The Dells 2014!

We are just coming off of an amazing vacation with great friends.  We are happy and filled with the memories, but sad that we are missing our friends again.  I've mentioned them before on this ol' blog. They are the friends we met in Jamaica when we went the first time in 2012.  We love them.  They are the friends of a lifetime.  We met them in January, 2012.  They came to our friends' wedding in September 2012, we went back to Jamaica with them in February 2014, and now we spent this past weekend together.  Even though we don't see them often, when we get together it's like we were never apart.  We greet each other with some great big hugs, and we pick up right where we left off.  This little road trip out to the Dells was the perfect opportunity for us to all get together again, and this time with our kids.  We've already started planning our next get together with them...and we are all giddy with excitement to be together again soon.  Fate brought us all together, and we couldn't be more thankful for that.

We made a last minute decision to leave Ruby with Chad's sister and her family.  After we decided to do that my stress went waaaay down.  We were able to focus on the 2 big ones, and Ruby was in excellent hands.  We made the trek to Chad's sister's house on Wednesday evening.  We settled Ruby in with them, we FINALLY got the kids to wind down and go to bed, and we woke at 4:30 the next morning to hit the road.

Our plan with leaving so early was that the kiddos would nap.  Not so much.  They were so wound up about their vacation they were awake for most of the trip.

Who's excited for vacation!!!!

I packed up bags for each of them with some fun new books and activities, and it worked well to keep them both occupied.  They were great in the car the whole way!

We tried to convince him to put his book down and sleep, but he was too into it!

And then, Finally, we had a sleeper!

We got to the Dells at about 9:30 a.m.  The rest of the crew wasn't scheduled to arrive until about 2:30 p.m.  We took advantage of a few hours of family time, and went to the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory.  It was perfect for these 2, everything was geared right at their ages.  They were able to run, play, and have fun!

Haha!  This thing never gets old.  I remember doing this when I was a little kid!

Oh, my, and then this bike.  My stomach has butterflies just looking at these pictures....I can't believe they got me on this thing!  This bike follows along that rope and balances simply with the weights that hang down below it!  You peddled backwards until you hit the end, and then go forward.  Chad did it with a smile on his face the whole time.  I was about in tears!!!!  Scary!!

There was NO WAY I was letting go!!!

AWWWWEEE!!!!  I was squealing the whole time.  Eliott and Adi were just laughing at me!!

These interactive sports games were a lot of fun.  I don't know what was better...playing in the game, or watching them swing, kick, and bat in the air!

We went to check into our hotel condo, but they weren't quite done cleaning it yet.  They handed us our waterpark passes, and wolf ears, and we headed to Pirate's Cove to mini-golf.

This was a first for the kids.  They caught on quickly, and Eliott even got a little competitive with it!

Right as we were finishing up our round of golf the texts came in that everyone had arrived.  They were all waiting on us since we had the keys and the passes.  We had rented a 4-bedroom condo for the weekend so we were all able to stay together.  The place was great....Plenty of room, plenty of beds, 3 bathrooms, and a full kitchen.  We all pitched in with the meals and drinks, and of course had plenty of both!  :)

We wasted no time loading up the fridge, throwing our suitcases in, and getting our suits on.  The sun was shining, the weather was beautiful, and the kids wanted to hit the waterpark!

AJ and Eliott became fast friends  Their little friendship made us so happy.  They get along so well, just like their parents:)

Daddy and his little girl.  This little daredevil hit every single ride and slide she was tall enough for!

Little Owen was such a trooper, everyone stepped up and took turns with him, and he was as friendly as could be.  Such a little sweetie!

Owen and his beautiful Mama.

Sweet Buds!

This picture reminds me so much of Jamaica.  Awe- it was great to be back together....

Adi was in heaven with 2 teenage girls showering her with attention.  She soaked up every bit of them.  One night the girls loaded all the kids into our van and took them out for ice cream.  The kids loved it!

The minute she popped out of bed she was in her swim suit!

Lovely ladies having so much fun!  The weather couldn't have been better...we definitely lucked out that way!

We met over Red Stripes 2 1/2 years ago- it was only fitting to cheers to that!

 This is so sweet.  Their kids were amazing with ours.  When we loaded up to head home the first thing Eliott asked was, "We get to see them again soon, right?"  He was as sad to leave them as Chad and I were.  We assured him, that Yes, we will all be together again soon.

We wanted a group picture just like in Jamaica.  It was fun this time, though, to have the kids included in it!

 We said our good-byes, and gave out hugs.  Nate and Ashley headed back home, and the rest of us headed to the beach.  We spent our last day jet-skiing, swimming, exploring, and snacking until it was time to part ways.

We were definitely a little teary-eyed when it was time to leave.  It was a wonderful vacation with wonderful friends.  We are so thankful that they were brought into our lives.  Plans are already in place for our next get-together, and we are already counting down until we are together again.

Love you, 'Sconny' friends....until next time!  One Love.

A Year Of Laughter A Year Of Fun....Our Little Sparkler Is Turning 1!

We celebrated Ruby's 1st birthday the Saturday of July 4th weekend.  Many of our party guests are friends from our cabin, so it just seemed fitting to have the party when they all would be up anyways. It was a crazy, hectic weekend, and I was a little relieved when the party was over....It was a huge success, there was enough food for the crowd, and Ruby loved all of the attention that was coming her way!

We went with a July 4th theme which was tons of fun to decorate around and was fitting for the timing of the party....It will be tempting to do this same theme each year! :)   We ordered the book "Sweet Land of Liberty" and had all of the party guests sign the inside covers.  I love this tradition that I started for Eliott's 1st birthday.  They will each have a nice collection of books with sweet words and messages covering the inside covers to look back through....

The party was at the lake again....It's so much easier having it there when that's where most of the guests are staying, and it's much better than having to get our house and yard ready for it!

And here, I have WAY too many pictures from the fun celebration!-

One of my best Pinterest ideas yet....Strawberry shortcake that looked like a flag.  It was a hit served with a can of Redi-Whip!

Adi and cousin, Ally, were great helpers while getting things ready.

Lots of ball was being played right outside our door.

I ordered this cute little banner to use for her 1 year pictures, and dressed it up in the colors for the party.

We displayed the coming home from the hospital-week 52.  The party guests loved checking out how Ruby grew!

Daddy painted the lawn with some fun stars...

Sister ready for the party.

Ruby's 1st birthday cake!

Cupcakes for the party guests.  The centers will filled with sprinkles, so they 'exploded' like fireworks when bit into.

Ruby's cake table.

Niece, Alivia, dressed for the occasion.

Sister loved her lunch!

The little guest of honor.

Alivia thought she should help feed Ruby.

The nice part about having the party at the lake, is that there is plenty for the kids to do to stay busy!

Little Harper came to the party dressed so cute!

Party guests filled their plates.

The tables were filled with lots of good company.

The other 2 quickly changed out of their party clothes for swimsuits, so I never did get a family picture.  Oh, well, this is the best we could do!

We sang 'Happy Birthday' and she dug in....

......and hated it!!!!

This wasn't the reaction we were expecting when she was supposed to dig into her cake!

Poor little thing!!!  Didn't want anything to do with it!

We hardly ever see tears from her....

Right into the tubby she went.

She was happy as could be after she was all cleaned up.

Then it was time for presents.

She loved this little personalized cow from Auntie Lori and AJ.

Her new little wheels!!!

Ruby with Auntie Lori.

Happy Birthday party, Little Rue!!  You are a blessing to us all.  We had such a fun, happy day celebrating our fun, happy girl.  We love you to the moon and back, Sweet girl!