Our week in Nebraska

We made it to Dan's parents house without any problem and were able to have dinner in Kearney with Dan's brother-in-law, Tony and his kids, AJ and Grady. (We miss you, Janet!) It was just such a long trip and we were all exhausted when we arrived. The boys were up at 4am the next morning ready for the day! Dan and I weren't quite ready so we set up the portable dvd player and let them watch movies until Grandma woke up. We had a wonderful breakfast - every morning for that matter - with either homemade cinnamon rolls, eggs, bacon, waffles, etc. Dan was so spoiled as a kid to have a mom that fixed a great meal every morning...in fact, she makes big meals for every meal!! I tried to run as much as possible, but it just didn't help much! Max loves breakfast, so he ate and ate and ate!

Dan had to make sure he made several trips to the farm, so that was one of the first stops. The boys love it out there! We had Grady with us and if I remember correctly, we saw a few deer, about 75 turkeys, a pheasant, a wolf, a bear and a whale! (Max says he saw the wolf, Dan a bear, and Blake the whale...there was a little lake and he truly believes it was there!)

That evening, Dan and I went out with Jerry (Dan's best friend) and Jody as well as their boys Marcus and Derek and Derek's girlfriend Maria.

This was our only chance to have dinner with them as their daughter, Whitney, was due any minute with their 2nd baby. We had a wonderful dinner and even watched some fabulous karaoke. Dan tried and tried to get someone to sing with him, but there were no takers! He was the only one that was drinking a lot....go figure! After dinner, Jody got a call from Drew, Whitney's husband, that they thought she was in labor. So, Jerry and Jody packed their bags and drove to Whitney's. A little baby girl, Aspen Drew, was born early Sunday morning!

Isn't she beautiful!!

Big Brother Houston!

Every time we make the trip back to the states, Max gets sick..like vomit sick. When we left for dinner, Max was already asleep and wanted no part of getting up. We left the boys with Grandma, Grandpa, AJ and Grady and figured things would be just fine. WRONG! Max threw up in about 3 different places. Gross! I felt so horrible for Grandma and Max, of course. His little body just can't handle the traveling and the time change very well. He had a bit of a fever so we didn't do too much on Sunday, but he did start feeling better later in the day and was fine the rest of the week.

Enjoying time with Grady

Janet, AJ and Tony

Grandma and Grandpa Shoemaker

Out for dinner in Alma...great burgers, steak and beer!

Dan got several things taken care of on the farm and Max kept Grandma very busy playing cards. They played go fish, rummy, crazy 8s, war, kings corner, spades...I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. The boy also knows how to play Texas Hold 'Em and the betting that goes along with it! I wonder who taught him that?! Dan's sister, Janet, and AJ's boyfriend, Bruce were also able to come visit with us for awhile. The boys loved to wrestle with Bruce and Grady!

Haircuts from Uncle Tony

AJ, Blake, Bruce, and Max hanging out at Tony's shop

Max and Blake were able to enter a wrestling tournament at Grady's high school on Friday. It was back and forth on whether Blake was going to participate, but Max was ready...except for when we arrived at the school. He looked in the gym and saw a bunch of big kids and got a little scared. Dan assured him (as Mom wasn't too crazy about this wrestling idea) that he would be with kids his own size, and he was ready to go. Max talked Blake into doing it and they were good to go! I think they had just as much fun before the tournament then they did during it.

Max really did great. Bruce and Grady had taught him some basic moves a couple days before and he listened very well and used those throughout his 3 matches.

Blake thinks he is the best at everything anyway so didn't want any coaching. He was so proud to tell me that, "Mom, I sat on that guy!" Dad thought the boy sat on Blake quite a bit more. They wrestled one match at the same time so we had to split up. Blake only had 2 other guys in his group. They all got medals and were so excited. Blake thought he was cool stuff wearing a singlet!

Thanks for the hosptality, Dee and Joann. We will see you again soon! (We are currently in the middle of a mess in our house in England! The packers have packed and wrapped almost everything but the mattresses and a few kitchen things. We will be moving out of the house on Monday into a cottage and then leaving England next Friday, May 1st. I will try to get more blogging done but be patient, please! We found a house in Morton and are very excited about it!)