Purinton Family Road Trip 2010

Attached are pictures from our vacation. Wow, what a great trip. Royce and I can't say enough what a great time it was and how lucky and blessed we are to have had such a great vacation. We logged 3,400 miles in 11 days and it was honestly pretty fantastic 100% of the time. We joke that it was almost too good because it will trick us into doing it again sometime! I won't get too specific but the basics of the trip were Sept 10-20 and we went to Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Richmond VA and Virginia Beach, also landing in KC for a night.

First stop, Little Rock. My cousin Morgan and her husband Matt Musser are captains in the Air Force and they are stationed in Little Rock. They fly C-130 planes and are getting ready for their 2nd deployment in December. We stayed with them for two nights and had such a great time. They took us to the River Market, drove by the capitol, Central High School, and best of all the Air Force Base. We got our own little tour and even got to get on one of the C-130s. How cool! Chloe sat in the co-pilot seats just where Matt & Morgan sit when they fly. How cool that we were in a plane that they flew in Iraq. (No pictures were allowed in this area--which is understandable) My little cousin Morgan is all grown up and I couldn't be prouder! Matt was even kind enough to go out of his way to give Royce a personal tour of the golf course. Wasn't that nice of him?!? So selfless, that Matt. The second night was finished off with some fun pitch games.

This is a display of a C-130.

Note, the back of Isaac's head.

Next stop, Memphis! We made it to the Peabody Hotel and watched the ducks march. That was so cute! We were there early and the lobby really filled up. But we were plopped right outside of the elevator door beside the red carpet. We visited the roof deck as well. It was pretty cute watching those ducks march down the red carpet and into the elevator.

Again, note, the back of Isaac's head.

And, yet again. He didn't want anything to do with pictures for a while.

Posing by the duck fountain. Do they look like tourists or what?!? haha!

View in Memphis from the top of the Peabody Hotel.

Waiting for the ducks to march.

After the ducks we rode a carriage through town. It was a great way to get some quick history of Memphis and the weather was perfect for enjoying a ride.

Saying "thanks" to the horse by giving her some apples & grapes.

Almost all of the carriages have a dog riding up in front. It was cute.

Third stop: Nashville. We took a duck tour through Nashville. Again it was a quick way to get some history and the kids had a good time. These vehicles served in WWII so it was pretty neat to get to ride in one. We cruised the streets of Nashville and drove right down the boat ramp into the water.

Royce & Chloe drove first in the water!

The top (almost black) line shows how high the waters were during the floods in Nashville that took place in May. Unbelievable how much water that must have been. The Grand Ole' Opry was still closed for re-construction so we were unable to tour that.

Royce & Isaac drove as well!

This was the "duck" we took on our tour.

We had one night in Bristol, TN and then we were just a half day from Richmond.

Ah...Richmond! We made it! We were so excited to see Gina, Chris, Gabi, Libby, and pat the baby bump of baby Kate. We had a nice stay with them filled with a lot of activities. Wednesday we went to the Children's Museum in Richmond. What a great place for kids to run and be creative.

This is Isaac changing a tire at the museum. He would have done this all day!

The kiddos posing at a farm scene. Pretty cute!

We took a short break from Richmond and headed to Virginia Beach for a day. It was only a 2 hour drive and we'd go back in a heartbeat. We were really impressed with the beach and the town as well. Even though we were on vacation the whole time this felt like our own little get-away. The kids loved the beach and they were just fantastic.

Pretty cool--Isaac thought it was just a giant sand box!

Oh, no! The water took out Chloe's sand castle!

She laughed about it!

Royce buried Chloe and made a mermaid out of the sand.

Looking for seashells.

Back at Richmond, Uncle Troy had arrived from Baltimore. He is great at playing with the kids and even read them all a bedtime story.

Isaac got to go with the big boys to pick up the Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. He picked out his own football and ate the whole thing!

Krispy Kremes all around!

Libby and Isaac at Gabi's birthday party.

This is a picture of the Purinton siblings.

Gina holding Libby with baby Kate in the oven, Chris, Troy, Chloe,

Megan, Gabi, Royce, Isaac.

This was while singing Happy Birthday to Gabi. I caught Chloe's eye and pointed for her to sit down. She in turn interpreted that as "blow out Gabi's candles" so that's what she did. Gabi got one in there and luckily was un-affected by Chloe's actions. I guess looking back Gabi blew out Chloe's candles at their 2nd birthday party because Chloe was afraid to, and the wind blew out Chloe's candles at her 4th birthday. So maybe the girls will just keep a rotation going! ha!

Immediately after the party we had to hit the road back west. It was such a fun time and we hated to see it end but also wanted to quit while we were ahead. We drove from Richmond to Louisville, KY. The next day we drove from Louisville to KC. We were so relieved to get there around 5:00pm so we didn't have to drive the whole day. We stayed with friends and were able to go to the park and other fun stuff.

Monday (Sept 20) Royce worked from his office in Kansas City so we went down to Gardner to see my cousin Ty's new baby. Sarah and Jack are doing great and I'm so glad we were able to visit.

Chloe said holding baby Jack was her favorite part of the trip!

A big thank you to Matt & Morgan and Chris & Gina for hosting us on our vacation. We had an amazing time with each of you and are so thankful for the time we shared. Everyone kinda thought we were crazy for loading up the kids and taking this kind of a road trip (we kinda did too!) but we can't even express how happy we are that we did it.

Purinton Family Road Trip 2010 = SUCCESS!

Happy Birthday, Miss Chloe

Happy Birthday my dear Chloe! Wow, 4 years old. What a day we had! When Chloe went to bed last night I taped streamers to her door frame so when she opened her bedroom door this morning there were streamers hanging all through the opening. She was the first one up and we heard her door, then we just heard, "Heee hee hee! Hee hee! Hee heee hee!" It was pretty cute. I finally had to call her in to see if she knew why the streamers were there. She did. And I have to say we started the day off on the right foot and it really did stay all day. We had a wonderful day with her.

I started decorating the cake around 8:45 am and finished with everything about 11:45 am. Two chocolate layers (square), two strawberry layers (round), and 24 cupcakes (white cake). Whew! Not to mention the three tubs of frosting! I do decorate my kids' cakes but I sure don't make frosting. So three tubs held this thing in place!

Chloe LOVED getting phone calls today from family. Uncle Troy called first, followed by Aunt Gina & cousin Gabi, then Aunt Robynn & Uncle Dust. The added bonus is that they invited her and Isaac to go mini-golfing this morning. That was a fun treat (not to mention that it allowed Royce and I some time to wrap presents, finish food, and clean house instead of chasing kids). Thank you Robynn & Dustin!

Chloe got to pick what was for lunch..."Mac-a-nernies" in her words. Followed by corn and watermelon. Quite the birthday combination! Then she actually was able to lay down for a nap and she took a long one.

Now it's PARTY TIME! We had the party at Frontier Park. It was nice for the kids to have playground equipment and it really was a nice day other than the wind. We were semi-sheltered but we weren't able to get all four candles lit at once. She kind of blew one candle out along with the wind helping. But that didn't hurt her spirits.

Still sporting her KSU tattoo from the game Saturday.

Quick lift from coolest-ever-Uncle-Dust!

Jacob, Isaac, Greg, Chloe, and Elijah.

Girls not pictured: Tessa (shy) and Jaylen (wiggle worm!)

Silly Girl!

Chloe and Tessa

They go to Happy Days together (along with Elijah) but we realized

last week that we live across the street from each other. Yay, a neighborhood friend!

After cake Chloe opened her gifts. The kids were so well behaved. We were

surrounded by such great friends and family today.

Doctor stuff!!

After presents the kids all played. I actually had a surprise up my sleeve for Chloe's party today. Chloe loves balloon animals so I had someone come and make balloons for the kids. They got swords, dogs, flowers, and monkeys. It was cute. But the balloon artist also left the kids 'rocket balloons'. Wow--what a hit. These balloons are blown up with a straw and then when you let them go they soar into the air and 'scream' while they're zipping everywhere (plus they are re-usable). The kids LOVED them. A complete hit. And the best part was that the kids chased the balloons all over the open space so they were red-faced and exhausted afterwards! They each got rocket balloons to take home with them. So that was fun!

After the party the remaining family came over for grilled hamburgers. It was a nice ending to the day. Chloe got to start playing with some of her gifts and everyone else got to unwind. Tonight after getting in PJ's she just kept saying that she wasn't tired. I think she knew deep down that once she went to bed it wouldn't be her birthday anymore. So she snuck out of bed and snuggled with her daddy on the couch for a while which was welcome on both ends of the deal.

She finally went to bed.

Our smart, beautiful, oh-so-grown-up 4 year old.

We love you, Chloe, oh so much.

Purple from head to toe...heart included.

Today was the first KSU game for the season. We have season tickets and took the kids to this first game. The kids each went to two games last year and they really are very good at the games. Chloe, in particular, is very much in her daddy's graces when it comes to KSU football.

History: Last year we took both kids to the first game, this Labor Day weekend last year actually, because we moved the next day. (Wow, a whole other blog will be needed for that! A year, really?!?) Anyway, both kids went to the first game then Isaac went to a game with us and Chloe went to a different game with us. When it was Isaac's turn to go with us Chloe was heart-broken. She was sad she didn't get to go even though it would be her turn next. She so very badly wanted to come to the game that she even went into her room on her very own and put on her KSU cheerleading outfit and came back out to her daddy and said, " Daddy NOW can I go to the game with you?" Talk about a stab in his heart. (Please note that Aunt Robynn did a great job entertaining her last year and took her to see alpacas & eat at McD's:) Thanks Robie!) She did get to go to the KU game last year so it was a very fun one to attend, but Royce most certainly didn't forget that morning when she put as much purple on as she could to win his approval.

So this year she will go to two games again but we won't tell her where we're going for the games that Royce and I go by ourselves. I made sure their KSU shirts were clean, had their clothes set out for them this morning, and everyone was excited. Chloe has purple sneakers that she has recently outgrown. Royce was not aware they didn't fit her so when she got dressed this morning he excitedly told her to put on her purple sneakers. He was packing the truck and she came into our room where I was and she was crying. She said, "Daddy wants me to wear my purple sneakers but they're too small. I tried them on again but my foot hurts". THIS POOR GIRL! Thank heavens purple is a popular color in this house and she has a pair of purple canvas shoes that she could wear. We even picked out purple & white socks to go with the purple canvas shoes just so she could make sure Royce would approve. Seriously, girl! Royce is so proud of his kids and that they are so excited about KSU but he never asked her to pour her little heart out like this! We added purple & white hairbands to her hair and this little chic was set.

Isaac's only request was the big football. He has little-sized KSU footballs but those aren't nearly as cool as the full-sized one. So it didn't leave his hands the entire way to Manhattan. It was pretty cute.

Ready to go!

Here is the proud daddy with his kids. Isaac with his football

and Chloe with her purple from head to toe...with the exception

of the pink pom-poms, of course!

I made fruit kabobs for the tailgate. These kabobs (in the picture) were specifically

for my kiddos as I added a few extra marshmallows for them!

But the majority of the kabobs included watermelon & cantaloupe

from our garden, along with grapes & strawberries.
They were a hit!

And these pictures are two of the best parts of the trip!

haha!

Slept the entire way home.

A special thanks to Dan & Linda for letting us join their tailgate party! I know you'll read this Linda. I want you to know how much we appreciate your hospitality and friendships. Dan really exercised the kids quite well for our trip home, haha!