Our last full day in Springfield, MO.  Sigh.  It should be an incredible day though.

I am thankful I went out of my comfort zone and chose to run a little ways down and across a larger road. I would never have found the church I am attending in the morning or come across the park we jumped around yesterday. I spend a lot of time being afraid of things. I hope I can remember to enjoy living outside my comfort zone just a little bit more for the rest of the trip.

We are headed on a boat trip today to Table Rock Lake. Ed and Kayla rented a boat. We had the boat for four hours and we filled every last minute with as many incredible memories as we could.  We started out with letting the kids ride the tube.  Brooke was a daredevil and kept signaling to go faster.  I don’t have to wonder where she gets it from since after the kids had their fill Scott and Kayla jumped on and asked Ed to do his best to knock them off.  Not surprisingly Kayla gave in before Scott.  Not to understate Kayla’s determination, Scott just happens to be that much more stubborn and not as concerned about how he is going to walk in the morning.  (Scott was still complaining about his back a day later!)

I had no idea so much of water skiing was dependent on the driver. Thankfully Kayla and Ed are skilled drivers. Kayla was up first, and she jumped right into skiing backwards, oh and on one ski!  After Ed and Scott hopped up on the skis I had to try.  I have had other chances to try, and I have always been too afraid.  I was determined this time to try and succeed, and I did!  I was not up very long and I won’t be skiing backwards on one ski anytime soon, but I did manage to get up and ski!  We enjoyed our late lunch on the boat. Kayla worked hard this morning to get a lunch together.  Scott had cut up a giant watermelon of Ed’s using a super duper technique he saw on You Tube.  An entire 1lb bag of watermelon was devoured very quickly.

Cody started off the trip a little unsure of the whole thing.  He eventually smiled.  He was even hollering with delight on his very long and relaxing tube ride.  He liked it so slow that I was able to lay down and catch a few z’s.

We were all very exhausted after our day in the sun.  The kids played for a bit after we arrived home, and then the adults were ready for bed.  As we were reflecting on the battle of small children and toys everywhere Ed came up with a brilliant idea.  Ed has a Room-ba that vacuums the house on a regular schedule on its own.  Ed came up with a Toy- Room-ba idea. He said he would gladly pay for something that would sweep all the rooms each night of the toys and put them away.  I don’t know about Scott, okay I do, he wouldn’t pay, but I would!  Now someone just needs to invent it.

At the exit to Table Rock Lake was the College of the Ozarks.  It is nicknamed “Hard Work U.”  The students leave with a degree and almost no debt as long as they work 15 hours a week.  I wish I would have heard of this school when I was in school.  I worked almost a full time job most of school and still left with plenty of debt despite scholarships and grants.  The gentleman who helped fuel up our boat and got us going had just graduated high school and was going to attend College of the Ozarks this fall.

Kayla’s mom was kind enough to give us an old Road Atlas.  It even had the Golden Gate Bridge on the front of it, Brooke noticed with excitement.  We have been looking at the road atlas multiple times a day since we received it on Saturday. Our phones with Navigon don’t quite cut it when looking at the big picture.  Plus Brooke is really enjoying learning the names of the roads and states as we travel.

Despite Cody’s cranky face earlier in the day he had an incredible amount of fun.  He was singing “Hosana” and “Don’t Be a Turkey Just Say Thanks” and smiling away, especially when his pal, Little Miss, was near.

What an incredible last day with some very amazing people.