Chase and Cait come to visit!

We were so thrilled to have Chast and Cait visit us as they traveled to Mississippi. Enoch and Michel loved playing with Traci, Carmen, and Luke. We all really had a great time and were grateful they made the effort to stop by and endure cramped quarters and chaos. We packed in a lot of fun into the 4th of July weekend

Sleeping arrangements. Chase reading a bed time story. The last night they stayed up for 2+ hours in the dark playing / screaming before they fell asleep. One night Carmen got kicked out for being naughty.

4th of July personalized pancakes

We then went to a parade. It was a great time and the kids loved getting candy. Most floats would drive by and all point at the cute kids sitting on the curb and nail them in the chest with a handful of thrown candy. Just as well because they were mostly too timid to get up and chase after it.

Brothers and sons

Sisters. You would never guess Sharon isn't American! ;-)

The kids all rode their bikes around together

Carmen's got Leslie's evil eye

Chase and Cait got the kids a new monster tricycle! It's awesome and can probably run over anything.

Pie

4th of July fireworks during a break in the rain. It poored right during by BBQ and scared us away from going out to see fireworks. Luckily Chase and Cait got some in New Mexico and we had a good old fashioned Rogers firework treat. The girls were much more bold and brave than the boys, but I think they all enjoyed them. Enoch keeps asking to do more fireworks.

Enoch and Michael hiding behind Sharon sums up the contrast between the girls and boys!

We also took a beastly trip to Ikea. Our first and it was monster crowded and soul-draining. We all managed to spend too much money on junk. But we did score an $8 kids table. And Chase and Cait fed us lunch! Thanks! There was also a kid watch place at Ikea and we waited about 40 minutes for them to watch our kids for 60 minutes, but it was worth it. They had an old fashioned ball pit that everyone seemed to love.

Went to the children's museum as well, didn't get much pictures but it was fun.

A voting booth, everyone stuffing the ballet for the jail as the best means to reduce criminal activity

And Chase and Cait even went to church today.

Thanks for visiting!!

Bolivar Peninsula RV trip

We spent 3 nights in an RV down on the bolivar peninsula. I had 2 weeks off for summer break and we were really excited to get more beach time in. I was thinking about camping but was nervous for everyone's sanity if things didn't go well (i.e. wind, rain, screaming babies). I looked for a cheap place to stay and found an RV park that rents out an RV for $50 a night. We went for it and had a great time. Turns out it rained solid for a day and a half... Sharon was grateful and thus I was grateful we weren't camping! It was comfortable and a very memorable trip.

This was the first time they ever shared a bed... was kind of rough most nights with the kids touching each other and fighting for hours before they slept. But I think they also had the time of their life.

Had lots of beach time and I don't think the kids even got beached out. It makes me happy to see them enjoy it so much. Enoch and Michael both got much more confident boogie boarding and got some great rides. Peter enjoyed the sand and Sharon got some good waves and got sunburned worse than anyone else.

There is a free car ferry on the peninsula that we did a few times. On one of the rainy days we did it (this was actually the most sunny 20 minutes of the whole day). Saw lots of dolphins every time!

We found a mermaid

 BBQ dinner on the beach our last night. It's fun to be able to drive right unto the beaches here.

Peas

Earlier this year I planted peas. It was fun for the kids to see them grow and pick them. Never got around to posting pictures. It was probably the most excited they had ever been about eating peas!