A Capming We Will Go

This weekend we loaded up the truck and camper and went to Jellystone Park in Sturgeon Bay, WI.  We finally made it up on Friday night after a few hiccups.  Dave got home a little early with hopes of us hitting the road by 3, get there by 4, and beat the Friday traffic.  We were all set to go and then I looked at Bear who's eye was almost completely swollen shut.  He was going to stay at my brother's for the weekend since we'd be away from the camper for the most part and didn't want him to sit in there and bark.  Soooo, we loaded him up and stopped at the vet.  Luckily they were able to see him right away and figured it was most likely a bee sting.  A steroid shot and some Benadryl and we were only an hour behind schedule!  We were going through Green Bay and came to a big camper on the side of the road with a wrecker behind it; it looked like they had a couple flat tires.  I jokingly said, "I hope that's not an omen," which Dave didn't think was very funny, especially when 10 miles down the road his 'check coolant' light lit up.  The truck was super hot so we got off at the next exit and let it cool down a bit.  Thankfully it cooled down and we were able to get going, we just made our trip a bit slower than we'd hoped.  We ended up having a fun weekend.  It was Hawaiian Luau theme weekend and there were sooo many activities for the kids to do, the days flew by!  We did decide that we need to work on teaching our kids the fine art of relaxation because there wasn't much of that going on this weekend.  Now for the picture overload:)

 Yogi and Booboo:)

The kids in Yogi's pic-a-nic basket

 Madi snapped this picture of Dave and I.  This was 1 of 2 but I looked really bad in the other one so I chose to share Dave's droopy eyes instead:)

 Pretty reflections (and cute little boy) to wake up to Saturday morning

 Off for a bike ride

 Daddy teaching Grace the fine art of putting (Grandpa Great would be so proud!)

 Daddy concentrating very hard

 The girlies

 Wyatt checking out the bear

 Daddy and Wyatt coming down the green

 My pretty Madi, so grown up

 Grace ready to jump in

 Wyatt found his own little puddle to play in

 Cuddling with Mommy

 Snuggled up by the fire after swimming, it was chilly!

 Making sand art for arts and crafts time

 In front of the Ranger's Station

 The girls doing hula hoop games

 Wyatt doing boy things

 This was in "Cindy Bear Meadow." We had to take a picture here for Grandma:)

Snuggled up in the bike trailer (Grace needs a haircut SOOOO bad!)

 Ready for the luau!

Sisters- A rare moment of no fighting

 Dance time

 Limbo!  The little girl in the picture with them just gravitated to Madi. 
Madi was so sweet and kept dancing with her.

 Me and my little stud muffin in his Hawaiian shirt (all the bruises on his poor little head show up really well in this picture:(  He is such a toughie)

 Love this picture

 Camp Reed

Roasting some marshmallows

 

The only cute hospital gown you'll ever see

 This cute little man had tubes put in his ears today.  He did great and was home causing trouble in no time:)  Dr. said they got lots of mucous from behind the ear drums so hopefully we can be ear infection free now.  Wyatt thought the view from his room was pretty cool too!

 

 Hanging out in his cage/bed.  I was so thankful that the nurse carried him with his blankie to and from surgery instead of carting him in and out in this. 

There were just so many exciting things to explore at the hospital.  Out of all the things though, of course he thought the oxygen tank under the bed was the coolest.  Mommy and Daddy took shifts chasing him around the room and taking him out from under the bed. 

Life ain't always beautiful, but it's a beautiful ride...

I'm sitting at home tonight and it is so quiet, almost too quiet, and I just can't get this song out of my head.  I am just thinking about the week it's been; my mom starting chemo again and my sweet boy getting tubes in his ears tomorrow, two things that could've easily ruined the week.  But, I can't help but feel that the last few days have been really good.  I know it sounds weird, but there's been a lot of little things that have made my heart smile and made everything seem a little better. 

On Tuesday, Grace got her first goal in soccer!  We were so excited and happy for her and I loved seeing how proud she was (and we were too of course!).  I had jogged to her game and decided to jog home too even though the clouds were looking pretty dark.  Not far into my run home it started to rain.  I managed to get pretty soaked before Dave and the kids picked me up and drove me home but it felt SO good.  Running in the rain might be the best stress reliever ever; I would highly recommend it.  We were on our way to get ice cream to celebrate Grace's first goal and the sun came back out and we saw a double rainbow.  Rainbows just automatically brighten your day.  They always remind me of Grandma Reed (and Grandpa Reed too).  In 2011 there was a rainbow right after we found out Dave had lost his job.  I knew it was Grandma Reed telling us things were going to be ok.  When I saw the double rainbow the other night, I knew it was both Grandma and Grandpa letting us know they're still up there watching over us and that they'd take care of Wyatt and my mom.  

On Wednesday although I took my mom to chemo, I got to spend most of the day with her and I love that, it's one of my very favorite things.  There's nothing like a day of talking to your mom; it just makes you feel better.  She and the girls weren't up to going into one last store I needed to stop at so they hung out in the car while Wyatt and I ran in.  Wyatt just attracts people and makes people happy (how could that cute face not?)  Several people just came up and started talking to us and told me what a good looking boy he is (of course I already knew that:).  One gentleman came up to us and told me he was 91 years old but he had played tennis earlier that day.  We talked for a while and he dug into his pocket and pulled out some change and handed Wyatt a quarter and told him to "invest it in the Packers."  When we got home, the girls decided they had to bake something to take to Grandma's house.  They've been looking through some kid's cookbooks.  They decided on a cake; it was so sweet watching how excited they were and how they wanted to do it all by themselves.

Today we went to story time and out to lunch with my sis-in-law and my sweet little twin nieces.  I love being able to do that, they're some of my favorite people in this world:)  We finished the night cheering Madi on at soccer; we had a crew of 12 there for her cheering section tonight!  She scored at least 5 goals, we lost track:)  She informed us that she said if she got 5 or more goals that we had to go out for ice cream again.....well, she did and so we HAD to go for ice cream again:)  Then Dave took the girls to Doug and Sarah's where they're spending the night because we have to take Wyatt to the hospital so early.  All these little things just really made my heart happy.  I am truly blessed. 

What a Week

Dave has been off since Tuesday so we tried to make the most of his week off.  Tuesday we let the girls pick what they wanted to do and they decided on 'Sir Bounce-a-lots,' an Chuck-E-Cheese type place but with a bunch of bounce houses.  Wednesday we went to Bay Beach and everyone had lots of fun, even Wy man.  Thursday afternoon we headed up to Dave's parent's house and spent the 4th there then headed home Saturday morning, got some things done at home, and had dinner with my family and my Uncle and his girlfriend who were here from Michigan.  It's been a good week and there's a chance Dave is looking forward to going back to work after being home with us for that long:)  Here are some pictures of all the action!

 All boy, all the time

 "Yelling"

 Madi dubbed herself "Queen of the Campfire"

 Madi giving us a sparkler show

 Me and the girls on the Ferris Wheel at Bay Beach

 Wyatt loved the boats:)

 My loves on the Bay

 Dave found a Geocache box and had to check out what was inside

 My handsome little man

 Grace loved every minute of the swings

 Grace and I on the Scrambler

 My boys