First full day ...

Well, the tooth fairy came last night - I am sure you were worried about that! We all tried to go to bed last night around 9:30. We had to do some rearranging but finally made it work. I ended up with 3 of the kids in 2 Queen size beds.

The houseboat we are on is 65 feet long. Since I am not a spatial person, my dad had to tell me that was almost as big as their front yard! Here is a picture of our boat when it was still in the marina. We are boat #288. There are 4 bedrooms, plus a pullout couch. There is airconditioning throughout - thank goodness! We have 2 full bathrooms and we have designated them as girls and boys. There are only 4 boys and 6 girls but I still think we lucked out.

On this trip are my in-laws - and thanks to them for this trip. My brother-in-law, sister-in-law, niece and nephew from Dallas are here, and the 4 of us.

Those of you who read my other posts know that I pay attention to food and drink. We are each in charge of a days' worth of meals while we are here. We switched it up a bit so one family wouldn't have to cook all day long. So here is the menu from today:

Chad and Jenn - breakfast = doughnuts

Dave and Lisa - lunch = taco/nacho bar

Dave and Pam - dinner = chicken kabobs, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Yum!

I will work on posting more pictures.

On the Houseboat

Well, after 7 hours on the road, we made it to the houseboat. It is awesome! I have pictures that I will try to post tomorrow. Right now, we are trying to get showers in and beds made so we can hit the sack early. Boat orientation is at 8 tomorrow - when we find out the rules of the lake.

We were able to get on the boat at 4 and were unpacked by 5. We took some time to settle in and then went to dinner. That was the most interesting part so far. Dinner at the Dirty Duck. Super interesting to say the least! I only took one picture there, but I bet the mental pictures you have are fairly accurate.

Well, off to bed before we hit the seas tomorrow. Oh - and the tooth fairy gets to come on the boat for Kaitlyn tonight. She lost her first tooth with all 10 of us here :)

The List of My Favorite Things

So, we are getting ready to leave on vacation - and we are all super excited! The planning and anticipation made me think about my "list" of favorite things. Yes, I keeps lists - lots of them. And I realized that vacations were not on my list! So, here is my newly updated list of my favorite things:

1. My girls' birthdays - My girls are 3 years and 13 days apart. Both were born in February. After Kaitlyn's first birthday, we decided to throw a huge birthday bash for both of them. I think we topped out at 48 people. I absoluntely love throwing that party! Food, beverage, gifts, genuine excitement - who could ask for anything more!
2. Christmas - Kind of a given, right?
3. Our Annual St. Louis trip - We go to STL right before football starts every summer. We wives make the joke that it's the last itme we see our husbands until Christmas! We do the same things every year - Cardinals game, shopping, eating and drinking. But, by the end of the weekend, my face hurts from laughing and smiling so much.
4. Swimming on Sunday in the summer - We are very lucky that many of our good friends have pools. So, every Sunday in the summer, we try to go swimming. After church, we make some calls, pack a cooler and float and drink. What a perfect way to end the weekend!
5. And finally, vacations - Since I was 3 years old, summertime was the time to take vacations. Until I was 25, that meant going to Lake Lida in Minnesota. When I was 25, Dave and I went to Florida for our 5 year wedding anniversary. The start of Kaitlyn? Maybe. The year I turned 30, we went to Jamaica to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. Thus far, my best vacation. We still have a picture on our entertainment center from that trip. We are already planning our 15 year wedding anniversary trip. Bahamas, I think. The Disney Cruise was the best trip the girls have taken. Being warm in January was good for me too.

Stay tuned to see where Lake of the Ozarks fits in.

Welcome!

Howdy All!

I hope to use this blog as a way to document our vacation next week at Lake of the Ozarks. Come back soon for posts and pictures!