Family adventures (Part 1 - water park)

There's not a better day than today to tell about our adventures with my family, on my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's 7th anniversary. (Happy 7th, guys!!!!! Love you bunches!)

The past 4 days have been a very post-worthy happy time. Brad and Chel (and the kids) were "home" for a week. We spent some time with them Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We got home yesterday (Sunday) from a quick trip taking them back to Oklahoma and visiting with them, seeing their new digs. But I'll tell about those adventures in another post.

Thursday we all piled in the fabulous RV (rolling turd I think is what my sister-in-law, Kari, calls it?! funny!!) and went to the water park for a fun-filled morning and afternoon. It was the first time for all the kids on the RV (first for me, too!) so driving just 45 minutes was a thrill-ride for most of us. It was definitely one one of the highlights of Noah's day.



The water park was fabulous. Kinda crowded and plenty hot. But we still have a lot of fun. Adi, the baby of our family (just 5 months old) even really enjoyed it. My is she the BEST baby ever, in 90 degree weather even! I am pretty taken by her sweetness and beauty.



We started out by doing the fun stuff. I told Ash (Neil and Brad's 13-yr old sister) she had to do the "U" with me. She didn't want to, but I begged her. Begged. Reluctantly she actually said "ooooo-kaaaay". When she got to the top and sat on the tube with me, she screamed "I want off!", but it was too late. We went down down down fast! fast! fast! Talk about a thrill ride. It was soooo much fun. This was the same ride that Heather begged me to ride with her a few weeks prior -- and I was glad that I went. I think Ash can say she was glad she went, too, because when we got to the bottom she said "I want to go again!". Mission accomplished :c)

Carrying the raft up (that's me in the pink suit, Ash behind it):


Getting ready to go:


Going!


Going some more!


And then my husband and his brother went. They're both holding on for dear life!



It was so much fun. Kind of an out-of-body experience. Hard to explain but something I'd definitely do again! :)

I think it wore Ash out, because much of the day you could find her like this. Gotta love teenagers. I miss being one of them :)


Aunt Chel and Maia:


The kids had a lot of fun going down the small water slides:


And I had fun doing some of my notorious photo shots. "Only Val . . . " :)


Ella and her daddy. She is such a daddy's girl. (Don't ya love her swimsuit? Hard to tell here, but very retro 50's!)


And "the girls" before we left. Ashley, me and Chel (friends and family 4-ever -- so very corny, but so very true):


Oklahoma travels are tomorrow with lots of randomness photos called "the things I shoot when bored on an RV" :)

I . . .

. . . updated Typepad with a lot of wedding pictures.

. . . locked my keys in the car this morning after taking the dog to the vet. Thank goodness I dropped her off before going to the library and doing this. Thankfully we weren't too far away from home. So we walked home (a mile walk in the 90 degree weather!) and thankfully we came home and found the sliding glass door to be unlocked. So no driving for me today and I had to cancel my sitting. But oh well because it helps me have time to get ready for tomorrow and the weekend.

. . . am going with my family tomorrow to the water park (again) with Chel and the rest of the family. (I canNOT wait!)

. . . am then coming home to pack up some bags for a spontaneous trip to Oklahoma in a motor home for the weekend!

. . . discovered while at the library for an hour today wasting time in the COOL indoors before going on the trek across town through the humidity bricks of heat, that you can rent DVD's for $1.00 for an entire week! Is that awesome or what?! I recommend checking out your local library for rentals. It's a really exciting find for me. I think I might quit Netflix!

. . . probably won't post again until I'm riding in the RV. I've never road cross-country in anything big like this. Should be fun, especially since I don't have to drive and they have wireless on board ;) (Thanks for letting us go MB&A!)

Happy Birthday, Heather!

I get so excited for my friends when good things happen to them. They are my friends so of course I think they deserve nothing better than the best. Here's the other exciting news.

Most of you either know Heather or know of her because I talk about her so much. She is one of my friends whom I have known for like 26 years. She has been through a lot in her lifetime . . . I won't go into it, but she's been through things in her short lifetime that none of us would even want to fathom. She's a trooper and I respect her and her strength more than almost anyone I know. She's also one of my truest, dearest friends. I call her one of my very best friends. And today, today is her birthday. And I wish her the best birthday ever. Unfortunately zoo things called (she is the head zoo keeper at our zoo) but tomorrow she is having some pampering which she is so deserving of.

Not that her birthday isn't exciting, but I have some news that is even more exciting than cake and candles. Last weekend Heather, her fiance, Lee, and Lee's son went with us to a local water park. We had a blast. (Our boys are the same age.) While there they talked about a house that they really loved. They wanted us to see it. Of course we were more than happy to (and secretly really wanted to see it anyway!).

Here's a picture from the water park -- I love this of them. Cole is on the right. One of Noah's friends whom he likes to get in trouble with. Gotta love boys!

Back up a bit. Heather and Lee are getting married in September. They're living in an apartment right now and really really want a house. Neither have ever lived in a house since they've been "on their own". So this step was a big huge one just to begin the "looking" process. And their goal was to find something before the wedding date.

So we went with them to see the house, and to make a long story short, we loved it (you know, they don't do anything without Val's approval! tee-hee!) and they loved it all over again but even more, and so right then and there they put an offer on it. The guy took it and in just a few weeks they CLOSE on their new house! Talk about a fabulous birthday present. This is going to be quite an exciting year for Heather and Lee. And no one deserves that more than they do.


Happy Birthday, dear wonderful forever-loving friend. I love you!