Summer trips

I know I've said this before, but I will say it again because it is SO true...our pediatrician coined this phrase and I use it all the time to describe when we travel..."you don't take vacations with little kids...you take trips!" It is HARD work to take this circus on the road. But something we do because it's part of journey and I go stir crazy if I don't leave town for a long while at least on a yearly basis!

We (Grandpa, Nana, Mommy, cousin Cari and 3 kids, Uncle Kevin and Andrea met us there) spent 4 days in Iowa to go to the Glienke family reunion and visit the Otto family as well. Almost all of our Glienke family from Florida was able to make it, so that was especially fun to see them. The boys had fun with Tyler of course, and also enjoyed harassing Luke and Aaron along with Uncle Kevin! But it was also great to see/meet again the large Glienke family! There are lots of genuine and kind people in our family and it was so nice to connect with some of them...there were just too many to even try to meet them all. But we had such a wonderful time with everyone and huge shout out to Dorothy (Grandpa's younger sister) for letting us take over her house while we were there - she's AMAZING!!! We all had a wonderful time soaking in the wonderful Iowa country...took me until I was an adult to grasp the awesomeness of that farm land! We checked out some of the different family farms, pig farms, corn fields, hay bales, hay rides, bonfires, tractors, more animals - such fun!

Tried a consequence a friend told me about...made the boys hold hands until they made up after fighting! HA!

Noah had a funny/sad adventure...he's off roaming around some on the farm and following or being followed by one of the dogs. No one he knew was directly around (this is why when people say, "There will be so much family, we will all help" it just means no one knows who is watching who and everyone assumes the kids are being watched by someone but in reality, they also think someone else is being responsible...ok, off my soap box) and so I think he was backing up and stepped back, not seeing there was a very large hole, more like a small ditch, that was right next to the path, and fell about 4 feet! Thankfully someone was around to see him and help him out, but he wasn't too happy that the person was a stranger. So, we had a bit of an event, but he wasn't hurt, just scared! But, that pretty much ended our time at the bonfire, leaving Drew with Grandpa and Mommy, Kate and Noah back for bed!

Noah found some chapstick and painted his face and tasted it of course!

Then it was off to the Ozarks to get together with the large nuclear Thompson family. We picked up Daddy in Kansas City and made our way there. It was Beautiful, but SO hot! And yes, TX is hot, but this was horrible humid hot! So we were either in the water or inside! The boys had a great time with the cousins, and of course spent as much time with Timothy, Jake and Nick as they could!

While there, Noah managed to run outside of our condo at least twice to go and explore all on his own. This is not surprising to us, but always alarming of course. He seriously just wants to explore and go on his little adventures every now and then and we can't seem to get it through his head that he needs to be with someone when this urge strikes. He doesn't do it when he is home, it seems like it happens when we are out of town - he wants to see what this new place is all about. Any way, so to attempt to avoid another escape, I told Noah one day I would go look around with him. We explored the area and walked up and down all the boat docks. He was so full of energy! So I asked him, "Noah, where do you get all this energy from?" (it was a somewhat rhetorical question), but he answered, "From God!" I loved it, so I followed up, "Why does God give you so much energy?" Without a second thought he responds, "To fight the bad guys!" YES!!! Love it and love him!!!

So, we had a fun, busy week with the Thompson family...saw a very cool cave (and avoided an intense heat advisory while underground, whew!), putt putt golfing (which Noah lost interest about 2/3 through and then started antagonizing Drew, yay), pontoon boat with tubing - both boys rode with Mommy and had a blast! Swimming in the lake and kayaking with Grandpa. Playing with cousins in the condos and in the pool. The boys went along to see a movie with the cousins as well (Inside Out). Both boys loved riding on the Jet Skis, as did pretty much everyone else that did it. Grandpa threw Mommy off the ski ASAP of course, and Mommy returned the favor as requested - silly Grandpa! We had a great time with this wonderful family of ours!

But, it was time to get home! The kids did pretty well on the ride back. The boys stayed happy with the trip toys and movies. And Kate required Mommy's attention any time she was awake. But we powered through and made it home in one long day of driving...oh, so good to be home!