Ode To Our Summer

Lets just get all of our expectations straight from the start... this is not Christine. This is not the normal beloved author of this blog who takes meticulous care to make sure her spelling and punctuation are A+ quality work, and her wit and charm make me laugh as she chronicles this incredibly fun journey God has taken our family on through life. No, this is her husband. A man who after packing up his wife and kids to send them to Dallas at 7:30 on a Sunday morning, suddenly finds himself wide awake and in the mood to help out his wife, by blogging (how this is more of a help than cleaning up the playroom or putting the boxes up in the attic like I was instructed I don't know, but I have a few days to figure out a good excuse). So with that caveat in place (and that sinking feeling in some of your stomaches that is saying "Ah, so this is what it would look like if Ree Drummond ever let the Marlboro Man have a crack at writing publicly"), here are some of the blessed events that have happened in our lives over the past few months.

1. Weddings. The kids are evidently rock stars in the wedding world. They were in two weddings this past summer (Korri and Bryson's, and Britney and Logan's) and had the time of their lives in both. Jakin perfected his "wink" and dancing skills, Anna did an absolutely incredible job of looking way too old for her age in both dresses she was in, and Mikaiah did an incredible job of dropping her flowers and setting a new standard for two year old flower girls around the world (this was slightly aided by 3 packs of sugar filled Smarties in the half-hour prior to walking down the isle, but we did it).

2. Michigan. So we went to Michigan for Chris's parents 40th wedding anniversary. We all had a tremendous time staying in campers with our cousins, seeing relatives that we hadn't seen since OUR wedding, playing in huge sand pits, seeing Lake Michigan, and generally taking advantage of the incredible hospitality our Michigan relatives had to offer. Thanks to everyone who invited us over, showed us around, cooked for us, and helped us out that week. It was a lot of fun.

3. Disney World. Oh dear goodness. What a time we had there. Chris has already talked a little about it and I won't ruin her stories that she was going to write from the kids perspectives but a few notes... if I may.

1. Everyone who knows my wife knows that the same reason why it takes us so long to get to church on Easter, is the same reason we have to go on a vacation at least once a summer: there is an innate desire within her to see everyone in our family wear matching clothing. And this, being the macdaddy of all vacations, was definitely no exception. She special ordered our shirts in advance and as we all walked into the park on day one, we declared our solidarity to the world with green cotton and black ink.

2. The kids (and Chris) had their first 3D movie experience. It was absolutely priceless to see the hands go out to try and touch what was coming off the screen and the jumps of excitement as Donald Duck came flying. The kids had a great time in the theater as well. :)

3. Short story: So we wait in a long line in order to see all of the Disney Princesses and we thought this was going to be Anna's highlight of the trip. Real alone time with Cinderella, Belle, and I think it was Sleeping Beauty. We walk into the room and Anna is loving it, her eyes are so wide that it was hard for her to get words out (Sidenote: Mikaiah didn't really care for anyone the whole week who looked like they belonged in a movie or a book, and expecially not for the 5 ft Jimmeny Cricket). While we were mainly watching Anna's expressions, unbeknownst to us our son was about to fast forward his life many years and reach a pivotal part of manhood. After the first princess we reached Cinderella, and Jakes just started chatting it up telling her about all of the dragons he was going to slay for her and what weapons he was going to use and all that good stuff. We thought he was being really cute until it was time to say good bye and all of the sudden out of nowhere he plants a big ole kiss on Cinderella's cheek. Yes, my son gave out his first kiss to someone not related to him at Disney World. I was so proud. Right afterwards he went skipping down the hallway yelling "That just totally knocked my socks off!" It was a good day in his book.

4. We also went to Sea World which was a ton of fun as well. We saw the whale show, the Lion King show, the penguins, Sesame Street characters, and all that good stuff you hope your kids get to experience sometime in their life.

5. Thanks to everyone who made this trip possible and tons of fun. From everyone who went with us, to everyone who helped send us off with gifts and goody bags, to everyone who prayed for our safe travel: Thanks for helping us make this awesome memory that we won't forget.

4. Quincy. The "FiveCrazyMatchells" have unofficially become the "SixCrazyMatchells" with the addition of our new dog John Quincy Adams Matchell (to hear Anna talk sternly to him using his full name like we talk sternly to her using her full name is absolutely adorable). His name is in keeping with our "All Presidential Pet Names" theme that we started with our first dog Kennedy. Like Kennedy, Quincy is also a Boxer who is very athletic spirited yet sleeps a lot. He is just over a year old, he runs with Chris in the mornings (both runner and dog have worked up to 4.5 miles together), has a grand ole time tearing holes in our back door and digging underneath our fence in the afternoon, and is the hardest immovable object to move when sleeps in our bed at night (for those of you counting at home, yes that does make 4 very large objects in our bed every night: Me, Chris, Quincy, and Bob the body pillow). (What makes it even more interesting is when there is a rainstorm at night and Mikaiah sweet talks her way into our bed because the "funder is scawey.")

5. Bunk Bed. Thanks in large part to MiMi and PaPa we were able to make one of our dreams for the fall come true a little early. For a little while now we had wanted to find some way to get a bunkbed for the twins and possibly get all 3 kids in the same room. Well, with a little bit of work we made it happen this summer and it is an absolute blast. The kids love climbing the ladder have "sleep overs" all the time on the top bunk.

6. Matchell Family Fun Night. A new tradition we started this summer has been one of the better things we have thought of as a family. Matchell Family Fun Night is where we all get together and try to do something fun, special, and out of the ordinary. Example: we got the kids in their PJs, piled in the van, let them pick out their own flavor of ice cream at Braums, came home, pushed our two couches together to make one huge piece of furniture, and watched Toy Story. The kids had a blast, it wasn't that expensive, and now its tradition.

There were thousands of little stories, birthday parties, garage sales, and "firsts" that I wish I could write about, but this small snippet should let you know that we are still alive and kicking and it was an absolutely blessed summer and early fall. God has truly blessed our family and we look forward to sharing those blessings with you as much as we can.

Thanks again to those of you who helped to make this possible through your friendship and prayers, we couldn't have done it without you.