The Beach

I have craving some kid time this summer. With my crazy work hours, haven't had much time to have the kind of lazy summers I love. Last week I heard zachey talking about how he wanted to go to the beach. I said, what if we went to the beach today? He couldn't believe it! I told him I would pick him up early from Eskis that day. He replied " me and Grayson!!" So I left work around 3, picked up Kenna Megan and the boys, sand toys and a pizza. We had the best time!

Zachey was so afraid at first not wanting to even get near the water. After he saw Grayson and I enjoying it, he timidly tried it. Ended up wave hopping, building castles and not wanting to leave! He is just my more reserved one :) But once HE decides to do it, he's all in!

They have totally remodeled Bigcreek, great little retreat!

Daddy's helper

No one likes to help daddy more than Grayson. He will work until he us covered with sweat. Bath night mandatory around here these days! Check out these feet!!

Fireworks!!

On Sunday, Kenna and I rode our "tandom" bike up to the summerfest activities. Was pretty hot, but very fun :) she had been craving some mom time this summer with work being so busy.

We got there about an hour before anything opened so we walked around the fairgrounds, checked out our food options, and walked through the indoor vendor show where I was tricked into bying some books for the kids :)

Spencer and Chelsey were nice enough to watch the kids so josh and I could go to dinner. Nice to have an evening out!!

That evening we loaded up the car with kids, chairs and popcorn and drove to 18th street. We parked watched the 15 minute fireworks and headed home...short display this year? Still fun, both zachey and Grayson lovvvved it!

Summerfest

Summerfest was in full swing this year as always! We hit the normal festivities of parade, booths and fireworks :)

This year gramma rue got to come which was fun! Kohls and andersens and eski came to the parade with us. We usually have our coveted spot under the trees. This year was almost a little chilly! We put out blankets and chairs the night before, but kenna and i always go early to secure our spot :)

Lanie and spencer were also first time parade goers. Was sooo fun watching the boys with the big tractors and firetrucks! Grayson could not have been more excited! 

Daddy and his friends stayed back and worked super hard on our soon to be 12 ton brick retaining wall!

We scored serious overage of candy, free shirts from our buddies at the strawberry patch, and about 20 popsicles from best buy float

Little Lanie

I have been wanting a puppy for a while. Rylee is almost 10 and such a wonderful dog - we wanted her to teach a new dog how to also be as good as she is :)

Luckily for my birthday Josh agreed to getting a new puppy! The search was crazy! I found many jack russels online, but as soon as I called someone they were already gone. Seems I am not the only central Iowan in search of puppies!

Finally I found a breeder in Missouri that had pictures online. I fell in love immediately and luckily she was still available! Coinsidentally her name was "Lucky" Lanie! It seemed fitting with my superman obsession (Lois Lane) and the name stuck.

She was only a few weeks old, so we had to wait a while before we could pick her up. One day I surprised Kenna at camp and told her we were going on an adventure. We were meeting the breeder halfway in Ottumwa and off we went to get Lanie. Kenna was soooo excited, I didn't think she would last the hour and a half it took to get there!

She was great and slept all the way home. She is just the sweetest thing, and it has been wonderful to watch McKenna be so caring for her. She is very protective, and Lanie has quickly become the hit of the neighborhood! All the parents are annoyed because their kids come home asking to get a puppy :)

Rylee didn't know what to think - and still doesn't

Josh and Lanie both tired from playing

The first weekend home she wouldn't let her out of her site - even to read

Lanie sleeps in this kennel and is not happy when she has to go in early

I forgot how hard it is to train a puppy. She learned "sit" quite quickly. "don't pee on the carpet" has taken a bit longer :) We rolled up all the rugs on the main floor and have been diligent about taking her out regularly, regulating her water, and rewarding her when she potties outside. So far she has done pretty well! We leave her in the downstairs bathroom when we are unable to watch her, or when we go out, and there is an occasional puddle when we get home, but not too bad!

She LOVES to play with the neighbor dog Cooper, and is pretty good about staying near us when we venture out. I hope she continues to be such a great dog! She is definitely in chewing mode, but the kids love her. Grayson was a slow adopter as she loves to nip at his shorts...but his cute little "no wanie!" seems to make her stop fairly quickly :)

Welcome to the family sweet Lanie!

Every morning

Watch "Every morning" on YouTube

This is the conversation we have every morning on the way to daycare. Grayson is obsessed with the construction and school buses :)

Kenna got her ears pierced!

McKenna announced last weekend that she wanted her ears pierced for her birthday. I talked to her all weekend about it, how it would hurt, how she had to take care of them, and that it was like two big shots in her ears. She said that she wanted to do it, and that she would be brave.

I packed all the kids up Sunday and we headed to the mall. We got there right as it opened so the people at Claires wouldn't be distracted. The lady who did it was so nice, she explained to McKenna what she was going to do, and she made sure I was happy with the placement. Kenna picked out her earrings, and she grabbed ahold of the little bear.

The first ear was a delayed reaction where she tried not to cry. She sobbed a little as they did the second one. I told her that we could pick out a pair of earrings to take home as her reward for being brave. That cheered her up.

I got a little weepy as I am seeing my little girl experience all of these rights of passage into young lady-hood. Every day she is less my little girl, and more a young woman - it scares me! I cherish the times she still calls me mommy and wants to snuggle as I feel there are so few of those moments left...cherishing every one!

So proud of her making this decision and being so responsible since. She makes sure we clean them 3 times a day and that she is very careful. What a sweet girl!

Everyone is sick

Last night Kenna threw up like 5 times...every hour. Poor thing, more puke than I have ever seen. So after an hour of detoxifying her room, she went to sleep.

Today she is doing pretty well, but Zachey threw up at Eski's. When I went to get him he was sobby and tired, obviously upset. When I got him out to the car he said, "mom, I think I ate a frog, that made me puke." Kids are hilarious! I feel bad they are all sick, but at least he makes light of it :)

Josh is also locked in the basement sleeping it off. I think its a 24 hour bug, lets hope!

April visit

We had a wonderful time when auntie april came to visit! It was a little nuts between sickness, weather, and my crazy work schedule.

April came in on Wednesday. Originally I had planned on taking Thursday and Friday off, but Char had her baby a little ahead of schedule! So, I officially became full time that week....oops! But we did have the opportunity to catch up, let the kids play together, and do a whole lot of nothing the first two days. We did have a successful pairing of Kanon and Zachey in the same room....they slept between talking to each other :) And we made it to the park and the science center!

Saturday was awesome! We get a pedicure, went shopping, saw the broadway show Rock of Ages, ate at Zombie Burger and met the cast, and went garage selling (kenna scored on cute clothes!) It has been SO LONG since either of us just had a day to do fun girl things!

Josh was so wonderful in that he watched ALL FOUR KIDS on his own! That was such a nice gesture! We really appreciated the girl time! I am planning a trip down there this fall if possible to meet their new little boy (we just found out!) due October 1st!

We definitely had some sort of flu bug floating around the house. Kanon puked a few times, and April got it Sunday, so not much of a fun vacation with her being stuck in the basement sick...but I got some quality time with Kanon and Josh took the kids to his parents to avoid contamination! During that time Kenna took her first solo fourwheeler ride!!



After they left on monday afternoon, they started feeling better. Unfortunatley I had a weeklong meeting in Orlando and I got worse and worse on Monday...spent the whole first night there trying not to puke.

But, after one day it ended up being the best meeting I had been to for best buy. I am very much re-energized and ready to roll! Pretty tired after a long week though!

Boulder Getaway

We had such a great time on this trip. Josh and I haven't been away, not visiting family in some capacity since Europe....wow.

Even if it was only for a long weekend getaway, it was so fun, and we so needed it! Both have such stressful jobs and feel we are time starved...sometimes we don't even get a chance to talk for more than half an hour on a given day!

We drove to Osceola Iowa, little dinky town an hour south of Des Moines. I was in a bit of a panic because I was driving back from Omaha that day, and we only had a few hours to meet up, get our luggage and head south before the train arrived. Well...little did I know how non-stressful train travel is. Show up at the station and get on!

We got there way too early, so headed to try and find something for dinner. There are about 3 restaurants in Osceola...one of which is attached to the casino. So, we had sub-par local food and drove around. Fell in LOVE with this house...built in 1897 and for sale. $285K and its yours :)

So, after dinner headed back to the station and charged our phones, took silly pictures while we waited.

The train depot was like stepping back in time. Really cool to think about who had traveled through here. Looked as if some of the information boards hadn't been updated since the 70s :)

We got on the train and it was nothing like I suspected. 20ish cars from front to back, all double decker. It was actually really nice inside with our own little sleeper car. The first few cars were "coach" with big seats, then an observation car, dining cars and then the sleeper cars on the end. We got on, loaded our bags on and checked out the dining car where I got some ice cream :)

The room wasn't spacious by any stretch. I am sitting opposite Josh. The two chairs fold into a bed, and then an upper bunk drops down. When the beds are unfolded you have about 8 inches to maneuver with the door closed. Was an adventure trying to sleep at night on a rocking train! It wasn't loud, just shaky :) We got on at 7pm and woke up at 7am in Denver, pretty cool! We watched movies, and hung out in the observation car, then got up and had breakfast...pretty cool way to travel!

I found a cute bed and breakfast near Eldora Ski Resort called Alps Boulder Mountain Inn. We took a cab to Garys and he was nice enough to lend us his truck! Then we headed to boulder and attempted to check in our room. Since it was like 9, we had no luck, so we went skiing instead!

The snow and weather were great! By the end of the day I had to remove layers because I was sweating!! I fell less than 10 times, and only had one bad one where I hurt my wrist a bit. Josh didn't fall once...stinker!

Since we were on vacation, we didn't bring lunch....josh's burger and my sandwich with chips for both of us and a drink was like $40! HOLY MONOPOLY! Oh well, we were hungry :)

By the end of the day we were pooped, and the snow was starting to get really slushy...that makes for an unfun day of falling.

We were a little worried on the drive up as there was hardly any snow! I know it was the end of march...but luckily when we reached the top the mountain had plenty.

That night we headed into Boulder and found a place for dinner. I was really tired, so we settled on a place that could actually seat us...wait times are crazy there!

I had a caprese thing, which was okay...wouldn't recommend the chophouse to anyone.

The next day we toured some of the local alcohol makers. This place makes vodka from potatoes! All done in house. The brains behind the operations is a chemist and he figured out how to do this and constructed all the distillery pieces you see.

If it were legal, I dare say that Josh would be doing this in our basement...the science behind it was quite interesting! That evening we went to the Med and had an awesome dinner! You get to order little sample plates of things for like $2, so I ordered a bunch :) It had a Mediterranean theme, so was in heaven!

After shopping, and getting our toenails done (well I tricked Josh into getting his clipped and filed and having his caluses removed cheese grater style) we saw a movie. Actually got to see two on this trip! That is just crazy as we hardly have time to even watch a TV show together.

Sunday was just a lazy day, we read, went on a 5ish mile hike, rented some bikes and rode along the river (not bad for three gear bikes!)

The

Even though it was easter we headed to a local pedestrian market where we saw some "artistic" types working the crowd. One guy had a fire act that was more about funny than fire. Entertaining to say the least. I enjoyed looking in the local shops, especially this AMAZING spice store.

They grind their own spices and have unique blends you can buy..we definitely brought some home!

That night we had sushi and it was quite delish!

Monday we just took it easy and drove back to Denver. We went to the Denver natural history and science museum. Luckily because we have a membership in Iowa we got in free vs. $17/person...I love a good deal! That took the better part of the day and was pretty fun. They had so many dinosaur bones, the boys would have loved it!

We got to hang out with Gary and Susanne that night for a bit. Gary took Josh for a spin in his Tesla, and gave him a tour of his extremely techy house!

Then we went to dinner at a Brazillian meat place, pretty good!

We did the train in reverse on the way home. I slept a little better as we bought earplugs, but wouldn't say it was restful by any stretch! I had an interview for JCSD the following day so was stressing the whole trip, especially if the train had been late (which it wasn't.)

So fun to spend some time with my hubby, nice to remember that putting aside all the kid activities, logistics, and work we still have a good time doing nothing together :)