June 2018

Yay me! Keeping on top of this blog thing! June was our first full month of summer break, and we squeezed a lot into those 30 days!

We began at the pool, of course, followed by lunch at Steak and Shake.

And then we made our yearly trek to MO. Every year has a lot of the same things, but we try to take on something different each trip as well. The kids wanted Harry Potter wands, so we made them out of chopsticks and hot glue.

Bella and her endless shell and rock collection.

This is one reason I love my Mom - she had a squirt gun fight with Ryan on the deck! So fun!

We go hard when we're there! And everything takes at least 20 minutes to get there, so that leaves time for a quick snooze...

Braum's Ice Cream is one of those things we always do because it's good ice cream and it's cheap! And they're very generous on their scoops!

The kids are never happier than when they're in the water. We tied ropes to the donuts, and they spent hours on them during the week. They really loved when boats came through and they could ride the waves. Then they made a game of trying to stand on them, which was hilarious to watch!

A new thing this year was buying a BB gun! The kids (and Joshua) spent lots of time doing target practice in the back yard.

Captain Bella!

We wanted to do GoKarts in Branson. Ryan and I hung out in the spectator area while Joshua and Bella took on Heavy Metal Highrise.

One new thing we did (as a family at least) was ride a mountain coaster. You get in this cart and ride down the mountain on a track. You get to control the speed. We all went separately at first, but Joshua and the kids wanted to go again, so I was official photographer.

We stopped at the overlook to watch the storm over Branson - it was pretty far off so we had a good view of lightning, but we were safe.

Another new thing was the Cinnamon Roll Place! It opened up while we were there and we HAD to support the local business!

Ryan really liked wearing his shooting glasses around. He struck this silly pose.

Bella is never happier than when she's around a book....or sugar!

We hiked! That was new for us. There's something peaceful and calming about walking among the trees.

And this view never gets old!

Ah, yes. The Butterfly Palace. Mom is a trooper to take us there every.single.time. We girls were the only ones that went this time and I had to practically drag Bella out of there after an hour and a half!

We tried a new ice cream place that had board games and magazines out.

And there was a special night for LEO families at Fritz's. Bella sure loves to climb!

Back home on Friday, our church camp started on Monday! Bella chose the zoology and weird science tracks, and Ryan chose Nerf wars and cooking! Both kids hopped in the car at the end of the day excited but exhausted! There was a contest each day for the "Wonder Plunger" (yep, just a toilet plunger painted gold) and both kids' groups won during the week.

Ryan's in the back left with his hand in the air.

Bella was spending the night with Bailey, so Ryan and I went out for brunch!

I took the kids to Whole Foods to try gelato.

It was cool enough one evening for a fire.

The kids have made up this crazy Uno game where they don't use any number cards - just the Draw Fours, Reverses, etc. Oh, and you have to start with 10 cards!

We went geocaching at a new park.

We helped with "Serve Noblesville" again. Bella crocheted a square for an afghan.

Ryan and I made sun catchers for a nursing home. We delivered them the next day to smiling residents.

We spent one morning at Sky Zone - a trampoline place. As in the floor in all the areas is a giant trampoline and you can shoot hoops, dive into a pit of foam blocks, play dodge ball, rock climb, and do their newest American Ninja Warrior course.

This is typical Bella. In her mermaid tail. A foot through each flipper. It took her forever to walk/hop from the living room to the kitchen for dinner.

We watch a lot of baking shows, and Bella got the bug to make chocolate chip cookies. She did a great job and we're enjoying them!