Life in the Fast Lanes

We bowled the afternoon away this particular Saturday at Fast Lanes. Abby was not too impressed w/ the proceedings as evidenced by her expression below. She did not complain however.

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Nicholas calls this carnival set Silver Dollar City

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Love it when they let me take pictures of them together.

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Coming back from visiting his Magi and Grandad. He did not want to leave that morning.

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Thanks for the cute outfit, Heidi!

July 4th Weekend

Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th. We had a fun weekend. For the most part. We drove up to Eureka Springs on Saturday to stay w/ our friends, Thao and Alan, and their little boy Joshua. Alan's dad owns a house there and it was the perfect little vacation home, don't know why I didn't take a picture. It's been forever since I've been to Eureka. I'd forgotten how winding the roads were. But the scenic downtown made up for it.

The kids got along pretty well. Every time we'd put Abby near Joshua, she'd lean in to kiss him. Who knew she was such a flirt. He is a handsome little fellow though, so who could blame her. Thao and I walked down Main Street and got ourselves massages. Scott and Alan took the kids to check out the shops. That apparently did not last long as they were back way before we were. At least Scott made it to the fudge shop, and that was all that really mattered. We had originally planned on staying until Monday, but there were no fireworks shows. Nick was so fired up about seeing a fireworks show, it was hard to say no.

We headed out early the next morning (or as early has having small kids will allow) to Branson for Silver Dollar City. Nick could barely contain his excitement. I was less enthused about the drive. I knew the curves on the way there would be brutal so I took my Dramamine. Good thing, too, but I'll get to that in a minute. The group split up after lunch. Scott took Nick on most of the rides as I get too nauseous on those things. Poor fellows, a couple of times they stood in line forever only to be around for maintenance right as it was their turns. It was hot and humid, but thankfully cloudy. We managed to stick around until 3. Nick and Scott took one last ride on the big swings.

Scott said that last ride was a little rough, but seemed fine. We weren't on the road for more than 10 mins and we had to pull over. Scott was so nauseous he couldn't drive. This from a guy who never gets motion sickness. I suspect he was dehydrated and it exacerbated the problem. Nick was also feeling queasy and howled and complained nonstop. Poor Abby was hungry, but had to wait until I was able to find a place to pull over to feed her. So what should have been a 2 hour drive turned into 4. I later learned that Alan got a ticket going home, so their trip was not all peachy either.

Once we made it home, I put both father and daughter to bed. Nick and I had a date at a fireworks show. We went and bought ourselves some sparklers and then grabbed dinner at the Olive Garden. The fireworks show was across the street so we just sat in the car, ate our dinner and waited. He LOVED doing this btw. I waited in the car w/ a hyperactive 4 yr old for 1 1/2 hours. Mercifully the show finally started. After only 10 mins, Nicholas turned to me and asked why the show was so long. When would it be over? Could we go home? I about strangled my son at that moment. We cut out of there early, thus the end of a very long day and this very long story.

Thank you to Thao and Alan for inviting us. We always enjoy spending time w/you.

My friend Thao and sweet little Joshua

Doing what he does best, getting down.

Abby was so good on this trip.

Seriously, how cute is this picture.

Thao, Alan and J on the tram to Silver Dollar City.

The infamous big swing

This is the first time she has ever napped in her stroller.

Outside Olive Garden waiting for the fireworks show.

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The many expressions of Abby

Beside the Poolside

This is my friend, Heidi...

She's moving soon and I can't even begin to tell you how sad that makes me. But I will leave that for another post. In the meantime, we're trying to spend as much time as possible w/ her and her sweet little girls, Hanna and Haley. On this day, we hung out at her neighborhood pool. Nick's been to swim lessons all summer, but this is actually his first time "going swimming". And boy, did he love it. It was also Abby's first time in a real pool. I think she enjoyed it, especially when I spun her around.

We had such a good time. Thanks for having us Kaiser girls!

Love this picture of Haley. It's a perfect representation of her.

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Nicholas thought these were pictures of him and didn't believe me when I told him they were of Abby.

Cuz

My cousin Khoi and his family, currently living in Cali, are moving here at the end of summer. Yay! They were here for the week to look for a house. It was a productive week, as they found one and made an offer... on the very last day they were here. Great news is the house is 2 mins away from us. Free babysitting! Woo hoo!! All kidding aside, it will be wonderful having them back in the area. Nick is really taken w/ his cousins and is going to love having them close by.

All of the family took this opportunity to hang out and celebrate. As usual, there's plenty of people and plenty of food. Good times as always.

Nicholas with his cousin Khanh

Khoi's wife, Hai, celebrating her 4?th birthday

Pass the baby around for pictures is a very common game in our family.

I love this picture. My mom in the middle w/ her younger sister and older brother.

My brother Steve with his fiance Nguyet

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Watching Blues Clues together