Rock River Rapids

Cooper and I spent the day in Wichita yesterday. We got to mom and dads about 10:30 am. On the trip there Cooper dumped grape juice all down the front of him. So, when we got to the house we threw the shirt in the wash.

Aunt Cori has been VERY BUSY with volleyball camps for the past few weeks, but she called and had time to meet for lunch. Cooper's shirt wasn't quite dry, but we left to meet her. We went to Fozoli's for lunch. So much for washing Coopers shirt. He had marinara sauce EVERYWHERE. Mom and I dropped Cori back off and ran into Wal-mart to get a couple of things including a new shirt. After we were done, we headed home and what is the first thing Cooper does? He takes the lid off his cup and dumps milk all down the front of him!!! I have 2 choices: wear the shirt that looks bad, or wear the shirt that smells bad!!!! UGH!!! You would think after 2 years I would have learned to take extra clothes no matter where I go.

I had to wake Cooper up from his nap about 3:30 to get to Derby by 4:00. Amber, Cooper's first daycare provider, had called earlier this week to see if we would be interested in meeting her and the kids at Rock River Rapids. Amber and Steve had adopted Makiah in April of 2006, and they are now foster patents for an 18 month old, Zachary, and are looking to adopt him. Both kids are adorable!!!!

Cooper and I made it to the park, and it was amazing. If any of you remember Fantasy, it was a smaller version of that. They have a couple of slides you can ride down on tubes, a lazy river, the big barrel of water that spills every 2 minutes, and all the kids stuff you can imagine to play with. It was a really neat place.

Cooper had a great time. We spent most of our time in the water spouts and on a little slide in the shallow end of the pool. Cooper went up and down, and up and down, over and over. Every time he would say, "momma, I do it." I think he liked being independent.....

We did ride around the lazy river a couple of times. Cooper liked to go under the waterfalls, "I get wet," he would say laughing. He was too short (surprisingly) to ride on any of the slides.

I had to add this one because Cooper said, "I taked a shower." (Yes, I know I put taked. That is how Cooper says it.) I laugh because when we put him in the shower with us he does not like it, but I guess things are different when you are having fun.


We stayed until about 5:40 and then started to get our stuff together. Cooper did not want to leave, he started throwing a fit. However, I explained that we had to get home to watch daddy play ball and he was good. He gave Makiah a hug and said, "momma, go bye-bye."

Another busy weekend

We had another weekend full of activities. Our town, Americus, has a swimming pool that is in bad shape. A group of people in town have formed a committee to help "save the pool". Joshua and I are not active members of the committee, but we help out with some of their fundraisers. This weekend was the annual "save the pool" bash at one of the parks. Joshua and I (mostly Joshua) run the softball tournament portion of the weekend.

On Friday night, Joshua and a couple friends of ours were at the ball field putting up fence and working the field. Tyson brought out his four-wheeler to drag the field. Cooper was so excited to see his "motorcyctle". He was even more excited when Ben gave him a ride on the "motorcyctle".

Saturday we were at the ball field and the park all day. Cooper did go to grandpa Hamlin's for a little while to get out of the heat and take a nap. However, while he was at the field he was playing ball too. He found the helmets in the shed (they keep all the rec. t-ball stuff in there) and he insisted on wearing it virtually all day. The kid was sweating buckets, but refused to take it off. I thought it was so cute, but I felt bad for how hot he had to have been.



Cooper had to tell Natalie (Nat a nee) good bye, but of course could not take the helmet off to do so.

After the tournament was over we went over to the park to join in on the festivities and take Cooper swimming. They had horse rides, an air up jumper, a dunk tank, ring toss, a DJ, concessions with real smoked food, an ice cream social with all home made ice cream, and the swimming pool was open until 9 pm.




On Sunday afternoon we headed out to the lake with some friends. We didn't really have any plans for being on the water except to relax. The whole way out to the lake Cooper kept saying, "I drive da boat." So when we got there we made sure to tell Charlie who the Captain was. Cooper did a good job. He didn't love being in the water as much as he does at the pool, but he did go "twimmn'" a little bit.

The sun and the lack of a good nap really wiped Cooper out. He actually fell asleep in daddy's lap driving the boat (why no picture?) Daddy transferred him to me until he was good and asleep, then we laid him down. We got the boat docked and he didn't wake up until we were trying to get him off the boat. This was pretty amazing to us, because anyone who knows our son, knows that he does not sleep anywhere other than the car and his bed. HE WAS TIRED!!!!

Mommy and Daddy "vacation"

Joshua and I were able to get away to the lake this last weekend. Cooper was with grandma and grandpa Meyer. We went to Melvern lake with some friends. Melvern is about a 30 - 45 min. drive from our house. Joshua and I borrowed mom and dads pop-up camper so we did not have to "tent it" in the heat. We had a great time and are already trying to plan another trip to Council Grove lake.
This weekend was a nice get away for us. I came home tired and sore, but would do it all over again. I have not laughed so hard that I cried in a long time. Let me tell you, I did a lot of "crying" over the weekend.

Lea & Natalie: we took a "1st beer" picture. We didn't remember to take a "last beer" end of trip picture.

Brandon, Natalie, Lea, & Joshua

The whole "everyone wear red" was not planned!

Sitting on the shore

I tried to wake board. About my 7th try I almost had it, but by that time my body was too tired to keep going. I had planned on getting back out there again, but time flies when you are having fun and we didn't get around to it.

This tube was very cool (to watch). I will admit, I didn't ever try it. I love to be on the water, but not much of a fan of being IN the water. I did try the wake board because I had never done it before. This tube is called a Gyro-tube. You actually have to crawl in it. The best way for me to describe it is to think of putting your head in the bottom of an ice cream cone and letting your feet hang out the top of it. You have handles inside that you hold onto. If the boat is going straight you just follow along, but when the boat starts to turn and hit wakes the tube starts to spin and you are "rolling around" inside. Everyone loved it!!!!! I loved watching it.

I doe twimmin'

Coopers two favorite things to do this summer have been to go swimming, and to go play ball (when mommy and daddy play). If we are not doing either one of these activities, we have to hear about them constantly. It does get a little annoying at times. For instance, if we tell him we are going to go play ball and we make a stop before we get to the ball fields, get ready for the waterworks!!!! When Cooper has his mind set on something, it is so tragic when it does not go as he planned it. However, I am very grateful that our little guy wants to be outside and around people.


On Tuesday night, my para from Herington called and said that she would be in town to take her niece and nephews to the Emporia Aquatic Center. I made arrangements to get off work (I am temporarily working this week) so that Cooper and I could meet up with them.

The Aquatic Center is a very nice pool for a town our size. The pool itself is pretty darn big. It has the walk-in that gets gradually deeper with little spouts that shoot out water. This is great for Cooper to play in and I can just put a chair in the water and watch him. They have two slides. One that twists and turns and is not very fast. Then they have one that is a speed slide.
Cooper and I rode the "slow" slide a couple of times. Every time we got off he would say, "again mommy." I let him go the last time by himself. Ronda, my para, went up with him and I waited at the bottom to get a picture. Cooper came out upside down and crying, but still said, "again mommy" through the tears. I tried to snap a picture of him coming down by himself, and I got one (I promise he is in the water), but it is not a good one b/c once I realized he was upside down I ran over to grab him. The water is actually fairly deep (as you can see he is under it) and I wanted to grab him since we has not sitting up.

The Aquatic center also has a lazy river and a kid area that just has little fountains and animals that shoot water out for kids to play in. This is a very nice place and plan to take Cooper back again before the end of the summer. I can not believe that I have never been there before!!!

This is Cooper by himself....he's under the water and in the shadow.