Lake fun

 It's another Fourth of July at the lake and I couldn't ask for better weather.  It was in the high 80s, low 90s.  Nothing like last year, the hottest summer in Indiana the melted your skin off and not to mention I was 8 months pregnant with man child.  But this year we got to eat a lot of meals outside by the lake and we sat out there to play games and visit. 

 

The crew at the lake:  Lana, Adam, Kellie, Adrian, Nick, Amanda, Granny, Gaga, the girls, Petey, and Kyle (in absentia)

We played

at the beach

The girls had a blast playing together.  Nothing like a choke hold hug.

One of our highlights was that I caught the girls a turtle.  It was a tiny turtle that was sunning on our boat lift with another turtle and when they saw me coming, the one jumped in, but our turtle freaked out and got rolled over on it's back and so I was able to get there just in time to put my net in the water and catch it when it rolled back over and into the water.  I told Aubrie to name it and she picked....GALA.  Gay-la.  

Gala was a hit.  We loved it so much.  One afternoon I caught Aubrie kissing its shell and pulling its legs and arms.  They put a lot of rocks and leaves in the large metal pot we kept Gala in.  

Kyle fit perfectly in the red rocker that was once Granny's red rocker.

After 2 whole days with our friend Gala, we had to send her back to the water to be with her family.  There were tons of tears and kissing on Gala.  

My water dog had so much fun.  He's so handsome.

Jumping in after a ball.

A neighbor a couple of cottages down came over and told us that a mama and papa swan with some babies were close to shore and so we grabbed the kids and some bread and walked over to see them.  Did you know swans are aggressive?  Did you know swans hiss?  Like...hiss.  Meanly.  It was scary.  This swan right here was in the water when we were throwing bread but then it stretched out and walked onto shore and came at me with a purpose.  I don't know if it wanted to eat the bread from my hand, or gouge out my eyes.  I hid the kids behind a patio table and left the swan alone and it finally went away.  But later it swam by our cottage and our neighbors were throwing bread and it started hissing at us again.  Mean, pretty swan.

Walking to go check out the swan

I only went on two pontoon boat rides because Kyle wasn't much of a fan.  I did get to help Gaga unhook the radio from the ignition because it was draining the battery.  Gaga knows so much about mechanics that I can learn from him.  He drove trucks during WWII and was a farmer.  He knows A LOT.

Loving on Granny and playing Peggity

Granny and Gaga

Silly Girls

Kyle got to experience his first child chunking in the lake.  The water was pretty cold, but it didn't keep Aubrie from swimming around like a fish.

Aubrie

Emi

Kyle

Sunset at the lake

 Adam REALLY wanted to get Aubrie up for fireworks this year.  The sun doesn't set in Northern Indian until around 10 pm so the fireworks were at 10:20.  I was hesitant because I didn't know if she would settle back down and go to bed.  When he got her up she didn't want to get up and said, "Daddy, I want to go to bed."  But he held her and she watched all the neighboring cottages setting off personal fireworks and when the fireworks started, she perked up and really enjoyed them.  At the lake, they put the fireworks on barges and drive them out to the middle of the lake.  The fireworks are coordinated with music from a local radio station.  She was saying stuff like, "Oh, I love that one!"  "That one is old already." "That one looks like valentine's day!"  "That one is like a dandelion!"  She was fun to listen to and went back to bed like an angel.  But first she had to talk the fireworks over and cuddle with Gaga.

We had to bribe with gummy bears to get them to take pictures

Emilie has a gummy bear

Kyle driving the boat

Independence day is one of my favorite holidays.  I hope you all had a good fourth with your friends and family.  My family and I are thankful for all the service men and women who protect this country and their families that sacrifice for us. 

Love to all!

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Lipscomb Steve

Adam's college roommate, Steve, has made appearances on the blog before.  He's a big part of Adam's life.  I knew Steve before I met Adam.  Anyway, I've written about him working at Stetson University as an assistant men's basketball coach.  But I have some excellent news!  Steve and the coaching staff are moving back to Nashville!!!  We are so excited to have Steve and his wife Brittany back home.  But there is only one problem.  Steve is now the assistant basketball coach at Lipscomb University. 

Sigh.

Lipscomb.

Lipscomb University is Belmont's rival just right down the road dating back to both schools' NAIA days.  When the two teams meet, it is called the Battle of the Boulevard.  Belmont moved up to NCAA division I and the two teams didn't meet again until Lipscomb joined them in the ASUN conference and started the Battle of the Boulevard again in 2004, Adam and Steve's senior year. See THIS article to learn more about the rivalry. 

But to get down to the bottom of it, if you are Belmont...you hate Lipscomb. 

And now our beloved Steve is Lipscomb.  Lip-scum.  Lipscomb.

Sigh.

So what do you do if you are in our shoes?  We always go and cheer for Steve.  But this is different.  We will be cheering for Lipscomb.  That means that words like, "go Bisons" will come out of our mouth.  Or we will have to sit in their gym and act like we enjoy their time out crowd hype guy who is the most annoying person, ever.  And their sound system.  We are going to have to endure their sound system.  All for Steve.  Because we are HUGE Steve fans.  Huge. 

Steve and Brittany haven't sold their house yet in Florida so they are staying with us in Nashville.  We definitely have the room.  It actually worked out perfectly because Steve got the job and was in town right when Adam and I left for Costa Rica.  So he was actually a lifesaver for my mom because he came home every evening in time for supper to help with the kids, play with them, and help give baths and put them down at night.  And that is a large task, folks.  It takes a lot of patience because I have this one middle child who is known to wake up from a nap like a fire-breathing dragon and be a stubborn mule at the dinner table.  But luckily, this middle child LOVES her some Uncle Steve. 

She only likes the way Uncle Steve pushes her in the swing. 
She cries when he leaves for work.
She yells, "Wait!!!" and runs and kisses him on the lips when he leaves.
She asks when he's coming back from work.
She yells, "Uncle Steve!  YOU CAME BACK!!!" when he gets home from work.

And I love having Brittany around.  She's an excellent cook and she cooks REALLY healthy.  So healthy, it makes Adam nervous to look in the pantry and see things like almond flour and quinoa.  But I love it and I really enjoy her company.  Adam and Steve haven't seen much of each other because July is an important month for recruiting for Steve and Adam and I have done a lot of traveling.  But by August, we should all be around the house to enjoy each other.  I secretly hope they don't sell their house and we get to enjoy them for a long time.  We are so happy they are back...even if that means Steve is a coach at Lipscomb.

Steve has enjoyed bringing home Lipscomb t-shirts.  When Adam returned from Costa Rica, Steve had hung a Lipscomb shirt that draped over his dresser and Adam jerked it down.  He says, "Babe, I don't know if I can do it.  I mean, it's like kissing your sister.  It's just wrong!"  But we are so proud of Steve.  He really likes it at Lipscomb and we know he'll be successful.  Lipscomb is lucky to have our Steve. 

So, no more Stetson Steve.  Now it is Lipscomb Steve.  But remember, behind that yellow and purple shirt and tie is the kid who bled red and blue, wore number 14 and knee-high socks, and reeked havoc in that Lipscomb gym 9 years ago.

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Pura Vida

Adam and I were very blessed to have the opportunity to run off to Costa Rica for a couple of days.  Adam had to go for work and so I tagged along and we went a couple of days early so we could see the country and have some fun.  I've been there before.  I studied Spanish there for six weeks and lived with a family while I attended the language academy.  We would go to school Monday-Thursday and on Friday-Sunday, we would take trips to see different things.  Adam picked a couple of things to go see and we went and re-visited some of my favorite places.  

Our first trip was to the Arenal Volcano and the hot springs at Tabacon.  We took a 3 hour bus trip down winding roads to get to our destination.  Once we got there, we had some lunch and then were given keys to a locker and some towels and we had about 5 hours to relax at the Tabacon Resort.  They have natural hot spring pools and waterfalls that you can go sit in and relax.  I was a little worried if Adam would enjoy this trip because I thought he would get bored.  But surprisingly, he enjoyed laying around and sitting in the hot springs.  It was so relaxing.  As the sun started to set, the clouds went away and we got a clear view of the volcano.

Arenal

One of the falls

Arenal

 Before we left, we slapped a will together because we now have quite a bit to take care of should something  happen to us.  We were last minute calling people, finding executors for the will and bothering everyone.  So as a thanks, Adam thought we should make a pin-up calendar of him at Costa Rica.  Unfortunately, we only got enough shots to make it through April.  So, if anyone is interested, I can get you a poster size print out.  You're welcome.

He gave me permission to post this.  I promise.

This is a view from our hotel in San Jose.  While we were there, we got to see the super moon every night.  It was beautiful!

 We took a tour of a coffee plantation at Cafe Britt outside of San Jose.  It was an excellent tour.  Adam has turned into quite the coffee lover and he enjoyed learning about coffee and seeing how it is harvested and turned into what we are drinking.  We highly recommend this tour!

Cafe Britt Coffee Plantation

Our last day there, we went white water rafting.  The Pacuare River is the perfect location to go rafting.  We went with Rio Tropicales and the guides are very professional and knowledgeable.  Rafting was my favorite thing that we did when I went to Costa Rica 9 years ago.  We went rafting in Jamaica and it was nothing compared to my experience in Costa Rica, so I was excited for Adam to go rafting.  

We only had one minor incident.  He and I sat on opposite sides of the raft in the back by the guide and we got to a rapid and he yelled, "get down!" which means you SHARE the space in the middle and crouch down.  Well, as soon as he yelled get down, Adam shifted his large frame towards me at the same time his side of the raft hit a large wave and popped up and so he slammed into me and sent me flying into the water.  They train you on what to do and they also have two men in kayaks there to save you.  (we had on life jackets and helmets)  My head kept going under water as I was being carried down the rapids and my body was slamming into rocks.  When I finally made it down the rapid, I was able to catch my breath and find a kayak to grab onto.  

You should have seen Adam's eyes when they pulled me back on the raft.

He felt horrible.  And it was only half his fault.  But from then on, he learned to "get down" on his side only.  I had a bruised ankle and bruised hip and Adam's arms were sore from "rowing harder than everybody else."  (Because it was a competition...)  

It was a lot of fun.  You get to see the rain forest and see a lot of wild life. We were both sore and tired after that trip, but it was totally worth it.  

There was only one bad thing about Costa Rica.  

We missed our kids. 

A lot.  

I mean, I really enjoyed sleeping in.  Eating hot meals, slowly.  Using the restroom...alone.  But it's almost like motherhood is a curse.  These kids drive me crazy and there are days where I long to rock myself in a dark, quiet room.  But then when I'm away from them, I think about them constantly.  It seems like everywhere we went, we saw kids our kids' ages.  There was even one night when I was missing the kids and I grabbed something out of our backpack and one of Kyle's snack puffs fell out of the bag.  I almost cried.  I love these kids.  

My mom was in town to watch them and luckily, Steve was staying at the house and was here every evening to help mom with the kids.  I will tell you more about that later.  

But it was so good to get home to the kids.  I came home on Monday evening and saw them the next morning.  Adam stayed in Costa Rica to work and came home on Thursday evening and saw them on Friday morning.  This was the longest Adam has ever been away from the kids (i.e. 9 nights).

Daddy's home!!

Hey!  Who's home??

Awww!  Daddy!!

The Ticos (Costa Ricans) say Pura Vida. (Pure Life) and in the airport the sign says it is the happiest country in the world.  I think it might be.  I highly recommend you go there.  It is a great country and they are very friendly to Americans. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  I'm going to try and post a little more often.  No promises, though.



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My husband's not a babysitter

Nor is he a bumbling idiot.

I'm sick of movies, television, and just our culture today, portraying fathers in this manner.  There's movies about how incapable men are that stay at home with their kids, or sitcoms where the wife comes home and dad has messed up again with the kids.  Poor dad.  Doesn't know how to care of a child.  Shouldn't have left him home to "babysit."

Let's review what a babysitter does.  It's a very low-responsibility job that is short term.  You hand the kids off and are no longer on duty when mom comes home.

Is that what you want your husband to be?  Dads, do you really only want that short term, low-responsibility influence on your children the short time they are under your roof??

Adam drives me bananas on the weekends.  He gets up and dresses the kids.  For some reason, after I told him 3 times, he continues to put the green polo on Kyle, with little anchors on it, with shorts that belong to a different outfit!  And the girls...don't get me started.  He manages to find a shirt that I have shoved in the back of the drawer because it doesn't fit right, and he'll slap that shirt on them with some wild leggings and a black velvet skirt from a Christmas outfit.

Getting to church on the weekends also drives us both bananas.  It's close to impossible.  He stays at the breakfast table with the kids while I shower and get ready.  I will have laid out their outfits.  And what seems to be a 4 step process of getting the kids cleaned up, changed, and out the door turns into a 12 step process with lots of bumps in the road.  I can hear the chaos and fighting happening from my bathroom and I'm so tempted to come out and "fix" whatever problem is going on.  But I don't.

You see, dad has his strengths, too.  I spend more time with the kids.  I know their ins and outs.  I know how telling Aubrie to go use the restroom before we leave is better than asking her to.  I know that Emilie will not be capable of going and getting her shoes out of the closet even though they are laying on top of the shoe basket.  She's 2!  Her brain prevents her from doing simple functions like bending at the waist and reaching for a shoe!  It bothers me a little as I can hear dad trying to work it out from the other room.

Am I happy they are running him through the ringer?  Sort of.  But I'm more happy that I have a co-parent who battles through the weekends and fathers his children.

If I storm out of the bathroom and get on him about the shoes he picked to go with their outfits, not wiping the syrup off Emilie's cheeks, not telling Aubrie to use the bathroom and giving her the option by asking her...it would all kill his confidence.  I have the upper hand.  I know how these kids work.  I can sense Emilie's next melt down coming from a mile away.  But if I go get on dad, I'm killing his desire to keep battling.  I'm embarrassing him in front of the children.  I will make him withdraw and not want to be involved with the kids.  Pretty soon, I'll be getting myself ready for church, getting the kids ready for church, and dad's off watching sports center until we are all sitting in the car, ready to go.  Who cares if Emilie has syrup on her cheeks?  At least she smells good.  And who cares it took him 30 minutes to do something that I could have done in 10?

Dads are vital to our families.  Adam, and all men, encourages risk, spontaneity, pushing boundaries, and having courage.  What he brings to our family dynamic is just as crucial as my ability to nurse a baby, put meals on the table, and kiss ouchies.

Ephesians 5:28-29 says, "In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church"

I encourage you, moms and wives, to embrace your husband's strengths.  Cherish what he brings to the family.  Tell him this weekend how much you appreciate him.  Men love affirmation.  My girls get what they want from their daddy.  He listens to them, loves on them, buys them things...it's because they are always giving him affirmation.  They give him those googly eyes and say stuff like,  "Daddy is so strong!"  "Daddy, you come home after work, ok?  I miss you."  "Daddy is sooo funny!"

I know Adam is funny and strong.  But I assume he knows I think so.  I don't tell him all the time like his girls do.  But I need to.  I want to see him get that big head and puff his chest out as he parades his wreck of a family into church on Sunday.  Because he is a great dad.  And he deserves to know it.

Happy Father's Day!
(Especially to my daddy.  One of the best!) Pin It Now!