Jellystone

We just got back from four days at Jellystone in Waller . WONDERFUL park, we'll go back next summer for sure and we'll stay for longer next time.  They kids spent the days at the waterpark, fishing by the lake, playing putt putt, riding around on bikes, and nights were spent watching a movie at the outdoor theater, roasting marshmallows and riding bikes until almost 11pm.  They were SO tired each night that they were asleep within minutes which is so not the norm for my kids.  They usually talk forever before falling asleep.  There was SO much to do that we didn't even get to do it all. FUN trip!!!!

Best buds:  Jonah, John, Brock and Jacob.

They spent hours everyday going down this waterslide.  The 350 ft Pine Tree Plunge.  Lots and lots of stairs, I'm surprised they didn't complain about sore legs.

Jacob waiting his turn.  John and Jonah are talking about how to get more air on the last hump.

See?  Like Basil did.  OUCH!  That's John's dad Tim on the right side of the picture, and you can tell by his face that the landings are rough. hahaha

It was about 147 degrees so we had to hose them down when they were out riding.

Caleb thought he was hot stuff riding alongside the big kids.

He wanted NO part of any of the slides until the day before we left, and then he decided that he'd try. 

I love his sweet crooked smile.

The nighttime hunting party:

Jonah walked around the park store for about 30 minutes trying to pick out a treat.

The morning we left, a guy walked by with a bird on his shoulder.  Of course Jacob had to check it out.

 Doing crafts while Basil was hooking the trailer up.

We had a BLAST!!!!

Emmy's big break.

It was during my blog hiatus that Emmy broke her leg. She was jumping on a trampoline with another little on New Year's Eve and just came down wrong.  I didn't blog about it then obviously but thought I should now, since I've really enjoyed looking back at the entries over the past few years. All of these pictures are from my cell phone.

In the ER waiting to get her splint:

Her broken bone:

All splinted up:

Ready to go and over my picture taking:

Learning to work her wheelchair:

After we pimped her ride: 

Waiting to get her actual cast:

She did learn to walk on crutches:

WOOHOO!  Time go get this thing off!

Free at last!

 First REAL bath in 6 weeks, so of course it has to be full and with lots of bubbles.

She healed fine and danced beautifully at recital this year. I can't believe that with three brothers, SHE is the first kid in the family to break a bone.  That's my Em.

Birthday bash at The Pond

We had a boys fantasy party this year.  Ten seems like a big birthday, double digits afterall, so we planned an all out bash.  Fishing, swimming, a ginormous waterslide...what else could a boy ask for? 

Jacob at the top and Jonah at the bottom.  It was huge and pretty much a straight drop down at first. I might have gone down it once or twice. The kids slid from about 11am until 9pm and all woke up with sore necks the following day.  They said it was well worth it.

One of the only times he got to relax all day, bless his heart.  He worked HARD!

Me and my BFF!!  Ignore my fat, and my dirty shirt.  I spilled baked beans on myself.  Don't judge.

Ma and Pa, the caretakers of the (funny) farm.  Hahaha.  

Everybody had a GREAT time, I'm sure it'll be a party they'll always remember.

TEN, the lake, and our new (to us) trailer

We spent Jacob and Jonah's birthday at Jackson Hill at Rayburn.  TEN!  How in the world did that happen?!  I cheated and bought a cake this year, first year ever that I haven't made them each a homemade cake.  

Birthday breakfast in the new trailer (more on that later.)

Swimmin' at the lake.

Well not all of us swam.  SOMEBODY had to hold the chair down.  ;)

The birthday brothers.

Emmy's "big" find.

Jacob and Jonah's big find.  Poor fish, something had already chewed it's tail off but it was still alive.  They were disappointed that they didn't get to catch whatever ate the fish.

The kids would ride their bikes from the trailer down to the lake every day.  Poor Emmy.  She's not very coordinated on the best of days and that added to the fact that she's a new rider spelled disaster for her.  She veered off of the road and ended up going down the side of a hill and eventually crashed in the forest. Basil was already walking beside her but once she started rolling down the hill he couldn't keep up.  I was in the car behind them and being the Mom of the year that I am, I took pictures.

Click this and make it big. She was NOT impressed. I had to try super hard not to fall out of the car laughing.  Again with the Mom of the year thing.

One thing I love about the trailer (and what I loved about the beach cabin) is the simplicity of things.  No TV, limited electronics and lots of games.  We played games every night.  This one is called Hedbanz, and the object is to guess what card is on your own head.  You draw it and put it on your headband without looking, then ask everybody else playing general questions.  For example "am I an animal?  Am I a food?  Am I a person?"  and so on.  Emmy had this duck on her head for at least 30 minutes. She had asked every question she could think of and when it would get back around to her turn, we'd tell her "YOU'RE A BIRD THAT CAN SWIM AND FLY!" She'd answer "am I a penguin?" To which the boys would reply "EMMY!  PENGUINS CAN'T FLY!"

Seriously Em.  A bird that can swim and fly.  You see them at the park sometimes. And the pond.

Emmy:  "oh okay!  Am I a crow?!"  OH MY GOD! YOU'RE A FRICKIN DUCK!

Just some normal family pictures:

Taking a break during the heat of the day, watching RIO on the laptop.

One of those nasty forest bugs that Jacob and Jonah love:

Jonah put it back on the tree, they called it a leaf bug.  

Another "find" at the lake.  A skull of some sort.

Jacob and Jonah riding back up the hill to go back to the trailer.

Here are some pictures from the inside of our new toy. It's not new, it's a 2007 and is in great shape. This is the kids bunkroom.  The top bunks are Jacob and Jonah's and the bottom two are Emmy and Caleb's.  Emmy's (on the left) folds up to make room for packing, and we left it folded up during the day so that they could play back there.

The queen bedroom:

This is standing at the door looking in:

Sitting on the couch.  That door to the right of the fridge is the bathroom.

Standing at the bedroom door looking towards the bunkroom. The cabinet on the right is the pantry . 

Standing in the bunkroom looking towards the other end.

 Jonah doing a little bit of fishing.

A sweaty kid:

A muddy kid:

Caleb cooling off outside the trailer:

Beautiful!

We had tons of fun and are looking forward to lots more trips this summer!!