Minnesota Trip

We had such a great time in Minnesota last week.  It was a trip with not a lot of sleep for most of us but packed with lots of fun activities and cousin time.  This was also the first time staying in a hotel with Lincoln that he can really remember since the last time he was 1 so it took him awhile to figure out the experience.  He kept asking when we were going to go back to our yellow house to sleep J.

The hotel was really nice and had a huge indoor waterpark attached so we spent lots of time swimming.  I didn’t get many pictures but the boys loved the wave pool and huge raft water slide.

Trying the famous Juicy Lucy.  It was amazing J.

We spent Saturday at the Minnesota zoo which was really nice.  They had several bear exhibits so Lincoln was in heaven and also had a dinosaur exhibit which the boys loved.  Ainsley was a trooper and amazing through all of it.  She went a long time with no nap and did really well.

Sunday we walked around Lake Harriet and ate lunch before heading back home.  The boys were exhausted so we thought the drive home would be a piece of cake with lots of sleeping kids but boy were we wrong.  They all pretty much were awake the entire trip until we got to Ames and then we looked back and they were all passed out.. go figure. 

It was a great time but I’m glad it will be awhile before we do that again.  We were ready for early bedtimes on Sunday and a slower week to catch up on our sleep from the 4^th and then vacation.  Hard to believe summer is officially half way over.

4th of July 2016

We had such a great 4th of July weekend this year!  Friday night I took Gavin and Wyatt to Yankee Doodle Pops.  The orchestra put on an amazing show and the boys loved the fireworks although it was a pretty late night by the time we got home.

Saturday we lounged around at home and then had a bbq at Jen's house.  It was kind of crazy how cool the weather was this year.  Sunday we headed over to the Urbandale carnival.  We played a little at the park nearby in the morning since we got there too early and then headed back for some rides.  Lincoln and Wyatt both went down the big slide and then Lincoln, Wyatt and I rode the tilt-a-whirl.  Wyatt loved it but Lincoln was a little scared.  Gavin wasn't too into the rides this year but did do a fun bounce housed and they all played a game.

 

Monday we headed to the Urbandale parade and again had amazing weather.  All the kids did great especially Ainsley for her first parade other than getting hit with a big piece of candy.  We had lunch at Keith and Jan's house afterwards and then the littles took naps while the bigs played at grandma's for awhile.  Everyone was pretty tired so Gavin was the only one that stayed up for the fireworks.  The loud noises kind of bothered him so we watched from our living room window but the fireworks this year were amazing.  They were huge and so pretty.  I'm glad we stayed up for them.  Only bummer was that our neighbors let off their own until about 1 am so a very late night with little sleep.

Baseball 2016

I'm sad to say that baseball season is officially over for the year.  We had such a fun time watching Gavin play this year.  He had a really great team of coaches and kids that he played with and he's really improved from last year.  I know it's not his favorite of all the sports that he plays but he has fun with the kids when he's out there and I hope he'll keep it up for a few more years at least.  It's so fun to spend time at the ball fields and the fact that we can just walk there from our house is an added perk.

As mentioned before we've had some anxiety issues with Wyatt so he made it to one practice and one game (where he watched his team from the dugout).  To help prevent his issues from getting even worse we decided it just wasn't worth it to try and fight him and make him continue participating this year which was a little of a bummer because he looked so dang cute in his uniform.  I'm hoping that with going to kindergarten and meeting a bunch of new friends he'll feel more comfortable and ready next year and we can give it another try and next year.