Lucy has been having troubles with her ankle lately.  Several months ago, a referee tripped her during a basketball game.  It has bothered her but lately it is a constant pain.  I took her to the doctor about a month ago and we did an MRI to find out she had several cysts in her ankle.  We waited until we were back from the lake to have them drained.  The day after her birthday we went and had them drained.  Since she is now 18 she could sign for everything on her own.  They didn't even come talk to me when they were done. Lucy said everything went well.  Hopefully this will help her and her ankle will feel better. I hope they don't fill back up during her basketball season and start bothering her again.   

Lucy's young women's leaders came by to wish her well as she starts school.  They gave her a bag full of fun things for school like some fun pens.  We have new leaders, and I am so excited about them.  They are so fun and really seem to want to help the girls feel special and loved. 

I went back to work, and I know the kids have been bored at home while I am gone.  It is hard to believe my summer is over.  I feel bad that they have had a lot of screen time while I'm away.  I try to make sure we can get out and be active in the evenings. 

Meet the teacher night with Nolan.  Lucy came with us. Nolan has a teacher that Lucy also had.  She wanted to say hi.  She also stopped by her kindergarten teachers' room to say hi.  Nolan is not looking forward to starting school again.  I hope he has a good year and can make some good progress with his reading and writing that he is behind in.  His teacher is strict, but I think he needs that.   

Jack looks forward to our evening walks.  It has been hot and we have to wait until it cools down.  I looked over one evening while making dinner and he was looking at me.  He seemed eager to go get some energy out. 

Nolan went grocery shopping with me.  He was a good helper.  I think he was excited to spend some time with me after I was gone most of the week working.  He had done enough sitting around at home.  He was helping me bag the groceries and commented how much food there was.  He said "wow this is a lot of food, and it cost a lot of money.  I bet this will last us at least two weeks."  I told him "no, I will be back next week buying just as much and spending just as much."  Feeding my family is the biggest area in my montly budget.  

 

Happy Birthday Lucy

It is so hard to believe that Lucy is 18.  Where has the time gone.  I remember her as a little girl and while that seems like yesterday it also feels like such a long time ago.  JJ picked up donuts from sweet spot, which is a birthday tradition.  Lucy and I headed out after lunch to do some shopping and get her ears double pierced.  She has been wanting to get them double pierced for a while and I thought it would be a fun birthday gift.  It was tricky to get the placement of where to put the second earring.  Her ears are not symmetrical, and we erased and re-marked the placement several times.  I think we did a good job making sure it was just right.  I remember when my mom took me to get my ears pierced and it was so important to get them in the perfect place.  We walked around a few stores that afternoon and did some shopping together.  We went home and then watched some home videos of Lucy as a baby.  It was fun to pull them out.  The kids wanted to watch several other videos.  We had a fun time watching them together.  For dinner we got sushi, Lucy's favorite.  JJ picked up some rolls and I made some orange chicken to go with it.  We enjoyed cake and ice cream outside.  Lucy opened some cards and then the boys helped me blow up some balloons for Lucy earlier that morning.  Inside each balloon had something we loved about Lucy.  This is a tradition that we do for her.  I don't know why we never did it for the boys, but we always do it for Lucy.  We have missed a few years since we have been at the lake that last several years.  Lucy was excited to see we brought it back.  She said she has memories of doing this as a little girl and she loves it. It was a nice day with Lucy.  I know I enjoyed spending time with her.  She is a special girl, and we feel lucky that she is part of our family.      

 

We all got up early and headed do the dock to go out on the boat.  We like to get up early and head out. Most people aren't willing to get up early, but our family is.  I was glad I did still prepare some food for our trip.  I brought some things for us to eat for breakfast which was good.  We went out and everyone in our family was able to wake surf.  During the day our family gets split up on different boats and doing different things.  I am glad everyone is off having fun with who they want to hang out with.  It is nice to have the morning time together.  I love watching my kids have fun!  I love watching them succeed in trying things like wake surfing.  They have really improved over the years as we have gone boating.  Being here together is really what the trip is about.  I reminded the kids of that, it doesn't matter where we stay, we are here together having fun. We had a blast being on the boat together.  As people started to wake up and the other boat was able to be picked up, we went our ways.  I loved spending time on the big floaty that Maryann brought.  It was so relaxing for me to rest and be able to visit with my friends.  JJ was happy to help drive the boat and pull kids on the tube. We went up to eat lunch at the taco place.  We stopped at our hotel, which was just down the street.  We all plugged our phones in before lunch.  After lunch we went back and got them.  That was the hardest part about having our place down the road.  We didn't have a place to go, a bathroom to use, a place to plug your phone in for a little bit or a place to rest from the sun.  It worked well to take a little break for lunch.  We then spent the rest of the day on the water.  Our family was all able to go out on the Elmores boat again that evening.  We had a full day on the water, it was a blast!  We ended the night in the hot tub.  Nolan really wanted to go to the glow party at the pool.  I was glad they didn't check for wrist bands, and we got in with no problem.  As the party ended, we headed back to our room.  We all still felt like we were on the boat rocking back and forth.  Sunday morning, we all slept in.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and got packed up.  Our hotel was right next to the LDS chapel.  We could have brought church clothes and attended church before heading home.  Nolan really wanted to stop at Buccees on our way home.  It was such chaos!  We stopped once and really have no desire to stop again.       

 

Tablerock Lake

We look forward to our lake trip each year with our friends. Talking about it with our family we really wanted to be able to go.  Financially staying at the resort was going to be challenging.  The resort we always stay at is pricey.  We looked at other options to make this easier for us.  We found a VRBO that was right by the resort.  It was perfect and would cost us a fraction of the price to stay in.  We booked it and were thankful for finding it.  That was in May. The night before leaving JJ came home and told me he got an email from the VRBO host saying there was a mistake, and the place had been double booked.  She offered another time for us to be able to come and stay.  That obviously didn't work out since we were traveling with friends.  We don't know how something like this could have happened.  I had spent all day preparing food and things for us to stay in this condo.  We looked all evening for other options.  It was taking so much time, time that we were hoping to use to pack up the car.  We were planning on leaving early in the morning.  It was so stressful to have our accommodations cancelled 12 hours before leaving.  We debated even going, nothing seemed to be working out.  We finally very late at night booked a cheap hotel just up the road from the resort all of our friends would be staying at.  It was not ideal but would save us a ton of money. We explained to the kids that we were going to make the most of it and be thankful that we were still able to go.  We left early Friday morning and got to the lake around lunch time. We stopped in town and got lunch and changed into our swimming suits so we were ready to go when we got there.  We rented a pontoon boat for both Friday and Saturday.  They had just gotten the boat rental when we arrived.  It was perfect timing.  We jumped on the boat and spent most of the day pulling kids on the tube.  It was a beautiful day and the kids were having a blast.  We also spent lots of time relaxing and playing off the dock.  We boated and swam all day until the sun went down.  It wasn't until we were all done boating that we finally ordered some pizza from the pizza place on the resort property.  We sat and ate on the dock while the sun went down. It was a great day and we were exhausted.  We all had a fun time wake surfing, swimming and being pulled from the tube.  We loaded up and headed to the hotel to check in.  The room was very nice, much nicer than we expected.  It had a small kitchenette with an apartment size refrigerator, to beds and we brought our twin blow up mattress.  We forgot our air pump so JJ made a quick run to the Walmart down the street for an air pump and some shampoo and conditioner.  We felt really good about our choice to come and stay here.  It was perfect! We all showered quickly and got to bed.        

 

Rascals Game

Nolan and I were the only ones to complete the summer reading program at the library.  We have enjoyed using our prize coupons together.  One of the coupons was for a Rascals game.  We picked a date to go, there were three dates to choose from.  We stopped by the dollar store to each pick out some candy to enjoy while we watched the game.  It was a very hot night at the ball game.  We were dripping sweat!  I wished we would have had cooler weather or even a breeze would have been welcomed. We sat right up front.  Nolan brought a baseball and was hoping he could be able to get some of the players to sign his ball for him.  Towards the end of the game JJ joined us.  He was working at UMSL but the stadium was on his way home.  He came and watched the last few innings.  When the game was over Nolan was able to go over and have some of the players sign his ball.  I can't remember a time I was so sweaty and gross, the evening never seemed to cool off.  We had to come home and completely change our clothes. I sometimes wonder why we live in a place with such hot and humid summers.  Nolan and I had fun going together, I am glad I have him as my little buddy.