Reunion weekend

Abby and Hannah having fun in the Girls Only tent that Brad built them.

The boys fort.

We never thought we would have this many kids between us!

Great Group of Friends. I have know 2 of these girls since first grade and the others since junior high. It was fun seeing everyone again!

Our families. Wow this is quite the group!

Reunion Weekend

Last weekend the kids and I went to Grand Island to see some of my friends from high school. We have been saying that we need to get together for the last couple of years, and life has always seemed to get in the way. This year we just decided at the beginning of July to pick a weekend and stick to it.
We went to Sayward's house Friday night when we got there, Sayward and I chatted while the kids got to play. Her little boy is a couple years older than the boys and her little girl is 2 years older than Abby but they played together amazingly well. I think Abby really liked having a girl to play with. Nicolette and Katie's family joined us that night for a barbecue. It was great to see everyone! So much had changed in our lives and yet we seemed to pick up where we left off. We introduced our families and chatted like it hasn't been years since we have talked. It is so refreshing to have friends that will always be my friends. We stayed up late that night having a campfire and smores and the kids were all exhausted by the time we got to bed. I was flying solo this weekend because Robb and his dad and some of the neighbor guys were hanging drywall in our basement. I was pretty exhausted after wrangling all three kids all day by myself. Everyone slept well but I realized how allergic to cats my family really was the next morning. Caleb was miserable. Even after his allergy medicine his face was still puffy and he sneezed most of the day. Abby who has never really been allergic to anything was a sneezy mess and my allergies had gotten a hundred times worse. So, needless to say we can't be around cats even though it was really fun staying at a friends house.
The next day we headed to the campsite where Nicolette, Katie and Amber were camping and the other Amber's family met us there. The kids got to swim at the beach, play ball and run around together. It kept all the adults busy but it was fun. We stayed until after supper that night. Luckily one of the guys grilled our food since I was just trying to stay sane while keeping track of my kids. After a very fun weekend of talking about old grade school and high school stories it was time to go home. We are definitely going to try to make it a yearly thing. It had been way to long since I had seen some of my friends.
I am happy to report that Robb, his dad and the neighbors got all the drywalling done whiel we were out of their hair. I am so excited to get that room done!!!

Vacation Pictures

Abby our little fish. She has no fear of water and loves jumping in the pool again and again.

Robb throwing Bryce in the pool. They begged him to throw them over and over.

Robb teaching Caleb how to wakeboard. Too bad the boat wouldn't go after they got all set up. Robb was so excited to see the boys try to wakeboard.

Playing in the lake and trying to cool off.

It was so neat to see the gates on the dam open all the way.

Yankton Vacation 2011

I am really behind with posting again! I think that is going to be the story of the summer. We went on our annual Yankton vacation the 3rd week in July. Robb has been going on this vacation for most of his life and we have went pretty much every year since we have been dating except the year that Bryce and Caleb were born. It is a fun vacation with a fun group of people. We go with Robb's parents Bob and Susie and also his brother Andy. This year his sister and her family came also. Then there is the Lund family and Gaines family, as people have added kids and grand kids they have brought them along too. It started out with all 3 families sharing a 3 bedroom cabin and has now evolved to 3 families each needing their own cabin as their kids have grown up and have had grand kids. It is a nice vacation to take because it isn't too far from home and grandma and grandpa are there to help us with the kids.
The kids really enjoy it! They get to swim either at the pool or the beach for most of the week. We also get to ride bikes, have water fights, make smores and stay up too lat
e. This year was the first year that we didn't take our boat with us. If you know Robb you know that he LOVES boating and has had a boat since he was 17. Unfortunately we found out this year that the engine block of our boat was broke and it wasn't worth fixing. So needless to say Robb was pretty bummed about the boat situation but John Lund had a boat so he still thought he would get to do lots of wakeboarding. But as it goes with boats, Johns boat was broke most of vacation so we ended up just renting a boat a couple times so that Robb and John weren't completely devastated.
I think this is the hottest I ever remember the Yankton vacation being. Usually it is nice but the mornings and nights are cool and it is never really really hot during the day, but this year was different. It was 100 most days we were there. We went through lots of water and sunscreen! It was good that it was pretty warm though because due to the massive amounts of water they are letting out of Gavins Point Dam this year the water was really cold even on 100 degree days.
We had a lot of fun and it was fun spending it with family and friends!

Rodeo Pictures

Abby playing with the 4-H calves.

All the kids petting the calf.

Bryce, Caleb and my Mom at the rodeo.

My little city slickers watching the rodeo.

Way up High in the ferris wheel.

YEE-HAW

Wow, I am incredibly behind on my blogging. I guess our summer has been pretty fun and busy. I will attempt to catch up on a few things. The weekend after the 4th of July was the Madison county fair. We have never been able to go since the boys have been old enough because our family vacation usually falls on that weekend. So this year we made the trip so the kids could experience a county fair. I always loved going to the fair and remember that as one of the highlights of my summer. Robb on the other hand does not like fairs, but he was a good sport and tagged along.
We met my mom, sister and nephew there on Friday morning and walked through all the
4-H exhibits, the animals, petting zoo, and booths before it got unbearably hot. The kids had fun eating food on a stick and getting to see all the animals. Abby Loved the bunnies! If we weren't so anti animals, besides dogs she should probably have a bunny. We headed home mid afternoon to let the kids rest up and cool down.
Later that night, my mom and I took Bryce and Caleb back to the fair to go to the rodeo. The kids had never been to a rodeo, so both my mom and I were very excited to see their reaction to it. We had talked it up quite a bit so they were excited.
Bryce and Caleb did great sitting still and watching and they loved it! They really showed how much of city kids they really were with some of their comments. After the first team roping when the calf got roped, thrown on the ground and wrapped up they both thought the cowboys were being really mean to the calf. So the next calf came out and made it all the way to the gate without getting roped. Bryce said "the calf knows that he is going to get roped, thrown on the ground and tied up so he ran extra fast this time." My mom and I couldn't quit laughing. They enjoyed watching the crazy clowns and about barrel racing time they were antsy for the bulls. We went and got a snack and hit up the bathrooms and got back in time for the bulls. The boys watched the bulls very intently! They seemed genuinely concerned about the cowboys safety after each one fell off. All in all a great time.
My mom had promised them that they could ride a couple carnival rides so we did that too. They rode the kiddy motorcycles, the kiddy cars and then my mom and I took them on the big ferris wheel. They loved the carnival and I felt bad that I didn't let them do more rides but wow carnival prices are ridiculous these days. Bryce got pretty nervous on the ferris wheel when they started letting people off and we were at the top. He was wondering how the heck we were going to get down. They boys and I got home super late but it was a fun night. I am glad that I got to take them to do something that I really enjoyed when I was a kid.