The kids take on MO... without us!

One of our favorite annual traditions is the kids trip to Missouri.  On August 21st I met Brandon's parents half way and the kids headed out for a week of adventure and I headed home for a week of kid free living, which at the end of the summer is such a welcome thing... but more on that tomorrow.  Today's post is all about the fun the kids had without us!  Looking at the pictures fills my heart with joy.  They had such a great week and made such special memories with family. 

I will comment generally since I obviously wasn't there! 

Grandma and Grandpa are brilliant and bought T a hat so she wouldn't pull out her hair! 

Gatorade... happy boy.

The first night they had family over for dinner.  It is so fun that Judy's sister Jeanette and husband James now live close by!

The morning pancake game is going strong! 

Each summer the kids go to a few stores with Tom and Judy and pick out Christmas and Birthday gifts.  They hit up 5 below for some low cost wonders. 

This is T's dream store... like an upscale dollar tree haha!

After shopping they went to this FunSpot and did all the things... literally!  It seems like they had the place pretty much to themselves and were loving every ride, game etc!  Such happy faces!

This place even has rollerskating!  It looks like M gained confidence through the experience!

More pancakes!

The kids and Judy had a fun morning at Jeanette's house!

Jo is a sweet dog!

Loving the water!

More shopping for gifts!  Jeanette is very good at math which is important on these sorts of adventures!

The kids were able to go camping for two nights with Brandon's sister and her family.  Tom and Judy also took them boating!  This time camping was my kids favorite memory of the summer.  Simple joys that become treasured memories!  We are SO THANKFUL they got to experience these things! 

The kids really enjoyed a day of boating.  T was pretty cold for a lot of the day so she had lots of cuddles.  M got up on skies but didn't love it and stopped pretty quickly. 

Getting help at the start!

He is UP!!!!!

Cuddling with A and A's kittens was a special highlight for them.  The cats grew so much between our 4th of July trip and their trip in August!  Wild! 

Lots of good MO memories from reading to crafting to puzzles to play-doh, the kids had a great time. 

The final night the kids were there A came over with his new saxophone!  How exciting that he is playing in band, and the instrument I played growing up as well!  M got to try it too.  T stuck with Grandpa Tom's trumpet.  

This year's pick up went much more smoothly than last year.  There was no church flood to come home to this year, just on going construction.  I picked the kids up on August 27th.  T's surgery was coming up on the 29th, so that left us just one day at home before the big day at Children's.