Heading to Branson

After a few days at my sister's lake house, we drove the quick hour to Branson, but not without a stop at the famous Lambert's Cafe - Home of the Throwed Rolls.

ROLLS!!

After an awesome (and very filling) lunch, we made our way to Branson. That night, we got our tents set up (in between rain showers) and got started cooking dinner. We grilled chicken and vegetables, so of course we left teh fire from the grill going so we could have S'mores around the campfire!

Jaxon and Wyatt cracking up about something.

The girls. I think Dakota was trying to sit on Rowan's lap.

After S'mores, Oupa had a short devotional planned for the kids each night. It was a really neat moment to watch the kiddos listen and learn about God's love from their grandpa.
Jason kept the fire stoked, but let the kids take turns helping carry the fire wood.

S'mores face!

S'mores smile!

Lake Time

Well, what seems like a long time ago, we took our summer vacation. Then life got busy and my computer decided to act slow and soon a month had passed and I still had not blogged our travels! Here is a tiny bit. I'll keep working on this and try to get the rest up by the end of the week.

We planned our summer vacation to be 5 days of camping in Branson with Jason's family. Those five days turned into: 2 days at the lake with my sister and niece, Page, 5 days camping in Branson with Jason's family, and 6 days in Kansas visiting friends and family that Jason hadn't seen in almost a year.


NINNY'S LAKE HOUSE:

Jaxon and Dakota were so excited to spend time with their cousin, Page. They especially enjoyed Page taking them on rides on the golf cart.

Jaxon has been asking Aunt Ninny for a baseball helmet for months. Guess what Ninny surprised him with?!? He wears it everyday. I'm not kidding.

And Sissy got a pink camping chair to sit in while watching Bubby play ball all summer.

Page let me play with her hair and I did my first fishtail braid! I cannot wait for Dakota to sit still long enough for me to do fun braids with her hair.

Ready to go fishing! At first we were a little bummed that the weather was cool and we wouldn't get to get on the boat, but when we discovered Ninny had lots of fishing poles, we knew exactly what we wanted to do!

Hi Mama!

Page caught a fish! Actually she caught several, but all got thrown back.

Jaxon caught a fish! He was so proud of himself!

Our Little Ball Player

Jax is playing baseball again, but this year they have ditched the tees. We signed him up with a different league that is for 4-5 year olds. It is basically coach-pitch, but an employee for the Union Mission (mostly high school boys) pitches for both teams (good consistncy), another catches, and a third is the first baseman. The rest of the positions are filled in by the kiddos. They are mainly trying to get them some hitting practice and trying to teach them the very basics of defense. They encourage them to throw every hit ball to first base, and this has improved Jaxon's throwing big-time. As far as his offense, he gets on base about 70% of the time. As soon as he gets a little bit bigger, he should be able to control the bat much more and swing it much harder.

He's got a few more weeks of games, so I will try and remember to bring the video camera and also to take more pictures. If you're on facebook, a friend of ours put three really cute pics of Jax on my facebook page.

Jaxon and some of his teammates ready to bat. Some of the kids' older siblings like to "help" with base coaching and getting the kids in the correct batting order.




Our little slugger:

Happy Father's Day

I think the best pictures from this day are on Jason's phone, but I can't seem to remember to get them off when he's home. So, no pictures of the person of honor on this day, but you can imagine how much fun he had! After spending last year's Father's Day watching the Royals play the Cardinals with some friends who love the Cards, we knew we wanted to keep this tradition going. It was a hot day, but the kids were so excited to be there and cheer for their teams, not one of them complained. We played them close and were down by 1 going into the 9th inning. With 2 outs and an 0-2 count, Billy Butler hit a single run home run in to tie the game, and we went crazy! They ended up going a total of 15 innings (making it a 5/12/ hour game) and the Royals won it with a Betancourt two run homer to put us up 5-3. We stayed for the entire 15 innings. With four kids. The kids were amazing, and even after the concession stands were long closed, they watched the game patiently with hungry bellies and thirsty mouths. It was a great day and so exciting for Jaxon to see his first Royals win.

Mooooooose!!!!

Sweet Dakota in her Royals dress! She was so content to sit in her chair and yell "Go Royals!" She even took a little nap on Amy's lap for about 45 minutes.

Once we went into extra innings, we moved down to about the 15th row (we were in the very top section, second to last row). I have poor eyesight, but Jaxon is insisting that this is Bryan Pena about to bat. I will never doubt this kid when it comes to the Royals. He is impressive with his knowledge of every player, their position, what number they wear, and he can even imitate some of the batting stances.

Jaxon had a lot of favorite moments on this day. Seeing one of his favorite players, Billy Butler, hit a home run was really exciting for him. He also enjoyed seeing Jonathon Broxton (or Big Broxton as Jax refers to him) pitch. Jason and I enjoyed seeing Bruce Chen added to the batting order for one inning - and he got on base!! But the highlight of the day was seeing Jaxon in his element.