Date with Grandma Carie

The kids and I took Grandma to the store to pick out a new walker. This is a big step for her, as she has been resistant to getting a walker, because she thinks it will make her look old. Too funny! Anyway, we found her a wheeled walker with a tray. She is super excited about the tray. We took her out to lunch at the Newbo Market afterwards and let her test it out. I was amazed at how much more independent she is with her new walker. Usually, she has to hold onto my arm when she walks and is super slow. Today, she walked independently with her walker and was able to order her food, set it on her tray, and walk herself to our table. It was really fun to see her strolling around my herself. She actually is pretty speedy and I think she looks younger walking around all by herself. We sure enjoy our time with Grandma.

Brucemore Balloon Glow

We returned to the Brucemore Mansion for the annual balloon glow on the lawn. We met some friends there. Stood in line for 45 minutes for funnel cake. Ate funnel cake and cotton candy. Watched the balloons glow. Visited with friends. Returned home. Woke up in the middle of the night to Kianna vomiting up the cotton candy and funnel cake. Not sure it was worth it...

Broderick's Visit

Broderick is here...

5 minutes later...

Deer hunters

No deer...

Grandma Becki came over for dinner

Palisades State Park 

Hiking

Daddy and Kianna

Broderick the dare devil

Broderick pitching to Trace

Broderick's visits are always much anticipated by the kids and us. He is amazing with the kids and they adore him. Almost immediately upon arriving at our house, Broderick was hunting deer in super hero mode with the kids. They even wrote up a plan, which surprisingly was unsuccessful in capturing a deer...

We took Broderick hiking at Palisades State Park on Saturday. It was our first time there in many years. It is a beautiful park. We enjoyed hiking and found a great spot for a picnic along the way. Afterwards, the kids waded in the river with Broderick.

We had a great time catching up with Broderick and making memories...

Foot Golf and Galena

Daddy in the rough again...

This year for Father's Day we decided to try something new, Foot Golf. It is a new sport with combines golf and soccer. It takes place on a golf course, but with a soccer ball and much larger holes. We found a course at the Eagle Ridge Golf Resort in Galena, Illinois and thought we would give it a try with the kids. We had a blast playing.

Trevor was hilarious to play with because he could not kick the ball straight, so nearly every ball ended up in the rough. We were afraid we were going to come away with poison ivy, which thankfully we did not. One time he went to retrieve his ball and discovered a skunk, which thankfully walked away when it saw him. We had a good laugh over that one. However, in the end, his luck ran out and he ultimately lost his ball. About this same time, Kianna was getting worn out, so offered her ball to Trevor and became our official score keeper. It was a good trade off for both of them.

Following foot golf, we headed into Galena for some shopping and a yummy meal at Vinny Vanucchi's Italian Restaurant. Kaylee was in heaven given her love for pasta and her newfound love for manicotti, which she had much difficultly pronouncing. It was a fun day spent with my four favorite people.

Fun Times with friends and cousins...

Lizzy Belyeu and Kianna

Creek stomping with Rylan, Ruth Santel and Katherine Stone

The kids love the city pools with their slides and the sand area.

Chillaxing with my hubby

Bryker and Trace

Rylan in the creek

Trace and Rylan at Bever Park Playdate

Stephanie, Jamie, and Keri

Girls Night Out Fondue Party

Our summer break is in full swing with sleepovers, playdates, a trip to Bever Park, creek stomping, long walks, bikes rides, and lots of pool time. We got a city pool pass and are having fun meeting our friends: Angela, Chloe and Zach there on Tuesdays and Fridays.  This mom, has enjoyed some friend time too. I have had the chance to catch up with some high school friends and had a fondue party with my church friends. Fun times!

Color Vibe 5k

Before

After

We had a peeping Grandpa Wayne in the background...

Kianna and I ran/walked the Color Vibe 5k through downtown Cedar Rapids. We had fun getting all colored up.

Brucemore Mansion

We found out that Brucemore was giving free tours, so we decided to go see it for ourselves. Grandma Jacque and Aliyah came with us. My mom had never been there and I hadn't been there since the 80's. The girls had been there once before with Grandma Becki, but had an abbreviated tour. We all enjoyed the tour very much and want to go back for the nooks and crannies tour.

Brucemore is a beautiful home built between 1884-1886. We found out that there were three families that lived in the home: the Sinclairs, the Douglas', and the Hall families. The second family was George and Irene Douglas. George earned his fortune founding Quaker Oats. George's brother, Walter, and his wife, Mahala, were aboard the Titanic. Walter had surprised his wife with a 3 month shopping trip to Europe. They were on their way home when the Titanic went down. He gave up his 1st class seat for the women and children. He was very brave.

Unfortunately, as we were exiting the parking lot, I had a little accident. I noticed that I was going the wrong way, so I backed up to turn around and in the process hit a pole. Seriously, last week I took out my side mirror backing out of the garage. I have issues. Well at least the tour was free, because this car stuff is not...

Schools Out and Summer is Here!!!!

A little splash pad fun to celebrate summer.

Kaylee sporting her first Marion Indians shirt.

Kianna was super excited for the silly dress-up day at camp.

She went all out as usual...

Kaylee went a bit more conservative for their dress-up day...

Our girls

The kids took on the challenges of a new school and came out on top. Now they are ready to sleep in and chillax...

However, this mom signed them up for some sports camps, which happen to be the first week of summer break. Sigh! Whine! Mom! You get the point...

We are trying to get them connected with future Marion High School kids, so that down the road when they make that transition from Isaac Newton to High School they will know their peers. Kaylee did the Marion Basketball Camp the last week of school. This week the girls both have the Marion Volleyball Camp in the morning and Trace has a Marion Basketball Camp. As much as Kaylee wanted to do nothing this week, she surprised herself by how much she enjoyed volleyball camp. Kianna too enjoyed volleyball and thinks she wants to keep playing it, which is fun because she had previously decided she did not like volleyball.  See moms do know best...

Andrew's Birthday Party

Siblings

We celebrated Andrew's 21st birthday with dinner at the new Black Sheep restaurant. The meal was ehhh, but the company was good...

Spring/Summer Sports

Kianna's soccer team 

Trace's soccer team

Trace's team got 2nd place in one of the tournaments.

We had a very busy Spring with all three of the kids in soccer and Trace also in baseball. Between the three of them, one usually had practice every night of the week except for Wednesdays, when they had church, with games on Saturday. Kaylee was placed on a team that played together in the Fall. She had a pretty good experience, although the level of play was much lower than her club team in Adrian. Her offensive skills improved and her defensive skills remained strong. Kianna and Trace were placed on new teams with kids that did not play in the Fall. Unfortunately, their experience was a bit rough. They both ended up being one of the top players on their team, which would be fine, but the rest of the kids had no clue...Trevor was hoping not to coach this season, but ended up coaching both Kianna and Trace's teams. It was a frustrating season.  We are hoping for a better experience this Fall...

Trace loved baseball. He played coach pitch. His skills and game knowledge improved greatly throughout the season. He began the season playing in the dirt and hitting off the t. He ended the season making outs and hitting off the coach the majority of the time. It was fun watching his team improve!