OWL RIDE!

Maggie has been working hard training for the OWL Ride and Saturday night was the night! I was a little nervous about how we were all going to do, but we did GREAT! Maggie didn't complain once and rode like a champ. Gracie pedaled the whole route and we all had a great time.

We got our bikes all lit up and ready to go. The ride started at 10pm and was 8 miles long.

All done and still smiling!

Maggie talked Grandma and Grandpa into riding along too. She told me she was worried
about them because they hadn't done enough training :)

Before the owl ride Maggie taught Great Grandma how to play UNO.

Sunday we stayed and did some swimming and enjoyed the pool.

It's FAIR TIME!

Maggie had her last softball game last week. It's amazing how much her team improved over the last year, they are fun to watch and really enjoy playing together. Maggie especially likes having Coach Dad on the field with her.

Tuesday night we took Maggie's fair entries to Madison, then we had to wait. I had a little birdy call and tell me how she did, but I decided to let her wait and find out on her own. Thursday she and Gracie took Grandma and Grandpa to the fair for the day and she saw her ribbons.

Her American Flag quilt got 1st place in the Jr. Quilting Division (she won $3 :))

She entered the picnic table she and Grandpa built in the Grandparent/Grandchild
craft category and got 3rd place. (She won $1.....I wonder if she split that with Grandpa:))

She was so PROUD of her entries (and her ribbons) and we went to "check on them" every day. She's already talking about what she'll enter next year.

Gracie ate several corn dogs during the fair....she's going through withdrawal this week.

...she convinced Elsie to eat one too :)

Aunt Laura, Uncle Mark and Elsie came to fair and rodeo with us on Friday!

That's Gracie peeking out over the top of the Farris Wheel car. She did that every time the car stopped....about gave me a heart attack...thankfully Jen had a death grip on her dress.

These 2 on a motorcycle scares me a bit....I hope it's not a glimpse of our future.

4th of July!

We spent the 4th of July at home in Norfolk this year. The weather was great and we got to spend lots of time with family and friends. The summer is flying by!

Maggie might have gotten her outfits mixed up :) Not really, she needed to move Jude back inside after a softball game.

The girls finished their swim lessons the day before the 4th. It was FREEZING and very wet. Looks great, huh?

Gracie and I made some 4th of July cookies....not everyone does that in their Santa pajamas!

The day before 4th of July Arnie was playing golf so the girls and I decided to bike to the Country Club
and catch a ride home. It wasn't our longest ride ever, but it was the hilliest one we'd ever tried. Maggie did awesome!

Friday night we went to Grandma and Pop's house and blew up a garage full of
fireworks!

 

Hard at work getting ready for the owl ride! We set out early on the 4th of July to bike downtown for the parade.

Lots of our friends came to swim with us in the afternoon!!!

And we got to play with Cooper and Ella, too!

 

We capped the night off with Big Bang Boom at Skyview Lake.

Annual Family Camping trip....

Funny thing, I'm WAY behind again. A couple of weeks ago we headed for Lake Shetak State Park in Minnesota for our annual family camping trip. We had perfect weather and an all around great trip. Maggie caught both a fish and a turtle, we went on lots of long bike rides and the kids are all getting old enough to entertain themselves for longer and longer periods of time :)

About half way through our ride Hailie determined she'd never go with us again :)

Gracie asked Grandpa to take her training wheels off, she practiced a little then put them back on.

One night the kids made us dinner. Walking Tacos were a hit.

Vadim couldn't be talked into participating in the family pull-up and push-up contest....must have been afraid of Uncle Lee!

These kids are pretty lucky to have a Great Grandma that can still camp with them! (actually I'm pretty lucky too!)

Maggie-7, Gracie-4, Elsie-2, Hailie-10, Connor-7

We hated to leave but were thrilled that the ride home was a quiet one :)