vacation recap

Greetings friends and family,

During our vacation time in Missouri I had several occasions to listen to the radio. As I regressed back to my days growing up in the mid-west it was only natural for me to find country music stations. The radio options were country, spanish, or southern gospel, so it's not like I had much of a choice!

The country station seemed to play a looping hour of the same music over an over again. I heard these two specific songs multiple times per day: Small Town USA by Justin Moore and Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor". There is the link to the song (with lyrics) on YouTube and here is the chorus that led to the next picture.

climb up in my lap and drive if you want to
girl you know you got me to hold on to
we can go to town or baby if you'd rather
I'll take you for a ride on my big green tractor



We can go slow or make it go faster,
Down through the woods and out to the pasture,
As long as I'm with you it really don't matter

The lyrics are exactly divinely inspired, but they certainly fit in well with the experience! I mean, what woman would rather get all dressed up and go to town instead of ride on a dusty tractor? sheesh...

Here are some of the other highlights of the trip... We took the twins outside every single day for activities (to wear them out) and interactions with cousins, but some of the most enjoyable times were just hanging around my parent's house. Nana pulled Easton around as he clutched the Elmo toy and a random car.


Unfortunately Layla's trip around the kitchen in the wagon wasn't as successful because she tipped over backwards and bonked her head. She has a tendency to always be "in motion" and that didn't work out so well for her in this instance.

The twins loved the secret hide out spot in Nana and Papa's house. The island in their kitchen contains flashlights, slippers, and toys for curious grandchildren. They were both more than happy to close the doors while they sat inside with their flashlights as they giggled.


And in the backyard is a full swingset! Easton and Layla regularly asked to go outside and swing. Layla would point to the back door and say, "wing? wing?" This next picture shows Nana pushing Easton in the car swing. Both of them wearing a red shirt and a smile.


Then when we spent the evening at my sister's house Layla noticed they also have a swingset. So guess what we did? More "wing"!


I wonder where she gets her love of swinging from??? It's a complete mystery to me...


My sister's kids also have a clubhouse attached to the swingset. Cousin Silas was more than happy to show them around their hideout.


Easton and Layla thought the most interesting thing about the clubhouse was the door, which they went in and out of repeatedly.


We successfully navigated the professional photo shoot at my parent's house for our entire family. Afterwards the kids were all worn out from smiling and standing still. We had to resort to what we KNOW works... Mickey Mouse clubhouse video on the DVD player and lollipops. Here we have all of the grandkids on one couch: Lexi, Eli, Easton, Daphne, Silas, and Layla.


One afternoon we fulfilled my other required eating stop besides Andy's frozen custard: Ott's Pasta. Kendra obliged by trekking across town for take-out pasta and then to the park for a picnic lunch.


The only thing Easton and Layla ate was the breadstick so I can't claim complete victory for the adventure. However, the ducks in the pond made up for the lackluster meal. The twins flung chunks of moldy rolls out for the ducks to nibble. Luckily they ate enough bread they weren't interested in eating the old rolls.


I still need to post the pictures and adventures from the trip to the zoo and the return flight home. I also have some old pictures of me which my sister gave me to scan into digital format. All that means I am expecting a big Wednesday post for the WFMW and Way Back Whensday sections.

See you soon!