I sat down while the kids were napping today, Monday, to do a 'quick' blog post. When I uploaded all my pictures I realized we have been a tad busier than I thought and decided I wouldn't be able to get it done during nap time!! The above picture is Priya and Maddox. The weather has been rather nice the last couple of weeks so we've been outside most all days, if not all days. The kids love to run around in Priya's backyard. She has a huge willow tree which provides lots of shade…and lots of whips for Kennon to swish around…. :)
June 27th the kids and I headed out to the cemetery to visit Grammy's box and then to the zoo. I can't believe it has already been a year since mom passed. She loved to go to the zoo with the kiddos so we thought we'd honor her and stop by on the way from the cemetery. We dropped off some fresh cut daisies to her grave site, made a quick pit stop in Orion and then hit the animals. The kids opted for their one activity to be riding the ponies instead of riding the train, which is their usual. They both had a great time.
Maddox on Snowflake and Kennon on Chestnut. Maddox normally rides Doughboy but he was back in the stable out of commission with some sort of eye issue, but we got to say hello and wave to him which made Maddox's day. She was very worried about him.
More zoo pictures…I struggle to get them to both look at the camera with blog worthy smiles!!
Several Saturdays throughout the summer, the City of Bettendorf puts on Movies in the Park. They put up a big movie screen in one of the newer parks in Bettendorf and show popular movies at dusk. We opted for the weekend they were showing Frozen. The kids were really excited…although dusk in the summer time is really quite late…the movie didn't start until 9:15 so we packed up about 10:15 as the kiddos were getting tired. But I was glad we went and I think this will definitely be on our 'to do' list as the kids age.
Another afternoon in the sun with our good buddy Priya…this time it was sprinkler time on the swing set. The slide was SUPER slippery with the water and they FLEW off the end into the soft grass. So fun!!
Last week the kids and I REALLY took advantage of me not working, packed up and headed to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean's house for some fun!! They showered the kids with love…and of course lots of new toys. Kennon loved this new remote control dump truck.
More important than toys, the kids got their first fishing lesson from Grandpa Jim on Monday, in preparation for our first official fishing trip on Tuesday morning. I think Maddox's Sophia dress and crown 'surely' made the casting more fun!! Both kids were thrilled to keep practicing their skills at practicing with the poles. Unfortunately when it actually came to fishing the kids' attention spans didn't quite match up with the time it was taking to get the fish to bite so we didn't catch anything. But, that's ok…I think there will be many more opportunities to go fishing with Grandpa Jim. They have been asking to fish again since we got home.
Kennon wanted to fish 'THAT DAY'… that exact moment etc…you know how an excited 3 year old thinks. So Grandpa Jim had to show him the storms that were on the horizon on his phone…. Some storms 'eh….. Crazy Monday night!! After it passed I spied a rainbow. Grandpa Jim helped the kids see it from his back deck.
Friday the 4th we packed up Sienna with the wagon, chairs, sunscreen, sunglasses and the Kubalsky's ( Carl, Priya, and Elisha) and headed down to the Bettendorf 4th of July parade. It was perfect weather and a perfect candy catching environment. We all had a good time. Then Friday night we drove out to Grand Mound, IA to see some state of the art fireworks. We sat with our friends the Wentlands in Megan's childhood home. Grand Mound has a fabulous fireworks display. I was pleasantly surprised neither of the kids was afraid of the loud noise from the fireworks and both had a good time. In fact Kennon asked to see more fireworks tonight!!
Maddox, Priya, Kennon…waving to the firetrucks… Maddox plugging her ears…!!
About every other float in the parade gives out freezer pops!! The kids grabbed them from anyone and everyone :) A little sugar to go with all the fun!!
This float was the COOLEST…I had to take a picture of it. It was made by a scrap metal shop in Blue Grass and was really phenomenal…everything was made out of scrap metal and very ornately placed to create a steaming volcano and a dinosaur that breathed fire and opened it's mouth…!! It was so cool and even cooler was the fact that they were shooting and I mean shooting water from the float itself. They must have had air compressors hooked up to their hoses because the water came out as strong as a fire hose!! So fun.
Kennon, Maddox, Nyle, Jason, and Nolan Wentland… Waiting for fireworks in Grand Mound
Nyle and Maddox waitin' for the show.
These were taken with my iPhone!! Pretty cool. The beauty of Grand Mound is Megan's house is SUPER close to the shoot off spot so you basically sit right under them. Super cool. Thanks to the Wentlands for inviting us and to the Mineck's for making us feel like we were right at home.
This was the only time I saw KTK covering his ears…. Grand Mound sort of tricks you with like 'the grand finale' that won't quit'…and they seem to get brighter and louder as the show continues.
Today we met some of my Orion friends at a new spray park…well new to us… over in Milan, IL!! This spray park was made to SOAK you!! It has tons of cool sprayers and a fence around it so that's nice for the little ones who want to try and escape. My good friend actually rented out the place for us and few of her other friends so it was great to have free reign over the sight. So fun. We brought a picnic lunch and then headed home for naps. Check out those smiles…!!
Maddox doing a pose in the middle of the spray tunnel….
Kennon was thrilled to see all the squirt guns…or rather squirt sprayers as we like to call them. Becky brought like 10 and then some of the other moms brought a few too…Kennon was in heaven.
Well…it's now Monday night…phew…I made it…just in time for bed. Up early to meet my running buddy at 5:15AM!!!
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