WHAT A FUN VACATION...........

Well we are back from vacation and we had a great time! We went to the Osage Beach area at the Ozarks. Tom and Jan have a lake house there we stayed in and it was great, much thanks to them. We arrived late Wednesday night. Tom had told me the neighbors had a couple dogs that would run up barking but not to worry they were very nice dogs. Well I failed to pass that information on to Karli, my little sis, who always comes on family vacations with us. She got out of the truck and seconds later was leaping back in terrified of the "giant" dogs that were running towards her barking. I was laughing so hard!!! By the way, the next day we saw the dogs again and they weren't quite as "giant" as she had thought. The next day we headed to "Big Surf", the water park Raelynn had been talking about for weeks. We had a blast. The last water park we were at was our vacation 2 years ago to AZ and I was pregnant with Cooper and wasn't able to do any or the rides. This year I think I had as much fun as Raelynn. Coop on the other hand would have preferred spending his day almost anywhere else. He is not a big fan of water and therefore was not too excited about anything other than flirting with girls. Take note of the picture below, this lady Coop is flirting with we have never met. Coop walked right up to her and her daughter and struck up a conversation. She was so taken by him they talked for almost 10 minutes. This wasn't Coop's only girlfriend on the trip. The following picture is another picture of Coop and a little girl he met while Raelynn was going down water slides. They played and then when we were at the wave pool she found Cooper again! He is a lady's man!


While Coop was busy making his rounds with the ladies and staying as far out of the water as he could, Raelynn was going crazy on slides. She started out with the little kid slides and ended up at the adult slides. She didn't spook very easy but did get a little scared in the rapids but that could have been because I was right beside her on a separate tube trying desperately to hold onto her so she didn't flip and I was terrified for her! She loved the wave pool and we had several people astonished that she was right in the middle of the huge waves being pulled under and swallowed up and laughing the whole time. I think Terry, Karli and I had just as much fun. The scariest ride was a slide that went straight down and then back up on the other side like a skate board ramp. It was terrifying and my bottom side hit the bottom and tore a hole in my suit! We each went twice and that was more than enough.

The next day we were off to the Bridal Cave. It is an old cave that you can tour. It was pretty neat but all Raelynn kept saying was "oooo", "gross", "yuck". It was just a little dirty for her liking. Coop was just thrilled we were not swimming again :)

After that we headed to the outlet malls for some shopping, a definite highlight for Karli and I!
Saturday Tom and Jan came down and we spent the day on the lake. We had a blast. The kids had never been on a boat or a jet ski and they loved both. Coop would fall asleep as soon as the boat started going. It was really a lot of fun!





So the vacation was fantastic but things did not end so well. Terry got stopped for speeding on the way home which you have to find humor in because he always drives slow! He did not believe the officer that he was speeding but she was not bursting with personality or humor so he took the ticket and went on. Steph was going to drive Karli back to Scott City once we got back to Lawrence. We were getting stuff unloaded from our truck and loaded in Steph's car and Raelynn catches on that Steph is going tp Grandma's house to drop Aunt Karli off and she wants to go too. I was afraid this was going to happen! I have no idea why I have such a hard time letting Raelynn go. I would have to spend 2 nights without her. I try to make the idea seem awful to her by describing the long drive and nothing to do but it doesn't work. So literally in tears I repack her bag and she heads for Grandma's house. I spend the next couple hours crying and wondering if this is how all parents feel. Honestly, I cannot believe how sad I am when she is gone. I spent the night unpacking and playing with Coop which helped my mind stay off the fact that she is gone but I already miss her. I texted Karli and Steph about every 45 minutes until they threatened to turn off their phones :) I just love her so much and I don't think anyone can tuck her into bed or kiss her goodnight the way I do. They have made it though and I talked to Raelynn about 1/2 an hour ago and she assured me she is doing fine. I asked her how the trip was and she said it was good, she didn't smell any skunks but smelled the cows poop! So she is doing fine. I just got a voice note from her saying goodnight which of course once again makes me cry but also made me love her even more.....if that's possible! So she will be back on Tuesday and in the meantime Coop and I will have a little extra time together!