More Lake House Fun

We spent another fun trip in Tennessee at Dave's parents' lake house. It was just our family and his parents and we really enjoyed some relaxing time at their beautiful lake. Of course there was fishing (no actual catching, just attempts)...

The kids love going on Grandpa's sailboat because it has a "basement".

The kids had lots of fun driving the boats.

Anna got some cuddles in...

We decided to do something new and check out the dam. Benjamin has enjoyed learning about and creating dams this year and so it was a really neat opportunity to see one up close.

Couldn't resist the beautiful natural backgrounds...

The above pictures were taken from the other side of the dam. We then got to drive across the dam and see it from this side and see it by the water's edge.

Collin likes to sneak into the driver's seat every chance he gets...

Anna's pirate face.

Gotta cherish the sweet moments. ; )

Check out this action shot!

They would have walked across this a hundred times if we let them!

Little guy...big umbrella!

This little goat was so friendly at a park we visited!

Our pirates enjoyed an early morning ride in Grandpa's little boat.

There's a lot of personality in this little cupcake of mine! (We spent about five minutes taking pictures of her various silly expressions.)

Go Collin!

Looking for fish.

Taking a break in the cabin of the sail boat aka the basement.

We went for a ride on the speed boat to go see the dam from the water and enjoyed a nice long boat ride...

Collin LOVED this! He looked so much older in his cool sunglasses driving the boat!

Our crew...

Our family in front of the dam.

It was a VERY fun trip! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Cousin Time

Benjamin kicked off a new soccer season on Saturday.

I didn't get too many good pictures as a certain almost 2 year-old was being rather difficult, but Benjamin did great! He has so much fun and really tries his hardest. He stopped quite a few goals from going in and also scored the most goals on his team (3 or 4). We're very proud!

The stubborn, aforementioned almost 2 year-old was much happier when he got to visit the playground after the game... 

 After the game we packed up and headed to Dave's parents'. His sister, Kelly, and her son, Luke, are in town and so we wanted to spend some more time with them before they headed home. The kids all had a lot of fun together. Benjamin and Luke are especially cute! Benjamin loves him so much and is is sweet to him! Here's Luke in the football hat that I made for him to wear to his Dad's games....

Benjamin and Anna just kept hugging Luke over and over again. Collin would even get in on the action too. 

Benjamin and Anna LOVE the new video game system that Grandpa has (Kinect). They don't have to use any controllers....you just use your body to play the game, which made it super easy and super fun for them! 

 Daddy was out of town on a recruiting trip, so I was trying to keep the kiddos happy yesterday evening. We ended up enjoying some yummy popsicles on our porch and going for a nice walk. Aren't they cute on their new bench?

 Zoe (who despite being an old girl) still has a spring in her step.

Labor Day Extended Family Fun

After our Indiana Beach trip we drove to Dayton for our nephew, Jack's birthday party. It was a great time playing at a super cool park and enjoying some family time. Benjamin (our little Spider-man) loves this web climber.

 Collin-Ollin is turning into quite the brave guy when it comes to water fun....

 Look how beautiful his eyes are!

Anna (of course) spent most of her time with two of her favorite people on the planet...

Collin enjoyed a fun see-saw ride with the birthday boy and the assist of his awesome Uncle Mike.

The next day we drove to see Mike and Kathy's new house and enjoy a fun little reunion with all of Dave's siblings, their kids, and his parents. It was a really fun impromptu reunion! The kids had a great time with their cousins!

Indiana Beach

We spent all of last week with my extended family enjoying Indiana Beach. Here are the four grand kids ready to explore the amusement park...

Exploring the bridge.

We all really enjoyed going on the paddle boat.

There were a bunch of fun kiddie rides. The kids were in heaven!!

Anna loved going high!

The grand kids love "Grandpa's toy" (ipad)!!

On our second day at the park, we took a break from the amusement rides and drove about an hour away to a dairy farm. Dave and I had been when we were living in Lafayette. They had just opened then and we were amazed at how much they had added! It was a really fun place that I wish we were closer to!

Anna checking out the baby cows.

The boys and Grandma and Katrina checking out the adult cows as our bus drove through the barn.

The kids enjoyed the cow merry-go-round...

and playing on the ice cream slide and cheese climbing toy.

The house we were staying in was right next to the amusement park and on the lake. The boys enjoyed many fishing attempts...

I love this picture of them doing a pajama hug.

Collin wasn't interested in doing the rides until we talked him into riding these cars on the first day that went over a hill and around a track. He LOVED it!!!

The girls!

Anna was our adventure girl! She was so brave and would laugh and had the best time even on the fast rides. Sometimes she would be laughing so much that her face would change colors! She had a lot of fun going on the spinny rides with Grandma!

Such a good Daddy/Uncle!

Benjamin really enjoyed driving these cars.

Puddle jumpers...

Dave and Grandpa were brave and went across this zip line. Here's my Dad doing it..

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday with some yummy cake which Collin thoroughly enjoyed!!

More ride fun...

Collin loves airplanes so, so much!!

On the last two days it was finally warm enough to enjoy the water activities. The name (Indiana Beach) is a little deceiving as far as there being a beach. But we still had a lot of fun! Collin loved it when Grandpa would splash him up and down in the water.

Benjamin had a lot of fun in the beach area. Boys just love digging in rocks and sand!

Thank you Mom and Dad for a great vacation!!

This is all Collin would do at the beach area....climb up and down and up and down the steps that take you into the water.

There was a great splash pad area for more water fun!

Collin and Grandma with a rainbow.

Anna had so much fun!!

Me and my bug-a-boo in the water.

Collin's turn to get soaked. He surprised us by how brave he was in the water!

This was definitely the favorite ride. It would take them up high and then bounce up and down as the ride came back down and then do it all over again. They would put their hands up (just like Grandpa taught them) and laugh so hard as they bounced up and down! As soon as the ride stopped they put their cute little finger up and say "One more time?" EVERY time! : )

They really had such a great time!

See Dave in the red shirt? Wonder what he's doing....

Grandpa and Collin (above) and Benjamin and Anna are keeping their eye on him...

He's going up....

See the little spec near the top of that very tall tower in the back of the picture? That spec is my husband! He's crazy!!! In the bottom left corner you can see my Dad holding Collin to give perspective as to just how crazy (I mean high) he is!

He's flying!!!

I told Anna he looked like Peter Pan and she turned to me with the biggest grin and said, "He really does!"

It was so crazy hot the last day. So the kids enjoyed a yummy way to cool down. I like that the cup looks so big in Collin's hands!

Bet you can't guess what color Benjamin's ICEE was? : )

This was another favorite of Benjamin's. He loved driving the bumper cars with two different adults so that he could try to bump the other one as many times as possible. He was pretty good at it too! I love his expression here....he's keeping his eye on his Grandpa...

with good reason too...Grandpa got them!!

We were very blessed to have such a fun vacation and so many days to be together!!