It’s Emma’s Birthday!
Disclaimer: All extended family mentioned is our adoptive family
It’s March, which means birthdays for our family. First up is Emma! She just turned 12 on March 10th. Of course she wanted to go on an adventure for her birthday. So that is exactly what we did, for the whole weekend. In a limo none the less! Our family was a show stopper from our home in the woods, all the way to Springfield, MO.
Our adventure began with Glow Bowling on Friday night. Our family of 14 took up 3 Lanes at Bowlmor Lanes Rt. 66 in Lebanon, MO. The Lanes were split up to accommodate 6 adults, 5 boys, and 2 girls with the baby stealing turns on all 3 Lanes. Man, did we learn how competitive those girls truly are. Emma and Teagan hadn’t been bowling much in comparison to the other kids. So when Emma got that strike she was dancing, literally. Girly was just as excited for Emma, cheering her on. As competitive as they were, they showed great sportsmanship. The boys were just having fun, running back and forth to the arcade between their turns. Reese and I realized we were pretty rusty at bowling. We both grew up bowling, but we were terrible! In our defense, we were bowling with family that are in bowling leagues. The kids ended their night with a sleep over with their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins. Reese and I got to have a night out, courtesy of my dad.
Saturday morning, Reese and I went on a last minute shopping spree while we waited for the rest of the family to get ready to head to Springfield. Our first stop was the Heartland Antique Mall, where we got to go back in time to our childhood. We turned it into a game of who could find the coolest and oldest items in the store. Of course, many of the items in there brought back memories that we got to share with one another. Antique stores are most definitely a fun way to get to know someone’s backstory.
We got to Springfield before the family did, so Reese and I decided to check out Bass Pro Outdoor World. We explored almost the whole 500,000 square foot building. I say almost because, we didn’t want to go to the Wonders of Wildlife Natural Museum and Aquarium without Emma and Teagan. We enjoyed checking out the NRA and Archery museums, housed in Bass Pro. Reese found a beautiful Elephant bracelet, he bought for Emma as a last minute birthday gift. Emma loves elephants!
We met up with the rest of our group at Urban Air around 4:00pm. All of us had fun bouncing on trampolines, navigating the ropes course, and zooming down the zipline. After 5 nonstop hours of bouncy fun fun fun fun fun (as Tigger would say), we were all exhausted and hungry. The birthday girl picked Olive Garden for the late night celebratory dinner. While our experience at Olive Garden was not great, the food was good. Unfortunately, it took them so long to get any food out to our table (including the salad and bread sticks) that all 7 kids were whiny and falling asleep at the table.
We made our way to our hotel and checked in for the night. The kids got an instant burst of energy when they found out it had an indoor pool. It was closed for the night by the time we all got there, which was a blessing for us adults. The unanimous sighs from the kids made us all laugh when my dad told them they had to wait until morning. That small burst of energy was enough to gather all the family into one of our 3 rooms so Emma could open her presents. She was excited to get Stitch stuff, slime and jewelry. After a good night’s sleep, the kids got to go swimming before we headed home.
Over all, Emma and the whole family had a blast! This was just the start to our birthday adventures for the month of March. So stay tuned! We have so much planned still that every weekend in March we will be going on an adventure!