Maybe they do listen to me......

When the girls are getting along with each other, life is generally grand. However there are those days when all we hear is "ZoraLin pinched me!" "Kendalan won't stay away from me!" "RaeAnne won't play with me!" "Jordis move out of the way!" "RaeAnne threw the flipper at me!" ETC....

Those are the days that I try to remind the girls that they ARE sisters now and someday I hope they appreciate having a sibling to talk to. Most of the time I think my talk goes in one ear and out the other. But I found this homemade note on our magnetic wall and I was so happy that it made me stop and take a photo of it.



It really touched my heart to see that maybe sometimes they truly are listening to me. I did find out that RaeAnne made this. She used the ends of Lunchable boxes to make the name and I think it is a nice touch that she used one of each of the girls' initial magnets to secure it on our wall. She also made this picture. Rae makes me proud with her artistic ability.

T & A

Or the less abbreviated version, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. That is what Kendalan had today. We arrived at the ExcellENT Surgery Center at 7:15 this morning. Kendalan was a real trooper! There were no tears until she started waking up from anesthestia. The nurse came out to the waiting room to get me and said that she woke up crying and kicking. She was VERY happy to see Mommy and they gave her some more morphine and Lortab elixir and sent us home. Daddy and ZoraLin showed up just as I was carrying her outside. Daddy took her home while ZoraLin and I went to the store to get more pain medicine and soft food for her to eat for the next few days.

She has spent most of the day dozing in bed or on the couch. She has been such a good girl and we are so proud of her!

Happy Father's Day!

This is a photo of my Dad when he and my Mom started dating...approx 1957ish?

The girls greeted their Daddy in bed this morning with rounds of "Happy Father's Day!" They each made cards for their Daddy and we have some budding artists here! They then gave Daddy his "Best Dad Hands Down" T-shirt complete with their hand prints and his new John Deere shirt. He was thrilled of course!

Since we really hadn't planned on doing anything today I made an executive decision to call my Dad and ask him to meet us for lunch. He was game and we met at Coyote Canyon in Salina! We then let the girls run around at the play area in the Mall for a while before we parted ways. Us to come home and my Dad AKA Pop Pop for his home.

My Dad is going to be 84 years young this year. He still gets around, but he has taken to using a cane. This is both good and bad. Good because he is being responsible enough to finally use one, bad because he needs to use it. We are starting to get worried about his health and his traveling so much. Of course, trying to talk to him about it is like talking to a brick wall! Here is Pop Pop and the girls today at the Mall.

Fantastic Caverns

It is never fun to have to come home from a trip. Vacations are fun and like the girls had said, our hotel (suite) was nice enough we could live there! All the comforts of home, I even ran the vacuum sweeper one morning! It was great because I did laundry twice, so we came home with most of our clothes clean and all we had to do was unpack and put things away!

I am sometimes a spur of the moment person. Fortunately my family is willing to go off the beaten path with me. It is pretty common for me to take off down a road to see where it will take us, most of the time I think we are pleasantly surprised at what we may find doing this. Like our little excursion yesterday found us at the lake and Inspiration Point! Today as we were driving home I saw the sign that said "Fantastic Caverns" exit 500 feet I quickly checked the lane beside us and said "Let's go check this out!"




There are many miracles of nature here on earth. I would wager that this cavern is one of them. It was very interesting and I think we all had fun going for a ride underground into this wonder.







I think that the girls all enjoyed it. It was a nice trip for Daddy as the temperature underground was a balmy 65 degrees! We learned about stalactite's and stalagmite's and some history at the same time!



We arrrived home just in time for Daddy to run the mower over the front lawn real quick, me to pull some weeds that had gotten out of hand and the girls to spend time with Paige, our neighbor, who they missed like crazy while we were gone. The cats were very happy to see us and this morning we brought home the dogs who were equally happy to have us home!

Butterfly Palace & more!

It was overcast again today. We decided to skip the Zoo and Aquarium because it could rain and go to the Butterfly Palace this morning. We watched a short 3D movie about butterflies before we went in to the butterfly room.



We learned that butterflies have scales and when the scales get disturbed the butterflies can not fly correctly. So while we were in the butterfly room we were to be very careful not to touch the butterflies if they landed on us. Butterflies are attracted to bright colors and I think we all had at least one butterfly come land on each of us. Mine happened to land on my upper lip as I was looking up. It sure did tickle! There were many kinds of butterflies in the room flying about. It was very hard to catch them holding still to take a photo. Some blend in to their surroundings. And Kendalan had to stop and take a smell of a beautiful flower!







The girls then wanted to go into the mirror maze. It was scary and fun all at the same time!



It was still overcast when we finished up. As we were driving to the road we decided to take a drive and see where the road may take us! We were hoping for an out of the way place to get something to eat. Instead we came across an Inspiration Point at The Shepherd of the Hills. What a beautiful view!






We then kept following the road and found ourselves out at Table Rock Lake! A quick look at the Dam and on the road again! Just a hop and a skip and we were by our hotel again! We decided to check out the "tossed rolls" down the street and it was a tasty treat! The girls posed with the Blues Brothers while we were there. Then it was home again, back in the pool and tonight all four girls took a bath in our jacuzzi tub together!

Branson Landing & Swimming!

Our second full day of vacation started with a trip to the Branson Landing. I had not told the girls that there was a Build-a-Bear store there. I think they knew something was up when I told them to bring their critters along today! It was a very hard decision, but an hour later the critters have new clothes! We then splurged and ate at Joe's Crab Shack.



We checked out the Bass Pro Shop for Daddy and then since it was getting very hot we headed back to the pool! The girls really enjoyed themselves and Mommy even got in on the fun!

After the Acrobats

We zipped back to our hotel after the acrobats and the first thing out of the girls' mouths was "Can we go swimming?" I somehow convinced the girls that after we ate we could go for a walk and check out the playground. The grounds here are very beautifully landscaped with little bridges, ponds, sitting areas....they even have a small putt-putt golf course.



I dragged the girls past the pool and up the pathway to the pond. There was another family there who were feeding the fish. We stopped on the bridge and a turtle came up to see us. Across the bridge was a little waterfall that the girls posed by. I walked on to the playground while the girls took off running! There was one little boy playing there with his Daddy. The girls had a chance to burn off some extra energy before bedtime.

Of course, it seems everyone needs to check their email before bed.

Chinese Acrobats

WOW! What a day! I only wish that I could post the photos of the girls watching the Acrobats...they were on the edges of their seats with their eyes focused and their mouths dropped open in awe! Thankfully I was feeling better, still not talking with my full voice yet and it still hurts to cough, but it was all worth being here today! Wish I could say the same thing for Daddy. He missed the performance as he was back at our hotel with his head in the toilet bowl! Lots of beautiful Chinese children here. I just wish I felt like visiting with the families :( Mark arrived back at the theater in time for the question and answer session and photos. After some quick photos we headed back for our room. Me to take something for my splitting headache, the girls to relax and watch another movie and Daddy another nap. The tuna casserole is heating up in the oven right now and we are going to eat soon and all get a good nights rest! (Oh, did I mention it was rainy and overcast today.)

Branson we are here!

After getting the dogs to the vet and picking up some last minute things we headed out to Branson about 11:30AM. I had taken some Ibuprofen before we left, so I am good to go?! Along the way, even with DVD's to watch, the girls periodically were asking, "Are we there yet?". It has been many years since I have been in this part of the "woods". The mountains here are beautiful....too bad they have all the advertising for the shows as you arrive in Branson. *grin* it is still beautiful and so much better when you hear the girls in the back oohing and aahing!

We arrived and checked into our digs. Nice! Did I really get this on the cheap? The girls were quick to make their sleeping arrangements and spot the nearest pool.





We hurried to WalMart and the grocery store to stock our fridge. As we were walking through the store, I was getting dizzy with all the items....or maybe the store had nothing to do with it? Hmmmm....I am feeling a little under the weather. By the time we came back to our rooms, I felt like I was freezing, actually I was burning up and it hurt so bad to cough I was trying everything not to! After trying to rest in bed, and warm up, I decided that I should see if there was a Minor Emergency Care facility close by. A quick check with the concierge we found there was one just a couple of blocks from us. A another quick check, there is another one across town by the hospital.

We pulled up at the Minor Emergent Care parking lot at 7:45pm....the door has a sign that says they are open 8 to 8pm. Good we just made it! I jump out, walk to the door (or was it crawl at this point?) grab the handle and Click....it is locked! Closed!! The next step was the Emergency room around the side of the building. Three and one half hours later, I have two scripts for medicine, one very sore arm from needles and we are headed for our room. The nurse asked me when they were checking me in if I knew my temperature was 102? Nope....I just thought it was the humidity. Diagnosis URI.