Swim, girls, swim!!

It's been a pretty quiet week. I realized I hadn't blogged since Sunday! The girls have had swim lessons every morning this week, and they are making great progress. A friend from church has a very nice inground pool with a slide, and another friend is teaching lessons in the pool for the bargain price of $25 a kid, for 2 weeks, 8 lessons total. No where has swimming lessons that cheap! Miss Vikki is great with the kids, and they've had a good time with their friends.

Here's Kaylin, kicking her feet. Later, with her water rings on, she was swimming out to Miss Vikki. Our little princess wore a different swimsuit every day to the lessons.

Kaylin loves to jump off the side to Miss Vikki, not realizing that Miss Vikki was backing up a little bit at time and making Kaylin swim to her.

Macy is making good progress too, even with her broken arm. She can't do the strokes correctly, but she is learning to bob up and down, push off the side and swim underwater. It was hard to get a picture of her in her actual lesson, but here she is goofing off during Kaylin's lesson.



Monday-Thursday next week we have more lessons. I'm excited to see how well they are doing by the end of the time. Macy will have to miss the last lesson; she has an appointment to get her cast changed. I tried to change it, but it would be August before we could get in and I'm not doing that.

No cutting!

The girls and I went through Wendy's drive-thru tonight for dinner. I was behind a green Suburu and had been trying to figure out what kind of sticker was on the back of the car. It was our turn to order, so I pulled up and ordered our food. When I pulled around the side to pay, I did a double take. There was a white Ford Expedition in front of me!! I guess it got inbetween us when I was ordering.

So then I started watching. I did not want them to give our food to the line-cutters. When it is their turn at the window, she hands them her Wendy's cup, they fill it up and give it back to her.

I wasn't too happy about that. Seriously--no one was behind me in line. She had to cut in front of me to get a drink refill? She couldn't have gone inside? She couldn't have gotten behind me in line?

Fireworks are slowing down

The 4th weekend is coming to a close. Thursday, the 3rd, our city had their big fireworks celebration. Apparently they pay the guy $25,000 to do the fireworks. Not bad! As a firefighter wife, I get to park in the first lot, and don't have to deal with the traffic. It's a nice perk!! I was nervous this year, though. Bobby was on the launch pad during the fireworks show. Everytime one of the fireworks didn't get very high, I got a little nervous. And I'm not a nervous person. The fireworks operator told Bobby and the other firefighter if something goes wrong, to wait for the booms to stop before going in. He wanted to be the only dead one, not them too. Thanks. That's reassuring.

Friday night we had our 4th annual 4th of July party. Ended up with about 35 people. I think we had more kids than adults, but it was fun. Several people stayed until midnight, playing games and shooting off fireworks.

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend!

Kid-isms

Both girls said funny things today when leaving Wal-mart.

Kaylin, as many of you know, has a problem keeping her pants up in the back. Bobby's dad always says, "I see your crack, Jack!" Today her skirt was falling down in the back and she says, "Oh, you can see my crackerjack!" and pulls up her skirt. Crackerjack! Too cute!

And I took a different way home from Wal-mart. Macy asked why, because she wanted to go the other way. I said because I was the adult, and I could go home how I wanted. She says, "When I am the adult, and I'm driving you around, I won't go the way you want. Even if you want to go to the movies, I won't take you. Ok, maybe I will. Only if it's a good movie."

No surgery!

X-rays looked good this morning...no surgery!! We go back in a couple weeks for a shorter cast. Of course, Macy and I just smiled as she said no climbing, no jumping... I'm sure roller coasters would fit in that group as well. :)

Final Branson thoughts

We returned home Sunday afternoon. Feels so good to be home! Kobe and Gabe were very happy to see us, and are jealous of any attention given the other one.

We kept noticing three groups of people while in Branson:

1. "I'm just here to have fun." Average, ordinary citizens. Bobby and I fell in this group. The average citizens wore regular clothes, rode the rides with their children, and just blended in. No distinguishing features. The majority fell in this group, with the two minorities listed below.

2. "Look at how much money I have" citizens were my least favorite. We noticed these groups of people right away. Maybe it was the Prada sunglasses, diamond hoop earrings, diamond tennis bracelet, manicure and pedicure, and Tiffany necklace that gave it away, but these people were way overdressed for a trip to an amusement park. They did not ride the ride with their children--who, by the way, were as elaborately dressed as they were; who sends their kid to an amusement park in a Ralph Lauren sundress with matching hair bows?--but wandered around trying to bring attention to their Vera Bradley diaper bag or texting on their Blackberry as much as a teenager.

3. "This is our first vacation in 20 years!" citizens is our final group. This group obviously doesn't get out of the house much. They had pasty white faces, arms, and legs--at least the part you could see behind their white socks pulled up to their knees, plaid capri pants, and button up shirt, complete with fanny packs for everyone around. We saw one family where all 4 of them had flip-up sunglasses on their glasses. These are the people who get pickpocketed-they pay no attention to their surroundings, walk around reading a map, oblivious to anyone around them. In contrast to group 2, this group thinks Branson is the greatest thing since sliced bread and wouldn't trade the trip for the world.

I also noticed a difference in the stores in Branson. All along the strip are local stores (with the exception of the outlet malls) that are locally owned, and many have been there since I was a child. They sell crafty type things, or Branson t-shirts and mugs. Group # 3 feels at home here.

In stark contrast is the Branson Landing. Built on the riverfront in the last three or four years, there is nothing locally owned. It's all the same names you'd find in a upper-scale mall. You see a lot of Group #2 down here.

And finally, I played the license plate game. I've done this since I was a kid, when I'm sure my parents wanted to shut me up for a few minutes. Now I feel a compulsion to do it every time I'm in Branson. Keeps me busy. Parking lots are my favorite, becuase you can just walk by and score several states. I hate the states that don't have license plates in the front, becasue you have to turn around and try to catch the state as the car is speeding by.

I got 35 states this time, which is about what I usually get in the summer. All of the midwest states, of course. Some far aways ones: New York, Utah, Maryland, Massachussetts, California, Florida, New Jersey, North and South Dakota, and Alaska. Alaska seems unusual, but I get it every time I play the game. I also got Ontario, and one "US government; for offical use only."

Wow, that was long. No more Branson posts!

Branson Mega Pic Post

Finally got the pictures downloaded from our trip. I didn't take as many as usual and I am not sharing all of them here. Just my favorites!! They are in no particular order!

This may be my favorite of the whole trip!!! On Friday we did the infamous Ride the Ducks, and it was WINDY! Especially when we got out on the dam. The girls LOVED the quackers, and our heads are pounding! They had a fun time on the trip and loved the fact that the car turned into a boat.

In case you don't know what Ride the Ducks are, here's a picture of the vehicle. It's a WWII amphibious vehicle turned tourist attraction. Here's alink to more information about the vehicles. I can remember 20+ years ago riding the same thing and driving in the lake, just as they did.

Ahhh, how sweet. They aren't hitting each other. Actually, they were quite good. Only a few squabbles.

Love this one of Kaylin playing in the fountain at Celebration City. Macy, of course, was riding the big roller coasters.

A couple pictures of the water and fire show at Branson Landing. It's very cool. The show is every half hour, but at night it is spectacular with the lights and fire.



Kaylin's butterfly "real" tattoo...

Macy's rose "real" tattoo...

Kaylin's favorite ride--the mini "Detonator". She rode it 5 times in a row.

We forced Macy to ride one of the "baby" rides with her sister. I have no idea what they are doing in this picture, but it looks funny.

Macy's waterproof sleeve that goes over her cast. She says it hurts, but forgets about it when she gets in the water. It works so well--keeps that cast completely dry. About $40 at a medical supply store.

Kaylin in the water

Macy jumping in the water. Before this trip, she wouldn't jump in. She started jumping in and even going underwater--a huge step for her.

Kaylin with her expert putting abilities at the Dinosaur mini-golf place.

Macy putting one-handed.
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