We started our Summer off with a Friday night Royals game. The Royals didn’t win but the night was still fun. We had cotton candy and peanuts. Allison was determined to get on the jumbotron and danced crazy enough that she caught their attention and her wish came true. When she saw herself she was a little panicked and froze but she was on it. She said she is more prepared for next time and won’t freeze up. They had a cool fireworks show after the game and the kids fell asleep on the way home in the car. A night of fun and a sugar crash made it to hard to keep their eyelids open.
On our way to the game we were jamming out to some careoke. Sweet Baby James came on and it reminded me of the time I filmed Allison and Matthew singing it in the car when they were younger (Emilee was to young to sing with them). I decided to recreate it so I had the kids sing it again, Emilee joined in this time.
Original video 2018:
2022 version:
The first weekend of Summer (Memorial Day weekend) we went to Lake of the Ozarks. A friend of dad’s from work had been inviting us to come stay at their cabin for quite awhile. We made the most of it but it was a little bit of an awkward weekend. They are really nice but what was discussed as far as activities and expectations was not what happened. They told us not to bring anything, I brought some food anyways because I felt bad for adding 5 mouths to feed for two days. It was good that I did though because they didn’t have any food. His wife disappeared most of the time and I was left to make the food. Ryan offered to rent a tube or two to pull the kids behind the boat, he said he had one he could borrow so not to worry about it. There never was a tube or anything else. We just drove around the lake for hours at a time looking at houses. We were all bored to death but the kids did a good job at staying positive. All the beds were well used and no sheets were washed between people sleeping on them. Not the greatest weekend. Matthew did do a little fishing and had some success. They swam in the lake a bit, and there was a pool they played in a bit but not to much because the water was only 60 degrees. We have a family trip to Table Rock lake planned in August, there will be lots of tubing, snacks, swimming and fun to be had.
When we got back from the lake the girls had Girl Scout camp and Matthew had Youth Conference in Nauvoo Illinois. Great experiences for them all. After that Emilee had horse camp and two volleyball camps. Allison had a kayak trip with her Girl Scout Troop and her first Young Women camp with church. Matthew had High Adventure in South Dakota with church and a Regional Flag football tournament in Wisconsin at the Green Bay Packers practice stadium. Add swimming at the pool, play dates, sleepovers, baseball games, gymnastics, riding lessons, and a fun day at Lake Olathe swim beach with the cousins and we have had some busy first weeks of Summer. July will be a little slower.
Father’s Day was on Ryan’s birthday this year. We had a yummy dinner at Grandpa and Grandma’s house with Ross and Lauren’s family. Usually Lauren and I let them play a game on their own but since it was a special day we played too. Emilee and Jovee made a scavenger hunt/game/competition up for their dad’s and grandpa. They had to throw a ball as far as they could with their left hand, fold a bird with origami, draw a picture, do the most pushups (they all tied with one on that one) and race around the house. It was pretty cute.
A little side story. Matthew has been playing on a team with some boys for flag football. The coach for this team is Chad. He and his family are friend of ours. His son Tyson is also on the team. The event they went to in Wisconsin was a regional event, if they won they would go to the National event (last year they actually went to Nationals and won). So Matthew has been playing with them for a few months and they qualified for Regionals. Ryan said Matthew was to old for his team so he wouldn’t be able to play. A few weeks later, he tells me that Chad got it figured out and Matthew could now play. Plans were made and Ryan, Matthew, Chad, and Tyson head up to Wisconsin together. When they get there and it is time to check in, Ryan and Chad tell Matthew that he is going to go by Trey Something and his birthday is August 9, 2008. Apparently when they said they had worked it out, Chad and Ryan meant they had signed Matthew up as a kid from their team that couldn’t come and is almost two years younger.😒 Liar One and Liar Two justified this to themselves because even though Matthew is older than the cut of date, he is by far the smallest on the field. 🤦♀️ By the time they get to the front and the lady asks Matthew his name and bday. He says his name but can not remember the birthday so he says August then starts stammering trying to remember. Ryan had gone to the car to get something and was no where to be found. Chad sees Matthew struggling so he goes up to the lady and pulls Matthew aside and proceeds to whisper to her that Matthew is ‘a little slow’ and looks up his info on his list. He calls him over and tells him his bday, the lady smiles at Matthew and says, “Can you repeat that to me honey?” Matthew (who unlike Ryan and Chad is not a liar and if he tries to lie you can spot it a mile away) awkwardly repeats the date. The lady who takes his lying awkwardness as ‘slowness’ says, “Thank you sweetheart, you are all checked in.” while patting him on the shoulder. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️