Fish Fry

Tonight we made our way over to our neighbor's Nick & Melissa's house for their annual Fish Fry & Weird Beer Party.

When we arrived, our host Nick was heating up the oil & ready to drop the many fish he & his buddies have caught these past couple of months.

There was a huge spread of yummy side dishes & desserts for everyone to eat along with a huge selection of "weird" beer for everyone to try. The fried fish was dee-lish & so were the fried potatoes Nick had treated us to.

After we were done eating, our hostess Melissa asked some of the girls to be "judges" for the beer tasting contest so Jill, Michelle & I were happy to oblige along with a few others.

There were around 10 entrants & we tasted Chocolate Ale, Arogant Bastard Ale & Sweaty Betty beer just to name a few. The Wild Blue blueberry lager was the winner for best tasting & the Cave Creek Chili beer won the most unique as it was peppery hot & even had a chili pepper inside it.

All the neighborhood girls were in attendance & a good time was had by all!

It was nice to hang with the hubby for the evening along with the rest of the crew & we are looking forward to next year's gathering!

Thanks Nick & Melissa for another great get-together & thanks to Melissa for sharing her photos with me!!!

Jersey Boys

This evening I met up with some of the neighborhood girls for dinner & a night out at the Music Hall for the Broadway musical Jersey Boys.

We had purchased these tickets late last year & we were all looking very forward to seeing the show that got rave reviews. Melissa was the organizer & managed to pull a group of 10 together so that we could get the discounted price for tickets. We had a great mix of ladies as three of the girls brought their mom's & the other girls made it a "girls night out".

We all met at Hickok's Grill for dinner & enjoyed meeting the other girls & their mom's. The food was decent, the atmosphere fun & the conversation was great as always. 

After dinner, we made our way to the Music Hall in downtown KC & settled into our seats for the story of how Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons came to be. It is a rags to riches story of how four blue-collar kids worked their way from the streets of Newark, NJ to the heights of stardom. They sang songs like: Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Can't Take My Eyes Off You, Oh What a Night & so many more. I think we were all surprised by how much of their music we recognized & found ourselves singing along & dancing in our seats.

 Jill, HT & Michelle

It was a really fun evening & I think we are all thankful to Melissa for putting the evening together!

Bully-Sitting

This evening my girlfriend Samantha dropped the baby bullies off for the week as her & her fiance Jason were heading to Memphis for the Mother's Day weekend.

I can't tell you enough how much Shane & I enjoy having these 2 bullies come stay with us. They are so sweet & so well behaved. They love playing with all our bullies toys & running laps in the backyard.

Our dogs get along with them pretty well & after the first day, they could care less that they are here....unless Millie sees them with her Cuz ball & then of course it is on :)

WI - Day 9

We woke up this morning to a thunderstorm & pouring down rain. I was to leave for KC this afternoon & was worried my flight would be delayed so I kept checking on the radar all morning. From the looks of it, the rain wouldn't be letting up until at least noon!

So for something to do that morning, we decided to go check out the International Food Fair put on by one of the local high schools. It was a little crazy trying to get out of the house & into the car but after switching out car seats in the pouring rain, getting the boys shoes & rain-gear on, strapping all the children into the backseat, trying to remain somewhat dry ourselves & 35 min later we were on our way. I had questioned my sister a couple of times if she really wanted to go through all this to go & as calm as can be said "yeah, why not?" I swear, she has the patience of a saint!

As we were driving through a torrential downpour, Jensen starts crying & she isn't much of a cryer unless she is hungry. Jen asked me to try & find her paci so I unbuckle myself, bend over my seat, dig around underneath her for the paci & soon discovered she felt wet under her back. When I told my sister she got a horrific look on her face.

Imagine if you will, 3 kids in car seats in the back of a Toyota Camry & 2 adults in front in the pouring down rain. My sister wiggles her little butt in the back seat, puts the driver seat down as far as she can, gets Jensen out of her car seat while I am pulling out the changing pad, wipes, diaper, change of clothes...you name it I was grabbing it. 

She laid her down on the changing pad in the driver's seat & with her butt in poor little Tanner's face, proceeds to strip that little punkin' down to nothing. I was horrified to see a) poo from her bottom all the way up to her neck & b) that much poo come from such a small child. Poor thing - no wonder she was screaming! I was surprised to see that my sister remained so calm through it all & the boys acted as if this was an everyday occurrence. I guess there really was nothing we could do other than change her & get through it the best you can.

10 minutes & 24 baby wipes later, a fresh diaper & a new set of clothes Miss Jensen was in her car seat as happy as could be & we were once again on our way to the food fair. If I never have to witness another "blow out" like that again I will be just fine.

We finally arrived to the fair & made our way to the gymnasium where they had all kinds of things for the kids to do!

There was miniature golf:

Face painting:

Inflatables for the kids:

Cookie walk:

As well as a few other booths we didn't get to. After all the fun & games we made our way into the food court area where they had food booths set up of all nationalities. There was Asian, Mexican, Polish, Italian, American, Hawaiian...just to name a few. The boys enjoyed hot dogs from the American booth, I sampled the Mexican booth & my sister ate the boys' leftovers & also enjoyed some Tiramisu from the Italian booth.

After we ate, we made our way home & I got ready to leave for the airport. The rain had finally stopped, the sun was coming out & my flight seemed to be on time. All was good.

As much as I hated saying goodbye to everyone I was looking forward to getting back home to my hubby & furries. 9 days was enough time to be away & I was ready to get back to my normal & crazy life in Kansas.

The boys were sad Aunt Hedder was leaving but perked right up when I told them I would be seeing them in a few weeks at "Grandma & Grandpa Farm's" house in SD for Jensen's baptism.

I made it to Milwaukee, my flight was on time & in less than 2 hours I was back on the ground in Kansas City & making my way home. It was great to be on vacation but it was even better being back home!

WI - Day 8

This morning we gathered up all the troops & headed out into the balmy 54 degree temps to watch Tanner's flag football game. Quite the change in weather from my 80 degree days on the beach this past week!

Tanner's dad Ben is one of the coach's on the team so them two went on ahead of us so they could "practice" with the team before the game & soon after my sister, me, Cael & Jensen set up shop on the sidelines.

Tanner is on the "Cardinal's" team & they were playing the "Packers" at this morning's game. He looked so cute hiking the ball & even yelled HIKE loud enough for everyone to hear :) 

Above Tanner is in the middle running with the football

I got a kick out of watching him run after the little guys carrying the ball & was even a good sport when the Packers ended up losing the game. It will be interesting to see if Tanner or Cael follow in their dad's footsteps & end up playing college football in the future!?

Cael & I chilled in the lawn chair for the majority of the game trying to keep warm, snacking on pretzals & enjoying my hot coffee while my sister & Jensen were cozied up next to us. 

I was so glad to have been able to be a part of this fun morning....even if it was chilly outside!

The rest of the day was spent working on the "project" & just hanging out around the house.

WI - Day 7

Today was kind of a lazy, relaxing day. My sister hadn't been feeling well & was diagnosed with strep throat the day before so we all just kind of laid low, hung out & took it easy.

So, basically I ended up doing a lot of this:

And this:

We also started a project in the basement that involved laminating, maps, collages & lots of sticky tags. My sister & her husband just recently had there basement finished & there is an area that is going to be the designated "play room" for the kids. She was inspired by this picture on Pinterest:

& thought it would be fun to recreate something similiar on her wall.

So for the last couple of days she has had me running to OfficeMax to laminate maps, several trips to Walmart to get sticky tabs & more maps, using her own laminator to make small maps & helping her hang them on the wall.

While we were hanging the maps, Tanner was very interested in locating where on the map everyone in the family lived so I suggested to Jen to put a star on the US map of each family member's town or tag it with a label so Tanner could see where we all lived.

Here is a pic before we got started & a pic of how far we got before I had to leave:

My brother-in-law is an avid fisherman & suggested we put some maps up of lakes that he had fished in on the wall as well so the empty spots will be filled with maps of lakes per Ben's request.

I'm hoping my sister sends me a finalized picture so I can admire all our hard work & see how nice it turned out with the addition of the lake maps.

Such a cute idea!

WI - Day 6

I quickly was reminded that there is no sleeping in at my sister's house. 

At 6am I hear the creak of the bedroom door open next to my room & pitter patter of little feet run across the hard wood floor into their parents bedroom. Then it is game-on. The boys are up & sleep is non-existence at this point. 

They quietly enter my room, thinking they are being sneaky & my bed instantly becomes a trampoline with a 4 & 2 year old jumping & yelling "Time to get up Aunt Hedder" all the while ripping my blankets from me. They think it is hysterical. Aunt Hedder - not so much.

*sigh*

And so I awake & by 6:10am I am in the kitchen pouring myself a cup of coffee. Sleeping-in is overrated anyway. I got nephews to play with & a niece to hold.

My sister had a couple of appointments to run this morning & took Jensen with her so it was just me & the boys for a few hours. It had been raining earlier in the morning & was still kind of wet out, so the boys thought they should wear their raincoats:

I somehow convinced them that since the sun was out & it had stopped raining, their raincoats would probably be too warm so they opted for no coats instead - since Aunt Hedder wasn't wearing a coat.

Heather - 1, Boys - 0

My sister sent me & the boys to run errands for her while she was at her appointments so off we went with the list in our hand. Lunch-time quickly rolled around while we were out & about so I did what any good Aunt would do & took them to McDonald's.

I crack up anytime these two pose for pics. They always say "cheeeeeeeeeeese" & you can totally tell it in EVERY picture that I take! So stinkin' cute!

After we ate & spent lots of time playing in the Playland, we headed back home & hung out with my sister & Jensen. 

We spent the rest of our afternoon playing outside, took a nap, helped get dinner ready, watched TV & called it an early night. I'm quickly finding out that 3 kids under the age of 4 is no joke! I really don't know how my sister does it!?

Day 5 - WI here I come

Woke up early this morning, said good-bye to the girls, so-long to the beach & then HK & I made our way to the airport.

Next stop - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The plane ride to Milwaukee was a little over 2 hours & uneventful. I arrived safely, rented a car & made the 1 1/2 hour drive to where my sister & her family live. I pulled up to the house, got out of the car & was greeted by these two little cuties:

As soon as they saw me, they jumped off that gator, ran to "Aunt Hedder" & gave me the biggest hug. Oh how I have missed them! After lots of hugs & kisses, I headed into the house & met my niece for the first time:

I fell instantly in love!!

She is such a sweetie pie! I thought I loved hanging with my girls in Destin, but I must say I loved hanging out with this little girl even more!!

I spent the rest of the day chillin' & catching up with my sister, played with the boys & snuggled with my niece any chance I could get!

Destin - Day 4

This morning found HK & I getting up early to take Jen & Camille to the airport. Jen had to work the next day & Camille had 3 little ones she needed to get back to. Despite a minor glitch in the Garmin & 2 nervous girls, we were able to get them to the airport with about 30 min to spare! We were all sad to see them go early but were so grateful they were able to come along!

Once HK & I got back, the girls decided we were going to go para-sailing for the day. It was a 1st for most of us & on my "bucket list" of things to do so I was very excited to get to try it!

We made our way back down to the harbor, where we hopped onto a boat, made our way out into the water & ventured 400 ft up in the air.

First up, Kari & Deanna:

Then it was time for me, HK & Deb:

 

I was amazed at how peaceful & quiet it was up there in the air & the view was gorgeous! I am so glad that we went & that I got to check it off the list!

Later that day we ended up back down at the harbor for a sunset catamaran cruise around the Destin harbor. Here we are getting on the boat:

And here we all are posing with our Captain Rex who was from Australia:

This is where we spent the majority of our evening:

If you look below my feet, this is truly the color of the water as Destin is often referred to as The Emerald Coast:

And here are some other fun photos from the evening:

On our cruise, we were able to see dolphins, starfish & many other kinds o fish in the clear water! The sunset cruise was absolutely beautiful & I highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting this area!

It was my last evening in Destin with the girls which was bittersweet. I was sad to be leaving them as they had one more day on the beach together but happy & excited also because tomorrow I would be heading to Wisconsin to see my adorable nephews & meet my new niece Jensen. 

We spent the rest of our evening enjoying a beverage, eating leftovers, cleaned up the condo, packed, looked at all our photos all while reminiscing over what fun we had over the past 4 days.

It has been a fun, much-needed, well-deserved, wonderful time with these girls & I can not wait for our next trip together! Thanks for all the memories ladies! 

Love these girls for life :)