Fun In The Sun

Summer continues to amaze me. How can winter take so long and summer go so fast?!

We have really been enjoying ourselves. Lots of fun outdoors in all kinds of ways. We are aiming to get to the river once a week, so there are a few of those pictures accumulating and I don't want to wait until the end of summer before they are posted, so you may get a few doses of those. :)

So here is our fun in the sun, some combined over the last several weeks, mostly from this last week.

The River

Its a log, not a whale. And M is standing. :)
The river has been very low so we are able to roam quite a bit and just stay out of the deeper side on the right.
They do a great job staying in the slow shallow currents. They are not deep enough they can't stand up if needed.

Makin's favorite thing to play at the river is "cannon ball." He is such a fun one to photograph because I can get awesome air shots. :) These pictures are over a couple of visits. We usually wear the same suits since they get sandy.

River Frisbee

Lorelei loves the currents, so she has mostly head-sticking-out-of-water shots :) Somehow those are just not as much fun as the air shots. :) Bottom left she was covering her legs in mud. Bottom right she was jumping in. She does a lot of jumping in since that is what M loves so much, she just doesn't get up as high, but still has lots of fun racing and jumping!

Backyard Pool

The kids are loving swimming in our pool. One of the fun activities is the run and jump in...I am seeing a theme here!? :) Was fun catching these action shots as well.

Bits Of Fun

This little guy gets cold first and then wants to cuddle on mom's lap.

Sometimes you just have to have fun with your waterproof camera. ;)

Jodi's Pool

One of my friends through church has a great pool in her backyard. She had us out last year once and the kids didn't forget it. Last week they got to swim in her pool twice in one week. They were ecstatic. So much fun. Lorelei got lots of compliments on her swimming, which was great for her to hear.

Sunday lots of families headed out for a pot-luck lunch and swimming. Jodi's son Jackson played with the kids both pool visits, but I got more pics with him this time. They just loved him. Makin loved throwing darts for Jackson and another girl to race/dive to get. Lorelei enjoyed playing mermaids with another girl her age from church.

The Lake

Another friend has some land along the lake, so she invited us out for a swim. We are also friends with her neighbors who joined us as well. The boogie boards Hannah and Karter used in Virginia Beach about 6 years ago are getting lots of use now!

Red Robin and Putt Putt

We had a few errands to run in Omaha and had to include a couple of fun things too. We enjoyed some patio time and yummy food at Red Robin.

There was a putt putt course we had been wanting to try. It was one of my favorites ever! It was made with real grass and looked like a mini real course! So fun. :)

Park Time

Just had get a quick pic of Duck Duck Goose/Firecracker Firecracker Boom they decided to play at the park. They also played Follow The Leader and Red Light Green Light.

Ingall's Homestead

I mostly remember watching the show Little House On The Prairie as a kid, rather than reading the books, but we played many hours of "olden times" as children too, so I love sharing the uniqueness of this era with Lorelei. We have read Little House picture books, chapter books and she listens to the CD's of the books during quiet time. (Has probably heard all of them twice.) She could tell you many more of the stories than I can. I love reading her the chapter books and feel like I learn from them too. We are making our way through the chapter books, but have not gotten through all of them yet.

As I mentioned earlier, we live fairly close to the Ingall's homestead. If you aren't familiar with the stories, they moved around quite a bit so there are several locations you can visit, but this is the one they stopped at and Laura taught/married etc. This picture was from a "look out" and we loved climbing up high to see the areas on the map from the top. We (of course) went in # order from the map, and Makin especially liked knowing what number was next with the location.

I loved how they organized this little museum. They had each location the family lived (realizing some are missing now that I'm researching, but you get the idea) with the corresponding book and a few excerpts and pictures from the book. Great visual.

Checking out how small a real wagon is. Was so great.

Looking around a dug out. Not sure how they stayed sane in these, especially in the winter.

This was a hay-roof barn. They were thrilled to find a cat and chickens.

L and M learned to be thankful for a sink so they didn't have to pump the water for me for their chores. :) They actually really had fun pumping the water though. :)

This was a house that they built to be what they consider an exact replica of the Ingall's home. It was amazing to see how small it was yet was considered so much space for them. These pictures are in the addition that was made to the house when Mary learned to play organ at the school of the blind...something like that. They made the add-on for the pump organ. The kids also got to make a button/string toy.

Learning how to do laundry the old-fashioned way was a fun experience. They got to scrub the soap on the washboard, then rub the cloth, then rinse it, put it through the wringer, and then hang it on the line. This was Makin's favorite activity! :)

The horses were also a huge hit. There really weren't a lot of kids there while we were, so they got to get more than their share of turns getting rides. The foal they are petting was only 3 weeks old. The foals and a few horses had free reign over "the prairie" but stayed relatively close to the barn. There was another foal that was a little older too. Lorelei was thrilled she got to drive the cart all on her own, because she did so well the first time with the girl who was helping. It made her feel so special. This was Lorelei's favorite activity.

We rode a big wagon (not realistic size, but fun) over to an old school house. The children who were along got to drive the wagon which was a fun experience. After L's turn she made sure to give Makin the tips the lady told her during his turn.

We got to experience the one-room school house and the woman who spoke there knew a man who actually knew Almanzo Wilder (who Laura married) and said he was "the best horseman there ever was" and she told us how school worked in those days. The kids were so serious in this setting and it was funny to see. They went up in front of the group a couple of times doing some rhymes and such. Their favorite part was ringing the bell.

One more activity was making corn cob dolls/super heros. This ties in with one of the books, and they had fun getting the corn off the cob and then using cloth and yarn to make the doll/hero.

I'm so glad we made the trip and thankful they got this experience!

Thanks for coming with us Nana!

Summer Nana Visit

We love that my mom has summers off so she can spend a low-key week with us.

We started out her week with Mexican Monday (enjoying a chips and salsa snack, pre-supper) and she was excited to watch a tball game, however it got cancelled due to rain that morning and what they thought was a wet field. We did not know this until we showed up at the field, so we had a little practice game at the park nearby. (Which I wish I would have taken a picture of!)

Tuesday we headed to the library to learn more about animals. The women who spoke brought pets she has on her "farm" of 400 animals. We learned quite a bit and got to pet a few too. I think the one in the picture was some type of lizard.

Showing of their adorable floaties from Nana.
We had pool time any afternoons that were free.

Somehow we fit in a Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer game and paper doll creations this day too...not sure how, but picture order doesn't lie! :) And yes...a Christmas game in June. I'm just glad Nana had to play it while I cooked!

I requested mom bring my old paper dolls to see if L liked them. Somehow this turned into Nana drawing a mermaid for her to color, and then having to make extra mermaid outfits so she could be a paper doll. Lorelei really like this activity, I think it was the best part of her day that day. :)

We headed to the river Wednesday with Drue, and also made sure to go to a park that afternoon. So thankful we finally have warm weather!











I'm going to do a post with more river pics, but this one was a fun "Nana" moment. Makin's favorite thing to do is cannon balls. So, the three kids raced through the shallow part to then jump into the deeper part. Nana was in charge of starting their race, and would sometimes make them do something besides "go" like "dance like a monkey" or other silly things. Loved hearing them laugh. It was also nice having another adult along who could stay with two while one wanted to go somewhere else along the river. :)

That afternoon they did a craft mom brought, which was stringing beads and cut-up straws to make a 4th of July necklace. They could choose whatever pattern they wanted. They turned out so cute! Keep you eyes out for them on the 4th post! :)

Thursday I started my summer Bible study, so mom joined us for that, that afternoon I think we headed to the library for books and also some DVDs for our trip.

Friday we had our Little House On The Prairie adventure. We live only 3 1/2 hours south of the Ingall's Homestead, so I wanted to make a trip there while we lived that close. Brad had zero interest in this (although he does get to read some chapters from the books at bedtime! :) ) so he suggested I find another person to go along for this trip. When I suggested it to mom, she was up for the visit. We had such a fun time.

(Decided to post this trip separately...so stay tuned! ;) )

Saturday mom and I fit a little garage saling and Hobby Lobby shopping in while the kids got Dad time. Then we hung out poolside for the afternoon.










Sunday was celebrating Father's Day and hanging around home. :)

We love you Nana!

Thanks for a great visit!

Celebrating 10 Years

We actually made sure to get away for our 10 year anniversary!

Michelle offered to watch the kids overnight so we could have almost 2 full days to ourselves. It was amazing to me how much we have forgotten what it feels like to be just us!

We spent Thursday perusing book stores. :) First, treats at Barnes and Noble before having some fun looking at the travel section and a few others. Then after lunch we went to Half Price Books. :) Brad could almost be mistaken for a nerd after reading that! :)

Then we headed to The Old Market, which is a fun area in Omaha that has lots of restaurants and shops to enjoy. By the time supper rolled around, there was a steady rain. We made a few calls because eating on the patio was on my wish list. Only one place still had their patio open, so that's where we had supper! We also found a cute little cupcake shop, which didn't quite live up to dessert expectations. Still a fun evening out!

Friday we headed to Junk Stock. I heard about it last summer and it is something both of us were really excited bout. (Yes, even Brad enjoys this kind of shopping!) It is basically vendors bringing anything and everything to this huge sale. A great way to clean out your basement! :) They have it twice a year and according to facebook there were around 8,000 people planning to attend throughout the weekend. We loved seeing so many creations made out of old "junk" and I'm excited to someday have some really special pieces throughout our home with history and uniqueness all their own. This made me never want to shop at a real store for furniture! (Well almost...a couch is just something nice to have new. :) ) We had a few fun finds, including my "must get or I'll be bummed" item, which was a black croquet ball to go with my grandma's croquet set. She let me have her classic set, but the black ball had to be thrown away as it broke in half. I found the perfect match!!! Brad found a couple of old clubs to decorate with, and we also found an outdoor bowling set the kids are excited about. I decided it would be fun to take a picture of all the tens we found. :)

Using the bowling set

And in case you were concerned the kids missed us...not really! :) They didn't even seem like they were that ready for us to be back on Friday. :) They had so much fun.  Their favorite was going to the aquatic center with Michelle (no pic). I loved knowing they were in such good hands and having a friend who offered us this outing before she knew it was even our 10 year anniversary. They had a blast.

10 Years

Kicking Off Summer Fun At Home

Our summer (the kids would remind me its still spring, but its summer break!) started as a whirlwind of travel, but we dove right into fun as soon as we got home.

On the spring note, these are some gorgeous flowers we have been able to enjoy in our backyard. I love having a yard that was once nurtured by someone with a green thumb.

At Home Coffee Shop
As soon as I mentioned this idea the L and M were thrilled. We moved the toy kitchen into the real kitchen and made cinnamon scones, hot chocolate and coffee. It was a nice way to chill first thing in the morning.

Getting Ready Is Half The Fun

Took Turns Serving Each Other

Sprinkler Fun
I love how much fun water is! And I am so thankful for this yard. Just love it. :)

Bikes
They have really been enjoying their bikes lately, so we have been riding around the basketball court at the park near our house.

Parks
We usually average a park twice a week if weather cooperates. We are trying to make sure to have a picnic at least once a week too. This visit, the kids loved that they found the perfect climbing tree. Makin got pretty far up and was so proud!













Explorers
Makin came out decked ready to explore (after yet another pool too-cold attempt) and was ready to take a few notes about ants. He didn't get very far, but loved that he started! :) Lorelei then started writing a few things she was observing outdoors, which was fun to see too.

Gobs of Fun
This one had to be on the summer bucket list since it is one of their favorite places. The forecast was supposed to be rain all day, so I decided that was a good one to check off the list. Drue loves it too so we saved it for a Drue day. Amy said she woke up and said, "Its raining!!!" :) They knew that was the requirement for the trip. The rain stopped earlier than it was supposed to, but I couldn't change plans on them then! :) We also stopped at the mall play area before Gobs. Their favorites were the ball pit and air hockey. It was a full day of fun. :)

Warm Milk and Honey
Sydney has these two on a kick with that special drink. :)












Class Park Playdate
A mom from Lorelei's class had the great idea to have a few park dates throughout the summer. Of course, L was thrilled. We invited Mya over to play so that she could come as well, because her mom was working that day. Lorelei loved having an all-day play date! It was chilly and they were shivering but did manage some water play that afternoon.

Rainy Mornings
We have had a very wet spring. This particular picture was so nice. The kids slept in (very rare) and then woke up to a nice rainfall with some rumbling thunder. They loved looking out the window and listening to the rain.













Dates
Girls - Ice cream and a park
Boys - McDonalds