Guys' Weekends

Jonathan has had some "guy time" recently.  He went to St. Charles for his high school's first season football game.  His football coach came out of retirement to coach again, and Ryan thought it would be cool to go see the first game.  So, Jonathan drove down there, and stayed with David.  They all went golfing the next day before he came home.

Last weekend, Jonathan and David went to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the Cardinals.  They spent the night in Milwaukee, and then came here.  David was able to stay at our house for a couple days.

Paul turns five!

We had Paul's birthday dinner and cake early, since we were going to Michigan Adventure with the Sunday school kids from church on his actual birthday.  He also opened most of his presents early, too.  We had homemade Bosco sticks and pizza and pears for supper.

Licking the frosting of the cake.

Paul wanted a shark cake.  I found some blue frosting and shark sprinkles.

There was a theme with his presents this year--race tracks!  He picked out some race tracks with his Toys R Us gift cards, and we gave him a small one.

Here we are at Michigan Adventure on his actual birthday.  Paul and Benjamin were very excited to see Snoopy there!  They had fun riding a small roller coaster and the other rides.

Connecticut Visitors

The day after we got back from Colorado, we had friends from Connecticut visit us.  They stayed at a nearby condo, and we hung out together during the day.  We went to the county youth fair one day, visited the beach, and a children's museum, and played games.

Here are the kids and Jonathan and I climbing the dunes.

A photo of Jonathan with the kids from the group.  There were nine altogether.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Our last day in Colorado, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park.  We were able to avoid most of the rain and storms.  And we saw so many beautiful rainbows because of the rain!  We also saw a lot of wildlife.  I spotted a bear that was too close for my comfort!  It turned out to be a mama bear and her cub.  We saw some elk and deer as well.

Love Bo's pose!

This is a picture of the bear.

Rachel and Bella pointing out the bear.

Benny and Paul are keeping their eyes on the bears to make sure they don't get any closer.  (Not really--not sure what they're looking at!)

Colorado Vacation

A few days before we left for Colorado, we met Mom and Dad halfway and dropped the boys off with them.  They stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for four days by themselves.  It was strange to be without them, but we all had a good time.  One of the days, Jonathan and I went to the beach and had supper and walked along the lake:

After picking up the boys in Iowa, we continued our drive to Colorado.

Museum in Nebraska, along the highway.

Trampoline fun with Bella and Bo.

The boys loved playing outside and inside with all of the new toys at Bella and Bo's house.  They got along great, and were very sad when we had to leave.  We also went to several nearby playgrounds and their swimming pool.  It was nice to have those so close by!

This was taken at the neighborhood picnic.  Everything, including food, was "free"--paid for by their HOA fees!

Pony ride time!

At a splash pad.

Playing golf--loved the scenery!

These flower garden pictures were taken at Wash Park.  Rachel was working for a little, while I watched the kids at the park.  The playground was overtaken by a huge camp group, so they had a great time walking along the flowers.

Bella feeding a giraffe at the zoo in Colorado Springs.

Ski lift at the zoo.

This is Paul's opinion of the monkey house--stinky!  Can't say I blame him...

Bo insisted on pushing the stroller throughout the zoo--even when Paul and Bella got in!

Colorado Rockies game

We stopped at our alma mater on our way home.

Berry Picking

We have been taking advantage of all the fresh produce around us this summer.  We started off with strawberries and picking mulberries off our tree.  Next, came cherries...

The best ones are definitely found up high!

Paul showing off our black raspberries--or blackcaps.  First time we ever picked them not in the wild.

We picked these raspberries at a member's brother's house.  We polished these puppies off in 3 days!

Blueberry bushes just their size.

A little hard to tell, but that's evidence of all the blueberries eaten while picking.