Boot camp!

Avery's dance school had their competition boot camp this week. It's a kick off for the new season and they learn a lot of the dances they are going to compete with during the season. This is Avery's first year on company and she's really enjoying it! The first day she got an improvement award!

Chicago Snowballs Game

We went to see the Chicago Snowballs game on Saturday night. Its like a smaller version of the Bananas kind of sportstainment. We went with Erin and Brett's family and met up with Keely's family as well. My cousin Kyle was there with his family for a birthday party, so we got to see him as well.

Hard to see here, but that's a pitcher on stilts and a double stack of batters!

Erin bought the boys the bat to drink out of! :)

Tornado in DG

While we were on vacation, Ruth fell and broke her hip. She had surgery the day we were driving home. On Monday, I took the girls to visit her in the hospital. It was supposed to be a quick visit and then we were going to grab lunch. The weather had another plan for us! A big storm came through and there was a tornado warning for the whole area so we were stuck at the hospital on the 3rd floor. They moved all the patients into the middle of the floor near the nurses' station. We waited out the tornado warning and then headed home. Milo and Matt had camped out in the basement until the storm went through. We saw so many trees down and storm damage on our drive home. We later learned that a tornado had touched down in DG!

Vacay - the final days

We finished off the week with some more beach time. Then, back at the house, we made cotton candy! We also took family pictures in the shirts Sandi made everyone! I think the ladies played about 50 games of Rummikub and a few games of Word Yahtzee throughout the week! We all had a great time and we were sad that vacation was over! :(

Vacay - Thursday - Lake Arvesta

We went to Lake Arvesta again this year and the kids had a blast! It's a floating obstacle course, a big waterslide and a cable park where you can kneeboard while holding onto a cable. Everyone is required to wear a life jacket. Last year, we just used the ones from the place, but this year we brought ours. This year, Erin rented the boat for an hour so the kids could go tubing. They all loved that, too!

Avery and Hunter took a turn at the end. Hunter hurt his leg on an earlier ride, so he was sitting out. Avery isn't a huge fan of tubing, so she was just enjoying the boat ride. But, the boat driver said he would be nice to them!

Vacay - Wednesday

The girls and I did a little shopping because we had a few exchanges from the ladies shopping trip the day before. Then, we came back and spent some down time at the house enjoying the pool and sunshine!

We had Alison take our family pictures again this year. We had a perfect night with a gorgeous sunset. Here are some pics I took, but I'll post her pics once we get them back!

L-O-V-E

Can't believe how these three have changed!

Vacay - Tuesday

On Tuesday, the ladies went shopping! We did really well this year and found way too many good deals! While we were shopping, Matt took the girls to Stray Dog for lunch.

Working on their tans!

We barely had room to sit in the car with all our purchases!

Papa made ice cream for everyone - the kids helped

Ross made pork tenderloins in the fryer

Morgan spent a lot of time on the basketball court

Finally get to taste the ice cream!

More games on the patio

Vacay - Sunday and Monday

We went to Michigan with my extended family for a week. We probably had the best weather we've ever had on this annual trip! We stayed at a house in Union Pier.

The kids played a lot of games! They are all getting older and like to play games.

Cheers to a fun week!

Of course, we had to check out the nearest beach. The water was cold, but that didn't stop these kids!

They logged lots of time in the hot tub!

And we kicked off the week with a trip to Oinks!

The house had a nice pool with a basketball hoop.

I think this picture speaks for itself. :)