Fun Family Times

This summer has been just absolutely packed with great times, the latest being Tyler and Aimee's wedding this past weekend. Here are some random photos:

Aimee and her Dad.

Cedric and Martha singing.

The newest Mr. and Mrs. Alexander.

How true!

The wedding favors and center pieces were lovely.

Best Man, Matt gave a smart-as-a-whip, touching, and funny toast to his brother and Aimee.

Julie and Lena bring a touch of French flair to the Kingdom.

Pies, pies, pies! We're reading the Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl and I think the the BFG would describe these as "SCRUMDIDDLIUMPTIOUS!"

Heather and Estelle were inseparable.

Cole got a big kick out of this. I think this was his favorite thing about the wedding, aside from the pies and cookies, of which he ate much more than his share!

Cousins, big and small.

And the smallest of all, Skylar.

Before the wedding, Wayne spent a couple of days with Mary, Danny, and Jacob. He had a terrific time going to Thunder Road to see races...

 Playing lots of Star Wars...

 Seeing lots of farm animals at Jesse's house...

 and just hanging around with his best cousin, Jacob.

Thanks Mary, Danny, and Jacob!

Afternoon at the Pond

Every trip to the pond is like a scientific field trip.  Aside from the usual frogs, we never know what we might find.  Below, Heather and Cole examine a frog that Wayne caught.

It didn't stay in that tub for long before escaping back to the "safety" of the pond. Spike tries to show his alleged Retriever genetics.

Well, maybe not.  He doesn't like to go into the water much deeper than this.  His German Shepherd genes make him keep his feet on the ground. Swim, Froggy. Swim!

Swamp milkweed.

And now for the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life.  We had to Google it to find out that it's literally called a Giant Waterbug. Some people call it a Toe Pincer because it will bite if it feels threatened. It's probably about as long as my thumb, and I think it's a baby.  I don't like knowing that this kind of thing exists so close to here I live, although aside from pinching toes, I guess it's relatively harmless.

A more pleasant topic, Wayne had a soccer game this evening.

He was one of the youngest and smallest kids on the field.  Look at those two brutes from the red team.

Here's Wayne getting clobbered by the brutes.

The red team was much better and much bigger. They won 2 or 3 to 0 or something like that. I don't really pay that much attention but don't tell Wayne that.

**No frogs, giant waterbugs, or boys were harmed during the creation of this blog post.**

Summer Strep

A diagnosis of strep throat for all three kids is putting a damper on our summer fun.    

Heather hasn't shown any symptoms since her fever and vomiting episode on Friday and Saturday. We just thought it was a 24 hour tummy bug. At this point I wouldn't even have guessed that she had strep if I hadn't taken her up to be tested along with her brothers after they started suffering fevers and severe sore throat.  She is symptom free (now) but the doctor said she tested the most positive of the three.

So, no Shadow Lake for us on this hot summer day, but thank goodness for the soothing coldness of popsicles.

Heat Wave

We've been to the lake everyday during the heat wave, but here's a little of what's been going on besides that. Girls in princess costumes.

Outdoor fun on the playground, now that the wasp nest has been dealt with.

Sprinkler splashing to cool off.

Lena preferred the ball to the cold water.

In other news, there is an army of lillies blooming in the hot sun in front of the house.

Wes took the boys to the lake yesterday evening for day 6 in a row.  Heather had come down with a tummy bug so she and I stayed home.  Thunder showers rolled in overnight to hopefully break the heat wave and give these flowers a much needed drink.

Have a great weekend!

July 4th

Happy Belated July 4th everyone!  We celebrated the day by going to the Barton fairgrounds to see the tractor pulls. There were also some little games set up for kids. Wayne and Cole won these giant inflated hammers.  Great fun for kids, greatly annoying for Moms.  Eventually we met up with Julie, Estelle, Lena, and Joanie.

The tractor pull - mildly interesting.

Much more interesting was the maple house where Estelle got a maple lollipop, and Wayne, Cole and Heather got maple creamies.  I had to "help" Heather with hers (you know, by licking up the drips that were running down the cone) so I know that they tasted really good and really maply.

Lena didn't get a lollipop or a creamie.

Then we headed off to the barnyard to see some animals.

So pretty.

A little crowded in there...

We tried to go to the Barton parade, but had the time wrong so we missed it. Instead we went to Dorothy Perron's 80th birthday party down the road from our house. Then off to Shadow Lake where we met up with Peter, Jeanne, Katie, and Lizzy for some swimming, and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and some nice cool salads.

Joanie made this cute cake that she had seen in a magazine. The kids loved it, especially Cole.

Here are Estelle and Heather enjoying some of it.

Later that evening, Wes took the boys to the fireworks. These are a couple of photos that Wayne took with his own little camera.

Stay cool everyone, and GO JUMP IN A LAKE!!!