Camp Mack and Zac/Ike Camp

Earlier this week the older cousins headed off to Camp Mack for a couple of nights and Brittany went along as camp nurse. That left Zac, Ike, and Brooklyn so I took the boys and Josh's mom took Brooklyn for some fun!

The olders off to camp.

Zac and Ike immediately put super hero costumes on.



















We got breakfast at 50 East and found the Seek Jesus sticker from our church.

With their frappe.

Popsicles on a hot day.

Free lunch was Pizza Hut so we hit that before heading to the pool.

Ike's flip that turned into an epic back smack.

Shaved ice after the pool.















After all of our activities on Monday we went over to Josh's parents for a cookout and to hang with Brooklyn a little.

Siblings reunited (after one day, ha!)

We went to the city pool and the campus pool two times!














Tuesday the olders were done with camp so we met back up at the valley to visit and have lunch.

Big time, driving the golf cart.

Ike's allowed to drive with an adult present.

Got some wiffle ball in.

Breakfast at camp.

All in all I think everybody had fun. I was sure worn out! It's so nice that they all can get together and play...I love that their cousins are close again and we can do this more often.

Sleepover and Campus Summer Fun

The boys love having their friends come over and stay the night with us so I try to arrange a sleepover every couple of months. It has been a bit longer than that between sleepovers this time though.

We intended to kids to go to the campus splash walk (where they open up a fire hydrant and let them run through) but the weather didn't cooperate with us. The pool here on campus is always a good back up!





Handsome group of fellas.

Everyone trying to get the ball during an intense basketball game.

It's not a summer sleepover without a water balloon fight.

I absolutely love living on campus and so do the boys. It's especially fun during school breaks because there are all kinds of activities that they get to do along with the cottages!

Ike got to help Shultz with calling out bingo numbers.

At one of the mixes...it's been so hot!

Ike at the city pool for an evening swim with some of the cottages.

Photo cred goes to Shultz! :)















It really is a fun place to grow up! At least our kids sure seem to think so!

More Summer Activities

We've stayed pretty busy as we came into July. The weather has been super duper hot, which is great for hanging at the city pool! Unfortunately with this hot weather has come some summer storms, which has been very stressful for Ike-we had to get them out of bed last month when a tornado warning was issued and ever since he has struggled with thunderstorms. Hoping he can concur his fear soon!

It has been great being off work (I'm off for the month of July) and we are gearing up to go on vacation next week. We've had some overnight guests but I'll blog about them in a separate post. For now here is what we've been up to the first part of July.








Ike with the cute raccoon he got from the dentist-everybody got a clean bill of health!















Reading Dog Man. Both boys love these books.


















Date night to Joseph Decuis' Friday night patio bbq and Two-EE's Winery for some music.

Bennett came to hang out after church.

Ike found tons of baby frogs at Josh's parent's house.















Our church and a bunch of other local churches came together for VBS this year. It was so fun and my friend Jodi and I (along with lots and lots of other wonderful ladies) volunteered in the craft room. It was so fun seeing all the kiddos in the community!

Dave and Alec on the first day. Ike missed the first day for his last baseball game.

The set was so cool-the whole VBS was video game themed.

Ike and Bennett in crafts.

A couple of Fridays ago the kids and I went with Josh's parents to pick strawberries. It was fun but I did feel a bit like a drill sergeant making sure they stayed in the right rows and picking only ripe ones :) The end result was worth it though!

The boys just love going to the city pool and we often take a couple of extras along with us!

Dave, Ike, Brystol and Alec.

I finally finished my Mt. Rushmore puzzle. This thing has plagued me for months!

AND we finished the 6th Harry Potter book. One more to go before our trip to Wizarding World in October!











I've said it many times before but man I sure love our library! The kids have been reading up a storm to earn their points and we've gone to a bunch of inventors club activities they have every week.






Making bristle bots for their mazes.

















They made kites out of trash bags!

They worked pretty well.



















Last week Dave chose to stay and play basketball so Ike and I went and he made this cool grabber contraption.













Dave loves to help cook, here he is making short ribs with Josh.

They were delicious!

Lots and lots of pool time followed by ice cream at Rivertown.

Josh and I ate Third Eye Blind and Jimmy Eat World. Reliving our high school days!

Family Michigan Trip

In early June almost all of the family on my mom's side headed to Decatur, Michigan for a long weekend on Keeler Lake. We had such a fantastic time! Lots of fishing and paddle boating/boarding and hanging out playing cards.

It worked out great that it was a free fishing weekend in Michigan so we all could fish without getting licenses! The boys especially loved it because you would literally drop your line in and catch a fish. Now, they were a touch on the small side but the kids didn't mind!






Grandpa with his first catch.

Hard to see the fish but I'm pretty sure one is there somewhere :)

Mom and Uncle Denny out for a sunset cruise on the paddle boat and Justin fishing.


















Selfie from their adventure.

Morning fishing. It was so peaceful!

I think this was one of the baby catfish that they kept catching.

Ike and Josh with their huge catches. It was so funny how small these fish were!

Lance and Kathy helped the kids get their lines unstuck from the lily pads multiple times.

Uncle Denny giving Dave some pointers on how to use the paddle board.

Pro level.

Ike was not quite pro level.
















He started floating further away so we told him to jump off and swim the board back. Well of course the tie around his ankle came off so Lauren had to go swim after it!

He did snag the paddle at least.

Justin and the boys playing Yardzee.















The kids had the most fun playing on this swim mat that came with the house. They spent hours running around on it and falling off. The best was when Gil jumped on it because he totally threw their balance off! Here's a video of Gil first trying it out, so funny!






Ike sprinting across it.

Love this picture!



















Ike was in constant motion and also spent the whole weekend without a shirt. He was trying to set a world record, ha!

Dusty and Lauren.

The whole crew.

Playing cards after the kids went to bed!














What a fun trip with lots of great memories! We so appreciate grandpa for coming up with the idea and funding it! Can't wait to do something similar soon.