Mini-Golf

Matt had two of his friends over for a little birthday party. He wanted to go mini-golfing, eat out, and watch movies. We went to North Forty to mini-golf....it's in a bit of a dicey neighborhood. I was thinking that if we were going to get mugged I'd give up my purse and hold on to my new camera for dear life :). I may even give up a kid or two to save my Rebel XTi (kidding! of course!). The kids had fun...Grace was always about 3 holes ahead of us. We didn't keep score for her so she was running wild. Tyler won the whole shebang. Then we ate at Old Chicago where Matt lost his wallet AGAIN....this is the 3rd wallet he's lost, I'm going to chain it to his dang arm next time. Luckily nothing was in it.

I made the kids pancakes this morning, then took the boys home. Tyler had an eye doctor appointment with the most overanimated goofy dr. ever. I told him I think that dr. went to theater school to be an optomitrist. He takes the eye business seriously....he had all the eye charts memorized and would get the hugest kick out of Tyler missing one. Brother.

Ben's still in Minnesota. Having fun I think. He called this morning and talked to Matt...I guess they went to the Mall of America one day, and the rest has been spent playing at the beach.

Up next: Matt's tennis tournament on Friday. Could be interesting because they are supposed to stay there all day. It's supposed to be 94 degrees Friday, and probably 159 on the court. He's really shown a passion for tennis lately though....good sign!!

Yo, Adrian!

Grace was riding her scooter last night and tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. Her eye landed on the plastic piece inside the handlebars (every other part of the handlebar is of course foam). She came in with blood dripping down her face and I about had a heart attack. After lots of wiping and lots of tears, we discovered it wasn't cut all the way through (thank goodness!), and her eyeball was ok. She has a pretty good shiner today though....we've been calling her Rocky all day.

Lemonade stand

Grandma and the kids decided to do a lemonade stand this morning. It started out as Grace and Eli's, and their lemonade was 10 cents a cup. Then after they petered out, Ben and his friend Jeff took over. They made a new sign and upped the price to 25 cents a cup. They made about 7.00, not too shabby!!

Adventureland

We spent last evening at Adventureland, a local amusement park. We got there at 5:30 and it closed at 9 much to our disappointment, but we still had a great time! Thanks to Joel and Heidi for coming down so we do lots of fun things :)...otherwise we usually don't!

So Heidi and Tyler were the daredevils. Good thing Heidi was there, because Rich and I don't really do rides, although Rich surprised me with a few scary ones! The kids loved everything...Eli's favorite was the Underground, which he went on several times. Noah loved the bumper cars:

And, then he didn't:

Happy Birthday Noah and Matt!!!!!

My nephew Noah's birthday was yesterday, July 22nd, and Matt's birthday is Sunday the 27th, so we had a party for both of them on Sunday since Joel and Heidi and the boys were down for the week. The kids had such a blast! Grandma came through with the football pinata, which was the hit (no pun intended) of the party. And it's much funner to do a pinata in the summer, when you can go outside and have lots of room to swing!

Eli, Chase, Jake, and Noah. These are the 4 cutest little boys in the world!

Long Time, No Blog

It's been awhile! Things have been a little hectic here, and when I get overwhelmed I tend to go into Do Nothing mode. I'll try to catch up on a few fun events we've done.

First, camping. We went camping with Ben's friend Jeff and his parents over at Saylorville. We set up camp, played games, ate snacks, cooked out supper, and had some good chit-chat. Then the Weather Service called Rich into work because they were getting storms. Good thing the campground was pretty much in the backyard of the Weather Service! About an hour after that, it started thundering, lightening, and torrentially pouring down rain. We all got in the tent and were going to play games, but the rain started pooling on the bottom of the tent, so we were stranded on a foam pad in the middle of the tent. The thunder and lightening were a bit unnerving, especially when you are next to a forest and covered by a thin layer of canvas. But we came through, and about 9:15 pm Rich called me to say another round of wind & storms were coming through in about half an hour, so we quickly packed it in and called it a day. It was fun while it lasted!

Summerfest

This weekend was summerfest, and we took the kids up to the carnival on Saturday. They had a blast on the rides, I swear Ben is an adult....the faster and scarier the better for that kid! Rich and Matt spent most of their time doing Putt Putt golf. Grace went on a couple of the tamer rides, although I think she has the need for speed in her blood too..she was ready to tackle the fast spinny rides.

We saw Mika there too!

An Iowa Summer night

tanned kids fresh from the pool, grilling out steak, lemonade, mosquitoes everywhere, thick humidity in the air, temps in upper 80's, locusts singing, matt playing tennis in the driveway, kids squirting each other with the hose, the smell of fresh cut grass, and of course lightening bugs!!!! Grace was chasing them all over the backyard tonight...she caught 4 and put them in her bug box. She was very proud!

Sniff

Tyler took off Sunday for 2 weeks at YMCA camp with his friend Andy. They are workers this year, which means camp is free. I think they'll have fun, but don't they look OLD? How is it possible I have an almost 10th grader??

Grace's first aid

Grace and Ben were playing on the swingset tonight and he decided to "help" her flip herself over on the rings. 10 minutes of sobbing and her convincing herself her arms were broken later, this is how she came out of the house:In case you can't tell, she has toilet paper wrapped around her arm and scotch taped to her shirt. She did NOT want me taking her picture because she thought I was making fun of her (WHA? Me?).

Sparklers in the yard

Matt and his requisite dork face:

So since we decided to lay low this 4th, we got a big box of sparklers and some of those disgusting snake things that smoke up like crazy and look like something Lucy left behind when they are done. I guess all that matters is that the kids had fun!

After sparklers, we popped popcorn and watched the fireworks on tv. First from DC, then NYC, and finally the Boston Pops. We all decided that one day it would be really fun to go to that and watch the fireworks in Boston. Maybe someday!

Happy 4th of July!

No big plans here...we don't have fireworks until next weekend, so I think we'll be watching them on TV and doing a few sparklers. Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend!

Phyllis and Dick's 50th wedding anniversary

Saturday we got back from North Dakota at 7:30 pm, and Sunday at 7:00 am we took off for Phyllis and Dick's 50th anniversary celebration in Galesburg. We made it just in time for church at 10:30 am, then after a few pictures we all ate at The Packing House and celebrated with cake and presents. It was so nice to see everyone! John is the only one who didn't make it, as he was playing in the finals of his baseball tournament. Ana and Randy and the kids left the next day for Peru! It was great to see the big girls too....Melissa was back from California and Tabitha came over from Bloomington, they are both so nice and so pretty! Thanks for a fun day Grandmother and Grandpa, and Happy 50th!

Knife River Indian Village

One day Rich and I took the kids for a drive north of Bismarck to see the remnants of the Knife River Indian Villages. They are depressed mounds where the Indians built their huts. It was a State Historical Site, so Ben and Grace got to fill out a workbook and become Junior Rangers. Very cool to see....and amazing that something 150-200 years old is still visible.

In front of the recreated hut:

Inside:

The depressions in the ground are where the huts were:

Ben getting his Junior Ranger badge from the Ranger: