July

Our month has kept us busy so far.  4th of July weekend was spent with friends at the parade and a BBQ back at our house.  The kids a had a blast all playing together in the pool.  The older ones played so good together and the babes all took nice naps.  The adults actually got to have some conversation!

Filling up the pool for the first time this summer.

 

4th of July BBQ

 

Parker

Luke and Owen

 

Lily

Makayla

Adam's dad, Selwyn has amazing flower gardens.  He hosts a garden tour of his backyard every year.  July is prime bloom time for daylilies and they were beautiful!

This past week we have been on vacation with the Rash family.  We rented a house in the Galena Territory for 5 days.  It was beautiful.  We had a great, secluded area.  We saw many hot air balloons and even watched some fireworks from our deck one evening.  We played baseball, frisbee, football, golf.  We swam, we ate, we drank, we shopped.  Most of all, we spent time together.

View from our deck

Stephen grilling.

Cousins

Kayla

Connor

Ethan

Cheese!

 

Aidan

Baseball time!

 

The kids liked having "dance parties" together.  I couldn't get a video to upload here, so check out Facebook for videos of that.

We plan on finishing off the month by the boys getting to spend a weekend with Grammy while Adam and I head to Chicago to see Paul McCartney in concert at Wrigley Field with Steve and Steffani.  Where is summer going!?!?!?

Summer Fun

The boys have been lovin' summer so far.  We've spent several days at the aquatic center already and they are little fish.  One of these times we'll remember to take our camera along with us.

Ethan after a hard day at the pool. 

 

 

 

 

 

The pool does wear the boys out quite well.  Ethan literally was standing up and fell over onto this chair asleep after our first day at the pool.  Nice!

We also attended our first parade of the season.  Scandinavian Days in Story City is always a nice little parade.  Crystal, Klaire, Emmie, and Parker went with us.  We had such a fun day!

On Monday, the boys moved up to the Bumblebee classroom at ACPC.  Since it was their "first day of school" as a Bumblebee, I attempted some pictures.  They weren't exactly in the picture taking mood at 6:45 am, but at least we tried.

The boys continue to love the park by our house, asking every night if we can go there.  They have become quite the monkeys and scare the daylights out of the other parents.  Meanwhile, I calmly sit on the bench and read the newspaper, telling the parents "Ahw, they're boys!" :)

Finally, they scored big today!  Ethan, Grammy, and myself went to IA City for a prism check for Ethan.  Incidentally, everything looked great today and we don't have to go back until July!  Hooray!  I always drive past this GIANT consignment store every time we go there.  So today was the day to stop...and good thing we did.  We found these toys and the boys just went crazy over them.  Grammy bought them each and early birthday present today.  How many hours to you think they'll spend circling the back patio now??