July 18, 2024-Mission Trip Week (Las Vegas, Austin, and St. Louis)

(click for today's pictures)

• This is the last night that this house will be quiet for a little while. I think that Whitman will be excited to have every one else home. I know that I will be as well-I have not been apart from Robby ever this long. And gracious, Bentley, she just goes to the girls' closed bedroom door and whines. If they were gone much longer, we would have to go to the vet and get her some medication.
• I had to wake Whitman up this morning so we could go and pick up Grannymom and Grandpa. I had a gift card to Main Event so we went to bowl with that gift card. I have signed Whitman up with the kids bowl free program, so he can bowl 2 games free only having to pay for his shoes. His shoes were 5, but Grannymom and I were bowling also so I expected to pay full price for us to bowl. I don't know what that would have been, but I was surprised when they just charged us 15 for all of us to bowl. 
• I thought I had a deal and was pleased, but little did I know it would get better. We bowled two games-only one real game. The other game was some type of bowling game where we tried to hit the bumpers when they lit up a certain color. Whitman was much better at that game-or at least he understood what we were doing. 
• The place was so crowded with kids when we came in that I regretted not calling and checking if they had groups coming. However, by the time we finished bowling it had emptied out some, so we went to the restaurant to use more of the gift card.
• They had a deal where you could buy one entree and get a 10 dollar play card. We all did that-Whitman and I split a pizza earning him a 10 dollar play card, and Grannymom and Grandpa split chicken fingers earning another card. The food was good and pretty plentiful. 
• I knew I would go over my 50 dollar gift card when I saw the 43 dollar check for our meal. I added my tip and handed the lady my gift card. Then I had out my credit card, but she said that the gift card covered it all. So for some reason, we were able to use my 50 dollar gift card for 65 dollars worth of things today (6 games of bowling, 2 meals, $20 of points)-we aren't sure how that happened, but we left quickly after that.
• Actually, we didn't. Whitman went and played his games some. Then Grandpa watched Whitman play a few games even playing one himself. I played some next with him, and eventually, he ran out of points on his cards. He really enjoyed the day and came home and organized his Minecraft cards that he earned today.
• We took Grandpa back home, and then went to Costco with Grannymom. I found our vitamins and then possibly a shirt for Anderson, but most importantly we bought some cookies as we were leaving. Whitman and I came home and ate our cookie, and then he found a recipe to cook.
• For supper tonight, he wanted to make pizza chips out of tortillas from a cookbook. We did that and while they baked we played a game. They weren't quite ready at first, so we put them in longer. I'm sure you can figure out where this is going-we burned them!
• However, it didn't take long for us to make them again, and by the time our game was over, we were eating our pizza chips. He must have really liked them because he came back for more. Now I am reading and enjoying the last little bit of quiet in the house-actually, this house will be quiet for days since the kids will sleep forever when they get home. 
• Whitman and I had one last fun thing tonight-we went to Sonic for some ice cream this evening. Robby is usually the fun parent, but I've tried hard this week! He was certainly surprised when I asked him if he wanted to go out to get ice cream!