Bowling with Cousins

We spent a weekend in St. Cloud recently hanging out with both of Dan's siblings, their spouses, their kids as well as his mom and step-dad. All in all...that's a total of...17.

Great pic of the grand-kids with Grandpa and Grandma

Here is a rare picture of the siblings, spouses as well as his mom and Jerry...I'm not sure if we've EVER taken a picture like this. Now that we have kids old enough to point and click, we might have to make a habit of it. :)

Here's all the grand-kids at the bowling alley..another rare picture

Backyard Camping

Dan loves to go camping. I don't love camping, but I don't hate it either. The only thing I don't like about camping is the packing of everything (it feels like you're packing the whole house in order to go stay in a hot tent sleeping on lumpy ground). Sooo, the best of both worlds is camping in the backyard. We can enjoy all the things about camping (ok, almost all of them) without having to pack. An added bonus is that when the tent seems squishy...mom can sacrifice and sleep in the comfort of her own bed. :) The kids had a great time! They enjoyed smores, reading in the tent and even starting to fall asleep before they heard the truck driving through town spraying for mosquito's...that ended the camping pretty quick (it's not good to be outside when they spray). Regardless of the short night...fun times were had by all!

Kid Swap

Each summer we do a kid swap for a few days with cousins. This summer Josiah went to Dan's brother and sister-in-laws house to play with his cousin Ethan, while their daughter Hailey came here. The girls had a great time playing!! They swam in our little pool, we went to a city pool, we went and saw "Winnie the Pooh", we went to the zoo in town, I did mani's and pedi's for them, all in all...it was a fun few days for Alayna to have a girl to play with! :)

Good Times at the Fair

We took our family + grandpa Holder + Dan's sis, brother in law and their twin boys all to the fair and though it was pretty warm, the kids had a BLAST! The cousins only get to play together once a year, but they look forward to it and pick up right where they left off.

Josiah was a good sport willing to ride on the 'kid' rides...he did get a chance to ride quite a few of the bigger rides like this one (that even his mom and dad won't go on)...he's a thrill seeker when it comes to rides...YIKES!

We watched a high dive show (supposedly about pirates, but really about diving)

We also watched a reptile show, the boys couldn't resist waiting in line to hold the snake.

A weekend at the lake

A couple weekends ago we went and stayed at my brothers lake cabin. For the first time, while we were there, the weather was b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l!! The kids love playing with any of their cousins and so the combination of playing with them, seeing grandma and grandpa, swimming and boat rides...well, all of that equaled LOTS of fun!

My moms first jet ski ride ever...and I was her driver.
We took a nice ride along the shore...no, I didn't dump her!

Josiah trying to ski for the first time...he even got up...not for long, but he got up!!
Way to go buddy!

This is the life! One tired fella found a great place to rest.

NY!!

*click on the collage to see it bigger

Dan and I had such a great time in NY celebrating our 10 year anniversary! We saw and did a lot of things while we were there, but we also had plenty of time to relax and just enjoy time away talking about what we've seen God do in the last 10 years, as well as studying God's word together. It was very refreshing!! So thankful that my mom was able to watch the kids while we were away...they had a blast as well...which makes leaving them a bit easier.

Where's the bathroom?

I have SO many things to blog about, but I have to write this down before I forget. Last weekend we went to my brothers lake cabin (pics to come in another blog) and while we were there Seth realized how fun it is to pull his pants down and pee off the dock, pull his pants down and pee by the tree, and pull his pants down and pee off the boat. The other day we caught him pull his pants down and pee in our yard, we explained that it wasn't appropriate (with backyard neighbors, I don't think they want to see that show) and to top it off, last night Dan walked upstairs and caught him with his pants down peeing into the empty trash can in his room. Ok, I think we need to have a guided tour to show him WHERE THE BATHROOM IS!!