Holiday World

This past week, Madeline had a special big girls day at Holiday World! 

It was a last minute decision since Monday she came down with the stomach bug. It took us out like dominos...Madeline on Monday, Chris on Tuesday, and me on Wednesday night. 

The only one that emerged unscathed is this cutie.

Just call me lucky. I don't even understand it. I put EVERYTHING in my mouth. I mean seriously, if I find it, I try to eat it. 

But, on Wednesday, Madeline felt better and I felt great so we headed to Holiday World with grandma and tia!

Having brunch at the park, planning our route!

I didn't get many pics since we stayed at the water park majority of the day. Madeline was OBSESSED with the water park. There were several areas that were perfect for her age.

Picking a duck out at the duck pond game.

Wrapping up the day with blue ice cream!

And, then we were in the car for a whopping 3 minutes when Maddie bit the dust.

It was seriously a fun day!  Well, it was a fun day, until late that night at Kroger when I broke out into a cold sweat and had to leave because the stomach bug had caught me. EEE.

But, I digress. I cannot wait to take Madeline again and, of course, Sydney, when she gets a little older. 

#jlanomo

Last Saturday, one of my great friends, Jennifer got married. I've talked about my co-workers before.  We were all on the same team when I started Humana over 6 years ago (Wow--6 years!!) and became great friends.  We've all moved on to new positions, but we still get together at least once a month for dinner. We have remained close and support each other through weddings, babies, and life!

Me and my boo.

The girls, minus Carla and Ashley

Friends for years!!

And then, it got real in the photo booth!

Yep. That's me in the robot hat. IDK why.

Y'all, I had to seriously BEG to get Chris in the photo booth.

But he warmed up!

My yummy sign was supposed to be pointing towards Chris, not Scott. Whoops.

We had a great night celebrating with Jennifer and Sean! I loved the hashtag the girls used at her bachelorette party #jlanomo since we've called her J-La forever! It will be weird now that she is no longer J-La, but so happy for this next step in her life. CONGRATS!

A stormy and hot fiesta!

This past weekend, we loaded up and headed to Indy for a fiesta with my grandma and aunt and their families.

Obviously, panda came as she (he?) is an integral part of our photos. The surprise was that tia and I had filled up a whole bunch of water balloons to surprise everyone with, hence the basket.

Great Grandma and Sydney girl

Of course we did Mexican food! My aunt and uncle did it right too.

Mexican pizza appetizer

Grilled chicken and beef tacos for the main course (with lots and lots of fresh pico and guacamole!)

And of course, grandma's secret recipe cookies for dessert.

No sooner did we get the chicken off the grill, a HUGE storm came rolling through. And, the power went out. So, we ate in the dark.

Fortunately, we got electricity back and we got to get the main event out for the kids.

Ready to pelt Connor with a water balloon!

Preston mid-shot.

Madeline LOVED this blow-up. 

She flew down the slide!

Getting ready to get Connor!

Got him!

HAHAHAHA!

The kids fed the bunnies.

Sydney got the royal treatment with a huge tent to cover her up.

And, of course, we got a panda cousin pic!

Love spending time with family!

Home sweet home

After two fantastic weeks in Cape Cod, it was time to say goodbye to Chatham and get back on the road. This meant we traded this...

For this!

This was Maddie a little after 6 in the morning, when we got on the road. All smiles. 

The trip back was a lot longer than the trip going. There's always so much excitement when you're going TOWARDS vacation. This was a 16 hour drive back to home and work so we were already a little "meh" about getting on the road. We decided to drive straight through this time since the hotel experience going down was so rough.

Our 16 hour drive turned in 20...so...needless to say we were all a little cranky when we hit home at 2 am!! There were multiple accidents and a highway closure which added time. Not to mention, SOMEONE threw a huge fit that made us stop the car. 

It was her.

She's practicing her heel stretch here, but at the time, she was SCREAMING. We didn't really want to stop though, because big sister was doing this.

Literally, Sydney is losing her mind and Madeline is so oblivious.

Turns out, her belly was upset. She just had to go to the bathroom. As soon as we stopped, she did, and we got back on the road a short bit later.

Oh, please. It wasn't THAT bad. I only turned purple a few times. 

Plus, you try pooping in a car seat. I don't think so.

We had a wonderful time visiting family in Chatham and we are so thankful to nana and grandpa for taking us on such a wonderful trip! We love you!

Since we've been home, we've been up to our usual tricks.

Crafting.

Lunch at Chuy's.

Ice cream with Hudson.

Biking.

Filling up the pool.

Shopping. 

This cart is so ridiculous. But, Sydney can only sit still for about 11 seconds in a regular cart, so it's perfect for me because it actually constrains her. 

And! This was fun. We went to Old Chicago for kids night. Madeline got to make her own pizza at our table!

She loved picked out her toppings and putting them perfectly on her pizza. The server took it to the kitchen and brought it back ready to eat. Fun!