Pictures from the weekend

We got up early Saturday morning and headed down to my friend's house in Oklahoma for her wedding reception. We stopped for a quick lunch at Braum's in Stillwater on our way, got to her house, unloaded the van, helped get stuff ready for the reception, and then headed out to the lake for the party.

We had a great time. It was cold, but the kids wanted to get into the water so I finally relented and let them go in. I waded in until my toes got wet and bolted back out to dry land as fast as I could - that water was frigid! But they had fun. We ate and then played football, volleyball, and horseshoes for a few hours before we went back to her house for a bit and then came back home.

On Sunday, The Dude and I decided on the spur of the moment to take the kids out to the lake (here) for a few hours. It was much warmer here, but the water was still frigid. I got in up to my knees this time and then decided that I was done and just hung out on the blanket taking pictures and watching the kids. He got out in the water and played with them - but he's way braver than I am!

After we got done at the lake and got showered and changed, we decided to go to Burger King for supper before taking the older 3 kids back to their father's house. That was all fun and games, until we walked outside and found the flat tire on the van. The Dude put the spare on, found out that it was *almost* flat, and took it and got it aired up, then we drove very slowly to drop them off and come back into town.

I took the tire to get it repaired this morning, and then we went back and picked it up this afternoon and he put it back on the van for me so that I wouldn't have to keep driving on that horrendous donut.

Daniel and I walked Alex to school this morning before we got the tire repaired. I've had people ask me why I take my camera everywhere with me - and this is a perfect example of why I do. We were walking back along the creek that runs through town, and I saw something bobbing in the water right at the edge. We walked over and found this guy...

Of course, Daniel wanted to bring him home - I put a stop to that idea rather quickly!

So now, it's back to normal for a little while. Daniel has 2 more days of school left, and the other kids get out next week so the chaos of the summer is about to start. We need to put the finishing touches on the plans for the road trip in June and come up with a little bit more money since now I really think we should get a couple of new tires on the van - but we'll figure it all out one way or another. Somehow it always manages to come together, even if it's at the last minute!