Sit Back, This May Take Awhile

Hello there stranger, I can't believe it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post! I'm sorry, I've missed you - it will most likely happen again at some point, but for now I vow to try harder and not let time get away from me. There are lists of excuses I could give, but that would be boring - so let me move on.

Lane has been away the past few weeks, traveling between 2 sets of grandparents and her Dad's house, to return yesterday morning. While it's nice to have a break from teen-girl melodrama now and then, it was so nice to see her! I swear her face changes almost daily, between growth spurts and the braces...my head does a double-take to make sure this beautiful girl belongs to me. She was full of stories - of nothing in particular, just relaxing with grandparents and hanging out with friends she has known since toddler-hood. I'm so thankful she has these constants in her life. While she claimed she looked "gross" and wouldn't let me snap any pics of her return home - I did catch this....little missy's raid of big sis's room uncovered these:


JELLY BRACELETS!!



Lane has stacks of them in about 15 different colors, which proved too much for little toddler hands to resist. Lane didn't protest TOO much "as long as she returns them just like she found them"....hmmm...I wonder if she knows just how much she sounded like me at that moment in time!

The 4th of July was fairly low-key this year. We had fun taking little missy to her very first carnival at the St. Charles riverfront with Nana and Papa. The PLAN was to head down early evening, enjoy some carnival rides and games and then snap out a big old blanket to plunk ourselves onto until the fireworks show started. Notice the word PLAN? All was well and good, we headed out after naptime to meet Donna & Dennis at the riverfront. Elise was in awe when we reached the carnival section and wanted to do everything! We spent a small fortune on ride tickets, but drew the line when she pointed to the "Big" rides, you know the ones, the rides that go up, flip, spin, twirl and hopefully stop at relatively the same spot they started (I always wonder how often carnival rides are inspected, WHO puts them together, are they regulated at all??) I can't be the only one thinking this...

At any rate, carnival rides we did!


The first ride of the day - she picked the flying dinosaur (or dragon?) Here Daddy, this is the one I want.



And moved on to TWO carousel rides, because this was the look on her face:



She wanted to hand over the tickets "all by mineself".





And one not-so-enjoyed rollercoaster ride! Really, what was I thinking? Notice look of horror on little missy's face?



And a pit-stop to play duck pond!



Where we won this Princess-wand (or King Triton's septor, as Elise refers to it)...here showing Nana how to cast a spell:



Good thing it's inflatable or poor Nana may have required knee surgery. And MY personal favorite "ride" of the day, the big slide. I love these things, want to own one, talked to Patrick about building one in the backyard...sigh. So not practical, but wouldn't we be the coolest parents on the block?











Silly Papa, trying to steal goldfish!





Prior to the slide adventure, the clouds moved in and the temperature dropped and the wind started whipping through the trees....and if you've lived in St. Louis during the summer, you know what happens next. Brief, but fierce, RAIN. We huddled under a tree (don't say it, I know) Elise in her stroller covered with said big blanket we were to sit on later in the evening, happily eating a snow cone, while the rest of the carnival world ducked under game booths, rides, just about anywhere in a feable attempt to stay dry. Needless to say, we were drenched. Although it felt good after the hot, humid evening, we were UNCOMFORTABLE - and did I mention my sandals were muddy? Well they were, my WHITE sandals that I'm always complimented on when I wear them...okay, so on to Plan B. Nana & Papa invited us over for an impromptu BBQ and on the way, we stopped at an overpriced Fireworks stand to find a few small fireworks for later. Good thing we didn't stick around at the riverfront, seems that little missy was TERRIFIED of fireworks this year. So, my wish to sit on a large blanket and practice taking pictures of the beautiful fireworks on the riverfront was not to be this year. We took turns cuddling on the couch with a tired little girl, watching Shrek and listening to the booms outside. It was a wonderful day...drenched clothes, muddy sandals, no fireworks pictures and all.

The following weekend, July 10, we headed out to Mark Twain's Landing...a little known resort/waterpark in Monroe City, MO that friends Paul and Heather Kelley were going to, along with her son, Paul's brother Dan and his 2 daughters. It was a long drive, but worth the early morning cooler-packing and testy 2 year old in the car once we arrived. There were a few setbacks during the day, not surprising when we miss naptime, but these were short-lived - thank goodness! The older kids were only to be glimpsed during the day, running from one slide to the next, back to the wave pool (Elise's favorite) and then off to the slides again. Sorry, but I didn't get any pics of the wave pool - if someone could please tell me how to balance a 2 year old and an expensive camera without dropping one or both headfirst into the waves, please leave a comment and let me know! But here are a few of the AWESOME toddler pool:






See Heather and Elise through the mist?











Enjoy your week! We're off to swim lessons again this evening, which will be covered in the next post - promise. I'm already sifting through the 87 pictures Daddy took last night.