Jellystone

Well, we had another amazing year at Jellystone!

The kids were so excited to see each other when we all arrived!  The first night we all unpacked and just relaxed around the campsite and the playground.

Day two we hit the water first thing in the morning!

 Then there was a tornado alert and we rushed back to our cabins!  I really didn't mind it though!  We played some Uno and got to relax a bit!

It gave me a chance to just relax and read my book.

And the kids attempted to make slime.  It didn't work but they had a blast trying!

It finally cleared up just in time for dinner.

Harper was so cute hanging out with the girls!

Then it was time to get all cozy and head to bed!

The kids love sleeping in the bunk beds.

The next morning the weather was beautiful so we headed to the water!  

This year the girls were big shots and could go out on their own in the boats.  I still can't believe that they are old enough to go out there alone!!!!!!

After a great dinner and some fun visitors we headed out for some fishing!

 Claire caught a big one!

Oliver didn't get one but he wasn't giving up just yet!

They fished for a while but the fish weren't really biting!

The next day the weather was a little yucky so we skipped the water and decided to do some other fun stuff.

This year the got rid of the pedal carts and now they have a huge jumping pillow which the kids LOVED!

Then the kids did laser tag and Mark tried his hand at GaGa Ball!

After that we decided to tie dye some shirts.  Things got a little silly and Oliver got sprayed with some dye!

We had a whole team working on it and we got all of the dye off of Oliver's face!

 After the shirts the kids decided that they didn't care about the weather and they wanted to play at the beach.  So we headed down to the water.

Nana and Papa came up for a visit and the kids were thrilled to see them!

After dinner Oliver couldn't wait to do a little fishing with Papa.

So we all headed down for some fun!

Harper fished for a bit but really loved hanging out with everyone!

She did fish a little bit with her new pole!

Mark caught a big one too!!

Then it was time to head down to the "Hey, Hey, Hey Ride"!

I love how much fun the kids have at Jellystone but I have to say that I love hanging out with two of my greatest friends!  I love just sitting around chatting and relaxing together!!!

But these little monsters really make the trip fun!

Seriously, could they be any cuter?!

 The boys loved the hey ride!

The annual picture with Yogi!

All my favorite Jellystone buddies!!!

After the hey ride it was back to the fire to enjoy our last night!

 The next morning we sadly packed everything up and headed home.  But not before we got one last trip in to the water park!

The kids loved every last second at Jellystone!

I absolutely love this trip and I am so sad when it is over every year.  I can't believe that this was our 6th year coming here!  Every year the kids get a little older and I get a little sad thinking that they will be a whole year older next time we come!!!

'TIL NEXT YEAR JELLYSTONE!!!!

Marigold 2017

After Claire's sleep over I had to get it together and head out to my annual golf tournament!

Even though they changed our format, we still had an amazing time!  Year six and going strong!

Slumber Party

So it finally happened, Claire wore me down and she was finally able to have her first sleep over!!!

Claire has a really nice group of friends and they had a BLAST!

We tie dyed hats!

Claire chose cupcakes and the girls had fun singing.

Then we opened some gifts.

Claire got a fun new game and the girls had a blast playing Eggedon!

Then it was time for the ESCAPE ROOM!  They had to complete 4 puzzles to get a four digit code to unlock the lockbox to get the key to get out of the escape room!

I am not sure who had more fun with the Escape Room, the girls or me and Mark!!!  We spent a few hours putting it together and had a blast!

So we set the timer for 35 minutes and then locked the girls in.  Mark even put a new doorknob on Claire's door to lock them in and used one of his real estate lock boxes!

The girls did a great job and only needed one time extension!!!

After the Escape Room the girls celebrated with root beer floats.

Then it was time for a movie and bed!!  Which basically meant that they started a movie and talked and giggled for the next 4 hours.

It was late but sleep finally took over.

In the morning they enjoyed some delicious pancakes.

And the girls headed home.  

Claire had such a great time and she was so sad when it was over (and EXHAUSTED)!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET CLAIRE!  ENJOY DOUBLE DIGITS!!!!

That's A Wrap

The kids finished acting camp and I can honestly say they loved EVERY second of it!

They made lots of friends and learned a lot! 

On the last day the kids got to show us some of the stuff that they learned.

Then they each put on a short skit with their groups.

It was so cute!  The groups even wrote their own scripts!

The kids loved Miss Victoria.

They loved Mr Jesse too!

Claire really loved the camp.  It brought out a very confident and dramatic side to her :)  

Overall, it was an awesome camp and we will definitely go back next year for Act 2!

Happy Anniversary

On July 12th Mark and I celebrated 14 years of marriage!  We had a great day date while the kids were at acting camp.  We had a nice quiet lunch and then enjoyed a tour of the Darwin house.  

The house was gorgeous!  

And we loved the tour!  We were with a lovely group of people from our local senior center.  They were super sweet and loved celebrating our anniversary with us.  They were also there to witness Mark touch EVERY single thing in the house, then when I touched ONE thing the tour guide hollered at me!  They got a real kick out of that!

We had a wonderful day to celebrate an amazing 14 years.  I am so grateful that I have such an incredible partner and friend in Mark!  We make a pretty good team and it has been such a great journey so far.  I can't wait to see what the next 14+ years old for us!

Acting Camp

This year we decided not to do summer camp, well Mark and I decided not the kids.  The kids were devastated and not happy about it at all.  But with all the sports this summer it just didn't work in our schedules.  So we let the kids each choose a week long camp to do.  Oliver chose hockey camp and Claire chose acting camp.  When Oliver heard about the acting camp he wanted to join in as well! The kids are having an absolute blast and I can't wait to see their little show on Friday!!! 

Summer Fun

On Sunday we finally had a gorgeous summer day but, due to our crazy busy schedules there wasn't enough time to go to the beach so we set up the slip and slide and hung out in the backyard!

I had so much fun just hanging out with my buddies!

They even played super nice together (for a while at least)!

Oliver loved running around the yard before slippin and slidin!

Claire relaxing!

Always time for a smooch from my man!

Seriously, they are the best!

After soccer and a nice dinner on the patio we decided to keep the summer fun going and have a nice fire in the backyard!

Nana and Papa joined us and we had a very nice night (Miss Amy and Lucy also made an appearance)!

One of our neighbors gave us some huge sparklers and the kids loved using them!

Oliver a little more than Claire!

He couldn't get enough of them!!!

And of course, Oliver loved chatting away with Papa!!!

Overall, it was a wonderful summer day!!!!

Sharing

While redoing Claire's bedroom the kids had to share a room for a few nights.  They claimed that they hated it but I think they secretly loved it!! Each night they would read before bed.

And then in the morning we would find them like this!

Fourth Of July

Yet another amazing Fourth Of July has passed!  We spent the 4th in our usual way!  We had dinner, the parade, and then the fireworks with our buddies the Cappellis!

This year the Cappellis surprised us with a special cake for Claire to celebrate her birthday!

I love these knuckle heads!

After dinner and cake it was time to hit the parade!

I even got a  nice picture with my buddies!

Happy Fourth Of July!!!

Oliver's Birthday

Oliver had a blast celebrating his birthday at Gymnastics Unlimited!!

He had a blast celebrating his day with all of his buddies!!!