Vacation Day Twelve and Thirteen

We headed to Kentucky Sunday morning to see our good friends who moved there in the past year.  This time there were only paved roads (and no Tom Tom).  We got there just a little bit after they got home from church.  (Boy, I sure was missing church myself.  I never go 2 weeks without being at church somewhere, even on vacation.)  K and I took her 7 kiddos and my 4 kiddos to the pool in her neighborhood (thankfully she has a HUGE van) and the kids swam all afternoon and into the evening. 

This is Mimi's new bathing suit.  It came from the ladies' section!  I love it on her.

K's little girl is fearless and loved going off the diving board (as long as she had her suit with the built in floaties on).

Mimi and MJ enjoyed jumping in simultaneously.

Scott and J-they are the same height right now (and one month apart to the day)

Sari and C, whose suit was soooo cute-it looked like a ballerina's tutu

While we were at the pool, her husband made the BEST ribs I have ever had (no lie).  YUM YUM YUM is all I can say.  For dessert there were "make your own" sundaes.  Her little guy poured the entire container of sprinkles on his :-).

Trying to get a picture of all three little girls was comical.  I never did get one with all three looking the same way, and Mia kept being mid-blink.

The next day the kids all slept in late (they also went to bed really late, so that was to be expected...too much catching up to do).  K made yummy pancakes for breakfast, and each child got a bit of computer time.  Since I had my laptop (and Scott had his too), we were able to let some of them play on the same site at the same time, so they may do more virtual meet-ups to connect from far away now that we are home.  They introduced my kids to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online game, and we showed the little girls Webkinz Jr. using Sari's account.  While they were busy with that, K was generous enough to help me troll her book collection for books I need for our upcoming school year.  She had several, and that was very helpful, especially since I was striking out with used bookstores.

Monday afternoon we headed back to the pool for a 4th of July hangout with some of K's neighborhood friends.  Everyone brought something to share and there was a ton of food.  The kids again swam until the pool closed and the adults got to hang out and talk.

J is very athletic, and oh, my, the height he got on his jumps off the diving board was amazing!  This picture totally fails to show how impressive he was.

MJ doing a split jump

Sari even got up the courage to jump off the diving board, and K's eldest daughter was so sweet to be at the ready in case she needed help.

TJ mid-flip

After the pool, we headed back to K's house, but one of the ladies from the gathering had fireworks at her house, so the older kids changed and they headed over there.  K and I stayed home-me because Sari hates fireworks, and K to get a break I think, and to get the chance to knit a little more on the sweater she was making from baby #8-a little boy.  After the big kids got back, we did sparklers (the idea of which got some very passionate contrary responses from K's more conservative friends).  Sari wasn't sure about them, but in the end she caved in to peer pressure and even did 3 before she started to freak out.

C isn't afraid-she did them two at a time

Sari even managed a smile for a minute...

The kids again stayed up pretty late, but we parents were tired ;-).  I know I slept really, really well!