Saturday, July 28, 2012

Little House on the Prairie Birthday

For Ashton's ninth birthday, she had a Little House on the Prairie Party.  After a trip to Goodwill, Chloe felt ready to go make butter, wash clothes by hand, square dance and make paper dolls




Ma sure did a great job making these chores so fun! Happy birthday Ashton!

Our Two Day Vacation

With Mommy doing summer tutoring and making a week trip to Oklahoma, our family of 5 didn't get a lot of time to plan a family vacation. So, we surprised the kids with a 2 day trip to Holiday World! We had never been to Santa Claus, Indiana, but had heard wonderful things about the water park/ theme park that was actually affordable!  We stayed in the Best Western 15 minutes away from the park in Dale, Indiana.  Even though the hotel was nice, we couldn't find was a decent restaurant! Luckily, we found . . . a Mexican restaurant.
At the restaurant we told the girls we were going to Holiday World!

Away we go.........

Mommy and Chloe started off the day with the HallowSwings in Halloween that were only for 52" and taller riders. Next, it was Daddy's turn to ride the first roller coaster with Chloe.  They rode the Legend and Chloe screamed, "that was wicked!" as she got off! 

Cami, Koda and I went off to Christmas to play in Reindeer Land.











Daddy and Chloe met up with us and we headed for Thanksgiving!







There we found Salmon swimming and Canoes for the Indians!  Don't be fooled by the kiddie rides.  This park had the BEST roller coasters Chris and I had ever been on!  The Voyage was by far the scariest and longest ride I had ever been on.

 In July 4th, the girls and Daddy went up, up, up on the Sparkler! 
We decided it was hot enough to head to the water park where Daddy and the girls rode 4 water rides, then Mommy got to ride two BIG water rides with the girls.  The Mammoth water ride is the longest ride in the world! While the girls were off with Mommy or Daddy, Koda had a blast in the Crocodile Isle with slides just his size!  As you can expect, we couldn't take cameras in the water, so we only had a few shots in the Water Safari. . . .




At the end of the day, we all wish we had a stroller. 

I wish we could take pictures of all the wonderful memories we had at Holiday World! We will definitely be making the 3 1/2 hour trip again and again!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

A trip to Oklahoma

This summer, I am teaching summer tutoring at ADES for 1st and 2nd graders.  Its only for 4 weeks, but we get one week off for July 4th. So, what do we do? We load up the van and head to Oklahoma.  We always look forward to stopping in Cabot to be with Alan, Deanna, Emma and Izzy.
Aunt "Nana" always makes sure to celebrate every one's birthday! So, Chloe was surprised when she got another birthday song and cake!
How great is this picture? 
It is only missing Harry and Virginia to have a tower of Carpenter grand kids!
Though we were sad to leave, we packed up to head to Oklahoma to see the Erwins!  I was so lucky that I got to see Sarah while I was there.  We got pedicures, ate taco salads at Monterrey's and then went shopping. I wished the night never had to end!  Since I had just posted our "twin" picture when we were 13, I thought we needed to post one at 37!!!!


Chris and I also had a little fun playing dress up. I found my mom's two piece from when she was 30 and had to try it on! And Chris found just the shirt to start his teaching career!

Devin and Chris got some "guy time" when they went to see SpiderMan!
Devin is in the Willy Wonka performance and Grammie and Paw Paw got "Wonka-ed"!
Koda loved the purple hats in the yard!
We even got to watch the country club's fireworks from the backyard!
 In Bartlesville, we saw Chloe's friend Sterling's name everywhere! From restaurants to assited living, Chloe was reminded about her friend Sterling .

When we went to see Devin's perforamce rehearsal, we were at the mid high school. 
I THINK I found my 10th grade locker! But, just like in my dream, I forgot the combination.
Koda also got "artsy" with a nose ring at Garfields!
But, one of the best things about the visit to Bartlesville was the fun we had at Kiddie Park! It was Koda's first year to really ride the rides and he loved every second of it. 



But, the time came to go back home.  Its always sad to say goodbye!

 Not just in Oklahoma, but also in Arkansas. . . . . .