Lake Calamus

Some of the kids

Jack's turtle

The dirt hill

Will jumping down the hill

Jack in mid-flight

Don't they look busy?

Reid

Cami and Lea

We took off for Lake Calamus on a Wednesday. The kids were so excited to go to the lake and play with other kids. There were 6 families and probably about 20 kids. The water bugs were terrible and Max spent a lot of time screaming when he saw on crawling near him. Everyone quickly knew why he was screaming and rushed to his aid by killing the bugs all weekend. He was once again not too fond of the sand but liked the water.

Jack and Will and the others kids found a hill of dirt and spent hours running up it and sliding/jumping down it. They would then get to the bottom and land in the water. It did look pretty fun but Hannah did not want to try it. We took boat rides, watched the kids swim, put life jackets on and off a million times and had more snacks and drinks than you could count. At the end of the days we cooked dinner at the campsite and the kids logged miles on their bikes and played at the playground.

The boys found another dirt hill to ride their bikes on by the campsite and one day came back with a turtle Jack had found. That was it...they were obsessed with finding more turtles from that moment on. We had a new pet until the day before we left. It lived in a large box and Jack fed it lettuce. The boys eventually found 1 more turtle and so the 2 turtles lived together for a while. We then talked them into releasing them so they could be back with their friends. They pooped A LOT and smelled so there was no way they were coming home with us!

There were campfires and smores and movies in the campers and a lot of hula hooping by Hannah. She spent the whole trip trying to get the hang of moving her hips and it finally started to click the day before we left.

She really enjoyed playing with the little girls this year. Last year should would not leave my side and this year she has really started to open up and do what the others are enjoying. It makes me happy to she her engage more and laugh with someone besides me!

The kids are already looking forward to the lake trip next year!

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July all weekend but I only had my camera while we were at my mom's house on the 4th. Claire,Olivia, Brandy, Jeff, Laurie, were all there and Bill and Lana stopped by on their way into town from Colorado. The kids were so excited about more fireworks. Paul and Mary had a bunch that they wanted to kids to light so they did those for quite a while. Hannah was excited about the smoke bombs and Will wanted to do all of the parachutes. Jack was interested in the big ones! As you can see from the pictures above, Max spent most of the weekend with his hands on his ears. He didn't get upset but he did not care for the noise. The past couple of days he now put his hands over his ears when I run the vacuum!

We also tried to explain to the kids why we celebrate the 4th of July and what it means to live in a free county. I think Jack "gets it" a little bit. Will and Hannah asked a lot of questions after I explained it so at least they were listening!

T-Ball 2011

Will played T-ball/coach-pitch this summer and did great. He played 1st base and "pitcher" many games and loved to bat. Most of his games were indoors which he loved and hated the outdoor games. I doubt he will play next year but I hope he does. He said he hates being hot! I told him that every sport he plays he will get hot! He has been asking for 2 years to go back to karate but it interferes with soccer and he loves soccer. I told him we would go check out a new place in Gretna and see what their schedule looks like. You will notice that he picked #1 for his t-shirt number becasue he said "it was the best".

Jack's Friend Birthday Party

Jack had a few friends over and we took them to Papio Fun Park. They were able to ride Go Karts, play Jump Shot and have Water Wars. There were no lines and it wasn't very hot so I think everyone have a great time. Everyone had their fill of pizza, gatorade and chocolate cake!

Jack's Family Party