Little Ella lost her shoe

We are on a mini vacation to Des Moines. We left at 10:00 and planned on going to the Blank Park Zoo. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a rest area and pulled into the zoo parking lot at 1:00. We got Eli into his stroller, Noah was ready to go, and when I went to get Ella out of the car she had taken off her shoes and we could only find one. We searched the entire car about 4 times and could not find it anywhere. I'm sure it's sitting in the parking lot at the rest area. So, we left the zoo and wandered around Des Moines until we found a Walmart.  I found her a pair of water shoes that she can hopefully wear at the hotel, which is a water park. Sigh. On the road again....no zoo today, but it is hot out, so we are all fine with that.

The Writing's On The Wall

"Ella.....did you write your name on the wall?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"So did you write on the wall?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe yes or maybe no?"

"Um.......yes".

Baby Buddha belly

Eli loves his little swimming pool. I love his little belly and his cute little swim trunks

Meaning business

The kids were playing together in Noah's room and I told them it was time to clean up. Noah said "Ella, we better do what she says. Mom doesn't mess around".

That's just the way life works

This morning in the car Ella pipes up " Mom, I don't want you to die". Noah says "all living things will die eventually Ella". Ella asked "why?" Noah said "that's just the way life works. So you better make the best of this life you have". What a smart boy.

Minnesota Photos

Eli had so much fun swimming in the pool. The other kids did, too, but I didn't get any good pictures of them because it was an indoor pool and was very humid in there, so my camera lens kept fogging up.

The boys with Uncle Lloyd. All the kids in our family LOVE Uncle Lloyd.

It was so great to see my grandma. She is amazing.

Eli with my cousin's baby, Maddox. They were so funny with their water bottles.

Nothing says "relaxing vacation" like a quick trip to Minnesota with three children!

Okay, so it wasn't at all relaxing, but it was a lot of fun and a great memory for the kids. We went to visit my grandma and to see relatives at a family reunion in Minnesota this week-end. We left on Friday morning, went to the reunion on Saturday, and drove home on Sunday. The kids loved swimming in the pool. I remember being a kid and how much I loved swimming in hotel pools. I'm not sure when the tide changed, but now I do not love swimming in hotel pools! But I love watching my kids have fun and they definitely did!

It was fun to see our Minnesota relatives and to talk with my Grandma. In the middle of the picnic which was at a park, the sky got really overcast and all of a sudden it started hailing and then raining, and then it was sunny again. The kids thought the crazy weather was pretty exciting. Ella was not excited, though, that the playground equipment was all under a foot of water. She got over it when she found some other little girls to play with who had some bubbles to share.

The kids all traveled surprisingly well. The stop at Target about 2 hours into our trip to replace our broken DVD player helped a lot. As did Noah's Nintendo DSi. Eli surprised me by being a really great traveler. He had some moments of incessant wailing, but then he would fall asleep and wake up his happy self.

Even though it was a fun time, we are all glad to be home. I am excited to sleep in my own bed and shower in my own bathroom!