A View from the Weekend

Our weekend was full of...

Dinner at our favorite restaurant with wonderful friends,
Mushy, but wonderful,

tubing for the first time of the season on our boat,

watching my 58 year old mother tube, have to love that,

and getting Seth to tube for the first time and LOVING it!

Food, friends, two days on the lake and family! Couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Stay tuned for our newest investment... a giant double towable. I don't think that towable is even a word, but it isn't really a tube, but you sit in it and get towed, just wait until you see it. Hopefully it will be here in the next week, but will definitely be here for the week Roland is taking off for vacation. YIPPPEE!

Also let's just say a big YUCK that today is the first day of August, only four weeks left...booo!

BEST.SUMMER.EVER!

Lake-a-pallooza

Saturday we were invited to Tim and Ashley's parents home on Lake Bonaparte. It had been planned for a couple of months and mother nature must have known that we were all super excited for this exciting day and she cooperated fully with us. You name is, we did it and I have the bruises and aches and pains to prove it. We had a BLAST! I can not say enough good things about our wonderful hosts, their home and all the memories that we made. It was just an amazing day.
When Roland and I first started dating he bought a jet ski and we used to go out on it all the time, but since then we haven't been on one in years. We had a blast and it was Seth's first time on one. He loved it!

Leah is much more timid then Seth ever was so she tooled around the patio and got in the lake a little.

Ashley and Jen about to take Sophia out tubing.

Then it was my turn. I haven't been out tubing in years, but I am always up for an adventure. It was a blast, but let me tell you, I could hardly lift my arms over my head on Sunday and I took a 3 hour nap recuperating from all of our adventures. It was worth every single minute though.

Leah and Daddy

Leah had major issues with the sand bottom and didn't like touching it too much so Roland stuck her in a floaty and she was happy as can be.

Round one on the boat. Tim took a bunch of us for a ride around the lake. It was so beautiful!

After jumping off the dock at least 100 times Seth needed a little break so I dragged him on the boat for a ride to rest.

This had to be the funniest part of the day...Rod and Zeke tubing! I love to watch grown men go flying in the water, but act like it doesn't hurt at all.

Roland attempted to take Leah on the jet ski. They went out a little ways, but she wasn't in love so they came right back.

After all of the water sports came to a close they pulled out the mini motor vehicles. They had this size motor cycle and then one even smaller. The kids thought it was fantastic and couldn't get enough of it.

Last, but not least they had this mini bike that the kids also loved and took turns riding on.

In closing...

10 kids + 12 adults + 2 jet skis + 1 boat+ 1 mini motorcycle + 1 lake + lots of food + tons of laughs = BEST DAY OF THE SUMMER!

Thank you Tim and Ashley for a fantastic day, we had a BLAST!

See You Soon Dinner with Chad & Lindsey

Friday night we got all dolled up and went out to dinner with Chad, Lindsey, Dad, Sue and Dayna to say farewell for a while to Chad and Lindsey. We had a fabulous meal at Joey's TI Club and were even able to walk down by the water and check out some yachts after dinner.
We were only missing Ryan and Katie to make the family complete.

Thank you Dad and Sue for the wonderful meal and evening together!

2 Five Year Olds + 91 Degree Heat

Last Thursday I promised Seth and Jake that I would take them to the fair. When the forecast predicted it to be 95 degrees I had a hard time breaking their hearts so I took them anyway. It was definitely hot, but we made the very most of the sweaty afternoon. We rode five rides, played two games, watched a tractor pull and had some cool down treats.
It was such a hot day and there were not many crazy people like myself out so there were a ton of interesting carnies to watch.

After two rides we needed a cool down so we had a lemonade break.

They laughed so hard on this mini coaster!

We almost had a meltdown on my son's part when Jake won this game first and Seth didn't, but low and behold Seth ended up winning on his last game.

Seth of course picked a car and Jake picked the furry and fluffiest prize he could.

Then they tested their strength!

We made the very most of the day and the boys were excellent!

The Long Lost Brother

After three years and one new niece later my long lost brother Chad has come home for a visit and he brought his wonderful girlfriend Lindsey with him. For the first time in three years all four of us kids and all four grand kids were able to get together for a pool party and fish fry. The only person who was missing was Roland because he had to go away for the week for work. It will also be the last time we will all be together for a very long time because Chad will head back to Florida and Ryan and Katie are moving to Montreal for the next three years. That is some serious distance between us all.
Seth was super excited to jump off the diving board and show off his swimming skills and he did just that.

Even though Gwen is Seth's cousin, he didn't waste any time flirting and chatting her up.

Leah had tons of fun jumping and hanging out in the tube.

Elise also had a blast jumping and swimming around.

Dad gave me a break and kept Leah busy for a bit.

All of the bases were covered in terms of beating the heat.

My sister-in-law Katie is a professional photographer and she took all sorts of pics of us all. Seth decided he wanted to be her assistant.

The long lost brother and his girlfriend Lindsey.

Uncle Chad played some ball with Seth too. It was a great family night and I hope it doesn't take three years for us all to gather again.

My Favorite Night of the Year

The third Tuesday of July is my favorite night of the entire summer and a very special summer tradition in my family. It is the Lewis County Fair Parade night. My whole family gathers for dinner at my grandparents followed by a two hour parade that kicks all other parades asses! It is full or tractors, fire trucks, tons of candy and some wacky floats. It is the BEST and I look forward to it yearly and get so sad when it is over. This year was particularly wonderful, but sad in the same sense. My grandparents are the center of the universe in our family and there is no denying the fact that they are getting older at 83 and 85 years old. This was the first year that they were not able to walk down to our seats with us, they drove. It made us realize that times are changing and put a small tear in my eye. I hope to view many more parades with them, but you truly never know so we enjoy what we can with them.

Over the last couple of years we have added some "like family" to our parade tradition and my close friends Kristen and Lisa have joined the gang.

My giant daughter towers over Ben and Charlotte and she is four months younger. HA!

I believe we had 19 people sitting with us this year. YAY!

The big kids got more candy then on Halloween.

Leah got some special Auntie Kris time since Lindsey stayed home.

Best parade give-a-way ever...FREEZE POPS!

It was super hot so these were such a treat!

Since Roland was out of town we talked Poppy into joining us this year and Leah was especially happy since Poppy is her favorite person! Another fair parade over and we start the countdown to next years!

Obscene BUT Check out Her Smile

Who knew that a frozen treat would make this woman so happy!