Annual Indiana Vacation

SOOO, today I wanted to do anything besides clean the house, do laundry, you get the point. I waaass going to sew a pillowcase dress for the girl's, but someone (I won't name names) about 2 1/2 ft tall, bald, with big ol' spongebob teeth, broke my iron! So here I am finally updating my blog.

Our day had already been long after attending a surprise party for Paul's grandma's 88th birthday. That was lots of fun, but was a fairly long day in itself. After that, we went home, loaded our stuff up, and told Sophie that we would be leaving "soon" about 50 times during the two hours it took to get everything ready. Finally, around 7 P.M. we took off. It went fairly well actually. We stopped about 2 hours in for pee breaks and then stopped again in another two hours for a sanity break as Luke had tired of seat and was in no uncertain terms letting us know loud and clear. We let them run around for a bit and shake off their stink and headed out again. Luckily everyone fell asleep around midnight and pretty much slept through until we arrived around 5 something A.M. The last three hour leg of the trip I spent in the back with the baby dozing off about every fifteen minutes or so and would wake up to feeling the car jerk or that loud rumbling sound when you get to far off the road. "You ok, Paul?" I'd ask. "Go back to sleep because when I get there I am going straight to bed!!" he'd ever so politely with a smile on his face, reply. Ok I'm embellishing ;P

"STOP TOUCHING ME! SHE'S COPYING ME! DON'T LOOK AT ME! SOMEONE FAAAARRRTTTEEDD!"

We arrived safely, and Paul did go immediately to bed. Luckily, my sweet and thoughtful mama took the day off so she could help watch the kids.

We spent the first couple of days just hanging out, bouncing back and forth between Mom and Dad's. The kids really enjoyed swimming in mom's pool.

Dailan especially enjoyed the pool. I think he pretty much lived in it when he was there. Hopefully, he got out to pee! Ick!

The other excitement at Mom's was the mini-bike. Boy oh boy, the mini-bike. I think Lukey realized a need for speed. You could hardly drag that boy off the thing, and he didn't not appreciate the fine art of taking turns either. He spent the other kids' turns chasing after them crying his little broken-hearted eyes out.

(Notice Lukey crying in the background) Dailan was able to try riding it by himself for the first time this year. I think this picture really just explains itself. ( No kids or trailers were hurt in the shooting of this picture, thank goodness!)

They also had a tandem bike that Rylenn and my step brother tried out as well as Paul and Sophie.

If you look closely in the first picture, Sophie is holding a screaming Lukey from chasing after the mini-bike. LOL

We spent most of the 4th of July at my Dad's. There are a couple of traditions we have there for the fourth since we are usually there then. The first one is "Let's give the kids markers and let them draw on Grandpa's belly!" Yes, you read that right. My dad went inside to find a "magic marker" and when he came out I promptly informed him he was holding a PERMENANT Sharpie! He said it would wash off in a couple days so who am I to argue. It's his belly!

This is Grandpa getting it started for them with a happy face, and my kids looking at in disbelief ("we are being ALLOWED to do this?")

Here they are drawing. I think Lukey sticking a dead firecracker in his belly button.

Here's the finished product. Grandpa, don't you smoking is bad for your health!

The other tradition is a pop can water cannon. It's great. Stick a firecracker in half of a soda can, sit it in a bowl of water, light 'er up and watch the can shoot into the air. Oh yes, hours of fun!

We were lucky enough to have Grandma Susan come and visit with us. We hadn't seen her in a couple years so it was really great to be able to see her again.

Jan, Grandma and kids

Dad and Jan were so thoughtful and were able to get me a reallly nice digital camera to replace the one that was lost. It had a fireworks setting on it so I was able to try it out right away that night. Look at these. I think they are awesome. Almost as awesome as Dad and Jan getting me that camera ;)

It was a great night. Rylenn's dad and stepmom and there lil' guy along with some other family were there with us. The kids had a blast as it should be.

The day before leaving we spent out at my Mom's. That was a fairly eventful day as well. Mom and Mark decided to have the kids make stepping stones with their foot prints and the date to put in there gorgeous rock/tree garden area they made. They turned out pretty cute.

Then Grandma and Grandpa Ledford came. We only see them this one time a year so it's always something we really look forward to. It was really nice of them to drive to see us at mom's because it would have taken two vehicles to get everyone to them. Of course, Grandpa brought delicious already chilled watermelon.

After they left, Elijah barfed on my mom. My stepdad Mark tried to be helpful and hose the puke off of her. Somehow, I got the impression she didn't appreciate it.

At lunch, Luke was stuffing black olives in his mouth as Mom and I were talking. He went to give my mom one and soon after putting it in her mouth realized Lukey had already chewed it for her!!! LOL. GROSS!

Apparently, by the look on Luke's face it was serious olive business!

Finally, our trip had to come to an end. We packed up our stuff that morning. I admit it, I was really grouchy. Was it Great Grandma Jen that thought every ailment/situation could be cured with an enema? Yikes. I chilled out eventually. We said our goodbyes with both my mom and dad and hit the road. I was a little leery about traveling with the four little ones during the day, but it went fairly well. We stopped about halfway to eat a picnic type lunch.

I was trying out my new camera on the way home and here are some shots from the car.

Audri was informing me that someone/thing stunk.

Luke occupied himself for sometime by putting his hand in the slinky and practiced his drama skills by pretending he couldn't get it out. He's quite the Drama King.

About three hours or so left in the trip we stopped at a rest stop, peed, changed diapers, and let the kids run through the sprinklers. They also had some sort of look out trail so Paul carried Luke and I wrapped Elijah up in his wrappy deal and took a quick hike. The view wasn't as awesome as I had hoped and the mosquitoes were more than I had hoped, but it was nice to stretch our legs anyway.

We made it home safely and no worse for the wear. All in all it was a really good trip. No drama, no catastrophes, great weather, it was nice. Oh, and best of all, NOOO speeding tickets! I think this makes a two year ticket-free streak! Hooray Paul!

Here are some random vacation pictures for your viewing pleasure!

I forgot one last thing. Before we left, we lined up the kiddies behind there stones for a neat shot. Unfortunately we have so many children that the shot was really wide and couldn't get very close, but it still turned out pretty neat.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip as much as we enjoyed taking it!