Tim’s Bday!

Well, as if we needed an excuse for a long weekend in Springfield, it also happened to be Tim’s birthday!  It was the last weekend of Fall Break for us, so we got to leave on Thursday and spend all day Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday there.  It was nice to not be rushed, and we got to hang out with Grandma De & Grandpa Don while we were there, so it was a good trip all around.

We spent Friday late morning/early afternoon at Grandma De & Grandpa Don’s house.  We had lunch, visited a lot, caught up on news, and played outside, of course!  You can’t keep our girls inside!  Anias was already hibernating, so we didn’t get to visit with the turtle, but the girls found other ways to occupy themselves.

Like picking the flowers with Grandma

And coloring with sidewalk chalk!

Audrey is sooo interested in doing whatever Laney does that she kept coloring right on top of Laney’s picture… which just made Laney scream, of course.  They were pretty cute (and quiet) for a minute or two, though…

After a good visit with Grandma & Grandpa (and when the girls were making it clear it was naptime), we headed back to the Looten’s to rest, and wait for the rest of the clan to arrive!  When everyone got there, we had Tim’s birthday dinner… some seriously delicious mexican food!  And, of course, strawberry cake! 

The birthday boy and his cake… for some reason Mom didn’t want to put 32 candles on the cake… weird.

Funniest thing the whole weekend was Audrey and Grandpa’s chair.  Every time he got out of it, she raced over and climbed in.  She was NOT interested in sharing, either- Grandma tried to sit in it with her, and she said no.  Nobody else could get away with stealing Grandpa’s chair, that’s for sure!

Speaking of not being able to keep our girls inside… that is especially true of Miss A.  She spent the mornings out on the porch with Grandpa!

Saturday we headed to Silver Sollar Ditty to play for the day.  As always, it was a good day, and we had some absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather.  Probably would have been warm enough for water rides, but we managed to steer Miss E. away from them!  Actually, one of their favorite things to do was to hang onto the fence and watch the boats go by in the Lost River.  It entertained them through lunch, which was pretty sweet! :)

Grandma & her girls, watching the boats

Watching the boats meant a few rare moments of stillness for Miss A, and I couldn’t resist getting a couple of pictures…

Then the girls discovered that there was a little puddle where one of the waves from the river splashed over onto the sidewalk.  And what did they do?  Jumped in with both feet!  Water babies…

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to SDC without a trip to Geyser Gulch and the ball vacuums.  These things could occupy the girls for HOURS.  It’s amazing.  Wish I had one on my spare room, I think it’d be worth it…

So, funny story about this dog… Laney has really latched onto it lately, and it was actually a gift from Josh to me when we were dating in college.  Kinda cool that she’s so fascinated with it.

Great angle on this shot by Josh!

And once they got tired of the ball vacuums, Laney had to try the climbing net.  Unfortunately, she was a little short for some of the jumps, so guess who got to join her!!  What a good daddy…

Laney also spent a lot of time hitching a ride with Grandma Jo!  Love the totally blue lips from rock candy.  Laney has discovered the joy of pure sugar on a stick. :)

Yeah, I don’t even know.

Grandma & Miss A.!

We left the City and headed to Mr. G’s Pizza in Branson.  They have really good Chicago-style pizza, and we really had a good time visiting.  After dinner, we headed back home, and Laney picked Megamind for everyone to enjoy (which, I actually think everyone did enjoy- it’s a pretty good movie!). 

Sunday we went to church, and then Tim and Mal & Mom and Dad headed back towards Branson to check out a wedding venue (Yay, Tim & Mal!).  Since they were going to be there for awhile, and we wanted to get back at a reasonable hour, we packed up and headed home while they were gone.  The trip back was a little rough, but we made it by 11:30 or midnight.  And it was worth the late night to get to see all of our Springfield family for a long weekend!  However, now we’re glad to be home for a few weekends… it’s been a VERY busy fall.  Maybe our schedule will clear up this winter… ha, ha.