Saying goodbye to summer

We've been back from our summer vacation for a few weeks now and I think it's time to post some pics (mostly for family members of course)!

 

Just starting the trip...already tuckered out!

We stared the vacation with a stop in Omaha at the zoo to see the Dinosaur's Alive exhibit.  The boys are very much into dinosaurs and thought it was AWESOME!!!

We continued the trip in true fashion by stopping in Salina to drop of the pup.  We practiced our fishing technique to prepare for Colorado.  Both boys were able to catch several blue gill in one of the farm ponds!

Then it was onto Colorado Springs.  We planned it just perfectly to be there for my Grandma's birthday party!  She absolutely loved that her great-grandsons were able to be there to help her celebrate!

From Colorado Springs we headed to Estes Park and our favorite cabins!  We wasted no time getting the fishing gear out and did some major fishing  Both boys caught a fish or two but it was not without learning some patience!

We also had a chance to do some (easy) hiking up to Alberta Falls at Bear Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park!  Both boys walked almost the entire way by themselves which is very impressive as it was a 2-mile round-trip hike.  Needless to say they ate and slept VERY well that night!

Then it was back through Colorado Spring so Nana and Mark could take us to Santa Claus' village at the North Pole!  It is an amusement park especially designed for toddlers and younger kids and our boys are at the perfect age for it.

What a great trip!  We've been enjoying some lazy days at home before Ben starts preschool next week.  Then summer will be officially over at our house.

 

Summer Fun!



In case you have been wondering what has been keeping us so busy this summer, here's a little sneak peak.  Now this is only a fraction of the amount of time we spent slip-n-sliding, swimming and running through the sprinkler but I did not want to take my camera every time and sometimes it's just more fun to sit back and instead of trying to catch that perfect shot!

 

 

 

 

 I just love how much these boys love the water!  This year we had them both jumping off the diving board (with flotation devices of course) and swimming around like fish in our friends' pools.  And although neither of them like being under the water for long, they both insist on wearing goggles!

After spending time in the water, one must dry off... so cute in their mini towels!

We also made it to a nearby campground for a different view and to swim in the pond they have there. Cooper was happy playing in the shallow part of the water and more importantly, the sand!

And although I wasn't looking for the perfect shot (well, not most the time) I think these about sum up the boys' summer of water:

 

Another 4th of July come and gone!

Behind as usual, here is what our 4th of July consisted of.  I absolutely LOVE this holiday!  We always have so much fun celebrating America with friends, fireworks and lots of food!

We started off the celebration by driving down to Sioux City to see Grandma Lori perform with the symphony in a special concert on the Morningside campus.  It was a gorgeous evening to be outside and the boys mostly appreciated the beautiful music!

Then we celebrated on the actual 4th in our usual way, with a pot-luck barbeque with our good friends!  It is always so fun to see how these kids have grown and changed from the year before...and to see if we've added any since the previous year.  A few years ago we had added FIVE babies in just one year...this year it was only one.  Who knows what next year will hold!? 

This year's group - HERE are pics from the last few years

It was such a nice night, probably 20 degrees cooler than last year.  The kids of course still wanted to "swim" but also ran through a bouncy house, set off driveway fireworks and decorated star cookies!

We of course ended the evening with watching the fireworks display from our friends' driveway.  The boys enjoyed the show and jumped up and down at nearly every firework declaring it their favorite!



An Iowa "Spring"

Living in Kansas for most of my life, I was used to the weather changing day-to-day. Now that we live in Iowa, things are not much different, just colder.  In the past week we have had some pretty radical weather changes including the first snow day from school... on April 11.  And that came three days after I went ahead and pulled all my flip-flops out of storage for the season and we were playing outside without even jackets on.

 

It started with an ice storm; lighting and thunder filling the sky while freezing rain covered the trees.  Had it not been so devastating to our community and the beautiful trees that our city is known for, it would have been absolutely beautiful!!!

We were very fortunate not to lose any of our trees.  It was an absolute miracle our birch tree survived and has pretty much bounced back to normal this week.

After the ice...not looking too good

4 inches of snow on top of the ice...hanging to the ground

Many of our friends in town lost some of their beautiful trees and it has definitely changed the landscape of many neighborhoods.

Just one example



This has been the scene for several days around here

Limbs have been piled up in larger areas...not sure what they will do from here!



Luckily the temperatures were at least nice enough for us to get out and enjoy the perfect snowman building snow that fell.

Our snowman is a K-State fan too!

Then this week, all the snow had melted and we were once again able to start enjoying our spring weather.

Only to wake up to more rain/snow mixture yesterday with a winter weather advisory through Friday...will it ever end?!?!?