Lake of the Ozarks

Monday morning we ALL headed to the Lake for a mini vacation. All being, Me, Chris, Ollie, Tyler, Erin, Ivy, Papa, Grandma Pati, Maw Maw & Papa Stu! On the way down there Aunt Erin got a call for an interview on Tuesday so she had to drive home Monday night and then come back Tuesday afternoon. Anyway, Uncle Brad let us borrow his boat for a few days. We rented two vacation houses at the Tan-Tar-A Estates. They were nice but there a few problems with the air conditioning. When we got there, Chris, Erin, Ivy, Ollie, Tyler & I went out on the boat while the rest went in search of a grocery store! The roads have all been changed down there so none of the GPS's work. I hear they drove in circles for awhile. Tuesday morning, Chris, Tyler, Ivy, Maw Maw & Papa Stu went out on the boat for some tubing and swimming. Me, Papa & Ollie headed for the pool. As soon as we got to the pool Ollie walked right into the corner of a shelf hanging on the side of a wall and it hit right under his eye. Poor buddy! It hurt really bad but that didn't stop him from swimming. Then we headed back to the house and had lunch and waited for the others to get back from the boat. They got back and then it was our turn. Ollie decided to hang back and swim in the hot tub with Papa Stu while Maw Maw & Ivy napped. But the rest of us went tubing and skiing. The water is pretty choppy there so skiing is not so easy but I was able to get up and stay up for awhile. Papa & Grandma Pati even tubed a bit. Later, Erin got back and we all went in search of a place for dinner and go-carts, etc. Again we drove in circles for at least an hour before we got to Dog Days Bar & Grill. The food there was good and we got a table right away. Thank goodness because we were pretty grouchy by that time. Well, everyone but Erin because she found out that she GOT the JOB while we were driving! Whoo hoo!!! After dinner we drove back to the strip for bumper boats and go-karts! Here is Ollie in the cave of the  put-put place where we went go-karting.

Ollie and I passed the two people in front of us and were in first place!  Then they made everyone stop and line up again in the middle of our ride so we were mixed in with everyone else again.  But we still went fast and I only used the break when absolutely necessary!  We were whipping around that track and Ollie had a great time!

Chris & Tyler rode on the slick track, (you have to be 16 to drive those cars) but they had a much smaller track than we did!  Ha!

Wednesday morning, Chris, Papa, Ollie, Ivy, Erin and I went out on the boat one more time before we had to check out.  We swam in our little swimming cove and then Ivy & Erin went tubing for a bit.  I tubed and then we drove around our regular loop really fast one more time before coming back in.  This was my favorite boating trip.  It was not stressful and the water just seemed more peaceful so early in the morning.

Despite getting lost several times it was a great trip!

Vacation Bible School

Last week Ollie went to VBS at the Good Shpherd Lutheran Church way down Mexico Rd by Hwy K. I didn't know that was the location when I signed him up but it was not too bad because we carpooled every night with Jason & Chris from up the street. On Thursday night they had a little singing performance they put on. Ollie would not sing which was not surprising. He just stood up there and tried to look too cool to be there! Maw Maw & Papa Stu came to check out the performance.

4th of July!!!

On Saturday before the 4th we had a big 4th of July party at Papa's house! Ollie & Ivy are ready to get going!

Ivy like ALL of the fireworks...she kept saying "Oooo that's my favorite!"

On Tuesday evening (7/3) we went to see the fireworks in O'Fallon, MO.  We found a field looking towards the TR Hughes ballpark.  When they finally started we could hear them but couldn't see them over the ball park.  We all turned around and they were right over top of us!  It was awesome!

Wednesday, the 4th of July!  Erin and I ran in the Firecracker 10K in O'fallon.  It was very hot.  It got up to 104 on the 4th.  After the race we found a place to watch the parade.  Maw Maw brought Ollie and Kevin brought Ivy.  The parade was very long and there were alot of politians.  They were not throwing candy, plus it was so hot!  After an hour and a half we went to McDonald's to cool off and order food and wait out the rest of the parade.  Afterwards we all headed to Erin's for a pool party!

On Friday the 6th, Maw Maw picked Ollie up early from daycare and took him to Nob Hill pool!  I stopped by on my way home and said hi but didn't stay long because it was too hot.  It has been over 100 degrees for more than 9 days by this time.  We are breaking records this year. 

Saturday the 7th, it is still hot so we met Papa at the Mills movie theater to see the new Spiderman movie.  It was pretty good but long.  It was 2 1/2 hrs long!  Ollie had his own popcorn, soda and candy and had to go to the bathroom about 5 times during the movie!  Later Saturday evening we celebrated a birthday...can you guess who's???

Bella's!!! It was Bella's 4th birthday!  We got her a special birthday doggie cookie  and Ollie picked out an "ant" cake for the people to eat.  We ordered chinese for dinner and then we all sang happy birthday to Bella and Ollie got to give her the special cookie!