Summer

Finally...Summer. I had high hopes of relaxation this summer, but it never really seemed to slow down like Id hoped. In addition to the 2 weeks away with the youth, Katelin had violin lessons, Madi had cross country training every day and Zack and Brylee had swim lessons and a month of summer school. So really summer didnt start until mid-July- August. Zack was so excited for me to sign him up for summer school because rumor had it they were going to build robots. He must have had life size androids in mind, so he was really disappointed when it didnt happen and it made for a long month for him. When it was finally over and summer officially began, we had to hurry to get the things done that were on the kids summer wish lists. 

First stop, the beach. In summers past this is a regular occurrence, but this year I think we only made it there twice. 

Then there were church activities. This was the primary pioneer day picnic and bike parade. Brylee still needed a little help on the narrow sidewalk surrounded by other bikers.  

They also had potato sack, two legged and wheelbarrow races. Go Zack Go! 

Ryan and his friend competing in the mens division.

Brylees turn! 

Zack tried to wheelbarrow Brylee, but it wasnt working so well so... 

they switched. :) 

The older girls also had a couple fun young women activities. This is Madi and friends in the after picture of paint twister.

Then there was panty hose bowling. You put a tennis ball in one of the legs of the panty hose, stick them on your head and swing it to knock over a line of water bottles.  

Katelin

Madi 

Katelin's kept falling off so they kept having to adjust it.  

We decided to take it outside where it was cooler and we could do relay style.

(Madi in the orange) 

Ryan and I had a couple opportunities for date nights with friends. This one was at Milwaukee Burger Company. We all egged him on to do the Big Milwaukee Burger Challenge.  The challenge consisted of a 3 lb burger with layers of beef, bun, toppings and 2 golf ball sized cheese curds on top AND he had to eat it all in 30 minutes or less.  Easy right?

Think he can do it? We did too... 

Alas, if he only had like 10 more minutes it would have been gone. Stupid time limit. Oh well, maybe next time when he can come better prepared! 

Something else the kids had been begging to do was go camping. And not in our backyard either. We managed to carve out a brief trip to Bong which is about 30 minutes west of us. Not only was it convenient, it was the only place close enough that allowed dogs. We got there late and had to leave early the next morning, but we got it checked off the list. Camping in Wisconsin will just never be the same as Utah. You dont get to drive up to secluded mountain sites away from it all. We happened to be sleeping next to the borders of the highway, so we got some traffic noise all night. Luckily, Jovi slept through the night. 

We managed to get a quick "hike" in the morning. Basically on a trail, through a meadow. Again...not Utah. 

This picture cracks me up. Whos walking who? 

Just look at those faces. 

Madi enjoyed capturing some of the scenery along the walk, like this cool S shaped tree. 

What are these? Anyone? Anyone? 

Since we didnt go on a big vacation this year, we got 6 Flags passes again. We spent a good amount of time there. Luckily, our friends got passes too so we had people to hang out with.

Brylee's new favorite ride 

The last thing on our list of summer fun was the ever popular Wisconsin Dells. It ended up being a cool couple of days so we had to spend most of our time at the indoor water park.  

The Hot Tubs were super popular with the temps being so cool. 

When we did go outdoors, we just had to make sure to stay under the water. Notice how the life guards are wearing jackets...yeah.

We shivered a little bit but it was worth it. The outdoor parks were much less crowded. 

Before we left, we had to try out the underwater 3D glow in the dark mini golf. Sounds cool right? 

Turns out, its pretty tricky to play mini golf in the dark with 3D glasses on. They had a few aquariums with live fish in them along the way. We had to remove our glasses to really check them out...and to find where some of the holes were.

Sadly, it was over pretty quickly. We didnt realize it was only 9 holes. Oh well. Time for Home! 

And just like that Summer ended...way too fast.