Summer Fun

Summer commenced in the Nance household in a relaxed, unassuming manner.  But, as usual, it has picked up speed, which leads to non-stop fun with very little downtime.  We've had a lot of fun visiting the lakes and seeing friends and family.  Since last summer, Fletcher is so much more active and interested in everything around him, which makes those moments at the lake even more enjoyable.  Here are a few highlights from all of our recent lake fun.

Fletcher wants to be just like his big siblings, so I feel like he is doing much more than his siblings did at his age.  I think he also just gets away with more because he's the youngest.  He loves throwing the toys in the water for the dogs.  We also have to watch him like a hawk, because he'll try to get in the water by himself without a second thought. I actually caught him by the handle on his life jacket once when he was just stepping off theside of the walk-way.  Thank goodness I was in the right place at the right time!

Audrey has been really interested in the kayak this summer.  Barrett isn't very coordinated with the paddle yet, so he prefers to ride with her.  Yet again, Fletcher is doing things that neither of his siblings did at his age.  He actually loves riding in the kayak with Audrey and on the paddle board wtih me. 

Barrett is becoming much more independent, but he still loves to snuggle wtih his momma.  I hope he never gives that up!  He does show his independence now, however, by refusing to smile for photos.  The one of him with his papa took me whitholding dessert after dinner until he let me snap a picture.  He was pretty proud of his outfit though (which he picked out himself) because it looked like his papa. 

The newest feature on the boat dock this summer was a joint birthday gift for both Audrey and Barrett from their grandparents.  It is a waterslide.  They are really enjoying playing on it.  It did take Barrett a while to warm up to the idea, but we did finally get him to try it out.  Once he got down it once without incident, it was much easier to convince him to go again.

When they're not in the water, the kids love to just be outside.  I love to see them just being kids and enjoying the outdoors.  Audrey, in particular, is obsessed with finding pets...more specifically, roly poly bugs.  She is very creative with the containers she uses as their houses.  I belive at one point she had as many as 20 of them in captivity at one time.

There is just something about the water that relaxes you.  I love napping by the water, and both of my sonds have inherited that desire.  Boat rides are like a tranquilizer for these boys, but Fletch will also nap on the dock when it is rocking a bit in the waves.

When we were in Greenville, we were fortunate enough to have our friends the Hiltons join us and to visit with my friend Heidi. It is so amazing to see our kids playing and having fun together.  I love those moments and the memories they're making together, so I do my best to take lots of photos.  Trying to get 7 kids in pictures is a challenge!

 

 

 

 

Finally, I'd be remiss if I did a blog post on our summer lake time without mentioning the standups.  Over the winter, my husband and his dad (with "assistance" from the kids) rebuilt a standup jetski for the kids to ride.  My dad also bought an Octane jetski for the older kids.  So, we now have 2 standups in addition to the one Billy already had at Lake O that we've been trailering back and forth across the state of Missouri.  Oh, and I can't forget to mention the one that is currently sitting on my garage floor waiting to be sold.  The kids love their new standup though, and it is a lot of fun to see them ride it.  We also convinced my dad to ride the Octane.

Whew!  That is a lot of photos!  This summer has definitely been fun so far, and I can't wait to see what else it holds!

Mommy Days

I had the opportunity this week to spend some quality time with each of my kiddos.  With 3 little ones, it isn't often that I get one on one time with them, especially for the 2 oldest ones.  So, this week, they each got a morning where they had mommy to themself.  I gave them free reign (within reason) to do what they wanted.

Barrett had his day first, and he chose to go ice skating with mommy. I think I spend more time tryng to get all of his pads on than we did actually skating.  He loved it though, and in the end, he admitted that I was better than he thought I would be.  After that, we ate lunch at Bread co and then went to Michaels to get some art supplies.  We then made his summer sticker chart and loaded music he wanted onto the MP3 player we got him for his birthday. 

Audrey's day was next, and she chose a visit to the zoo as her first activity.  It was a beautiful morning, so the animals were very active.  In fact, I am pretty sure the polar bear was putting on a show just for us.   We got a free carousel ride since we got there before 9, and we were the first people on the train when it started running at 9 am.  After our zoo visit, Audrey wanted to get a mani/pedi, and then we had lunch at Five Star Burgers.  She wanted Sugarfire, but that was too far out of the way to be "within reason."

After Audrey's morning wrapped up, I took both her and Barrett to the Magic House for a special Blues day.  They got to meet Louie, the Blues mascot, and play at all of their favorite exhibits.  Barrett also found a new favorite exhibit: the kids construction zone. 

Barrett Birthday Craziness

Since Barrett's birthday was this past Saturday, we let him choose what he would like to do.  His choice was a trip to Lake of the Ozarks.  We got there before dinner on Friday, so Barrett had the whole day Saturday at the Lake.

The day started out a little crazy. The weather forecast was predicting rain and storms, so there was a decent amount of debate about whether we should take our planned boat ride.  So, the kids had breakfast at the Grandma Rosie's, and we embarked on our boat ride.   The neighbor kids came a long too, at Barrett's request. His petition to me sounded something like this. "Mom, can Logan and Finley come on the boat ride with us?  It is my birthday."  Who can say no to a request like that? 

As we started coming back, the kids were hungry, so we stopped to have lunch out on the Lake. We decided to go to a restaurant near our house, since we knew the weather wouldn't hold much longer.  The kids didn't care though; they thought it was hilarious that they all ordered the same thing: a cheeseburger and fries. 

Just as we boarded the boat to head back to the dock, the rain started.  We had the enclosure on, so it wasn't that bad.  We were definitely thankful we decided to eat close to home though!  Once we got docked, I took the kids up for nap time, our moms went to walk the dogs, and the guys worked on unloading the boat.  As I was walking back down to the dock to grab the diaper bag, Lana's phone alert went off notifying us of a tornado warning.  She turned on the local news, and as I was walking back into the house let me know that the tornado was in the town where the lake house is.  I looked to the west, and the green sky confirmed what the news was telling us. Despite the obvious signs, I still hesitated (we're talking seconds here, but those seconds can mean a lot in terms of safety in these sitautions).  Lana and I calmly discussed the safest place to go, and then we agreed that I'd get the kids, and she'd get the dogs.We decided to go over to the neighbors, because we dont' have a basement at our lake house.  I didn't want to alarm the kids.  So, I asked them to get up and get their shoes on, simply stating we were going to take our rest time at Logan and Finley's. 

In hindsight, I think telling them the true reason behind the change of location would have been wise (and Audrey likes to point that out to me).  They were taking their time, and Audrey decided to grab an arm full of toys to take with her.  I scooped up Fletcher, grabbed the diaper bag, and we ran out the back door just as the wind started picking up and the rain started coming down.  Audrey ran, but slipped on the wet grass.  Billy tried to pull her along, but ended up causing her to scrape her knee and lose several of her toys onto the wet ground.

Barrett was right behind me, but as I got to the bottom of the deck stairs, I looked back to see him frozen at the top of the stairs.  At that moment, I heard the creak of metal twisting in the wind.  My heart sank, I knew that with Fletcher in my arms, there was no way I could pick up Barrett to carry him down the stairs and over to the neighbors house too.  So, I yelled at Barrett to run as fast as he could, and I turned to do the same.  My mind was racing, but I knew the best chance was for me to go drop off Fletcher first and come back for Barrett.  As I started toward the neighbors, I heard Lana behind me encouraging Barrett along.  My heart was still racing, but I was relieved to know that she was behind me helping Barrett. 

As we entered the neighbors house, Audrey started throwing a fit because she didn't have all of her toys.  Billy ran back out to grab as many as he could, but Barrett had found the one she was most worried about and brought it to her.  She was upset that we'd made her run outside in the rain...again, hindsight is 20/20.  It wasn't until that moment she found out about the potential tornado.  So, the kids went into the safest part of the basement, and I followed.  I had Fletcher, and he wouldn't let me out of his sight.  I could see out the door where the other adults were gathered, and I could see that it was pouring, but that was it. The neighbors had their ipads, so the kids sat and played with those to keep them occupied. I could hear occasional metal twisting, but nothing else concerning. The power went out as well, but that's to be expected when there is a bad storm in such a rural area.  Then, about 10 minutes later, we determined that the worst danger had passed.  Everything and everyone was intact, except Audrey's scraped knee and one of the other neighbor's dock, and even those weren't that badly injured. 

As I look back on that afternoon, I am so thankful the weather where we were wasn't worse.  My hesitation and the children's slowness could have had terrible consequences if it was a tornado coming down the cove.  The worst part ended up being the power outage; I was planning to make Barrett's birthday cake while the kids napped, but without power, no cake could be made that day.  So, we celebrated Barrett with ice cream that was melting, leftover cake donut holes and a single Darth Vader candle.  He didn't care though.  And he loved opening his presents. 

The next day, the power came back on around 5:30 am.  So, first thing, I set off to make that cake so that I could be sure it was done.  At Barrett's request, he got a Darth Vader cake, and I think it was worth the wait!

There is no doubt in my mind that Barrett's 5th birthday will stand out as one of the most memorable birthdays for my children.  I also think that as well as the Darth Vader cake turned out, it could very well become a tradition.