The 3D Boys...

My poor sister and her husband....getting all three of them showered was a CHORE in the little bathroom in the cabin! But how cute are those boys???

Karson and Aunt Jen Jen

I just love that kid! He either really really loves me or ....:)

In this picture he asked me to pick him up...melted my heart!

ESELY/EDWARDS/DURNIN Lake Trip 2008

WHAT A GREAT TIME!!

We had such a great time! I am so thankful that we all can have a great vacation together. Bryce's parents came along this time too, and they were so much fun! I have to tell you that Tom can GRILL!! HOLY COW MONKEYS...we had ribs, steaks, hamburgers, brats....oh my....can I just say HEAVEN? :)

Mom was in the kitchen each morning bright and early fixing us breakfast. I felt a little like a pampered little girl! :)

Tom and Barb celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on August 2nd along with Richard's 40th Birthday!!

I cannot believe my man is 40. F-O-R-T-Y...wowzer. :~)

Kensey Rae learned how to water ski and of course LOVES it! Cody got up as well! WE just had a great weekend of relaxing and that is ALWAYS a good thing!

our view from our hotel

...because Kensey Rae has this way of wrapping you around her finger. She did this to the Hotel Manager at the Jupiter Beach Resort....long story short...she told the manager she wanted the penthouse...we said no way....she told him she had never seen the ocean, she had played against giants all week...and she had never stayed at such a fancy hotel...he was smitten...we got the penthouse for the price of a regular room...yep that is our Kensey Rae...if she only knew.....

BEACH!!

This doesn't need a lot of stories. How can you not enjoy the beach? It was the first time for the kids to see the ocean. They were amazed and instantly fell in love. Kensey Rae wants to move there and Cody says it comes in second to Colorado. He is a mountain boy. What a great three days! We were able to visit with Jeff and Jennifer (my cousins) and hang out with them. We visited a "sea turtle rescue" we saw Donald Trump's house...(HOUSE? try planet) HUGE! We just had some great family time. Awesome memories!

FINALLY...Disneyworld!!

What a great day! We spent 14 hours at Disneyworld!! It was so much fun!! I think there were times I was the 5 year old little girl totally smitten by the Princesses!!

on our way to Disney.....but didn't make it

John and Sheri Roster and their kiddos and our family decided to head to Disneyworld between games....well you have to understand, we headed their first on Tuesday, but had to pull over because the rain was so bad. I looked at Richard and said, "when you can't see the road, is it really a good day to actually head to disneyworld?"

I am not high maintenance. BUT EVEN I HAD NO DESIRE TO HEAD TO DISNEYWORLD IN THE RAIN.

So bring on Wednesday...

We headed with the Rosters again to the "place where dreams come true"

We were sitting at the stoplight. Sitting. Minding our own business. An idiot apparently didn't see the stoplight was RED...and slammed into the back of the Roster's vehicle. (Kensey Rae was in the back of their car.)Their vehicle pushed our vehicle about three feet forward.

Needless to say....our dream didn't come true....:~)

and the rest of the story..

Well I kinda left you hanging....

We ended up losing the next two games. Kensey Rae played her heart out. I was so proud of her. As I was watching her play against girls that were just so much bigger than her I watched the Esely woman come out in her. I saw the determination of Jodi in her. Jodi played with such an intensity in high school and college. Kensey Rae sat in the stands for years desiring to be just like her, and well, she is, just like her. I watched her play smart, just so on top of her game, playing defense-not allowing her girl the opportunity to even think of scoring, she played smart like Jill. Jill played smart. She was always cool as a cucumber-in charge. The girl you know you can count on--kensey Rae was cool, smart and took charge of her defense. She was just like Jill. She smiled when her teammates did something awesome.....her smile looked just like Mom's smile. The smile that makes you want to smile too. A catchy smile. Then, came the look. Yep, the look. The look that says you have ticked me off one too many times. You have messed with the wrong girl...yep, that came from me. I knew it. I giggled. I think deep down, she knew it too. :~)

Score one for the Esely girl.

sometimes you just don't have it......

We fell short tonight. We lost by 11 to a team from Maryland. We had a hard time getting the ball up the court. Their press was intense, and it just stopped us in our tracks. Kensey Rae played a good game. She certainly has stepped up her game down here, which has been awesome to watch.

The other team was coached by a girl who played for Syracuse. She towered over our coaches who are 6'3" and taller. A parent came up to us after the game and complimented Kensey Rae's intensity in her defense. That was a nice ending to a rather disappointing day.

We play tomorrow morning at 10:30. Because we are seeded third out of our pool, we have zero chance of advancing in the actual championships. We are now playing in the "classic" bracket. We have a double elimination rule beginning tomorrow.

I think we will probably head to either Disneyworld or Sea World tomorrow after the game.

Florida is hot, humid, and busy. I will never ever complain about the Missouri heat ever again. My poor hair. I cannot even tell you what it is doing. I think Annie or curly would be an understatement. Rather sad.

Day 4...and game 2.

Well...we lost. We played hard. Kensey Rae played her heart out, but it just wasn't enough. Alabama got the best of us. We are playing Maryland tonight at 6:00 Eastern. I hear that it will be another tough game. Bummer. I was really proud of them though, we were down by 30 points and they never once gave up. We fought to the buzzer..and that is all you can ask out of them. Kensey Rae is number 13.

yes, they are my children....

Cody's DREAM WORLD!!

you know how he loves his chocolate!!

LEGO land..totally awesome!!

After the game...

We went to Downtown Disney World and hung out with my cousin and his wife, Jeff and Jennifer.

Day 3--First game

We played the Raging Rhinos from Tennessee. I think you could consider us the underdog. We played so well!! We played as a team. Kensey Rae had an awesome game!!! She had 7 points, 9 rebounds and 7 steals! We won the game 30-27. It was a pretty tight game, so of course my camera was the last thing on my mind!! SORRY!!!!! Richard did record it, and you all will have to stop by and watch it!! (Iknow I know, you really don't care, but let me brag anyway!!) She played AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Let me back track.

The beginning of day 2 we also registered as a team. This was our first glimpse of our competition. Now please remind yourself, these are 10 year old girls!! However, if your birthday fell just right, some could possibly be 12 by now...this is what we saw when we got there...yep, she is 6'1".

Night time DAY 2

I just had to put this one in....Richard was worn out!!! Serious worn out!! Poor Richard!!

Night time DA

Saturday--Day 2 --OPENING CEREMONY...

The opening ceremony took place at Walt Disney World Wide Sports...and it was really fun! Each team was announced and "paraded" around the stadium. Our girls had a great time!! It was one of those goosebump moments! They dressed alike in their cycylone shirts and had their hair braided. The moms had gotten together previously and made flip flops, so they wore those as well. It was really really cool!! Kensey Rae was all smiles!!

The girls brought pins that had CYCLONE Basketball-St. Joseph Missouri. They traded their pins with other teams. Kensey LOVED that part. She was being very social, as you might imagine!!

Day One of Florida

Day One

We headed out of KCI without any problems. Jill and Jo met us at the airport to see us off. Kensey Rae talked a mile a minute, which is nothing unusual except this time, it lasted much longer!! Another girl from our team flew out with us. Marnie and Kensey Rae talked all the way to Florida!!


Cody was eager to get the vacation started. He claimed he called window on the way down, I never heard him. So, I was a nice mother and let him have it anyway.





and we were off...