Bonding time

Last weekend Drew and I went camping with our friends the Lampes. Scott was working so he couldn't go this time. We drove to Sam A Baker state park on that Friday evening and was dark by the time we got there so I missed a few turns on the way. Luckily, it wasn't too bad though. Deer jumped across the road right in front of us before we turned to go into the campground too.

Drew loved this new camping experience. He got to roast marshmallows, even though he didn't like to eat them. They had paved roads and bike trails so we all rode our bikes alot too. The park presented a snake encounter program for the kids that we went to and Drew got to pet a snake, he didn't want to hold it just yet. He also swam in the river like a fish. Thank goodness he's taken a liking to the water! He told us that he wanted to stay 5 times camping, he liked it so much. He also said "babaw sleep here, bed fall down!" and laughed hysterically. I couldn't help but laugh too as he said this when we were going to bed one night. We both enjoyed the snuggle time we got since we had to sleep in the same bed. So after we got home the whole next week, he wanted to sleep in our bed. Yikes, Scott said not to get that started-haha.

Our trip to see the Prescotts

The day after Drew's b'day party, we left bound for Springfield/Branson. We met the Prescotts, a family we traveled with in China. They adopted their son, Luke from Urumqi while we picked up Drew and they also have a 4 yr old daughter Lily who was adopted when we was about a yr old. We met for a late lunch at a nice Japanese steak house that was delicious. After that, we went to their house so we could visit more and the kids could play in their backyard. The kids loved it, as they got to jump on their trampoline, look for bugs and fish in their pond, and play in their treehouse. The next day, they rode with us through the animal park. I don't know who was more excited to see/feed the animals--me or the kids! By the end of it, all four kiddos were standing up, hanging out of our sunroof- thank goodness we had to go slow. We later had lunch at this pizza joint that had indoor go karts and arcade. This was Drew's first time for this and he loved it. John, Luke, and Lily came to our hotel to swim that evening, which all the kids really enjoyed. The next day, we spent in Branson going to the Titanic exhibit, which was really interesting esp with two kids..haha. I also got to go shopping of course at the outlet mall. That evening we went back to Springfield to have dinner at the Prescotts' house. By then, the kids really played well together and played hard too. Wednesday, we went to an animal show in Branson then met the Prescotts at the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and show. At one point, Drew was sitting beside me and Lily was on my lap with Drew insisting on putting his arm around Lily's neck. It was toooo cute!! After the show, our boys still wanted to play with the kids so they came back to our hotel to swim and say their final goodbyes. We were so used to seeing them everyday, too bad we had to go home.