More summer randoms

I'm so sad that school is approaching and wish that we could live in a state of summer year round. I just love the warm weather and the freedom from schedules that summer brings and am sad to see it nearing the end. We always do really well getting back into a routine but it is painful making the transition for this mama. In the meantime, I'm soaking it all up; once August 16 comes, all my kiddos will be in school every single day! 

A storm blowing through...

Winston and I taking in a little rest with all the kids gone at Camp Tecumseh.

When sister is gone and there are no friends to play in the neighborhood, you get to play Nintendo on a week day. :)

Woke up with a few visitors in my bed with me...

Mellany came home from Camp Tecumseh completely EXHAUSTED! She laid in our bed and watched tv all day and even napped!

Winston caught up on his Mellany snuggles too

These boys love to help water when the neighbors need it. 

The mornings have been so pretty....and with John gone (or just to have a little extra sleep) it's nice to be able to walk the neighborhood to get my workout in. I even had a visitor this morning. 

 

2022 Summer Bucket List: Part 2!!!

 Our summer bucket list fun continues!!!

Wisconsin Dells, WI

See "Wisconsin Dells, WI" post

Tie Dye
We did tie dye with the Okos and Vincent families, but I have zero pictures from that this year....

Lake of the Ozarks, MO

See Lake of the Ozarks post

Fair Oaks Farm

While Gammy was in town we took advantage of the membership she bought the kids as their Christmas gift and ventured to the farm. I don't know that we will ever tire of Fair Oaks. We did the ropes course, pig tour, ate lunch and had ice cream for dessert. 

Game Night

Also while Gammy was in town, we played lots of games....especially Uno Attack and Eye Found It. I don't have any pictures to show for it, but it is safe to say that my kids got the Jones competitive genetics. 

4H County Fair

After getting back from the Lake of the Ozarks it was time for the 4H Fair. Judging took place the week before we left but during the actual fair we got to look at all the projects and watch Charlotte and Simon show their pigs. We spent several days at the fair and had such a fun time!

Project judging on an early Saturday morning

The kids loved seeing their projects on display

Camp Tecumseh

All 3 kids were able to go to Camp T this year! Mellany spent the week at overnight camp and the boys spent Monday through Friday at day camp. They all had such a fun time and are already planning things out for next year! 

On the first day of camp, Johnny got an orange swim band and he was very upset about it. An orange band is the lowest level and means that you have to swim in the shallow end. On Thursday, he took the swim test again and earned a green!!! He was so proud when he got in the car and was grinning from ear to ear! 

Lake of the Ozarks!

Our last trip of the summer was to Lake of the Ozarks in Camdenton, Missouri. We met up with my side of the family at an AirBnB for 4 days and had the best time on the lake! 

Prior to leaving we made a pit stop for sweet corn to take with us. Just about everything ends up as a weapon of some kind with these boys...

Off to Missouri! 

I love these people so much! 

First stop on the way was Scheels. We needed to exchange some life jackets and it was the perfect pitstop. We pass by this store every time we drive to KC and have never stopped. It was so worth it....such a fun place!

There's a ferris wheel inside! Mellany and Johnny loved it; Charlie wanted no part of it. 

 

After Scheels we grabbed dinner and then got back on the road for another 3 hours. Our final stop for the night was Columbia, MO. We spent the night in a hotel then got up the next morning and ventured to the MIZZOU campus!! I spent 4 years at Mizzou and John spent 1.5 years there. I hadn't been back in about 6 years and I had never actually been to campus with John at all so this was an absolute blast for me! I didn't have real high expectations for the kids loving it but I really do think they enjoyed seeing where we had our enormous classes, the library, the columns, the fountains, our dorms and especially the Mizzou store. It was hot and a lot of walking but they really did so well while we were there! Once we explored campus, it was lunch time. There's no other place to go for lunch with kids when in Columbia than Shakespeare's Pizza. My bestie Samantha met up with us with her kiddos and we had such a great lunch! 

Tiger Plaza

The infamous Columns

The Mizzou Store

Shakespeare's (they throw dough out to the kiddos watching them make the pizza!)

Besties since 2004! 18 years, 2 incredible husbands and 6 kiddos (her oldest kiddo wasn't able to be at lunch) later.....I say we've aged pretty well! 

My sorority house....Kappa Alpha Theta....I lived here for 3 semesters.

After finishing lunch, we ventured to our final stop.....our house at the Lake of the Ozarks in Camdenton, MO. The house was amazing! It had the best view, was in a cove off of the main channel and had the greatest dock for swimming! 

Make your own pizza night!  

Our first full day at the Lake.....the guys went golfing and the girls headed to shop and eat lunch! 

Our second full day was spent on the lake! We rented a boat and jetski and spent the entire day tubing, skiing, swimming, jetski-ing and boating! I could have done this every single day....it was so much fun!

Boating all day made us all feel this way :) 

At the end of our boating day, the guys took the boat and jetski back. These two were using Charlie's binoculars to watch for them to come back in Tj's boat....

On our last day we ventured to Ha Ha Tonka state park and ended with a Luau dinner! It was the most perfect way to end the trip!

You know it's a great trip when everyone sleeps on the way home!