July 22, 2019

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• It was nice sleeping in a little bit today. Campbell, who really needed some rest, slept until after 10. The rest of the boys were up fairly early-as in, I was just getting out of bed when I noticed Graham outside hitting the ball with his new bat.
• The morning went by fairly quickly-laundry, dishes, reading to Whitman and the treadmill. After I finished the treadmill, I helped to finish packing Campbell. I thought that she was packing in a large suitcase (carry on size), but when I took her to camp, I was surprised to see that she was actually packed in a tiny suitcase compared to the other girls.
• After noon, we headed to take the campers to camp. Campbell and Graham were be at Camp Paron for a few days. I know that they are going to have a super time. Graham, just like his older brother does, gave me a hug before he got on the bus while Campbell, just like her older sister does, did not even wave bye to me when she got on the bus.
• After leaving church, I headed to Third Realm with Keaton and Whitman. I thought that I would try to defy the statistics one more time and leave with no injuries. We were indeed able to leave with no injuries so that is a win. They had fun jumping, and I took my computer and was able to accomplish a few things.
• The rest of this afternoon seemed to fly by. I did spend some time on the computer getting things ready to make another shirt or two tomorrow. It is kind of fun designing shirts-or coping someone else's design of a shirt.
• Robby, Keaton and I did run out for dinner. We had a mystery shop so the others stayed home while we went to eat. I think that they were a bit bummed that we had such yummy food while they had leftovers-they had a choice to go with us. But when we did get home, they did devour all of my leftovers!
• We watched a bit of a magic show thing on tv then I played Monopoly with Anderson, Whitman and Keaton. Reagan opted to take a shower while we did that! It was an exciting evening around here-not really! 

July 21, 2019-5th Trip to Branson

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The plan was for us to wake up at 8:30 this morning. We were going to let the kids sleep in. I woke up before my alarm went off-went to the bathroom, dropped my water bottle and realized that I did a poor job of closing the blinds. As I was crawling back in bed thinking that my girls sure must not be tire to sleep through all of my racket, Robby text telling me that the boys were all still asleep so he was going to let them sleep a bit longer.

I did the same, but after a while I did get myself ready and woke up the girls. They moved fairly quickly because my crew was almost all dressed when I went to take a load of cords to Robby's room. I opened the door to see that Anderson and Whitman were awake but still in their pajamas while Graham was still sound asleep. Robby went to eat breakfast-I tell you, he loves his sausage and biscuits.

There is something wonderful about loading up in a motel. It took us about .3 seconds to load up the van and pull out of the parking lot. There is nothing better than parking right in front of your room. All of us except for Robby had missed the hotel breakfast, so we stopped at Krispy Kreme. Everyone else in Branson also stopped at the Krispy Kreme. It was so crazy that Robby didn't even try to park, he just dropped us off and came back when we called after buying our doughnuts.

We ate our doughnuts in the car on the ride home. Robby and I spent most of our drive home working on our packing lists for upcoming trips. We have completely revamped how we pack in the car, and it is throwing us for a loop. For example, he forgot shredded cheese in the ice chest and I forget my pivotal brown bag that I carry into and out of every hotel. We needed a better list, and I made one.

We stopped at our regular McDonalds, and the women's bathroom line was incredibly long. We should have known that it would be since it was that way on the way up to Branson. That was our only stop on the way home. When we did make it home, our unpacking went the most smoothly that it has ever gone before. We, seriously, were like a well oiled machine. It was pretty amazing-I almost would have had time to squeeze in a nap.

After the laundry was finished, I helped Campbell and Graham pack for camp. This is the last camp of the year and I can't be more than happy about it. I am done with summer. Once the packing was finished, it was time to run a few errands.

Graham, Campbell and Keaton went with Robby and me to get gas, run by Walmart and do some Krogering. They all left happy since they each bought something-Graham a wiffle ball bat, Campbell and Keaton each bought rompers which I think are hideous but they love.

We also picked up pizza and brought it to the Wilson's house to celebrate their homecoming from their crazy long trip. We did have ulterior motives because we asked them about a zillion questions about Disney. Once we learned everything that we could for the night and once it was past bedtime, we headed home ourselves.

The kids went right to bed, they were tired and there are lots of folks around here with the sniffles. 

July 20, 2019-5th Trip to Branson

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So this is my second blog since I just deleted the one that I worked on today in the car, and by the swimming pool and the one that I worked on as the girls were showering. Needless to say, this one might be a bit shorter than the other one that I have already worked on. 

I didn't sleep that well last night. Well, I didn't feel like I had slept very well, but my watch said that I did sleep over 7 hours. I did have some crazy dreams which did make my night a bit more entertaining. When I woke up though I felt super rested so that was good.

Most everyone opted for leftover doughnuts for breakfast. Keaton did walk to the breakfast area with Robby and me. I had a muffin while Robby had his sausage and biscuits. Keaton opted for the not traditional breakfast food of popcorn. 

We then drove on to Silver Dollar City. As we were driving up, we could tell that it was going to be a crowded day. Robby did mention that we were a bit later than he wanted for us to be. He dropped us off so Reagan wouldn't have to walk so far on her ankle. Yesterday was quite a bit for her, but she did seem to recover nicely last night. 

The kids split up some in line for Time Traveler and some in line for Thunderation. The lines weren't too bad but I couldn't figure out why they weren't open yet since it was after 9. Then I looked at the app to discover that the park wasn't open until 9:30 so that was good. The kids were able to ride those rides with the Heltz before we moved on to another ride or two or twelve.

My kids aren't afraid of anything and ride pretty much anything all of the time. Campbell is the main rider and won't ever sit anything out. When we split up with some folks going one way and others another way, she is the one who is torn because she wants to do both rides.

It was crowded and hot today. When we left, Reagan tried to take Whitman on the log ride, but after she saw the huge line she turned him around. Apparently, everyone was at the water rides and not on the roller coasters so the kids were able to ride quite a bit.

We stayed until noonish and then headed back to the hotel. We fired up the panini maker for our sandwiches. The kids said that they were better with the panini maker so I guess we will be taking it on trips from now. 

Afterwards, some folks climbed in the pool-Graham, Campbell, Keaton and Whitman. I went out there with them and since there was no shade, I sat under an umbrella and almost sweated to death. I was miserable and probably got a little bit too hot even though they just stayed for about 40 minutes. I should have gotten in the pool so I wouldn't have had to fry in the sun.

When the kids left the pool, Robby headed to the laundry room with the clothes. He washed clothes while I took my nap. He was napping while I had the kids swimming so I did feel like it was my turn and it was a super wonderful nap. When the laundry was finished, Robby and I folded it.

Then it was time for us to go shopping. We used our coupon at the Disney store and left with 3 shirts for Anderson, another shirt for Graham and one for me. Then we walked through the sweltering heat to the Vera Bradley store. Robby had a coupon and of course I found a bag-I do just love bags!

Supper was next but we sure didn't want to eat anything hot. Keaton and Whitman opted for McDonald's hamburgers while the rest of us had smoothies and half sandwiches from Tropical Smoothie. The smoothies were delicious and they cooled us off enough to head back to Silver Dollar City.

The park was open until 10 tonight and not only was it hot, but it was also crowded. We were still able to ride quite a few rides. The kids enjoyed seeing the park at night-I did not! It was a bit too dark for me so it was a bit difficult to keep up with everyone. 

We did find the clearance store along with a few funnel cakes. Everyone had fun and all enjoyed seeing the fireworks. Some of the kids were on rides or even in line for rides during the fireworks. Robby and I were behind some trees watching them-that is how we like to see them.

We stayed until after 10 and had to fight the crowds to get out of the park. We did ride a shuttle to the car which helped Reagan with a few steps. She was definitely slowing down by the end of the night. Once we made it back to the hotel, everyone had to shower, drink some water and go to bed. It is now 11:30, Campbell is watching tv, Reagan is on her ipad, Keaton is asleep and I still have my shower to take! It was a hot day but it was sure a lot of fun!

July 19, 2019-5th Trip to Branson

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What a wonderful morning-I slept until around 8:30. I did stir briefly before then when I heard someone getting ice out of the ice maker. But then it was right back to sleep for me. We had planned to leave this morning around 11 and it took us until right at 11 to get ready to go.

I did work on the laundry first then there were dishes. When I try to go back and list everything that we I did this morning, I really have a hard time thinking of exactly what I did do. At some point, I did make lunches for everyone. We had thought that making lunches at home would be easier but when Robby looked all around the kitchen at the mess that I had made, he mentioned that maybe making lunches in the car doesn't create such a big mess.

Around 11, we pulled out and headed to Branson. We stopped at our normal McDonalds and even saw someone that we know. Then it was back on the road. The hotel did call on the way to say that the credit card didn't work. Robby called them back, and they told him that they had cancelled his reservations. It was fine though since we had time to run over there before finding the Heltz at Silver Dollar City.

We had been worried about Reagan today so we tried to make it easier on her, but there just aren't too many ways to make things easy for her walking so much. She did fine and hobbled around much better when Alyssa showed her that she was wearing the ankle brace backwards. She did fairly well, but did ask for a piggy back ride from Robby at one point.

It was hot today and there seemed to be a lot of people at the park, but there were little waits on all of the rides. Some of us went on Time Traveler and others on Thunderation. The Time Traveler line is usually long but today we finished both rides at about the same time.

From there, we went to the log ride. Whitman and Robby rode it twice while the others went to Wildfire. Then it was on to some more roller coasters one right after the other. The kids love them and Whitman goes on any ride that he can and when he isn't tall enough, he is content to just sit around and drink our drink. 

By the way, we bought a cup which gives you free refills in the park. You can have cokes or even icess. We refill it probably about 10 to 15 times each day. Even though we paid a lot of money on that cup, those poor park people are losing money on our drink! We get a refill, down it and then immediately walk right back to the same place to refill it again. Now, we just need to see how we can split a bottomless milkshake at Disney World.

We stayed at the parks until almost closing at 7. Robby tried to walk ahead and so he could pick up Reagan and the rest of us, but Reagan didn't want to stop and sit so we almost walked the entire way back to the car before we met up with Robby.

Back at the hotel, some had showers while Robby and I worked on supper-chicken tortillas. We thought that this hotel didn't have a microwave so we brought our panini maker, but dang it we forgot our shredded cheese. No worries though-we had planned on cheese and crackers tomorrow at the park but used that cheese on the tortillas tonight and they were delicious. We don't know if they were so good because of the cheese or because of the panini maker.

As Robby and I were making that delicious meal, Whitman was taking a bath. He was in the bath when I walked in the room so I really paid no attention to what was happening. A few minutes later, Robby jumped up and ran to the bathroom. By Robby's reaction when he opened the door, I knew exactly what was happening! I looked over his shoulder and saw that the water was so high that Whitman was about to float out of the bathtub. Seriously, he was about to float over the top of the bathtub. There was water everywhere!

When we finished supper, we headed to Krispy Kreme to get doughnuts. Since the one at home has closed the kids have been in withdrawls. They even passed out hot ones-they were all delicious. Graham even tried to get a 4th doughnuts when we had to cut him off. Someone even suggested that we try to open one up at home and do it right.

Back at the hotel, the rest of the people had their showers while I sat in the boys room and did my blog. Then it was bedtime for the crew-but first medicine for Reagan and her leg, ice for her leg and ear drops for Keaton (she is getting over swimmers ear.)

Tonight as we were putting ice on Reagan's ankle, she unbandaged it and saw that it was even more bruised than earlier. There is now a bruise on both side of her ankle-this was almost too much for Reagan. She said that she felt sick just looking at it. We might have to take it a bit easier tomorrow!

July 18, 2019

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• We woke up Keaton and Whitman and herded them off to camp. Since Campbell was at Grannymom's house, and Reagan was obviously sleeping, I had the morning to myself. I marked my list of quickly and was soon sitting in my chair reading my book. I didn't read too much since I was waiting on Robby to come home. He had picked up some craft supplies for me.
• So I spent the rest of my morning working on getting ready to make a few more Disney shirts. I am not a super crafty person, but it is sure fun to be able to make something. Today I was working on a shirt for Robby. I don't have his shirt yet, but will be able to knock it out quickly when I buy his shirt.
• Reagan did hobble downstairs around lunch time. If it wasn't for the kitchen being down stairs, I don't think that she would ever come down. She is just as content as she can be up in her room, and since summer is just going to last for about one more week around here-why not enjoy it? 
• After lunch, Grannymom and Grandpa brought Campbell home. She had a great evening and morning over there and even did some shopping. While they were here, Reagan found a recipe that she wanted to make. She convinced Campbell to make the cupcakes while she went to town making blueberry icing.
• The icing was delicious-anytime you have 5 cups of powdered sugar in something, then it is bound to be good. However, the texture of the icing was almost slimy. This of course turned Reagan off and she decided that she didn't like them. Now tonight, we did have those cupcakes for snack and for those that didn't eat the top of the cupcake with the icing, I gobbled it up!
• This afternoon I went to see the final performance at Family Farm. Keaton and Whitman had a great time this year. I think that this was probably a good growing experience for Whitman-doing new things, going to a new place. He did great. And Keaton is the best big sister ever. She made sure that he did the right thing and was with the group.
• Keaton also made sure to make him drink the cups of lemonade so he could save his gatorade for home. She would put their full drinks in her bag, haul it around all day, bring it home, label and put it in the fridge for another day. I would try to use those same drinks each evening for the next day's lunch, but she would have none of that. 
• During their performance, Robby, Reagan and Campbell went to pick up the boys. They had a super great time and were as talkative about their trip as a preteen boy could be. Graham seems to have recovered well from being sick. He did say that if they would have asked if he could go home, then he would have come home. (And I would have been there in record time to get him.) But I am super glad that he stuck it out. 
• Anderson was asked to help get the shower trailer ready to haul home. He felt like that was pretty cool and told me all about it. They both said that everyone worked really hard and I know that they did.
• By the time I made it back from Malvern, the boys were already home and their clothes were in the wash. We worked around the house some and tried to clean out the fridge for supper. Afterwards, Robby and I took the little 3 to the pool while the others showered and packed their bags. This is really the first time that I have let the boys pack their bags without some assistance. We shall see if that was a good or idea or not. It wasn't that hard for them since they basically just had to put everything in the clean laundry pile into the bag.
• The kids enjoyed the pool. Even though we haven't swam in a while, Whitman still remembers how to swim. He still makes me nervous though! The boy likes to be under the water much more than I would prefer. 
• Once at home, there was still work to do. We aren't leaving at the crack of dawn so there is plenty of time to work tomorrow. Or hopefully there is plenty of time to sleep in tomorrow!

July 17, 2019

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• This morning seemed a bit hectic even though everything went smoothly. Campbell, Keaton, Haley and Whitman all slept in the bonus room. When I went to wake them up, they all stirred fairly well. I took down the fort while the worked on getting their green clothes on. This was team color day so I spent a good while last night finding green shirts from the attic. 
• Traci brought over her girls and took Campbell on to swim practice in her car. Then Robby loaded up the campers and headed to Family Farm. Also about that time, Candice text saying that Graham had been sick last night. 
• Poor thing. Sounded like he was pretty sick. She said that he was eating breakfast and sent me a few pictures of him throughout the day. I hope he continues to feel better and can sleep really well tonight. 
• I ran around the house doing some chores. Not only was I worried about Graham this morning, but I started worrying about Reagan's foot. I was not too sure how well she will be able to hobble around Silver Dollar City this weekend. (Tonight update: she hobbled around pretty well tonight so in a day and a half hopefully it will even be better.)
• After swim practice, I picked up Campbell, and we headed out to do some shopping. The first thing that we did was go to Walmart. Campbell was looking for a swim suit but we didn't find anything. She did find shoes that she wanted, but they were too small there. I did look to see that another Walmart had them.
• So we went to Hobby Lobby really quickly and found just what I needed along with a project for Campbell. Then it was to the other Walmart to find Campbell's new shoes. She was so excited about those new shoes and I was thrilled that she used her gift card to buy them!
• Afterwards, I ran Campbell home so she could pack and then she headed to Grannymom's house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. That just left Reagan and me here together. As soon as I had finished my lunch, Reagan asked to go out to eat. I declined but did help her make her smoothie-well, I didn't really help, but I did get some things out for her. She was pretty proud of her drink since it did taste better than Tropical Smoothie.
• I worked most of the afternoon on a sign to hang in the kitchen. I am sure getting good use out of my cricut the last few days. Before too long, it was time to take Reagan to church. They had a mission trip reunion along with a game night. She said that she spent a lot of time playing nertz which was my favorite card game during college.
• We ate our supper fairly late and then the watched some tv before it was finally bedtime for the crew.

July 16, 2019

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• Another early morning of Family Farm. It was raining pretty well as Robby picked everyone off and dropped them all off at camp. Back at the house, we had a slow morning. Campbell and I did some Legos, and I did quite a bit of chores. 
• Our day did get interesting around noon. We met some buddies at Third Realm and not too long after we made it there, Reagan hurt her foot. The girl was in quite a bit of pain. I thought that we would just walk it off, but that didn't happen.
• We had an errand to run and each time we went over a bump, Reagan would squirm and wince. When she took off her sock, I expected her foot to be swollen instead there was just one large swollen part-like she had two ankles. 
• I traded in my thoughts of just having her ice and elevate it in for a trip to the doctor. The took xrays and the doctor that we saw was wonderful. Her ankle and foot were just fine, but she probably has a pretty good sprain.
• Of course I felt a bit silly taking her to the doctor, but I would have been worried watching her hop all around the house. She is making sure that she tries to stay off of it and keeps it elevated. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow.
• Now this extra errand did manage to interrupt Campbell's shopping time. She had planned on going to Walmart and Five Below to spend some money. However, we were just able to run into Walmart to look for a yellow shirt for her camp while Reagan sat in the car.
• Once we made it home, I got Reagan settled and then went to work on a Disney shirt for Keaton. It is cute, and I really like my heat press.
• Robby brought the campers home, and Haley is spending the night with us. The girls went right to town. The first activity was jumping on the trampoline. Soon after, they built a fort and somewhere in there we had supper and made them take showers. 
• After their movie was over and popcorn was finished, it was bedtime for the little girls, Whitman and Haley. They all slept in the bonus room under their fort. I tell you though, going to camp makes the kids super tired, but so does not going to camp-tonight there were lunches to pack, clothes to wash, green shirts to find in the attic for tomorrow's color day and shoes to dry. I'm not sure when my summer vacation begins but if it is almost over like the kids' summer vacation, then I have certainly missed it! Seriously though, it has been a nice break from school but I am ready to return to the normal school schedule.