours. It would fly off the shelves. It was that freaking hilarious fishing with these nut jobs! Papa came down to join us and Grandma watched from the balcony, looking up from her book when she heard Kenz scream in fear, because that meant she had caught a fish and we were trying to force her to touch it! NOT... MY... KID!!! (Or Rich's either, for that matter). Bailey absolutely LOVED fishing too! She caught her first one super fast and squeals of joy just kept coming the more she caught! Eventually Bug and I got hungry for lunch but NOTHING could convince Kenz to hang up her pole. That girl fished for over THREE HOURS SOLID! We forced her to come inside at that point and she was not happy about it. The next day, even though he still wasn't feeling 100%, we let Braxton go fishing. We couldn't keep him cooped up any more. Poor kid! It was so sad seeing him on the balcony, pale faced with a puke bowl at his side, looking down at all the fish the girls were catching the day before : ( He was in heaven sitting on the dock with Dad and Papa, feet dangling in the water, finally catching some fish! We had planned on doing all kinds of fun things while in the Ozarks. Go karts? Movies? Arcade? Mall? Nope! All my kids wanted to do was fish! So that's what we did! My favorite pic is the bottom left... Kenz has her head buried as deep as possible in Papa's arm pit, her arm fully extended with pole in hand, because that is as far away from the fish as she could get! WUSSY! I also love the super nervous look on her face in the bottom right pic. She wouldn't look at the camera because she had to make sure dad wouldn't swing the fish any closer to her than it already was. DOUBLE WUSSY!

 Another activity the kids loved was going to the "beach." I hear this word and think white sand and palm trees. Not so much... It was an area of the lake front that had been cleared and lined with tiny gravel pebbles (think stepping on a million itty bitty legos). The kids didn't care though. They had a blast! There was a little playground, beach chairs, and a zero entry lake to play in! The best part of the "beach" was the rides, aka "DADDY, FLIP ME AGAIN!" And he did... over and over and over and over. His arms were killing him! He threw them SO high up the air that Grandma and I had a hard time watching! "AGAIN! AGAIN!" Braxton loved flipping. His faces were cracking me up! McKenzie was not a flipping fan. Then again, she wasn't a get in the lake beyond her ankles fan either. "THE FISH ARE BITING ME!!!" Again... WUSSY! Rich convinced her to come out and play once and she was like throwing a slug into the air. She was too freaked out to function! She was a land dweller after that. Bailey, on the other hand, was a flipping JUNKY (see what I did there? hahaha). I tried to flip her in the pool... she surfaced mad and said, "Daddy is better"... Yuh think? He flipped her so many times that she developed her own signature move, because she is silly and weird. She would hit the water, pop up, dunk her face back in, and then pop her leg up and point her toe as her finishing pose. See? She is silly and weird, but hilarious!



Now on to my VERY FAVORITE part of the trip. The part where Rich convinces me not to be cheap and to have an absolute BLAST doing something I have never done before... WE GOT WAVE RUNNERS PEOPLE!!! AND I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A GROUPON!!! HAHAHA Seriously though, why am I so cheap? Why do I so often deprive my family of mind-blowing fun for the sake of saving money? This is something I need to let go of and "live a little," as Rich reminded me. So... I lived A LOT. I lived speeding over wakes in the middle of the lake going 60+ miles an hour! I lived catching some serious air, screaming like a little girl, while looking over my shoulder to see why Rich couldn't keep up!  (okay, that only happened once, but STILL!) MAN we had SO MUCH FUN! The air and lake water whipping across my face knocked the cheap right out of me! As much as we loved speeding around together, just Rich and I, we had to be good parents too... we had to share our two hour toys with our kids. Grandma and Papa got them all ready to go and waited on the boat dock for us to pick them up once we got the need for speed out of our system. They were all a bit nervous at first but they were squealing with joy and yelling "FASTER" in no time at all! Kenz rode with me and Rich had B and Bug. I absolutely loved hearing their hoots and hollers and "EEEEEEE"s over the rumble of the engines. I was grinning ear to ear the whole time... that is until, as McKenzie puts it, "DADDY ALMOST KILLED BRAXTON AND BAILEY!" We were doing donuts and everything was right with the world and then Rich's runner started to lean too much and he flashed me a look that I translated to say, "Don't freak out but we are going over! My bad!" He was able to throw Bailey and B out of the way of the Wave Runner as it tipped. He popped up first, looking nervous searching for the kids, then B popped up pretty freaked out and ready to "Hulk Smash" Dad, and then Bailey popped up totally upside down, legs straight as sticks. Rich grabbed her and flipped her upright. She saw me smiling and clapping, which I did so she wouldn't freak out even though I WAS FREAKING OUT. She held her breath so she wasn't even sputtering. She seemed fine until Rich tried to have her climb on to the very unsteady wave runner with Braxton, and then she completely lost it! I hated watching and not being able to help. In the end everyone calmed down and they were fine. For some weird reason, though, they didn't want to ride anymore. Odd! LOL We took them back to Grandma and Papa and finished out our rental time on the wave runners of awesomeness! Excluding the little spill, we had an absolutely fantastic time! Worth EVERY penny and then some! Can't wait to do it again!!!

Sadly, our vacation was coming to a close. We ate a ton of Brats and even more of Papa's blackberry crisp. We also watched movies, read books, took naps, played card games, and relaxed more than any of us had in a very long time! It was fabulous! On the way home we decided to have one last Ozarks hoorah. We took a tour of the Ozark Caverns! It was so incredibly cool! We couldn't take pictures inside though dangit! Just trust me, it was amazing! This part was my favorite (jacked the pic from google)... It's called "Angel Showers." The water drips constantly and seems to come from solid rock. They have never been able to determine the source of the water flow and it has not stopped since the State took over the Caverns. Just incredible! In the dark we saw bats, tiny salamanders, and the elusive know-it-all! The guide asked if anyone had any questions. Someone asked a question and MY KNOW-IT-ALL DAUGHTER ATTEMPTED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION BEFORE THE GUIDE COULD RESPOND! So... that happened! Good thing it was dark and no one could see me pop her on the back of the head! Uuuuuugh! The tour was so cool though, and the kids loved it as much as we did! Fascinating! They also had a cool little visitors center with all kinds of neat things for the kids to see and do. It was a great cherry on the top of our vacation sundae! 

I am so grateful for everything and everyone that made our sweet trip possible. I am SO glad Jim & Juanita got to come with us! It was way more fun with them playing with us! Can't wait to start planning our next one! We love you two crazy kids! THANK YOU!!!!!!

Happy 4th Weekend!!!

Our Fourth of July was EXTRA special this year. Grandma and Papa Bowman came!!! We had big plans for a mind blowing weekend to kick off our vacation! Rich had to work part of the 4th so we went for a walk to the playground. Bailey batted her eyelashes though and got a ride instead of a walk. Papa has a hard time saying "No!" He will learn : ) Braxton had some sweet thumb war matches too. It was a beautiful day!

Next up, Barbecue and fireworks! Just outside the door of the hotel, Braxton saw something that made his eyes about pop out of his head! He just recently saw Transformers 4 with Rich so spotting "Optimus" really got the kid excited! Optimus Prime is basically any blue semi truck we drive by. Just like Bumblebee is any yellow car with black racing stripes. Standing up next to this truck made B realize just how little he is : ) He was STOKED when I told him he could go stand by it... If you know my son, you know this made his DAY!

After the first of many meals filled with delicious meat and regret on our vacation, we headed out to Mascoutah, a little tiny town not too far from where we were, to see their big fireworks show! I was blown away! This was a killer fireworks show for a big city, let alone a one gas station town! We will be back! It helped ease the sadness of not going to our "spot" in St. Louis that we have spent the 4th at every year since we moved here. We had a great night!

What's a weekend celebrating 'Mrca without a ball game? I know, everyone is super shocked that we had to squeeze in a Cardinals game. It was hot and we were very damp, but SO worth it for a Saturday afternoon at the ballpark!  Grandma spoiled us with Ben & Jerry's and a bottomless helmet of caramel corn... yah - that was a self control dilema I would rather not discuss... let's just say the helmet won. Almost all of us had a fantastic time. Once Braxton realized that there was no chance we would win this game he was BEYOND DEVASTATED! He was so upset! Broke my Mommy/Cardinal-lover heart real quick. Braxton, please accept my apology for posting this. I know you will hate me for a little while, but I love this picture too much not to share it. It just shows how much heart you have kiddo, and how much you FREAKING LOVE THE CARDINALS!!! Hopefully you will find it in your huge heart to forgive me : )

I love this silly picture for so many reasons: the kids would not stop making fun of Rich for wearing the tiny pink backpack, filled with 40 pounds of water bottles, Grandma was dying laughing at Rich's super femme-bot voice, which came naturally once the backpack was on, and my favorite thing about this picture is Bailey staring up at Daddy : D

Sunday we went to church, relaxed, and hung around the hotel. We took over the breakfast area and had a huge linner (you know, church goes through lunch and you are WAY too hungry to wait for dinner? Linner!) Then we took some sweet naps and played some heated games of Uno on Grandma and Papa's hotel bed. It was a great Sunday!

Monday we headed out to Eckert's Farms to Papa's heaven - aka the blackberry patches!  We picked blackberries like mad and most of us had very sick tummies since eating while you pick is encouraged. Yah - free blackberries off the vine if you eat them right there - we ate A LOT OF BLACKBERRIES! We also picked A LOT OF BLACKBERRIES! Papa was in the zone picking like there was no tomorrow! It was pretty hilarious. Pretty sure Papa bought over 10 POUNDS of them. The first few days the kids could not get enough and I kept catching them sneaking into the fridge and stealing them. Papa made Blackberry Crisp THREE nights in a row on our vacation because there were never any leftovers and, let's face it, we had plenty of 'em! Three weeks later...Me: "Guys, eat some blackberries, please!" Kids: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! PLEASE DON'T MAKE US!!!!!!!!" We might not ever eat blackberries again, but MAN they were good! My favorite pic - B trying to thumbs-up power his way through a way too sour one that he insisted was ripe and turned his cheeks inside out. BAHAAAA

Aaaaaaaand maybe that night we went to ANOTHER Cardinals game... maybe...
Aaaaaaaand maybe it stormed on us more than once. The pictures of the clouds rolling in were so cool! Aaaaaaaaand maybe the freezing cold, poring rain made it that much more fun and memorable. Why? Because we are BOWMANS! WE ARE HARD CORE! Bailey wasn't upset at all with the rain. She just wanted to catch rain drops on her little tongue : ) Aaaaaaaaand maybe we still got a very sad Bracky face when the Cards were down a couple runs, but we pulled off a win! Another fabulous night making ballpark memories! GO CARDS! Now it's off to bed and up early in the morning for the REAL vacation to start! Next post people... stay tuned : )

The Birthday Kids!

The kids and I got to go to Quincy for a couple days for Rilea & Dylan's birthday party! It was a good break from hotel life and fast food! The party was so much fun!  We got Rilea a Justice brush with a big "R" on it to match McKenzie's "M" brush. Kenz told her MONTHS ago she would get her one and they were both so excited about it! B picked out "boy stuff" for D. We got him a couple light sabers and a super hero cape and mask, "So he can dress up in cool guy stuff, not like a princess!" Ri & D have SO many people that love them, and spoil them : ) I'm grateful we got to be a part of their big day! My parents and Matthew got to come too! It was an added bonus to see them!