St. Louis Vacation 2018

We took our annual trip to St. Louis to visit family the last full week of July.  I always dread the drive to and from St. Louis since it's about 14 hours, but it always goes better than I think it will.  We did have a few grumpy moments because I inadvertently brought movies that appealed more to the big kids than the little ones.  I'll remember for next year.  Edie was a champ again this year even though she is still rear facing and couldn't watch any movies.  

We had our first experience using Airbnb and it worked out well.  The first home we stayed in was on a farm and the house was over 100 years old.  The house was nicely updated, but it still had character that accompanies an older house.  The kids loved exploring.  Our second house was an older home as well and the kids liked seeing the attic.  

We enjoyed seeing some of our Leigh cousins when we got to Grammy's house.  They were visiting while the rest of their family was at Girls Camp.

Rebecah, Heather, and Emily

It was wonderful that the kids had cousins to play with.  I wish we lived closer to our cousins so everyone could know each other better.

Rebecah played the piano for everyone.  We all enjoyed holding precious little Ruby.  

Rachel, Ruby, and Rebecah

Kimball and Matt kept each other company playing Monopoly.

Kimball surprised me by wanting to hold Ruby a lot.  He never held his siblings as much as he held Ruby.  He has a tender heart, just don't tell him I told you!

Here's another sweet face.  I love Edie's smile.  She works on perfecting her 

smile anytime she sees us pull out our phones for a picture.

We took a few pictures after church...

Grammy with roughly half of her grand kids visiting.

I can't say enough about Sweet Ruby!  She loved me!  I was able to get her to sleep just about every time I tried.  She is so snuggly and we all loved holding her.  

Playing with blocks.

Hanging out Sunday afternoon.

Lincoln and Rachel

Toddler-sized chairs at a restaurant where we ate in Indiana.

On Monday we met up with Spencer and Leslie's family in Lake St. Louis.  It was so fun to see them!!  We did our very best to convince them to move to NY, but since they just moved to St. Louis I don't think it will happen.  We had lunch and then we went to McNair Aquatics Center for swimming.  It was so fun seeing Ethan and Lincoln play together on the slides and in the water.  Thankfully it wasn't overly hot that day.

When it was time to go we took two last pictures by the pool.  I'm glad we can look forward to seeing them each year when we visit St. Louis.

Edie going for a ride in Heather's chair.

Here's another seat that Edie liked sitting in...

Our last day in St. Louis we went bowling and had a great time.  My mom had a coupon that allowed all of us to bowl as much as we wanted for 2 hours.  We were at the far end of the bowling alley away from all of the other customers and that was really nice, too.  The kids had a great time bowling.  I'm not a great bowler so I was always neck and neck with the 3 toddlers using the bumpers and the ball ramp!  

                   

Kimball and Joseph had one last hurrah on the way home.  They talked me into letting them take a trip to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.  I stayed at our airbnb house while they went to the HOF.  Since I wasn't along for the adventure I'll just post their pictures with minimal commentary.

Standing next to the busts of some of their favorite players.

Who would want a leg that huge?  I mean, really!

It was nice seeing family, but it was also really nice to be home again!  

July

We had a very exciting month!!

Joseph and I attended an outdoor symphony performance.  The weather was perfect; I could wear pants without worrying about sweating or getting eaten by mosquitoes.  It was a great date night!

For Family Home Evening we talked about the importance of anchors and have Christ as our anchor.  We made fun paper chains and anchors.

It was a great month, but also a month of injuries.  Joseph took the big kids camping at the beginning of the month and Kimball cut himself with the hatchet.  I didn't think to take a picture.  Then, Lincoln, Annika and Rebecah were playing with a door that we use for forts.  I didn't realize it was glass until they all laid on it and it shattered.  Lincoln ended up with a gouge out of his foot.  It was bloody and emotional for me.  I knew he was hurting and it was hard for me to look at it so I could doctor him up.  Of course, Joseph was working.  Here is a picture of his foot the day it happened, and then two days later.  In just two days it looked so much better.  He hobbled around walking on the side of his foot for 5 days, but then started walking normally again.  It is amazing how quickly kids heal.  Then, two days after Lincoln cut his foot Annika cut herself with a knife.  She wasn't feeling patient while I was vacuuming so she helped herself to a knife to cut her fruit.  She calmly walked into the living room and told me she was bleeding.  It was bloody enough that she needed more than a band-aid, but not so bad that she needed stitches.  Again, no picture.  I hope we are finished with the injuries for the time being.  I like being married to a medical guy, but I don't like having to participate in the bandaging!

I walked into Rebecah's room one morning and I saw this sweet scene.  I loved seeing all of my girls happily building Legos in their pajamas!

What would a blog post be without a sweet picture of Eden?!  She is so wonderful.  I love it when she says "Thank you, Mama." in her sweet voice.  

The weekend Joseph had to work we arrived at church to see everyone standing outside and a few minutes later the fire trucks showed up.  It was very exciting for Lincoln.  He loved being up close to the firemen and their trucks.  The fire alarm had gone off because of a malfunction with the heating system.  It was all resolved in a short amount of time and for those who arrived late to church had no idea it even happened.  I joked that the first weekend the Bishop had to work instead of attending church the building goes up in flames!  Thankfully we didn't see flames!

Rebecah started a 7 week gymnastics session. She loves it!  

Can I just say I hate the way the gym smells!!!

Annika is so funny and tries to be so self-sufficient. She has such a sweet face.  I wrapped her special blanket around her head like a turban and she loved it! 

Lincoln had to be in on the action, too!  Twinners!!

June, June, June

It was a full month for us with a lot of activities.

On June 2nd Kimball participated in a rocket competition hosted by the Museum of Science and Technology.  His school had 6 teams and they built rockets and then on the 2nd they all met up with other teams/schools at the launch site.  They had to pass safety checks for their rocket and share what they learned about rockets and building them.  Kimball's team was the 64th rocket to launch so it was a LONG morning for us.  Thankfully, it was a cool day in the 60s so the heat wasn't an issue.  Kimball's team did well.  Their rocket went really high, unfortunately it went so high the raw egg inside of the rocket smashed.  It was a good experience for Kimball and he wants to participate next year. Next year I'll know what to expect so I can be more prepared to entertain the little ones for 5 hours.

Rebecah had her second piano recital at the beginning of June.  Her two pieces were a little harder this time, but she did well.  She is continuing with piano lessons this summer.

Kimball earned his Webelos award in Cub Scouts as well as his Arrow of Light.  He is officially finished with Cub Scouts!!  I think he felt special to receive these awards.  He didn't really want to attend the ceremony since he had to leave his baseball game early, but once he was at the Pack meeting he was glad to be there.

In 2016 there were 10 baby girls born in our congregation. Three of the babies/families have moved, but we had a little party to celebrate the 7 remaining babies.  Here is a picture of the 7 girls.  It was tricky trying to get 7 toddlers to sit still and stop crying for a picture, but Edie just sat there happy waiting for the others to cooperate.

Kimball and Rebecah participated in the Swamp Rat Mile Fun run again this year.  Joseph had to work so I braved the crowds and took everyone by myself.  I didn't lose anyone so that was the good news!  Rebecah beat her mile time from last year by a few seconds and came in 84th.

Kimball runs the mile somewhat regularly at school so he improved his mile time about 2 minutes from last year.  Kimball was 38th or 39th place.

Kimball is right behind the boy with the bright orange shorts.

We celebrated Father's day.  The only picture I have to remember the day is of cinnamon rolls.  They were yummy with cream cheese frosting on them.  Joseph had a special day though.  He received Bishop presents as the father of our ward...a tie and a portfolio case that he wanted.  He also got his last bag of black jelly beans that I had been saving and a few other small things he wanted.  We love our husband and father and are grateful for all that he does for our family.

Baseball finally ended!!!  I thought Kimball's last game was on June 13th and I show up that night only to be told that playoffs started on Saturday!  I groaned inside and maybe outside, too!  Kimball's team lost in the first round of the playoffs but it was probably the best game of the entire season.  It was a really close game and the last inning ended in a tie.  Since it was a playoff game the teams played 2 extra innings until someone scored. Sadly, it wasn't Kimball's team that ended up scoring, but I was okay with that.  The game was almost 3 hours and there wasn't any shade for us.  Kimball had a few really good hits and some great catches at first base.  

Last day of baseball!  We always sat on bleachers behind outfield so the little ones could play in the grass.

Kimball with his friend Ryan. Baseball buds.

School ended on the 21st!  Kimball wasn't willing to pose for a picture before OR after school so it's just a picture of Rebecah.  We are in full summer mode now trying to keep everyone happy and busy.

Rebecah had a special mother/daughter activity night at church.  The girls planned the special dinner and had fun things to read to their moms.  All of the girls were so excited about the evening.

We took a day trip to Susquehanna, PA. We hadn't been for 2 years so it was time to visit again.  The weather worked perfectly for us with no rain, but cool temperatures. 

I love Edie's face in the picture above!                                                                                

Shutterfly reminded me that 5 years ago our family visited Susquehanna as well.  On the day of our trip it just so happened that Annika picked the exact same outfit that Rebecah had worn 5 years ago on our trip.  They must be sisters since they both chose to wear an mismatched stripes outfit.  I made the picture below bigger so you can check out 3 year old Rebecah in her outfit and then Annika wearing the same clothes if you scroll back up.  Fun memories!!! 

We had a lot of parties at the end of June.  I think we attended 4 parties within 10 days.  At one house Rebecah gave Edie a little ride on a horse.  Both girls had fun.

We had a new driveway topcoat poured.  Our old layer was cracked and coming apart.  The kids had a lot of fun watching the men work from Rebecah's bedroom window.  The new driveway is so smooth!!

Fun at the park!

Our favorite babysitter, Andrea Barth, is moving at the beginning of August!  She and Rebecah are buddies and have a big sister/little sister relationship. 

Birthday Party construction style

Lincoln and Annika attended their first birthday party.  It was a construction theme and they loved it, especially Lincoln.  

The party favor was a little tool box.  Both kids played with their tools the rest of the afternoon.  Here Lincoln is using Kimball's soccer gloves in place of work gloves as he uses the dump truck to move a house.  Lincoln loves being a hardworking man and making little noises to accompany his play!