vacation (pt.3)

I’m getting a little antsy to move on from vacation posts, but want to share our pictures and what we did.  I’m going to combine last Wednesday and Thursday into one post and get us a little closer to done with vacation posts.

Wednesday we got a really late start due to some beyond amazing blackout curtains in our hotel room.  My husband granted my hotel request and got us a suite style room so we wouldn’t have to sit in the dark waiting for the kids to fall asleep each night.  When Jilly woke up Wednesday morning, she asked if she could go lie out on the couch in the living room area, we told her sure and figured she’d be back in shortly.  That girl fell back asleep and continued to sleep even after the rest of us were up and moving around.

Once we finally got ourselves already to go we headed toward the Arch.  I really thought I had read somewhere that our hotel was a half mile walk to the Arch.  Apparently I read wrong.  It wasn’t bad, but it was longer than I expected.

The kids LOVED going up in the Arch.  For Nate the best part was seeing a helicopter with it’s propeller spinning while on a floating helicopter pad along the shore of the Mississippi.  After we went up it, they pointed it out every time we saw it as we drove around the city.

Thursday we had plans to do both Grant’s Farm and the Science Center.  We again, thanks to the blackout curtains, got a slow start to our morning.  I thought I had seen that the Science Center was open until 5, but I was wrong once again.  We got there at 3:50 and it closed at 4:30.  We didn’t have nearly enough time to see and do everything, but were blessed by the parking lot attendant who waved us through as we left without having us pay.  It was once again a full day which left kids more than ready to crash at the end of the night.

vacation (pt. 2)

Tuesday was the day we were most excited to share with the kids.  One of our favorite things to do in the 3 years we spent in St. Louis for seminary was to go to the zoo.  We went there regularly, and after having kids said that we would one day take them there.  Whereas our local zoo has great indoor exhibits and puny (at best) 0utdoor exhibits, the St. Louis zoo has amazing outside exhibits.  We decided we’d do the zoo on whatever day happened to be the coolest in our days in St. Louis.  We weren’t the only ones who picked the coolest day!!!  It was busy but not unbearable.

Because of our zoo pass we were able to get a pass to several different extras for a total of $20 for the whole family.  We skipped a few of the extras, but we took advantage of the endless carousel rides, train rides, and visited the manta ray touch tank with it.  We would have done the children’s zoo and 4D motion simulator, but we ran out of time and energy.

The animals we saw were great.  There were 2 lion cubs who were putting on a show as they playfully fought with each other.  The baby and momma camel were cute but in need of a major haircut.  And although I couldn’t get the kids to touch one, I got to touch a manta ray.

It was everything Brad and I hoped it would be for the kids.  They had a great time, and so did we.  I can’t wait for the next time we get to go back!

And, because I love flowers and they were in full bloom all over the zoo, I have to share one last picture.

 

vacation (pt. 1)

Last Monday morning we set off on our week-long 4 city summer (technically spring if you ask Nate) vacation.  Day one was spent in Kansas City.  After tolerating some shopping with Brad and I, we surprised the kids with a visit to the new Legoland at the Crowne Center.  Nate had no clue where we were headed until we got almost to the door.  His look was priceless.

Nate’s favorite part was of course the educational part.  He loved learning how they make the Lego bricks.

They had an amazing depiction of some of the sites of KC in one room.  (It took master builders 6 months to build and then 1 1/2 months to set up once they moved it to KC)

There was enough in the main room for each kid’s interests and level to keep them busy for hours.  All three, plus Brad and I, had a great time playing and building.

After a full day in KC, we hit the road and headed towards St. Louis.  It was 3 or 4 hours past bedtime when we got in, but not late enough to not want to hop on the luggage cart for a quick pic.

choo-choo

This is my last Little Rock post.  We had 3 more days of fun following this, but it was apparently too much fun to take an pictures.

Mom had seen that Laman Library had a train exhibit going on for the last 2 weeks of 2011, and she thought that the kids would enjoy getting to see it.  Dad woke up sick that morning so we did our best to get the kids ready and out of the house for a few hours so he could get some rest.  Although it took a couple of minutes for the biggers to warm up to the noise level in the room, they loved the trains.  Even more they loved that there were certain buttons they could push to do different things in different places.

By the time we finished up there, it was lunchtime.  We skipped the trolley ride we were going to do (guess we’ll save that for next trip down) and headed over to the All Aboard restaurant.  This was seriously the best idea for a restaurant.  The kids LOVED it.  What could be better than having your food lowered to your table after being driven to you by train (the website has a video of how it works)?!?!?  Does Omaha have something like this that I’m just not aware of???

Our trip to Little Rock was definitely one of my favorites.  The kids are already asking when we get to go back and are disappointed when I tell them it will be a long time.  I owe a big thanks to my parents for putting up with us for nearly 2 weeks.  I am also so grateful for my siblings and their kids for hosting us at their houses and traveling over to Mom and Dad’s a ton so we could enjoy so much family time.  We are definitely excited to be back as soon as possible!

We’ve been back home for a couple of days now, and the house is still out of sorts.  I’m anxious to tear down the Christmas tree but am waiting a few more days.  We also have been rather sickly gang (lots of various coughs – wet, dry, croupy; stuffy noses; tummy issues) and are doing our best to get better quickly.  Brad headed back to work today, and school starts back up for Nate tomorrow.  It’s back to the normal routine of things.  Yay for routine, boo for earlier mornings!

a sibling getaway

Before heading to Little Rock my mom offered that she and Dad would watch all 7 grand kids one night we were in town so that the 4 of us Koss siblings and our spouses could go out kid-free for dinner together.  There was only one night that was possibly going to work for all of us, but luckily we took advantage of it.  So, while Mom, Dad, and the munchkins ate pancakes, wore pajamas, and watched Rio, the eight of us headed off to The Flying Fish for dinner.

Although we were deemed old and boring by Everett due to conversations regarding kids, vacuums, and sicknesses, it was a good time.  I would definitely love to be able to get to do this type of thing more often.  It sure does make me miss being closer to family!

We even got a sibling picture for Mom.

craft night, round two

there has been a lot of cousin fun and togetherness over the past week.  last friday we headed over to the ellis house for an evening of pizza and tearing out every single toy in camryn and henry’s rooms.  mom brought along a kit for decorating gingerbread cookies.  night two of craft creating was a hit.  even the littler ones had fun with the frosting and decorations.

brian was very into decorating his cookie just the right way.

will was also very serious about his decorating.  he followed the markings on the cookie and filled it in just right.

camryn filling in her tree.

the more candies on top of the cookie, the better!

being elf-ed

we’ve had a fun time hanging out with all of my family over the past week, and we’ve definitely kept busy.  last thursday everyone came over for dinner and some time together.  ginny came prepped with a craft for the kids.  the kids, especially the older ones, loved getting to turn themselves into an elf.

nate, who as always enjoyed doing crafts, was the first to jump into making his.  he had a plan and knew exactly what he wanted it to be like.

he loved getting to have aunt ginny help him out along the way.

each mom jumped in and helped out.  even matt did his fair share of cutting out shoes and hats before whining his way out of it.

jilly has definitely been growing up a lot lately, and was very serious about her elf.  she is for sure going to be ready to do preschool this fall!

our smiley, happy girl.

dad hung out with the movie watchers while we worked with a couple cousins at a time.

camyrn grace was busy right away accordion folding her elf legs.

no child seemed to be able to get enough of gluing on the the fuzzy poms.

they all turned out super cute and are hung up to be seen when you walk in the front door.

up for visitors?

the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity around here.  besides what seems to be the new norm of several non-stop days each week, we had 2 birthday girls (laurel and myself), a surprise visit from family, a couple of routine doctor appointments, a birthday celebration with brad’s side of the family, a trip down to the farm, and several others occurrences i can’t recall at the moment.

backing up though, we’ll start with the surprise visit from family.  most who know me even a little bit know the hardest, stinkiest thing about living in Nebraska is that it is way too far (618.80 miles from our driveway to mom and dad’s) from my entire family who all live within a half hour of each other.

after showering and getting ready on friday, october 7th, i cam downstair to check on how things were going for brad and the girls.  i was beyond shocked to make it halfway down the stairs and find my mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law coming through the front door at that very moment. apparently brad had been planning this with them for months without any knowledge of it on my end.

it was the perfect surprise.  with laurel’s birthday (especially her 1st birthday) right on the heels of mine, i figured my birthday has kinda taken on a different look.  but, this surprise weekend with my family totally proved that wrong.  they planned and fixed several of my very favorite meals, made my favorite birthday cake (chocolate chip cheese cake), brought me flowers, and reminded me of how much i am loved.

here are a few pictures from our weekend together:

the rest

well, actually just a small portion of what is left, but i’m ready to move on from lake related posts.  i still have a few more pictures i wanted to share though so i’ll dump them all in this post.

the slide was a hit when we moved it down by the lake:

brad claimed this was his first encounter with connect 4:

why can’t they both just smile at the same time?:

naters attempting to run down the sand hill:

hey nate, look in that end and see what happens when i blow in this end:

family:

part boy, part fish

 

I can’t even begin to recall the number of times Naters has asked if we can go back to the lake house since our mini trip wrapped up.  Words cannot express the degree to which he enjoyed himself there.  He could have, and would have, spend the entire 3 days in the water non-stop had we let him.