visiting grandparents

Over the weekend we had the chance to visit all the grandparents, always a fun time. 

First we saw Grammie and her new puppy. Jennifer was very excited about meeting Gator. I am thankful that Grammie has very patient dogs that allow Jennifer to manhandle them and they are not in the least bit mean to her. Because as you can tell Jennifer pulls, drags and directs the dogs to do whatever she wants them to do, which they do not always want to do. Gator is a cute little puppy and it was fun to play with him for a little while but we will not be getting a puppy at our house any time soon!

 As we drove to Mama & Papa's house Jennifer was asking if she could ride the motorcycle. Papa just happen to be outside when we pulled up and Jennifer was yelling at him before she even got out of the van! I'm not sure who loves this more Jennifer or Papa. And I think this is sweet because it takes me back to riding on the mini-trail with my grandpa. I even have a picture somewhere of my grandpa and I and it looks almost just like this! Love that my girls get to do something with their Papa that I use to do with my Papa!

 Seriously Jennifer could have rode for hours! She was love, love, loving this. We could hear her giggling as they came down the street, very sweet to hear.

 Jennifer even got dad to take her for a ride.

Mikayla on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the mini-trail, this was as close as we got to her even just sitting on it!

Mikayla was much more content to sit and blow bubbles with mama, or sit on the lawn mower or just sit on mama's lap and sing a few songs.

 Lastly it was on to help celebrate mama Sue's retirement. After eating we tired to get all the kids to stand together for a picture, as you can see that didn't go so well.

Happy Retirement Mama Sue! 

Thanks to all the grandparents for a fun day seeing you all! 

last vacation pics.

As I mentioned when I first posted vacation pictures I took a lot of pictures! So I will make these be the last.

We went and visited A Maze'n Farmyard one of the days. It had lots of activities for the kids to do and they all loved it. It was a lot better than spending a chilly day inside in a cabin with four kids. There was a little train that took us for a short ride. The kids thought it was great and that is all that matters!

 Everyone loved the big slide. I think all the kids would have done this a hundred if we would have let them. Even Mikayla thought it was great. When her and Bill got to the bottom she stood up and began signing more right away.

 There were pony rides, which at first Jennifer was very excited about. Then she realized the pony didn't go fast and she only got to go in a small circle. She was trying her hardest to get that pony to go faster and then she asked me if I could get the horse out of there (meaning out of the little ring). She just wanted to go faster, the pony going in a circle was not cutting it for her, give this girl a real horse!

 We tried getting Mikayla on a pony but she wanted nothing to do with it. She did love walking around the barn looking at the animals. There were several goats walking the barn and it was fun to watch her stop and tell them "no, no, no" as they got close to her. She thought she was big stuff.

 What is this you are wondering? I had to take a picture to remind myself never, ever to go in a maze again. I'm not a huge fan of small spaces and after twisting and turning through this wonderful maze I thought I was going to loose my mind, I think the fact that I needed to go to the bathroom didn't help matters at all. Just saying you will be hard pressed to get me to do something like this again.

 The kids ended the fun by playing on some blow up toys, very fun.

 It wouldn't be vacation without our day riding the power wheels and go-carts. We thought three of the kids would be able to ride these go-carts by themselves but their legs aren't quite long enough yet, maybe next year.

 So they had to settle with riding with the adults. They all still had a blast though.

 Of course there was more fishing. Jennifer loved driving the boat with Papa.

 Helping Papa get the fish ready for frying.

 There was also more time on the beach and in the water. 

 Papa was going to take all the kids out for a boat ride so he was giving them a few instructions before heading out on the water.

 After all that fun it was time our family photo and then it was time to hit the road and head back home.

Jennifer has already asked a few times this week if we can go back to vacation. Thanks to my family for a great week! We had a great time.

more vacation

The first few days of vacation were pretty busy, the weather was really nice so we (okay the kids) tried to jam pack as much as we could into each day.

There was lots of bike riding.

There was lots and lots of fishing happening. If Bill had his way any moment not filled with any activity would have been filled with fishing. Jennifer was not about to miss out on any chance to fish with her dad either.

 There were some big fish being caught this week on vacation. I was pretty impressed, but then again I'm pretty easy to impress. 

 Mikayla even got into the action but it didn't last long. Vacation was a whole new experience for her this year because she can now walk. She was one busy girl! And she made me slightly nervous on the dock because of course she didn't want to hold anyone's hand.

 There was also playing in the water. Mikayla was just as happy to sit in the sand or on mama's lap but we did manage to get her in the water a few times.

 Sunday night ended up being a pretty yucky night so we were all stuck inside. Mama pulled out all the stops to entertain the kids though! First there was some chocolate fondue. The kids loved it, they were all smiles and full of chocolate!

 After cleaning up the chocolate mess the kids all got to make their own little stuffed animal. All four of the them thought it was great, it was very fun to watch them. After all that excitement it was time for some rest!

vacation time

It is the middle of June of which means it was time for our annual vacation with my family. We had been getting for what felt like weeks, partly because Jennifer was so excited. For about two weeks she asked everyday if it was time for vacation, each time we went to the store she thought everything was for vacation, so we had one excited girl when it the day finally came for us to pack up and leave.

The day before we leave is always a busy day around our house. There are goodies to be made, lots of packing to do and then cleaning from the mess we make making stuff. As always the girls were eager to help with everything, especially the cooking! They always make baking a little more interesting!

 Mikayla has reached the point that she does not want to be left out of anything, she needs a turn doing everything Jennifer does. She is loving to help in the kitchen too.

 Do you not love this shirt?! This is Bill's vacation shirt. He only wears on vacation and Friday morning before we left Jennifer thought she should put it on. And so she proceeded to wear it for pretty much the rest of the day, only shedding it when we arrived at the cabin and then her swimming suit was the next thing on. She wore this lovely shirt into the gas station, rest spot and into the fast food restaurant we stopped for at lunch time. When your on vacation you don't really care!

 In the van and ready to go! Two very excited girls.

 The weather was great when we got to the cabin so once everyone had arrived and everything was unpacked it was time to hit the water. The kids were pretty excited to go swimming.

 Mikayla was pretty excited to get her swimming suit on but she was pretty happy to just play in the sand, although she did get in the water eventually, just not the first day.

I have lots more pictures of vacation, literally hundreds more, I got a little carried away with picture taking this year. So there will be more to come! This was after all just the first day!

One last trip

If you read the previous post you know that Bill is finally done with grad school. It has been a long haul but he is done! It is kind of weird to think about because it has consumed his life for the past 3 1/2 years. Over the weekend he made one final trip to St. Paul, for school that is. 

We had a fun filled Friday and kept the fun going Saturday. We got up and headed to the zoo. Just in case you wondered the free zoo that is having a family fun day is really, really busy! As we walked out I realized we had taken no pictures of our time there, among the chaos, so we made the girls pose in front of this sign, so we could remember that is was family day. It was craziness!                     

 Bill made one last stop to Bethel's campus. He really needed to return some books to the library but we had to take the time to pose in front of the sign.

 This is the bench Bill use to sit on while talking to us when he had a break, hence the picture.

 The final stop for the weekend was a picnic with Bill's classmates. Very fun to actually get to meet the people he has been taking classes with for the past few years. I have heard about them and their families so it was to fun to meet them. Jennifer and Mikayla had fun running around the park playing with the other kids and we had fun chatting with everyone. It was a great way to end finally being done with school!

As we drove home I told Bill that it was the last time he would be driving those roads for school. We added up the weeks he spent at school over the past 3 1/2 years and it was 14 weeks! I don't think he could even begin to add up the number of hours spent reading books, writing papers, reading posts from fellow classmates, and listening to lectures. What a journey it has been! Congratulations to Bill and the rest of Cohort L!