Cousin time

*warning: picture overload below!

This July, Ryans brother Willie and his family came out for a visit. I know, Im so behind with blogging! This was the first time we had cousins come to visit, so we made the most of every minute! Ryan and Willie kicked things off with a good ol game of Bocce. Take it easy boys! Willie took the liberty of mowing a big 'Y' into our lawn for added enjoyment. The lawn is still greener where the Y was. I guess the Y makes everything better. (: The Kenosha tour begins, starting with the Kenosha museum.

Fishy Faces

Afterwards, a stroll through the local farmers market...with a little added horseplay.

Up next: a trolley ride.

Madi and Libbie.

Stopping at a tour around Columbus and a stroll by Lake Michigan.

Who can ever come to visit without a tour of Jelly Belly?

Sunday events took place down by the lake again.

All the girl cousins (minus Brylee).

Katelin, Alissa, Libbie, Erin, Madi An evening stroll through the park... and by the beach. A perfect place to watch the sun set.

A quick stop by the park before it gets too dark.

Monday: Beach Day at North Beach.

Zack ended up not feeling well, and just layed in the sand.
Another day, another park.
After a long day!
Tuesday consisted of a trip to the Museum of Science and Industry. The kids all had a lot of fun, and we found ourselves running to see more before the museum closed. I think we were one of the last ones out after they shut the lights out on us! It was definately a museum made for Zack, with trains, cars, fire trucks, tractors, boats, space...the list goes on and on! I wont make you scroll through pictures. Heres a slide.

The next two days were spent soaking up the sun and water at Wisconsin Dells. Details of that in the post below! We had so much fun with our family! We hope they will come and visit us again! Thanks guys!

Going wild in the Wilderness!

This is a run down of our two day stay at the Dells. If you dont want to hear my detailed review, feel free to scroll to the bottom for the pictures! Although, who wouldnt want to hear me go on and on and on and on.....? (:

This was our first time to the very raved about Dells. We thought it was time to see what all the fuss was about! Now we understand. What a great time! We decided to book our stay at a condo in Wilderness Territory. The day we arrived, we hit one of the closest outdoor water parks. We had to wait until check in to go to our condo, so we splashed around for a few hours. Madi and Libbie quickly discovered how much fun the water slides were, and began their 2 day tour taking every advantage of them. The younger ones took a little longer to warm up. Katelin and Alissa even started out equipped with goggles. Alissa took quite a while to try out the baby slides. I think she did them a few times, but didnt really enjoy getting water poured in her face on the way down. Brylee was content with just it sitting out, and watching.

When our condo was ready, we headed over to drop our loads off, have some dinner, and then back out to another outdoor park. This next one had to be my favorite outdoor park. There was something for everyone...well there was everywhere. But the younger ones really enjoyed the dinosaur themed kid area. Madi and Libbie of course made multiple trips up to the big water slide to race down. I could even take Brylee and Zack around an endless trip on the longest lazy river at Wilderness (instead of just sitting and trying to talk #5 into getting into the water). We stayed there until closing time, and took the little ones home to get ready for bed. The Dads took the older kids to try out one of the indoor parks, that stayed open an hour longer. Guess 10 hours of water wasnt enough for them yet.

As soon as the parks opened in the morning, we were back at it. This time, it was to the last outdoor park. This one wasnt as full with stuff to do as the others. They did have a little double slide to race down, and one bigger tube slide and body slide, but the kid area was really for babies. Unfortunately, Brylee still didnt want much to do with the water. Zack did enjoy the baby bouncy swings, and even though I told him repeatedly that he was too big for them, he kept going back and getting himself stuck in one. At least I didnt need to worry about where he was! Alissa and Katelin had decided to forgot the goggles on the second day, and learned it was easier to just close your eyes! After about an hour of that park, we had had enough. Lets move on to better things...indoors this time! The indoor water park was awesome! There were several bigger slides for Madi and Libbie, that started inside, and twisted around outside before the ended up back indoors. Most of them were even dark inside, making the thrill much better. There was also a slide that 4 of us could go down at once on a big tube. The downside to all this, was the long lines! We ended up staying there for most of the day. Alissa would still only splash around in the kiddie area, and I was getting tired of it. There was a ton of stuff perfect for her age, and she was being a wimp. Of course I resorted to bribery if she would try a bigger slide. Ice-cream worked to get her up to the top, but it wasnt enough to get her down. She looked down to Daddy waiting at the end of the slide, watched a few kids go down unharmed, even sat down ready to go, but it ended there. She started panicking and going back and forth on whether she was going to do it. A little more "persuasion" proved necessary...maybe a little push to get her going? Yes, I think so. Just a nudge did the trick. Daddy, and even the life guard were laughing as she screamed all the way down, like it was a raging 10 story drop. She wasnt happy at the end...but it did the trick. She decided it was safe now, and tried out all the rest of the slides. Too bad it was almost time to move on to different things. Shoulda pushed her sooner! By the time we were ready to switch, even Brylee decided this pool was made just for her, and didnt want to get OUT of the water!

Time to switch again. Gotta try everything Wilderness had to offer. This time, it was off to the wave pool. At this point, Zack felt like sitting out, and was feeling feverish. Oh no...not a sick kid! Brylee was even feeling a little warm. After a very runny diaper, we decided it best to keep Brylee out of the water from this point on. Dang, and she was just enjoying herself! They just stayed bundled in their chairs. After a little nap, Zack seemed to be feeling better, and got back in the water. The wave pool was not my favorite. Maybe it had something to do with me trying to hold onto my tube, and two others with kids on them, so they dont drift away or get knocked out of their tube as the water is pushing me up and them down...maybe? It wasnt bad when I could let go and relax in my own tube. Once or twice was good enough in the wave pool for me.

Onto, the last indoor park. The best thing about this one, was the 4 person tube ride down the Hurricane slide. Maybe me having to go backwards added to the thrill, but I thought it was the best slide yet. The rest of that one was just okay, but that could have been our exhaustion talking. It was a full 2 days of water, water, water, and finally time to go home. After a late night stop for some food, and of course the ice-cream promised to Alissa (and everyone else too), we were headed back home. Our plan was that after a long 2 days of fun, and leaving at 9:00 in the evening, that the kids would sleep the entire ride home. However, that was not the case. Brylee was the only one who followed through. Even Zack stayed awake the whole 2.5 hour drive. I guess we didnt wear them out enough?

The final verdict: we could definitely make Wisconsin Dells a yearly excursion. Especially in the winter when the whole world is ice, and we have nothing to do. The indoor park was great for all of us, and plenty to keep us busy for a couple days, and forget about the negative temps outside. We give it two thumbs up! Now, onto the pictures!

Baptism

Katelin's special day finally arrived. She was so excited to have some of her family here to see her during her baptism day, and help out with the program. Thanks to all who came and especially to those who participated in and contributed to the program and brought the spirit to the meeting. The program consisted of a talk by Katelins Aunt and Grandpa, prayers by her Uncle and Grandma, a musical number by the girls, and a special slide show of Katelin and about being a daughter of God put together by her Aunt (shown during the wait for Katelin and Dad to get dressed after the baptism). Besides Brylee having a leaky, smelly diaper, and then having it drop to the floor in the middle of the confirmation, and her and Zack running around the whole time...it went great!
I love seeing the look on the faces of those newly baptized and confirmed children, and even better..hearing them talk about how it felt afterwards. Katelin said she felt "good, and warm inside". Who could ask for anything more!? Here we all are pre-baptism...

Yeah! I finally got a video to load on here! Here are the kids before the baptism, practicing their special musical performance! (Katelin, Madison, Alissa and cousins Libbie and Erin. The boys practiced with them, but when it came down to it, they decided to opt out!) Make sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog first to hear their beautiful voices!

A doggone good time!

Katelin chose to have a dog party this year (shocker to us all...not). Yes, she is still on her never ending kick about getting a dog, and we are still holding strong about not getting one. Anyway, it actually turned out pretty cute. The first thing the guests did upon arriving was put on a pair of ears, and create their own dog tag and collar. (We ran out for Alissa, so she got to wear her dalmatian Halloween costume!) Following that quick craft was a dinner of what else...but hot dogs of course! Then it was on to the games. The first one was a dog bone hunt that made them crawl on all fours in search of bones hidden around the yard. Then a stimulating game of "Trainer says" (dog version of Simon Says), to get those dogs in order. It was rather easy actually. I mean how many dog commands can you think of? Maybe more than me. Next up: the bone pinata, presents and cake. The night was supposed to end with a dog movie, Hotel for Dogs (which is much like what our house felt like), but the girls were all too razzed up for that, so the Big Dog took them out for some recreation on the trampoline. It was so doggone fun! Okay, Im done. Onto the pictures! Happy birthday to my 8 year old pup!

Fireworks!

This 4th we decided to try out the local fireworks down at Lake Michigan again. We headed over at around 7:oo to get a good parking spot (proving to be a mistake later), and a good spot on the grass. Downtown 4th of July is crazy busy with thousands of people deciding to gather in the same place, because its the best and closet spot for fireworks. It was a great day though, and the area has plenty of room for everyone, so you dont have to feel crowded...until its time to get home anyway.

Brylee loved watching the boats and waving at them as they floated by heading out to the lake. She also loved running away down the sidewalk next to the dock!

Madi borrowing Brylee's shades while Brylee makes another escape attempt.

Some nice guy volunteered to take our picture! Here we all are with our glowy necklaces.

Almost firework time!

Alissa, of course has to be silly...

Let the show begin!

Oooooohhhhh.....

Ahhhhhh.

A perfectly happy and content boy.

After our 5 blocks of walking back to the car, and another hour waiting in traffic (should have been a 20 minute drive...funny how that happens when there is only one way to go because theres a big lake in the way!), we made it home with 3 out of the 5 kids asleep. A success over all. Next time, we'll remember to park farther out! Happy Independence Day!

18 months and park hopping

Somewhere in all the chaos of summer, Brylee turned 18 months old. She is all of a sudden looking and acting more grown up, and I cant do a thing about it. I decided to re-paint the kids little table black and bring it down to the kitchen area. It is now Brylee's favorite place to sit and eat. She seems all too big when she does this!

Taking those pictures made me realize it was time to capture her last few baby moments on camera...or attempt to. I learned that going to the professional photo places is just a waste of my time and money, seeing how the kids never smile good there and then they charge you twenty bucks a sheet for pictures that dont really show their true colors. SO, with intentions to get some good 18 month photos, we headed to the park. Brylee loves the park, so it should have been an easy location to get a smile. Well, smile she did, but would she hold still to get it on camera? Not really. She is much too busy running from place to palce to sit still for a picture! Would she even look into the camera? Didnt even think about it. So there are a few candid smile shots and maybe a couple lucky ones too that we got.

And since we were already doing pictures, we also took some late ones of Zack as a big 3 year old, and Katelin for her baptism. Zack you can see, Katelin you get to wait until later for. Dont you just love anticipation!? We ended up going to a couple different parks. One was mostly for fun, while the other (by the lake) was better for picture backdrops. The fun park is what we now like to call "squirrel park". It is crawling with them! There was one tree in particular that had at least 7 squirrels lving up in it. I dont know if you can see them in the picture or not. They are also very used to people, and will come pretty close to you. The other squirrel shot is of one sitting upside down in the tree and licking what appears to be a McDonalds ice cream cone wrapper. Thats my kind of squirrel! Squirrel park also features a few bridges over a river that has fish, turtles and ducks. Naturally, the kids love going to that park. Anyway, on to the picts!...

Friends

I know I havent been very good lately at updating the blog, so Im going to do a little bit of catch up here with some of our summer activities. First off, last month we were lucky enough to have our good friends come back to Wisconsin and stay with us for a while. It was so great to see them again, catch up, remember old memories, and create new ones. The kids were of course ecstatic that they got to spend time with their best friends again, who they hadnt seen in almost a year! Some of the activities we did together included painting ceramics, Six Flags, and the Field museum in Chicago. Take a look!