Sister's Trip--Iowa

Lois, Steph and I all ventured up to Iowa.  Deb got a pool this summer as well, which the kids enjoyed!

We went to Hobby Lobby to get t-shirts for the kids to paint.  I thought it was cute how aware Rhett was to follow the rules of having a mask.  He didn't have his so he did his best. So cute. 

More pool time!

T-shirt time!  Deb's place is the arts and crafts mecca for my kids.  They love doing fun things there.  

Nesquik love is still strong.

The kids had a lot of fun with their dogs Artemis--below, and Snowy, their other dog.

I decided to drive our car to Indiana to save money on fuel.  Sadly that meant not bringing out bikes.  Next time we head out to Indiana and Iowa I want to bring them.  There was a fun BMX track near Deb's house.

Deb lives near a fun trail that goes along a creek.  An afternoon walk there.  The mosquitoes loved us!

In the meantime, Clark bought his first car!  A 1989 Toyota Celica.  He's been working on it with Lee and learning a lot.

Playing at a park and the flooded area...

Lee was gifted some turkey eggs to cook up like chicken eggs. He said they tasted like....regular eggs!  Just a lot bigger!

On our final day in Iowa-a Saturday-we left early that morning to head to West Virginia for a family vacation.  Thanks Deb for the great time!

Sister's Trip--Indiana

It wasn't official but my yearly trip to Indiana and Iowa turned into a sisters trip of sorts.  Lois and I met up in Indiana with Stephanie at her house, and then we all ventured up to Iowa to visit Deborah.  We had a great time.

Steph got a pool this summer and the kids had fun swimming in it.  They love her tree swing as well. 

Summer firepit fun!

Lee and Clark stayed home for this trip as they were both working.  Lee saw this "power-up" mushroom on one of his bike rides one morning.  So cute!

Stephanie learned how to make macarons and let Haley and Shanna get in on the fun to make a batch.  YUM!

They take quite a bit of time, but are actually pretty easy!

Steph's community was open for the summer as well.  How fun!  I wish our pool would have been open!

Sitting out to dry...

The end result!

We had a fun time in Indiana and are looking forward to next year!

Before we left for Iowa Steph had an appointment to go to.  Maggie was so excited about going on a trip and helping Steph pack.  James was ready as well.  So fun!

Next stop with everyone-Iowa!  Thanks Steph for hosting us! Sadly I can't remember all the details of what we did.  But hanging out in her backyard and going to the pool always make the list!  Oh, we did a couple walks as well and went out to a little island to play and sat on the dock for awhile. Summer is the best.

What to do in the Summertime

Our summer plans changed quite a bit this summer.  Anyone surprised?!  We had a big trip planned to Canada to Banff National Park, and also out west for two family reunions.  And then to later go down South for another family reunion.  I figured out some different summer fun though! 

Our friend in the ward moved about a half hour away and we went to see him one night.  His son let our kids ride the new riding lawnmower.  They thought it was pretty awesome. 

I have enjoyed purging quite a few things from our house over a couple of years.  But something I like having a lot of is Easter eggs.  I have two giant bags from IKEA full of them.  I bought a lot of eggs on clearance this year from Hobby Lobby and got some from Target---though not on sale. I think I have enough eggs now. 

I put together a camping kit though I didn't leave it in the bin after we went camping.  But it was nice to have when we did use it! 

One night we did a short hike to Hawks Bill--the tallest point in the Shenandoah National Park.  Which isn't that tall.  But it was gorgeous!

Clark is enjoying his job at the grocery store and got his picture in the paper!

Here's a full shot of the paper.  It is also a memory of this year.  It's horrible what happened to George Floyd. (For posterity's sake, he was murdered by a white man police officer. Protests (many were great) and riots happened all over the world soon after that.) It's horrible what happens to countless others who were and are abused and bullied and treated differently because of their skin color. 

The kids found a bird somewhere near our house that would go on their fingers.  Hopefully the human interaction didn't make it worse for the bird...I bet it did. 

The high school principal wrote notes to Cal and Clark congratulating them on their hard work and grades.  Pretty awesome!

In June we rented a boat and a jet ski with our friends at Smith Mountain Lake.  Another awesome lake day!

We rented a double decker pontoon with a slide.  This shot is of us jumping off the top. 

We stopped at Chick-fil-A on the way home.  Cal's last birthday present awaited for him at home.  I found some Nesquik candy bars in Europe somewhere.

We went up to PA for Father's Day. My sister arranged a group gift for my dad--a boxing bag and stand.  Boxing is really great for people with Parkinson's Disease.  Sadly with COVID he hasn't been able to go to his weekly boxing classes.  This was the next best thing. 

When we arrived home we had the double chocolate cheesecake that I made for Lee for Father's Day. YUM!  The kids gave Lee some cute "what I know about my dad letters".  I gave him some goodies-like cereal which he loves! Sadly I can't remember what else! I've been blessed with marrying a great guy who is a great dad to our kids.

Soon after at some day close to Father's Day, Shanna did an activity relating to the Book of Mormon. Random, but thought I would throw it in!