A Little Family Time

My nephew David had a baseball game at Grand Park last week so we stopped by to cheer him on.  The kiddos had more fun playing in a nearby vacant field with Hailey instead.

Matching orange hoods.

Friday there was an ice cream social on the circle and Auntie dropped by to surprise Maverick with an afternoon of fun.

First item on the list - ice cream!  With sprinkles and chocolate syrup of course.

Auntie kept Maverick dry while he enjoyed his toppings - she's simply the best!

What do you do when it's raining outside?  Hit the Park at YiaYia and Papou's church!  Unfortunately, it closed early for an event so their time there was short lived.

Luckily, the rain cleared and they headed out to do some exploring.

Maverick prefers to shade his eyes with his hands rather than use sunglasses.  So silly!

"M" is for Maverick.

I got a text from Auntie as I was on my way to meet them...something about how I was going to be mad but Maverick thought she was awesome...what kid doesn't love a little water?  Who cares if he's not wearing a swimsuit!?

Pure JOY.

Luckily, we were on our way to swim lessons so it was a nice segue.  And no Friday night would be complete without a post-lesson stop at Jack's! 

Sunday afternoon, Ryan and I ran to Costco alone (heaven!) while the kiddos hung out at YiaYia and Papou's.  They got a little artsy in our absence!

Hanging out waiting for the paint to dry.

The masterpiece and the proud artists!

This was in one of our church mailers that outlined their family faith plan.  These numbers certainly put things in perspective and boosted my motivation on where to prioritize my efforts and time!

Speaking of WHERE I spend MOST of my time with this one.  All.The.Time. 

This particular shot is in Kroger - but we're learning ALL public restrooms fairly well these days.  Flushable wipes remain in my purse at all times.  Lucky me.

Sunday afternoon, we met up with our Arizona and Colorado cousins and their kids as they were making their way to Ohio for a family vacation.  It was the first time I think all the great grandkids were together and they had so much fun together!  They weren't real excited about taking pictures though - it was pretty toasty outside, too!

Just the girl great grands.

We missed Steve who was in Chicago but it was so fun catching up together!

Happy 4th, Y'all!

Summer evenings have been spent congregating in our backyard lately and the kids love every minute of it!  Ryan and I even took advantage and ate dinner inside, just the two of us, as we watched from the sliding back door.  Win/win!

We made the long week an extra day longer last week and headed to Ohio for some amusement park fun with the family and asked Auntie Kate to join us!

The kids were SO excited to be there!

First stop was the Woodstock Express roller coaster.  All five of us rode it together and had a blast!

Not every ride we went on was as thrilling!

Maverick, Auntie and I rode the train while Phoebe and Ryan went to ride the Flying Ace Aerial Chase.  Phoebe became our little daredevil at the park while Maverick preferred to stay a bit closer to the ground!

This is as close to flying as we got!

Ryan wanted to ride the tall swings more than anything else.  Auntie drew the short stick and rode with him!  I'm so glad I got to keep my feet planted safely on the ground!

After the swings, Phoebe convinced Ryan to go on the Vortex.  She loved the entire experience but then promptly decided she wasn't a fan of going upside down six times!!!

We stuck to this roller coaster from that point on!

Good thing they're easy to thrill!

I have a feeling they're going to follow in their daddy's footsteps with the swings!

We also did the log ride and Maverick, Auntie and I got soaked!  It was only natural that the kids would want to stand on the deck for another water ride to see how wet they could get!

After dinner and a quick stop at Graeter's for some ice cream, we snuggled in for the night.  

Friday morning after breakfast, we headed to the pool.  Auntie tried really hard to get Phoebe's face in the water.  Three minutes after we arrived at that night's swimming lesson, Phoebe was fully under water so I know it had a LOT to do with Auntie's efforts earlier in the day!

Of course no trip to Ohio would be complete without Ikea and Jungle Jim's!

Maverick got a hold of my phone on our trip home. This was his picture of Ryan.

Maverick LOVES to poop in public places.  It's truly horrific some of the things that come out of his mouth while he's popping but I choose to laugh through it (and pray that we're the only ones in the room at the time).  In an attempt to clean our hands before dinner, Maverick turned to the hand dryers instead of the faucet and was pretty entertained with the results!

Saturday morning, we got up and headed to the CarmelFest parade.  We got spots right on the street but failed to bring a blanket or chairs so the kids entertained themselves while we waited for the festivities to start.

The man in the red hat kept throwing whatever candy he caught our way and now our house has more candy than we do at Halloween!

After the parade, we headed to the kids' area for some fun!

Auntie met us in time to go to Westfield Rocks the 4th.

MORE bounce houses!

Ryan has his job cut out for him!

Face painting!

Obstacle courses!

And a car show!

After dinner we headed home to grab a quick, much needed bath and put our pjs on.  Then we headed back out to find a good spot for watching the fireworks from a safe distance.  

We've never had the kids stay up to watch fireworks before.  Between the late nights and the loud noises, they just weren't ready.  I think we've finally reached the age where it is FUN to stay up and watch them!  And we're lucky enough that they still sleep through them when they're still going off at 11:30 at night!

Sunday we made it to the 11:00 service at church and then headed to YiaYia and Papou's!  See the sparkler in his hand?  He's so festive!

Phoebe loved throwing Gryphon the frisbee!

The Greats joined us for lunch and afterwards, Grandma tinkled the ivories.  She had a great day and impressed us with her ability to still play and sing!

Not to be outdone, the kids performed "Twinkle, Twinkle" and a few other songs.

When we started in with "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," Grandma got to her feet to dance.

LOVED the joy she was radiating!  What a great weekend celebrating our country's independence and spending time with precious family!