Color Me Rad!!!!!!

Pouting over pastries, lol

Best crepe of my lifeee

After a fun and interesting breakfast, in which we were befriended by a strange guitarist, we were filled with adrenaline and ready to rock and roll.  We took tons of pictures and were seriously so pumped to get started.

My sweet husband brought Amelia in the rain for the end of the race because she so desperately wanted to run alongside of me for a bit.  She has declared she is definitely racing in this thing next year.

We went back to my house and showered and changed and then had an awesome lunch and shopped a bit.  I love making new friends and while some of those friends have truly made my life better, there is nothing like friends that you grew up with.  Friends that you don't have to tell stories about your past to because they already know.  Friends that literally and truly don't judge you-- you don't have to worry for a second.  Friendship that extinguishes any pretense.  Friendship that helps you conquer great things.  Friendship that picks up exactly where it left off.  My situation is unique in that my friends from high school have always loved my sister and I have always loved her best friend.  As we have gotten older, the friendship group has merged into one.  It is such a blessing to be able to take time away with these gals.  Does my heart good.  My favorite friendships. 

I am also very lucky because my husband and parents recognize the importance of these friendships and allow me the time away to continue to invest in them.  I hope we are coloring the world rad together for years to come.

Fay Town and the End of the Rocker

Amelia has been begging to spend the night with Aunt Jessalyn from the moment she left Ozark and a few weekends ago, it finally worked out for us to go and spend the night.  The girls were HIGHLY excited.  We stopped in Harrison to have lunch at The Mill, because, let's face it, we are just not a traveling family.  After one hour in the car we are ready to stretch our legs and eat.  Pathetic.  We had a nice lunch with Gammy and Gampy and then hit the road for the rest of our trip.  Just an hour and a half more--don't judge.

We met Jessalyn at Boingo Bounce and the girls had a blast.  All the pictures are blurry, but that kind of makes them even funnier.  The girls just wore themselves out and we (the big people) were able to do all the jumping we wanted with them.  Great time!

Then we went to Jessalyn's house to change and go swim at the Jones Center.  I had no idea that the girls would be big enough to do the slide because it seems HUGE to me.  However, they let them go down with an adult and it was the hit of the night for sure.  I was too scared and nervous to take my own kids down in my lap but everyone else did great with it, ha.

 

After swimming we went to eat some delish burgers, but we were really pushing it as far as time.  I was tired so I knew the girls had to be exhausted.  But, they were great while we ate and then when we got to Jessalyn's, IT happened.  Elise said she wanted to lay on her travel cot without me rocking her.  Just like that.  I think she was trying to impress Jessalyn and Brant, but whatever the reason, she didn't want me to rock her.  For the first time ever!!!  She laid down and with just a few extra pats and hugs, she went to sleep!  I was only a little sad, because she was ready. And, because I figured it was a random fluke. I'm more sad typing it now, though because she has been laying down on her own for over two weeks.

 We woke up the next morning and played with Barkley.  He was a big hit of the trip and despite his ginormous size in comparison to the girls, he was so gentle and sweet with them.  They were enamored with him and further confirmed my hunch that we will definitely be a dog family in the future.

 After a trip to the mall and some lunch, it was time to head out.  Poor little Bee always get so sad to leave people..

Under the Big Top

Last month we took all three big girls to the circus and what a magical day it was.  We could hardly contain our excitement on the car ride over to the arena.

Nor could we contain it when we got inside...

Amelia had been saying that she wanted to ride the elephant and I just knew she would back out and get too scared.  Little Ing just climbed up there without saying a word.  If it wasn't for her, Amelia wouldn't have done it, but she just held on to Ing and off they went.  Thankfully, she LOVED it.

And THANKFULLY Gam was in crazy mode and was willing to let the girls do every. single. thing. that they wanted to do.  So, there were pony rides, elephant rides, and face painting all going on during the pre show.

And we cannot forget the cotton candy.  The girls were absolutely perfect during the circus.  I had plans of leaving at intermission, but I didn't even need to bring it up.  They couldn't wait for the second half.  Sat still as tiny mice and cheered and acted wonderful.  We couldn't have planned it any better.

I think the elephants were the most breath-taking part of the circus, but each act was really great.  I shut my eyes for most of the scary things and never, ever will I be able to watch a human be shot out of a cannon.  And the girls got two large dolphin balloons (Gam attack again) when we were done.  That is the perfect circus souvenir, right?

Such a sweet girls day out and so glad Aunt Jen could join us.  And icing on the cake was the trio of dresses that Steph made for the special day.  SO adorable. She seriously is amazing. 

Wonderful day.  Wonderful.

Lynna Lou and Buzzy Bee

The friendship of these two angel pies was a short one if we were talking about being in the same town.  But, somehow their tiny hearts were bonded forever and their friendship has continued from different cities and states.  I am so thankful for Caisse- a much braver mom than I- who has traveled to us each time to reunite Lynna and Amelia.  We had been counting down their visit for months and it started with a trip to Incredible Pizza for some fun. Two excited girls before we left.

  Liam and Zeke got to come too and almost the whole play group was back together again.

 Meeting Faith for the first time.  This was a sweet meeting and has prompted Amelia to have thousands of conversations with me about adding a third member to our family. 

Elise doesn't remember Lynna from when she lived here, but since Amelia talks about her so much, Elise thinks Lynna is her best friend too.  And she is just crazy about Evan. 

After a go-kart ride, thousands of games and tokens and tickets and pizza, we said goodnight for the evening, but only for a brief time and I took the girls to swim at the hotel bright and early the next evening.  They had a blast and got to ooh and ahh over sweet Baby Faith.  We have talked about her and looked at pictures, but it was so nice to see her wonderfully squishy self in person.  Gorgeous!

 The girls had a great time splashing in the pool and "racing."  Ross was at work, so it was just me with my two and I couldn't get any pictures of the actual swimming, but there was a ton of giggling going on.

 The girls showered off and we headed home for a quick nap and then right back to meet at the farm park for some afternoon playing.  I snoozed too and woke up with scary chlorine hair, but I was ready to rock n roll!

 They had several new bunnies and a gorgeous new bunny house. 

 There were some baby chicks that had just hatched THAT morning!  So cool to see.

 After the farm, there was a quick supper and Chik fil A and then we headed home to gear up for our last few hours at the skating rink the next day. The girls had never been skating and were SUPER pumped to go try it out.

 The girls had a blast holding hands and scooting around the rink and if I closed my eyes and listened just right, I could hear "Gangsta's Paradise" blaring from the speakers at the old Harrison skating rink.  I always loved to skate--so freeing and fun for me.  However, the fun ended as we announced that the besties were splitting up and heading to separate places.  My poor tender heart just cannot ever hold those emotions in.

It was a wonderful trip and I pray that this is one of those stories the girls are able to tell years to come of that special friend that they only see a few times a year, but can pick up with in a heartbeat.  A precious Springfield adventure.