and then there was june...

June started out with lazy days spent splashin' around in the pool, riding bikes and scooters and sleeping in.

Then the madness started with Vacation Bible School. 

Adeline brought her good friend along all week and they had a blast together!

Millie also had a friend come with her and stuck pretty close to her cousin Ruby too!

And, of course, Tate had Harper.  :)

(FYI - it was crazy sock day... incase you were wondering)

Our favorite day was probably Backwards Day.

 That Friday night wrapped up our 2011-12 season of shows at the Civic Center.  This was also our last weekend before Chad left us for 2 weeks.  He got a new position teaching engineering at the high school this fall, so he had to go to U of I for a 2 week course.  

We decided to get tickets for next season again too.  We count this as gifts for each other for every holiday/event for the entire year.  Birthday, anniversary, Christmas, Mother's/Father's Day... you name it - we already have our gift for each other and it lasts all year! :)  We love it because it takes the pressure off of trying to buy the perfect gift for each other all the time.  Especially because Chad is so dang picky... ;)

That Saturday, we spent the afternoon at Big Creek, enjoying some quality time with Daddy.

On Sunday, which was actually Father's Day, we went to church and then it was time for Chad to leave. We said our goodbyes and he went to Iowa City and the kids and I headed down to my parents' house where we celebrated Father's Day, without Chad! *sniff*, and spent the week there too.

 Here's our Father's.  Aren't they a group of handsome men?

Addie and Clara felt pretty special eating at the "Big Girls' Table."

Millie, Ruby and Taryn built a huge staircase!

Me, my bros and my pa.

I really couldn't have a better dad!

We had a lot of fun at Nana and Baba's house that week.

 Addie wore matching shirts with Baba.  Or maybe hers is more of a dress?

We enjoyed the hot temps by running in the sprinkler.

Nana spoiled us with popsicles.

The kids repaid her by watering her flowers.

We went and fed the ducks at the pond with Kaiden and Taryn.

It was so exciting I could barely contain myself. :)

Actually, I was mostly excited about where we were going next...

We love our ICE CREAM!!!

The next week we headed back to our house, where we stayed for less than 4 days, and then left on the 29th to pick up Chad and headed to Michigan! 

Those pics coming next...

2 months later...

So, yeah, I haven't updated this ol' blog in about 2 months... I think that may be a new record for me.  But we actually have done some stuff since May!  In fact, we've hardly been home, which is what I'm using as my excuse for not blogging.  :)

So, let me back up a few months (don't worry, I won't unload the whole 2 months in one post). 

After Chad was done teaching in May, we took a weekend, dropped our kids off at my parents' house and went to the Amana colonies.  For Christmas, my parents gave us a gift certificate for a room at the Zuber Homestead Hotel.  It was beautiful and so spacious and comfy! We will definitely stay here again!  Our room actually had 2 queen beds in it.  You can only see one in this pic:

On Friday afternoon, we thought it'd be fun to go to a few shops.  Then this happened:

And happened a little more:

But we didn't let that get us down! We just sat on a bench, relaxed and had fun hanging out.

And we enjoyed our fresh "squeaky" cheese we had just purchased at the General Store.

When the rain stopped, we ventured out for dinner at The Ronneburg.

 Where I had my long-awaited Chicken Schnitzel and spaetzle.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a rain-free day walking around the shops and eating more good food.  We ended the day with some ice cream.

Don't judge me by the size of my ice cream bites.

That next Sunday was the day before Memorial Day, so we dressed the kids up in their red, white and blue.

That night we decided to "camp" at our house.  We roasted hotdogs over the fire...

and ate them in our pop-up camper in the driveway.

The kids practiced sleeping after dinner.  We all slept in the camper that night while it rained.  This was the first time we'd had it open in the rain, so we were relieved to know it really is leak-proof! :)

But before bed, we played some bocce ball in the backyard.

And ended the night with stories and games around the campfire.  It was perfect!

Well, we made it through the rest of May.  Now I just have all of June and most of July to catch up on.  Stay tuned... ;)