Tulsa, Branson and the rest of July

Our trip to Tulsa a couple of weeks ago was just as fun as I expected it to be. Les and the kids and I piled into the car on Wednesday morning and headed for Cindy's house. When we got there, we filled up everyone's tummies and headed out for the zoo. It was insanely hot, but all 4 kids were troopers. Their moms were a little weary by the end of the day, but we sure enjoyed being together. We always do. Cindy stopped in the middle of the zoo trip and said, "We never imagined this when we became friends so long ago." She's right - but sometimes what we don't imagine is the best part of all.

The next day was my "day off." I took care of a couple of doctor appointments and some other errands (like paying for my car tags!). While I was out, I stopped at 2 different child care facilities to try to find a new place for Caleb. I can honestly say that I was on the verge of freaking out. My principal got back to me when she got back to work and said that we could work something out but that I would need to be there on the days that I have 7:30 meetings. Well...if I could work something out on those days, then I'd probably be able to work something out every day, so I was back to square one. I was faced with starting school in less than a month and had nothing secured for Caleb. Both places that I went on Thursday were great. One was quite a bit out of our price range, but I was willing to do whatever I needed to do - even if temporarily to get a place for him. The other one was within our financial means and very close to my new school. The only problem was the waiting list. The person that I talked to told me that I would have to wait a few days to find out if there would be room for Caleb. As usual, God granted me a peace about it that helped me to understand that everything would be okay. I called back on Monday and found out that they were willing to work with us to get Caleb into a class. They only had room for him in the 2 1/2 -3 year room, but I think he'll be fine. He'll be 2 1/2 in a couple of months. The only reservation is the potty training issue - but my hope is that being with the older kids will be an incentive for him. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but I'm going with it. So - Caleb will be at Central Methodist Church every day next year. He'll be in the MONKEY room...so appropriate.

After I did all of my running around, I met Stacy at SSD for some serious scrapbooking. We even went to her house after they closed and worked some more.

While I was at Stacy's, Rudy took Caleb to the Naturals baseball game. Caleb has developed a fascination with baseball these days. He likes to watch it on TV, but his favorite thing in the world is to play with the inflatable tee ball set that he got for his birthday. He whacks the tee, which makes the ball fall to the ground, then he throws his bat and takes off running in circles around the yard. We hear, "Play baseball game?" at least 25 times a day! Rudy told him that they were going to the baseball game on Thursday and he was ecstatic. When they stopped for dinner first, Caleb went into hysterics because that wasn't his plan. Once they got to the park, he was in Heaven. Rudy said he talked about baseball the whole time: Hit ball? Throw ball? Run, baseball! He loves to yell, "Go baseball game!" During the game, there was a big collision at home plate and Caleb got scared. Rudy said that everyone around them knew who Caleb was by the end of the game. Apparently, he asked to go to the bathroom after every other inning. Daddy didn't get to see much of the game, but he loved taking his little boy to the ballpark. On the way home, Caleb was quiet for a while before he said, "Daddy, I like baseball game."

On Saturday night (7/19), Ms. Kelly came to stay with Caleb while Rudy and I went to Les and Nick's New Orleans party. I think it was good for us to have some time out without the munchkin. Caleb was excited to see Ms. Kelly, but had a hard time with us leaving. Being together all summer has made for a touch of separation anxiety.

On Monday (7/21), we had our postponed playdate with Cayden and Jenn Quinalty. The boys had a great time playing at the pool. It was so hot that Jenn and I even got in the water with them.

Rudy has been struggling a lot lately with back and neck pain. He spent a lot of time the past couple of weeks in bed with some pretty strong painkillers. Now, though, the pain seems to have subsided. We're really praying that it doesn't come back!

On Tuesday (7/22), Rudy took Caleb to Ft. Smith to see Jan and Chris. Chris was home from school in Boston and it was Jan's birthday, so they spent the night. It worked out great because I spent the whole day cleaning and preparing to host bunco at our house that night. The boys had a great time in Ft. Smith and it was a blessing because Jan was able to take care of Caleb while Rudy's back was still hurting. It was so strange being here Tuesday night without my boys. After everyone left from bunco, the house was so quiet - too quiet, though I never thought I'd say that.

We packed up and left for our final getaway of the summer on Thursday. Jan treated us all to a long weekend at a condo in Branson. We drove up there Thursday afternoon and met Jan and Chris. Rudy made BBQ to take with us and we enjoyed that when we got there. After dinner, we went to the pool, where Caleb played in the water until he could hardly keep his eyes open. We went to Silver Dollar City on Friday. It was 1000 degrees hot on the blacktop, but we managed with the help of a lot of lemonade! Caleb loved his first amusement park trip. He wanted to ride everything! Unfortunately, there were only a couple of things he could ride, but he took full advantage of those. All of the adults took turns riding with him on the bug ride that went "up in the sky" and on the frog ride that went "ribbit." We also rode the train. Of course, with it being SDC, the train ride involves a fake train robbery by some hillbillies. Caleb did not like that the train stopped for that little show. He kept saying, "no no train!" to the actors. Chris, Rudy and I managed to sneak in a few big kid rides too since Jan was there to watch Caleb while we rode the coasters!

On Saturday, we had the added treat of going over to meet some of our friends from our STL neighborhood at their condo. The Browns just happened to be in town at the same time as us, so they invited us over to swim at their (very nice) pool. We stayed for 2 hours, catching up with our old friends, marveling at how much the kids have grown and enjoying the summer day. On Saturday afternoon, Rudy and Jan went shopping while Caleb and I took a nap. After naptime, we went out to dinner and then took Caleb to a place on the strip called Kids Kountry. Jan remembered it from when Chris was a little kid. I was slightly nervous about putting Caleb on the rickety old rides by himself, but he loved it! He rode the swings, the bunny rabbits, the mini ferris wheel and the tea cups. A storm came up just as it was time for us to go home, so we headed back to the condo. We enjoyed playing our marble game (Chris and I won 2 out of 3 games!) for the rest of the evening.

This morning, we packed up and headed for home. I've been fighting some stomach crud all day and Rudy and Caleb have been recuperating from the weekend. Rudy took Caleb over to Grandma Voises' house this evening to give me some quiet and rest. I took full advantage of it and managed to get our pictures posted from the trip. Hopefully, I'll be feeling better tomorrow. It's my last mom's day off for the summer. Rudy starts back to work on Tuesday, so Caleb and I are on our own for the remaining week and a half of our break. I can't believe it's almost over.