Fun in the Sun

This weekend we were invited to go to a friends cottage for the day. We had a great time. The kids made new friends, they went water skiing and tubing, they ate and ate and ate, and they played in the sand. They might have played in the sand a bit more than Joel had bargained on, but we sure got a few laughs out of it.

First Nicko dug a huge hole. HUGE!



Then he buried Joel.





Then we took a few pictures and teased Joel while we had the chance. He was a good sport about it.




Then Joel tried to free himself. That was when it got really funny.





Joel could not free himself so luckily there were a few young men with shovels willing to help him out.





By the time Joel was actually able to start pulling himself out of the sand, he had drawn a crowd of kids. The kids were so cute watching Joel.




Here are a few more shots from our fun day. Our smiling, happy group...





Isaac trying water skis for the first time ever.





THE sand castle!





Ready, Aim, Fire! Nerf Darts...or something like it.





What a great day we had. Thanks so much for inviting us, we all had such a good time. P.S. All the family pictures turned our really well, I will burn CD's for anyone that wants the whole group of photos. Let me know!

We Were Flash Flooded!

We were flash flooded on Thursday. You know that movie 'A River Runs Through It'? That pretty much applied to our basement. We literally had a current of running water right down the middle of our basement. ( I know you're jealous! ) Nicko was a real trooper helping to get things cleaned up and if it were not for him, I would probably still be mopping up water.

Well, the kids were absolutely thrilled when the rain stopped. Daniel asked to go play mud football and I gave him my blessing.



It turned out to more water ball than mud ball, but the kids all had a good time and Amanda had a few interesting bruises this morning. But they had a great time.

A Few More Pics From The 4th Of July Weekend

Love this kid.


The girls eating together, keeping an eye on things and catching up with each other.


Yogurt parfaits for breakfast.



Two Men and a Baby


Andrew is Pirate of the Day. The kids are obsessed with finding buried treasure in the lake. My pirates have found some really interesting things so far like an old pop bottle made in Wisconsin, a rusted license plate, and an eight ball from a pool table. But Andrew found something we were really need. He found the water shoes that Isaac had lost the day before. Andrew won the Buried Treasure Award for the day. Thank you, Andrew!


Local amber waves of grain that just seemed to fit into the 4th of July pictures.


Red, White and Blue puppy chow snack mix.

Beginners Luck?

Any Pinocle players out there? I have been playing Pinocle since early high school and I am an addict for sure.

This weekend in a few quiet minutes I taught Uncle Gary to play the game. The best way to learn the game is to deal a hand, add up your meld, figure out your bid, bid and then play the first hand with all the cards laying up on the table so strategy can be explained. This is exactly what we did.

First hand dealt to Gary had double Pinocle worth 30 points. The man is pure luck on two legs. So I explained to him that the hand he had was rather rare and he should not count on big meld points like that in the future. We played the hand out and he caught on pretty quickly.

Later that day, we decided to play a real game with Daniel. So I dealt the first hand, Uncle Gary took the bid and he got the kitty. He wound up with a marriage in every suit, a run and Pinocle. In my entire life of playing I have never seen anyone win an entire game of Pinocle in one hand with 99 points in meld. He also had the ace of trump so there was no point in even playing the hand since he would definitely earn one pointer with his ace fo trump. HE WON THE WHOLE GAME IN ONE HAND!!!

Here is the grin of OUTRAGEOUS good luck and the cards to back up my story.

Independence Day Weekend 2010

We had a great Independence Day Weekend this year. We had visitors from 3 different states. We had kids and sleeping bags in all the corners of the house. We met new cousins for the first time. Amanda meet David, David meet Amanda.




It is amazing how quickly kids meet and instantly become friends. They can immediately find a few things in common and off they go. This was a great group to play together. I was busy visiting, so pictures are much more limited that I would like them to be. I did get a few, but the time just flew by. I wanted lots more time to visit, play, photograph and enjoy the company we were so blessed to have. Unfortunately this is the only group photo I have of the kids!



4th of July Breakfast was french toast kabobs. (Can you sort of see the red, white, and blue inspiration?)


In my mind I was going to serve this...



What I actually served is this. You only have so much time and pretty soon a STARVING mob of children are threatening to faint away from hunger pains if you do not feed them immediately. So they got...




Then we all went swimming. Swimming is always fun, but it is especially fun when Dad, Uncles and Wilson the dog goes along too.





Uncle Joel had a few minutes of baby time with his cousin's son and daughter that we met for the first time this weekend. Clara was actually enjoying Uncle Joel until the second I picked up my camera!




We played lots of games. We played boccie ball, badminton, ladder balls and soccer. We did not let a little thing like the dark stop us from playing.




Then it was time to eat again. Aunt Laura made the most beautiful hot dogs I have ever seen in my life. So beautiful they were picture worthy.



Part of the starving mob of children. She is smiling for the picture, but she is really counting the seconds until she can eat. Can you say growth spurt?


I really cracked the whip and made everyone helped out. I did not mind putting a 10 and 6 year old to work washing my dishes. They did a great job and I got to sit down, eat ice cream and file my nails. ;-) Just kidding!




But I did feed my workers with popsicles.


I also encouraged my children to be welcoming to their new cousins to make them feel at home! Daniel took this job very seriously.


This poor boy was forced to hug Aunt Heather daily. Her number one rule? I need seven hugs a day per child. That usually does it. Hugs are so important to Aunt Heather. Maybe important to the kids as well? (Please say yes! Please say yes!)




And finally after all the food, fun and family, it was time for bed. We had a 9 child sleep over in the living room.



There were a few fireworks. There was confusion and noise. There was laughter. There was a little spilled milk and a few tears. There were big and little cousins catching up with each other. It all went by in about three seconds! As fast as it all went, I loved seeing everyone. I loved meeting the newest members of the family and I would do it all over again.




Thank you everyone for all the help, all the memories and....WHEN CAN WE DO IT AGAIN? :-) Kristen, you have to be here next time! We all missed you and your family.

God Bless America.