Another Fun Summer Weekend (in reverse)

(I put the next 3 post in reverse chronological order- sorry)
On Saturday evening, we headed to Bancroft and spent the night with my parents. It was nice to be home, it had been awhile, but it always feels good to be there.

(My immediate family) On Sunday, we had the annual Gray reunion. It's my mom's side of the family- I love to get together with my aunts and uncles and cousins, I just wish we could do it more often. I have such admiration for my Grandpa and Grandma Gray- there are many reasons, but one of the main reasons is they raised seven of the nicest and kindest people you could meet. They all married 7 wonderful people- they laugh together, tease and have fun. And then each of them had kids- and in my opinion all the grand kids turned out well also. I just know for a family to be this blessed that Grandpa and Grandma are sitting up in heaven, praying for us and all of our good fortunes
(The seven kids with their spouses- youngest to oldest)In my calculations, all 7 siblings were there along with their spouses, 15 out of 21 grand kids and 25 out of 28 great grand kids,pretty cool to see all of us, all because 2 people fell in love!

(The First Cousins)The day was spent eating great good food, wonderful conversation, games of softball and volleyball.

Cale thought his newest cousin was pretty sweet, only a couple weeks old, Scarlet.

Another Fun Summer Weekend (cont)

On Friday afternoon we headed to outside of Ruthven, Iowa where my sister Sherri parks her camper and boat for the summer on Lost Island Lake. The kids enjoyed the boat ride with their cousins, also playing at the beach and sleeping in the camper all together.

Eric was happy that he got two opportunities to go skiing while we were there. He got up right away and stayed up until he was wore out. It was a little too windy to go tubing, maybe next time.

Cale driving Uncle Jay's boat.

Zach took us in circles when he drove Uncle Jay's boat.

Another Fun Summer Weekend

We left last Thursday morning and went to Storm Lake and stayed at King's Pointe Water park and Hotel. When we arrived we were initially disappointed because the indoor water park was closed due to mechanical problems. However, the weather was nice enough both days to spend at the out door water park. We were able to meet up with some of my college friends and enjoyed catching up with them in the evening.

In the picture below, we are standing on a dock on Storm lake looking towards the water park. They have really remodeled this area and has a lot of fun things to do. Besides the waterpark, there is also a nice beach and a really fun park.

The boys resting after two full days of swimming.

Check out Zach- before this summer, he didn't like putting his head under the water, by the time we left on Friday, Zach was diving to the bottom of the pool and swimming, just in time for swimming lessons, which started today.

Cale- he just loved being in the water, playing, splashing, jumping and going down the little slides.

Summer Fun

I Love Summer- maybe not quite as hot as it was today, but I personally prefer weather like this any day over 20 degrees below zero, I think I was meant to live in the south.

We seem to pack in as many fun events as we can in the 12 weekends of the summer. Here is an example from our past weekend. It started at 7:00 on Friday night where we went to the Iowa Cubs game with 3 other families. The weather was perfect, the boys did really well considering the game lasted over 3 hours and neither of them are big baseball fans, but we made it to the fireworks and they both really enjoyed that. 11:30 to bed. Up and at them to hit the Johnston Green Day parade- the boys like parades and where else do you get free candy and cheap entertainment. Very nice parade. A quick stop to visit my Uncle Harold in the nursing home, grab some lunch and then lets swim for 3 hours. We went to the Urbandale pool, which has a large indoor pool and a kids area outdoors. I thought that was perfect for such a hot day, it saved my from applying sunscreen every hour on my super white family. Back to home for supper, the boys rest and play at home, I head out to get together with some girlfriends from my former job- fun to catch up and talk nurse stuff. To bed. Up and ready to go to a day at Adventureland.

When I was a kid I loved amusement parks, I thought I should try and own one so I could go on the rides over and over again. What happened to me, I like the rides still, but I need to take it a lot slower, plus Eric and I needed the help of 2 doses of dramine (motion sickness medicine) to get through the day. We said from the beginning, we would let the boys decide how long we stay- since it was kind of there thing. 10 hours later, Eric and I decided we were leaving. The boys had a ball. We got Cale on the log ride and the raging river, of course as luck would have it he got drenched on both and decided once was enough. Zach loves all the spinning rides- (yeah) and I convinced him to go on the roller coaster with me and the look on his face still brings a smile to me, of course it was the look of terror and then when we were done he loved it, but once was enough for him also. Adventureland also added a water area with several small slides- we spent a couple hours in there, perfect for a hot day.

We spend Mon and Tues, getting things put away and cleaned up from the past weekend and Wed and Thursday preparing for the next weekend. I love summer, my only wish I would work 2 days and play 5 days.

Happy Father's Day

Even though I don't get to spend the day with my dad today; I will be thinking of how God blessed me with such a great dad! I do take for granted that I have a dad that I know loves me, provided me all the things I needed growing up, encouraged me and taught me so many things. My dad knows how to fix and make almost anything, if something is broken or needs to be made- I think I need to ask my dad about that- he will know what to do.

I am also lucky enough to have a great father-in- law also. I am thankful he helped raise Eric to be the kind of man he is today.

Happy Father's Day to the father of my kids. When I fell in love with Eric, I knew he would be a great husband and I had hopes he would be an amazing dad and he is! The boys are in love with him, because he is there for them, plays with them, teaches them, corrects them and most of all loves them back.

Lauen Family Reunion

Today, we went to Marshalltown and enjoyed the day at Eric's parents house for the Lauen Reunion (Dianne's side of the family). The weather was perfect, all the kids played well together, the food was delicious, you could not have asked for a better day. The group
Papa Marvin and Grandma Dianne with the grandkids: Zach, Owen, Cale and Shelby

The Marvin Josten Family: Brian, Lynne, Shelby and Owen Bovenmyer, us and Eric's Parents- Marvin and Dianne

Eric's cousin Jo Hafermann, husband Scott, kids Jeffrey, Samantha and Lyndsey

Eric's Unlce Bob's family with wife Sandy their two kids Nick and Kim and Kim's husband and her kids: Ethan, Megan and Teegan

Cale having fun in Grandpa and Grandma's Backyard