Monday, June 7, 2010

We're not in Kansas anymore!

Another fast and furious weekend of traveling has came and went! This weekend we went to Topeka, KS to visit with Steve's dad and his family. We do not get to make it there nearly as much as we would like so we were very excited to be going to visit. Steve;s grama and Aunt Shelly were both celebrating their birthdays with a nice family lunch at their home in Topeka.

My mom and dad rode thier bikes to Topeka and we stayed in a hotel with them just behind Steve's dad apartment. Mom and dad left early friday morning but Steve and I were not able to leave until late friday evening. We were both exhausted by the time we arrived at midnight Friday. Long story but we should have been there at 11 but a missed exit extended our trip by an hour! Steven and his dad Steve stayed up until the early morning hours visiting, I only made it about an hour before I had to crash for the night.

Saturday morning started bright and early with a trip to Walmart to get cooking supplies. My mom and I decided to make Enchilladas and Green CHille caserole to take to the birthday party. Steve offered to let us use his kitchen to do the cooking which meant for the first time in 7 and a half years my mom would finally meet Steven's dad. They hit it off great, they both love sci-fi movies and had watched a lot of the same ones. We even got to go through pictures of Steven when he was a little boy, he was so adorable. His dad has saved everything he had made and all of the letters he had written over the years. It was awesome to able to read the letters and memories.

After we were done cooking we headed to the hotel to get cleaned up. My parents were meeting some friends to go riding and we were headed off to the family dinner. I was so happy to see Steven's aunts and grama, I also got to meet a couple of family members I had not met. Steven's family is so warm and friendly, I feel so warm and welcome from everyone there. They were nice enough to invite my parents over and mom and dad were able to meet Steven's grama, aunts and cousin. It was awesome to be able to have our families meet after 7 years!

After visiting for several hours we headed back to the hotel so that Steve and my dad could take a little siesta. My mom and I headed off to Dick's sporting goods and Target to do a little evening shopping. After shopping we tried Spangles a cute little burger joint, its was awesome!! After eating dinner Steven and I decided to take advantage of the indoor pool before heading off to bed!

Sunday morning my parents woke up before the rooster crowed! We all headed up to eat the hotel breakfast which was actually very good. After eating my parents laoded up and headed out to enjoy their 6 hour ride home. Steve and I wer not ready to leave yet, we had planned to visit family on his moms side that also lives in Topeka. Unfortuantly our dog sitter called and alerted us to some sick puppies at home. Not to go into detail but she said I would have a huge mess to clean up when I got home all over the bedroom floor! That took the wind out of our visiting sails and we decided to head home instead of visiting. Our neighbor was not joking about the mess either! It took me an hour to get everything cleaned up and it was not the way I wanted to end our weekend.

I should not that I drove the entire way home from Topeka to Springfield, this was the longest I have driven ever. It was also the longest I have driven in my new truck! Both the truck and I did wonderful!! I can not wait to get back up to Topeak to visit, but I am secretly hoping maybe we will get a visit from the Simon family as well! Next weekend we do not have any travel plans and I am kind of ready for a restful weekend at home. Steve and I have been slacking about the gym but we are hping to get back on track this week! I start my summer classes today, so I am sure those will keep my very busy for the next two months.

Until next time I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

That was a busy weekend!!

Wow I can not believe that Memorial Weekend has come and gone already! Steve and I have both been working very hard the past few weeks between work and school and we were defiantly ready for a three day weekend. We love to go camping with my family and Memorial Day is always our first camping and float trip of the summer. This year we had the most gorgeous weather we have had in a few years, the sun was shinning and the temps were in the mid 80's. We started loading things up Thursday night and I finished up Friday afternoon, my parents went down early Friday morning but Steve and I had to wait until we got off of work. This was our first trip with the Rendezvous but boy was it nice to have! It pulled our camper like it was nothing and we had plenty of room to pack of of our stuff.

We camped Friday and Saturday night and floated Saturday. We did a new float this year that was almost twice as long as our usuall float. THe river was up quite a bit thanks to all of the rain we have had lately. We put in 8 kayaks and 2 canoes with a total of 14 people. We have not had that large of a group in some time, but we enjoyed this float alot, it was probably the best float ever. Sunday morning we woke early and started packing our things up, we were all tired, burnt and ready for our traditional stop at the Sonic in Buffalo. Everytime we go camping we all help each other pack up and our entire family stops at Sonic and sits outside and eats together. Its a simple tradition but one that everyone really enjoys.

Sunday afternoon Steve and I rested and laid in the AC before heading off to Andy's to get some frozen custard. We knew we had a long day ahead of Monday so we made it an easy night at home.

Monday I woke at 6 am to beat the crowd at Bass Pro. I had gotten my mom a camping rocker for her birthday last year and it broke at the river this weekend. I took it to bass pro and they exchanged it no problems. I then stocked up on BBQ supplies before we headed to the lake for a day of swimming. Steve had heard of a sand beach at Table ROck lake called Moon Shine beach. It is the only sand beach on table rock and it was a super nice beach with a great swimming area. We swam for 6 hours and came out looking like steamed lobsters. I have never been so sunburnt in all of my life! Needless to say SPF 30 is a big joke, go with something MUCH higher! After we painfully squeezed into our clothes we headed off to the landing to do some shopping and eat dinner at Shorty smalls.

I had never been to the landing before, as far as shopping goes it had a lot of the same stores that our mall in springfield does. It is a very cute enviorment to shop in because they are all outdoor shops. But for me if I am going to branson to shop then bring on the outlet malls! I must say though that shorty smalls is to die for, their food is melt in your mouth good and words can not even describe their desserts!

We had a fabulous holiday weekend and started the summer off with a bang! Now we are headed off to Topeka for the weekend to visit with steve's family. I am super excited about going I just wish I didn't look like a raccoon clown! It's really not my best look ever!