An Unfortunate, Silly, Sad, Never-to-be-Repeated Oversight

We have some dear friends, the Corn-on-the-Cob Family. Mr. Corn-on-the-Cob is Buffalo Wing's best friend. I have enjoyed getting to know Mr. and Mrs. Corn-on-the-Cob since the beginning of mine and BW's relationship. Mr. Corn-on-the-Cob was the first friend of BW's that I met, and he and his family welcomed me, then a stranger, with open arms. Below is a picture of Mr. Corn-on-the-Cob, giving the Best Man's toast at our wedding:
Somehow, I forgot to mention that during our vacation, we will be spending time with the Corn-on-the-Cobs and their (adorable) children. It was an oversight that simply shouldn't have happened. We love the Corn-on-the-Cobs! How could I have been so forgetful? I don't know. So when I found out that I had overlooked including in my previous post that we'd be visiting the COTC family, I felt like this:

At any rate, the mistake has been duly noted and corrected.

Vacation Schedule

It's going to be an exciting and very LONG road trip! We can't wait. We just bought a portable DVD player for the car. We had borrowed one previously, and it was wonderful. If you have children of tv-watching age and are doing a long car trip anytime soon, I highly reccomend one of these gadgets!

Anyway, here goes:

Friday, the 20th - leave our home, visit Charley and Marianne and Joshua in Texarkana (Charley and Marianne, if you are reading this, call us! We can't WAIT!!!); arrive in Benton later that evening.

Saturday, the 21st - time with family and friends in Benton; family picture out in the yard.

Sunday, the 22nd - leave for Bella Vista, AR, for a visit with Aunt Nancy!

Monday, the 23rd - leave Bella Vista for Knoxville, Iowa! Grandma and Grandpa! Yay!

Tuesday, the 24th - a day in Knoxville. I hope we'll go to that incredible Chinese buffet. Truly, that place rivals anything in San Francisco's Bay Area. I know. In Iowa. Who would have thought?

Wednesday, the 25th - a day in the place where it all went down - Pella! That's where I first met Scott at youth camp, July 2002. That's also where we got married, June 2003. It is a beautiful town. I can't wait to go back.

Thursday, the 26th - a day in Winterset, Iowa, another wonderful town. We'll catch up with old friends and see some covered bridges!

Friday, the 27th and Saturday the 28th - We'll end our stay in Knoxville and our daytrips to the surround areas. We'll head for LeMars, Iowa, to see dear friends the Janes's and their adorable kids.

Sunday, the 29th - Church with the Janes's (Mr. Janes is a pastor); leave LeMars after church and catch up with our peeps on the Stevens' ranch in Britt, Iowa. Mr. Stevens and Buffalo Wings will prepare plenty of brats for everyone. Yuck for me, yummy for them. And I get to see my sweet KS!!!! I love her and I miss her and we need some good huggin'. Oh, and we get to play with their adorable kids! (This trip is full of time with all kinds of adorable kids!)

Monday, the 30th - a day in Britt with the Stevens.

Tuesday, the 31st - Leave Britt; arrive in Chicago!

Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 1st and 2nd - play in Chicago. This will include the aquarium, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Children's Museum, the Michigan Mile, the Sears Tower, and other things that strike our fancy. It will also include time spent with an old family friend, Keith, and his wife and seven children!

Friday, Aug. 3rd - Leave Chicago and travel to Algoma, Wisconsin, to see more dear friends, the Shearers. They have three (adorable, of course) children!

Saturday, Aug. 4th - time with the Shearers in Algoma. Hopefully will see some of Scott's other college friends while we are there.

Sunday, Aug. 5th - church with the Shearers (Mr. Shearer is pastor of a church that he and Mrs. Shearer helped to plant! Very exciting!), then on to Nauvoo, Illinios.

Monday, Aug. 6th - time spent seeing the sights in Nauvoo that morning, then we will leave for my alma mater, Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, AR.

Tuesday, Aug. 7th - after staying in one of the fine guest rooms on the WBC campus, we will wake early (not really) and have an exquisite breadfast in the dining hall, after which we will putter around the campus for a few hours (Buffalo Wings has never seen my old college, and I'm excited to see all the changes that have been made since I left - like the STARBUCK'S!!!!!), and then we'll head back down to Benton.

Wednesday, Aug. 8th - leave Benton; arrive back home. Vacation over. :o(

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!
And I can't wait to bring back the report and pictures to share with all of you!
Much love to you all -

Busy, Busy

Last week was Vacation Bible School and the week before we had all kinds of preparations, namely decorating our classrooms. The theme was sports this year. I'll have some pictures pretty soon. It was a fun, although exhausting week.

Highlights:
*While trying to get the kids to guess the country Germany, one of the clues given was "Home of Beethoven." AN, a second-grader, recounted when Beethoven wrote his first symphony and at what age, as well as what symphony he wrote before his death and when he died. After spouting these facts, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand and then said, "Oops. Was that too much information?"

*We watched several videos about missions, and after one video, I asked the 1st grade class what had happened in the video. AN said, "I don't know, because I was playing invisible basketball."

My brother, Crab Cakes, my nephew, French Fry, and Crab Cakes' girlfriend, Sugar Cookie, are here for a visit. Yesterday we went to Galveston. We ate at my favorite, The Spot, then went to Murdoch's gift shop / Mermaid Pier (the best one in Galveston - so much fun), then crossed the ferry on the east side of the island and spent about three hours at the beach on Bolivar Peninsula. It was a wonderful, amazing day.

Noodle wasn't sure of the water at first. She would go out with me as long as I was holding her hand, then when the waves hit her, she'd run back to shore for a drink.

"Come with me, Mommy," she said, "Hold my hand. Don't let go of my hand."

We found many hermit crabs in the water, and the kids had fun collecting them and putting them in their buckets. By the time we left, we had found about 20 of them. It was neat to watch them digging around in the sand in the buckets. Sugar Cookie gets the award for Most Hermit Crabs Found. Every time that girl put her foot in the water, she'd come out with a hermit crab.

I'll be working quite a bit up until time for our vacation. I can not WAIT for vacation!!!!! We leave on the 20th. It is going to be out of control. Too much fun. Can't wait. CAN NOT WAIT!

Happy 4th everyone! Sending much love to all of you.