September 19th update

We drove to Double J Ranch today to take the girls to the indoor water park. I couldn't believe that I was seeing red leaves on the edges of the tallest trees along the country road. Fall is almost here. 

Double J was a lot of fun. I forget that a ranch, water park, horses and more is only 30 minutes away. It was nice to get away for a couple hours and spend some time with the girls. 

I think Maddi went down the water slide 25 times. She even convinced me to go down twice. That was more than enough for me. 

It's already week 3 of being in the new house. It still feels exciting but the unreal part has faded. I was walking into the kitchen, rushing to grab one more thing on our way out the door and a wave of emotion came over me. I felt so lucky that we finally made it into a house. I love our home. 

Ry has starte projects here and there. The living room is the most complete and I have to say the changes he's made with trim, crown molding and paint make a big difference. 

The girls' room might time awhile because crazy me wants chevron stripes. I'm so glad my hubby is ambitious about painting.

Every day I unpack a box. We're getting closer and closer to being unpacked. I have no idea how we crammed all our stuff in that apartment. I've said "we have to much stuff" too many times. 

But, I'm sorting through things, donating things and handing the hand-me-downs to my nieces as I go. All though it's tiring it feels great to unpack each box. I might even have a mini celebration and fist pump. :D

Next up is planning E's 3rd birthday party. Yes, 3rd. I'll save the details for another day. 

Keep loving. 

Our weekend at The Kalahari

Have you ever heard of Kalahari? If you said no, that's okay! I'm glad I'm not the only one in this big ol' world that hasn't heard of it. The girls and I were invited by a friend from work to spend the weekend there! A surprise little get away just to enjoy ourselves. A resort complete with a water park, arcade, gift shops, restaurants and more. All in one place. Here's the shorter version of our weekend.

The four hour drive turned out pretty well. I wasn't quite sure how E would do, this being her very first road trip and stay away from home. Thank God for the DVD player in the van we drove. I am pretty sure that saved us. We all know you can't keep a toddler tied (in this case: belted) down very long. But she did well. M stayed awake up until the last half hour. When we arrived she kept saying, "I can't wait to go to bed." I have NEVER heard this girl say anything of the sort.

The hotel room was very nice. M and I shared a bed and they were so big I never even felt her move. The pack-n-play served well for E once she finally fell asleep (at 1:15AM).

Saturday morning brought a picnic breakfast, exceptionally tasty hotel coffee and a stroll around the resort. E loved the giant statues and long hallways. The girls played in the hallways more than in our room. The older girls couldn't peel their faces off the windows into the water park. They were so ready to dive in. I do admit, it was rather awesome! And LOUD. But, we held off on the water park 'til about 1:30 and then let the girls have fun. I didn't see M for a couple hours. She was having a blast!

E probably could have played on the water slide in the kiddy pool all day. After just a couple trips up the stairs and down the slide she was doing it all by herself. I was rather impressed.

We couldn't go to a water park and not float around the lazy river. We made it around  1.5 times and E was done floating in a circle. I think the wave pool would've been my place to hang but my little toddler had a hard time withstanding the waves.

She slept in my arms for awhile before we went to rest back at the room. I was ready for peace and quiet. The older girls couldn't get enough of the water park and had to stay 'til close. That's what vacations are for, right?!

Sunday morning:

Our last mission was to spend a little time at the arcade. However, an elevator door separated E and I from the rest of our group and we got lost. I am rather directionally challenged so we ended up on several different floors before I finally asked for directions and then ran into my friends daughter. Somehow she knew the resort like the back of her hand and we reunited with the girls.

The arcade was fun and really brought me back to being a kid. If I didn't know better I would've played all the games myself.

Vacation felt very nice. My friend and her daughter are great vacation partners!! It feels good to have gotten away for the weekend. I can't wait until our next vacation. This time we won't leave Daddy at home.

Keep loving.