A Trip Home (As told by Addy)

I know I haven't done an entry in a while, but I've been busy growing up. It's hard work learning to walk and talk and eat good food and torment my brother and sister and make messes and all the other things I've been filling my days with. But, my Mom is pretty swamped right now with all of the holidays, birthdays, and end of the semester stuff. She was a little slow getting to the end of our trip, so I thought it was time for me to get back in the groove and help her out with an entry. So, here it is!
On our final part of our trip to the Midwest, we thought we'd better stop in and see my Mom's family, especially since we were in the same state and all. We didn't have long to visit, because after all, Cole had already missed about a week of school, but it was a good visit.
Grandma and Grandpa use woodburning stoves to keep their house really warm in the winter, so as soon as we got there, Grandpa taught Cole to start a fire so he could keep the house warm.
Then, (I think in an attempt to win me over early on in the trip) Grandma and Grandpa took us to Chuck E. Cheese. How can you not have fun there?!
I'm pretty sure the mission was accomplished on winning me over. They couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face if they tried!
Emily doesn't have to be taken anywhere to be won over though. She loves to go to Grandma's house to read all of her books and do all of her puzzles. Grandma has more books and puzzles than anyone I've ever seen. I think she may even have more books than the library. (And I would know I've pulled a lot of those off the shelves in my time!)
Emily and Cole even talked Grandpa into reading to them while they ate. I don't think they really got much eating in though!
I even got to sleep in the crib that has been in the family forever. Apparently Grandpa fixed it up so it's safe to sleep in again. I gave it the jump test. It seemed pretty sturdy to me! He must have done a good job!
I haven't been around him a ton, but I'm pretty sure that my Grandpa is a little crazy. One morning I stumbled into the kitchen half asleep and discovered that Grandpa was throwing pancakes to Cole and Em.
Cole was a little apprehensive at first, but after a minute, he thought it was awesome! He was the picture of concentration though as he tried to make sure those pancakes landed on his plate.
Emily tried catching them with the straight-leg butt out technique.
It wasn't very effective though. Thankfully Dad was ready with a backup plate, so the pancake never hit the floor!
Victory!
Then, we went to a place that has gigantic bouncy slides, and Grandpa showed up in a sports coat and slacks. Who does that anway?! (Like I said, he's either a little crazy or really fun. I haven't quite figured that out yet!)
It didn't stop him though, he and Grandma both went down the slides. They even raced through the obstacle course, but I won't tell you who won!
Aunt Shari came too. She brought my cousins Logan, Ally, and Brady with her. I've decided they are also a little crazy. Maybe it runs in the family! Thankfully my Mom missed out on that family craziness though.
Even cousin Brady is a little strange. He insisted on putting this on and having his picture taken. He called it a coat, but it looks an awful lot like a dress to me.
Logan became a human swing at one point. I don't even want to know how that happened!
Aunt Shari took a big group down the slide all at one time.
It ended in a big pile of giggles!
Then we had a head-first contest to see who was brave enough to go down head first.
Aunt Shari was.
Emily was.
Cousin Ally was.
Cousin Brady went down, but not head first!Me neither!
Cole loved the obstacle course. He and Logan perfected going airborne there.
As for me, I really liked the room they made just for kids my size.
They had blow up toys for us to play with.
Small slides for us.
And even a dog that makes me look like I have a very long tongue!
All that sliding and jumping made us so tired and thirsty that we needed some Icees to cool us off.
Then we finished off the day with some family trips down the slide.
Here's one of my Mom just to prove that she was there and she is fun...sometimes!
And a group slide by the whole family!
What a fun day!
Finally, since we don't make it back there much, we squished in a visit to see Great-Grandma Shull.
We love her lots, but only get to see her about twice a year when we visit. Don't we make a sweet looking group? If only you knew the truth!
I've decided that Grandma and Grandpa are ok! I can't wait until we can go visit them again! We love you and miss you Grandpa and Grandma!

Happy April Fool's Day?

I'm pretty sure it was not a Mom who came up with the idea of April Fool's Day. I'm really sure it was not a Mom of a 5-year-old boy.
By 9 in the morning I had been told to "look over there" followed by "April Fool's" more times than I could count. The only thing worse than that was when his buddy came over about 9:30 and the two of them kept coming up with April Fool's Day jokes to play. I thought by noon when the two of them went to school that I would finally have some relief from this silly holiday, but no, by that time Emily had caught on to how much fun it was to play tricks all in the name of April Fools. She managed to keep it going until the boys got home and started it up again! I was once again grateful that I was not Cole's kindergarten teacher because I'm pretty sure 20 kindergarteners trying to do April Fool's would really drive me over the edge!
Also, to make things even more exciting for the day, Mother Nature also decided to play an April Fool's Day trick and we woke up to several inches of snow! Rah, next April 1, I think I'm going to stay in bed all day!

A Trip to the Past

After our fun time in Cape, we headed up north. Chad decided that as long as we were on the eastern side of Missouri, we should take the kids and show them a little bit of history in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Chad also decided that we should be authentic and stay in a log cabin. I was a little skeptical at first, but they have updated the cabins to include running water, electricity, and the all important...cable tv! (It was the week of the Winter Olympics after all!) So other than being a little short on space, but then so are hotel rooms, staying in a log cabin was a great experience. The kids were so excited about the log cabin, especially the bunk beds. The first thing they did when we got there was to climb up to the top bunk and beg me to take their picture.
One of the nights we were there, they even wanted to share the same bed. (I guess they were going for completely authentic with lots of kids in one bed!) I wasn't sure that would go well because I have slept with both of them and they both kick...a lot! But we let them do it and they actually both slept great and thought they were so cool. (I thought I had a picture of them asleep, but I guess not.)
We had a great time in Nauvoo and learned lots of things about the pioneers. (Apparently I did not use my camera nearly as much as I thought I did though. Of course, you might be grateful for that.) Having grown up in the Midwest and experienced cold Midwestern winters, I did not think going to Nauvoo in February was a great idea. (I clearly had a lot of reluctance on this trip. But thankfully my husband held firm and we had a great time!) However, after having done it, I could be talked into doing it again. While it was cold, it was not very busy. So we could drive from place to place and not have trouble finding close parking, thus we were able to avoid a lot of the cold. Also, the missionaries had lots of time to spend talking to us and could adjust their spiels to our young children without others missing out. They gave the kids lots of attention and lots of fun souvenirs to take home.
While we were in Nauvoo, we learned how to
make bread,
make our very own rope,
make candles,
as well as horseshoes, bricks, guns, and various other pioneer essentials. They also showed us what school was like back then, as well as a variety of things that pioneer children had to do.
We even got to go on a wagon ride. It was very cold, but they snuggled us up in lots of warm blankets. Addy and Emily were so warm that they even managed to get a nap in along the way!
Addy was grateful when we finally went some place where she could actually touch all the neat stuff that she saw. (Nauvoo is not necessarily an ideal place for an 18-month-old!) She learned what pioneer babies got to play with!
Emily also showed her how helpful big sisters are, back then and now!
One of the nights we were there, we went and watched the show that the missionaries put on. It was very cute and lots of fun! The kids did an excellent job sitting still and watching.
Cole and Em cheesing before the play started,
and hiding while waiting for it to start.
Even Addy was cute and friendly for most of the time!
The highlight of the trip was seeing the Nauvoo temple. It was so beautiful sitting up on the hill overlooking the town.
Cole has been fascinated with temples ever since we went through the Draper Temple Open House, so he especially thought it was cool to see, although he wished he could go inside.
All in all, I think we had a great time in Nauvoo. I think even the kids developed a little bit of an appreciation for what the early Saints went through and what great sacrifices they made. We also had lots of good family bonding time! I think we were all still even speaking to each other when we left!
Bring on the next adventure!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

When Chad heard that the BYU Gymnastics team was going to compete at our alma mater, Southeast Missouri State University, he decided it was a good chance to take the kids and show them our old stomping grounds.
I know Chad and I enjoyed our trip down memory lane, I'm not sure if the kids properly appreciated it or not. Oh well, sometimes you have to suffer through things for the sake of your parents, right!
Our first stop was the track where I spent a lot of time. Not much seemed to have changed there, except for knocking down "the house" that we used to lift weights in and building a real building there.
Cole and I raced around the track. (I won of course!)
Emily and Cole played on the high jump mats that I used to jump on.
And, Emily checked out the hurdles. (Her technique needs a little work!)
Not to be outdone, Chad took them to see the field where he played football.
Cole and Chad raced. (I'm pretty sure Cole won that one!)
Finally, Cole and Chad talked strategy about when Cole plays on a big field like that. (Or Chad was telling Cole about all the great plays he made on that field! I'm not sure which!)
Even though it wasn't their greatest performance of the year, we enjoyed watching the gymnastics team compete.
Cole and Briana hit it off. As many years as we spent with Briana, that didn't really surprise us. It did surprise me how old Briana was. She's not the little girl we used to play with!
The kids even got their picture taken with Rowdy the Redhawk. (Although I'm still a little bitter that they are no longer called the Indians. But it's probably best not to even delve into that!)
Finally, no trip to Cape Girardeau is complete without a trip to the Mississippi River.
Chad showed them the gates that they close when the river gets really high and the marks on the wall that show how high the river has gotten in the past.
Cole was so convinced before we got there that he could throw a rock across the river. Once we got there, he realized that maybe it was a little bigger than he ever imagined!
All in all, we had a great time. It was so much fun to go back and remember all the places and people that we knew there. We got to hang out and talk to old friends and it was like we had never left. It made Chad and I realize how much we love the area and the people there. Thanks Cape! We will be back again some day!