Nebraska City, Kansas City

This past weekend, we took our last road trip of the summer (sniff, sniff).  Mike and I took the girls up (down to?) Nebraska City to stay at the Lied Lodge.  Ever since our five minute visit to NBC Suites (Embassy Suites) for a bathroom break a few weeks ago, the girls have been dying to stay at a fancy hotel, and this was it!  The big plan was to go down to Nebraska City, then pretend like we were driving home, but really drive to Kansas City and surprise Briana with a trip to Worlds Of Fun.  We were all in on the surprise, and we were all very excited about it.  Upon arrival in Nebraska City, we went to the Arbor Farm and went through this big nature hike. You pay to go on a hike, visit a playground, go on a tractor ride, and at the end, you get a free pine tree. It was fun!

The tractor ride took us through a lot of the farm, including the apple orchards, but the best part was going through a giant sunflower field. 

Isn't that pretty? 

After our tractor ride, we went to the greenhouse to get our free trees.  They are tiny pine trees that come in a little tube that you get out of a refrigerator. 

"Grab the best looking ones!" I instructed the girls as they rifled through the trees.

We had our trees in our hands and were ready to leave when Mike turned to me and said, "What are we going to do with these trees when we're walking around Worlds of Fun all day tomorrow?" 

I nearly had a heart attack.  Our surprise trip!  He forgot it was a surprise!!

"What?!?!"  I squeaked back at him, while furiously shaking my head.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THESE TREES WHEN WE'RE AT WORLDS OF FUN ALL DAY TOMORROW?"  he said again, louder this time.

"What's Daddy talking about?" Briana asked. 

"I have no idea," I told her.  "I think he means when we're walking around Nebraska City tomorrow." 

Luckily, Briana forgot about it and didn't mention it again. 

After our sweaty nature adventure, we went back to the lodge and cooled off in the pool. 

Friday morning, the day of our big surprise, we woke up to rain.  We headed torwards Kansas City anyways, hoping for the best.  About half an hour out of Kansas City, Briana started noticing all the signs saying we were about to enter into KC. 

"Let's tell her now!" Mike said to me.

"Ok," I agreed. 

We let Sydney tell her the news, and Briana just about lept out of her seat with excitement. 

Have I mentioned Briana's love for all things Snoopy?  That was the whole appeal of Worlds Of Fun, the new Planet Snoopy attraction. 

We spent a good part of our day in Planet Snoopy riding rides and seeing shows and shopping in the biggest Snoopy store ever. 





And, wouldn't you know it, one of the carnival games at the park just outside of Planet Snoopy had Smurfs for prizes.  Sydney's eyes practically fell out of her head.  Lucky for her, she played the game and won!

After we were pretty much done with Planet Snoopy, we ventured out into other parts of the park for some other rides.  Mike went on all the roller coasters.  Like this one.  He's in the front row!



Too scary for me!  We also saw a couple shows at the park.  One in particular was a musical show with some music from the 60's and 70's.  It was an interesting compilation, with some interesting performers.  About half way into the show, after we had all given each other some questionable looks as to what we had gotten ourselves into, Mike was singled out of the crowd and pulled onto the stage.  The girls and I couldn't have been happier. 

He's such a good sport. 

We ended up staying in the park quite a while longer.  The girls wanted to go on lots of the rides two or more times, and they went without Mike or I with them!  Does that mean they are growing up?  I hope not!



Mike somehow managed to drive us home after all of that, in the dark even.  Briana already told me this morning that she's ready to go back today.  But, since the high in KC today is 107, I think we'll wait till next year. 

Vote For Our Girls!!

Think these girls are cute?

How about now?

Now, go check out their dance!  You can find it here:  http://makeyourmark.disney.go.com/s/65aj6i

And, if you want to vote for their dance, just click the Like button! 

Rock on, girls!!

Smurfs & Camping

This past Friday, the new Smurfs movie opened in theaters.  We have been anticpating this day for a year now.  And, to sweeten the deal, Friday was also the first day that McDonald's offered Smurf characters in their Happy Meals.  We were in line for our Happy Meals at 11:00 sharp, with hopes of getting a Smurfette with our chicken mcnuggets.  When we walked into our local McDonald's, we were greeted by the staff singing "la la la la la la," the Smurf theme song, behind the counter.  And, as luck would have it, they had a Smurfette for Sydney.

(notice that gap in her mouth?  this photo was taken about an hour after her tooth fell out!)

Briana got a Papa Smurf in her Happy Meal, which she happily gave up to her sister (she's too cool for Smurfs.).

After we ate our nutritious Happy Meals, we headed over to the movie theater to snack on delicious buttery popcorn. 

But, some of us were too excited to eat any of it!

The movie turned out to be awesome.  All the kids in the audience laughed at the right parts, and there was even some applause as Gargamel was beaten! 

After the movie, we rushed home and got packed up to go camping!  On the hottest weekend of the year!  Thank goodness Mike installed an air conditioner in the camper or I wouldn't have made it.  We spent our first evening enjoying said air conditioning. 

We did manage to make it out to the lake once it cooled off a bit, and the girls found themselves a caterpillar.  It was a very exciting find and they named it Tiger. 

(Is it just me or is that caterpillar really weird looking?)

And, we couldn't go camping without s'mores. 

Day two of camping started off with a visit from the tooth fairy!

Guess what?  The tooth fairy left the money and FORGOT TO TAKE THE TOOTH!!!  Which resulted in a second visit from the tooth fairy the next night, still in the camper. 

After Sydney counted her money, we made trip back home so I could shower (thank you, Mike).  And then we took the girls fishing.  I don't remember the name of the lake we were at, but it was a really pretty set up.

Briana caught a fish right off the bat!

We were using canned corn as bait, and it attracted something else too.

Mike thinks it was a muskrat.  I thought it was horrid.  Briana thought it was adorable and wanted to bring it home with us.  And it kept coming back to us for more corn!

We spent the rest of the day sweating, and most of Sunday morning was spent sweating as well, as we packed up the camper to come home.  Sunday afternoon, we went out to Shannon's house for the Washington County parade, which I stood outside and sweated during.  The kids got a ton of candy and had a blast, despite the heat.

We also walked around the fairgrounds, and saw lots of smelly animals.  I'm not quite over the smell of the pigs yet, and I'm not at a place where I'm able to talk about it without getting a stomach ache.  I will say that it might be awhile before I'm able to eat pork chops again.

Today's agenda: air conditioning.

Something exciting happened today!!

Look who else is swimming!

Guess who else learned how to swim this week?  Sydney!!  She just took off swimming all on her own! 

And, check out this awesome cannonball Briana can do!  This is just one of the 1,000,000,000 cannonballs she has done so far this summer (yes, each one splashed me!).





Look who's swimming!

Once every summer, our next door neighbors go out of town and ask us to cat-sit for their cat.  In return, we get to swim in their pool.  It is a much anticipated week of every summer, and this year was no exception.  We swam daily, morning, noon and night.  We even took Ellie for her first swim (in a big pool).  Guess what?  She can swim!

Isn't that the cutest thing ever!  And, if you hold her just above the water, she instictively swims above water.  So funny!

My Garden

I went out to check on my vegetable garden this morning, despite the 115 degree heat index, and guess what?  Things are happening in there!  I've got about four carrots growing (one for each of us!).
A tiny pepper is growing on my bell pepper plant.

I've got two tiny cucumbers growing on my cucumber plant.

And, I have lots of fresh basil!

For the grand finale.....my tomatillo plant!!

Isn't it huge?  There is the small problem that it doesn't seem to be producing any tomatillos.  But, I'm sure they are going to start growing any day now! 
If only I had some popcorn growing in there, my garden would be complete.