After we got home from Colorado we kept the summer fun activities a going. My three cousins from Indiana and their children were showing their cattle at a Hereford Expo up in Madison the weekend following the 4th of July. We drove up to see them and learn a thing a two about showing cattle, caring for and managing cattle. It was quite the experience and I am thankful we were able to expose the kids to such a work ethic driven type culture. The picture above is Kennon and I at the 'Art on the Square' fair at the Madison capital. We hit the fair before we went to see the cows. The last time Eric and I went to this fair I was pregnant with Maddox. Phew…time flies.
Where's Kennon????
Maddox taking her first official 'pet' of Frosty…one of the heifers the Strueh family owns and shows.
The Strueh, Maddox, and Kavicky camp….complete with food and essentials for the cows and humans….and a basketball hoop for fun! Our kids loved playing with their second cousins Zach and Nate.
Lynn, my cousin, and her husband Kurt were excellent tour guides. They took us around the grounds, teaching us the ins and outs of showing and taking care of the cattle. This is the arena where the cows were 'paraded' ( I'm certain that is not the correct term!) in front of the judges. But before the competition could start each cow had to be weighed and measured and checked for any diseases. You can see the cows and their owners down on the show floor waiting their turn to be logged in.
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| Lynn and Kurt were super great at letting our 'cow novice' kiddos get in on some of the action of taking care of the cattle. Here Lynn is letting each child take a turn at filling the cows' feed buckets. |
Kennon's turn to dump it in…..
AFTER the cows were fed it was time for us to eat….. :) Cows first…people second at this show! Lynn and Kurt ordered in pizza and we all pulled up a yard chair right next to the resting cows. One big happy family.
The cattle typically get a bath two times per day during the show season…. and if not bathed twice a day, then bathed once usually in the morning and then sprayed down later in the day. Their fur being spotless is a key to showing and receiving high marks. Kurt let each kiddo take a turn at spraying the cows. So fun! Kennon getting a little help from Kurt.
Now Maddox's turn….
After the spray down the hair must be brushed…and brushed in a certain way. Reid and Maddox both took a turn….I think Kennon was back to playing basketball by this point :)
If it looks like she is vacuuming Frosty…guess again…blow drying Frosty! ( and please forgive me Lynn if this isn't frosty) After the bath, then the brushing, comes the blow drying. Each homestead has it's own set, if not more than one set, of blowers to dry their cattle…. again the fur ( or hair..I'm not sure of the correct term) must be blown dry to stay nice and neat for showing. We REALLY had a great time. Not only was it nice to see Lynn, Amy, and Clay ( my three cousins) and to spend time with their spouses and kiddos I sure enjoyed learning about the cattle. It literally takes hour upon hour to care for these creatures. I honestly had no idea how much time and effort went in to showing cattle. We were happy to be able to expose Maddox and Kennon to such a sport. Thank you to the Strueh, Maddox and Kavicky family for welcoming us and the Knowles family into their activities for the day!
Kennon in the famous big green chair at my favorite garden store!
A few Friday's ago the Family Museum unveiled it's new outdoor play structure. We had donated to the construction project many months ago and we have been anxiously awaiting the new playground. We were invited to the opening ceremony. The new area is 'airplane' themed and is complete with a futuristic merry go round…which the kids adored. We are looking forward to spending some great time at the new playground this fall as we return to our museum activities.
What summer isn't complete without a few trips to Whitey's? Maddox, Priya and Kennon enjoying their treats!
Priya, Kennon, Alina, and Maddox enjoying the Radio Wagon. We've enjoyed lots of backyard play time with Priya on nice afternoons and evenings. It is great to just send the kids out to play now that they are old enough to navigate the neighborhood and stay out of the street!
Maddox participated in a two week long theatre camp a couple of weeks ago. It was put on by the Pleasant Valley High School Theatre department and is a fundraiser for their needs throughout the year. I was throughly impressed with the theatre staff's ability to teach 64 kiddos ages 6-15 a totally legit musical in only 10 days! They had two performances on the final day of the camp. The musical was called Honk Jr and was a modern day spin on The Ugly Duckling. Maddox had a GRAND time and we are all still sining the songs …. ;) She practiced and practiced her songs each night. The performance was 90 minutes long and had several large speaking parts and then the ensemble. Maddox tried out for one of the large speaking parts ( as all of the students were encouraged to try out in front of the theatre staff to build confidence/experience etc). She did not get one of the large parts…which was perfectly fine as she enjoyed being in the ensemble and learning the dances associated with each song. She is our little performer and even since the show she has been singing like crazy!! The kid does not stop singing…songs from K-Love…songs from the performance….her Bible school songs. To say the Kies house is currently a calm, serene, quiet place right now would be entirely incorrect ( although is it ever calm and peaceful ?? LOL!) I enjoy listening to her. She is able to carry a tune and is even starting to pick up on harmonies as well. We'll see where my little performer takes us next.
The theatre staff had the Kona Ice truck be outside the high school after the matinee performance. It was a sultry day…all these poor kiddos dressed in the black theatre garb certainly needed a little cooling off from the Kona Ice man. Kennon was sure to get in on the action as well.
I was so thankful that Papa Dick and Miss Erika were able to come over to see Maddox perform on stage for the first time. They brought her flowers for after the show and were able to give her the extra special grandparent 'kudos'!! Kennon happily sat through both the 90 minute matinee performance AND the evening 90 minute performance like a trooper!! He TOO has learned all the songs.
Kennon accidentally fell off the neighbors pool slide ladder. He skinned up his face a bit but luckily bounced and was back at it later in the week.
Several of the neighborhood moms and I attended a fun girls' night out a couple of weeks ago. It was a 'relaxed' string art event at a cool art shop in downtown Davenport. Everyone enjoyed themselves.....stringing and drinking :) The shop let us bring in our own snacks and drinks for the event. Super fun!
With the great summer weather my flowers have taken off. We've been able to enjoy endless bouquets.
Maddox got the opportunity to go to church camp a couple of weeks ago. Our church brings in a traveling Christian day camp company called Springhill. It is based out of Indiana but travels all over the Midwest. She had a great time. She was in group 'Echo Peek' and had two counselors. She loved her counselors, one named Jess and the other Mariah. They did so many cool activities each day...most all outdoors....everything from rock wall climbing, to archery, to gaga pit, to ropes courses, big huge jumpy houses, skits and games involving whip cream :) However, in addition to the fun activities they had a Biblical lesson each day and Maddox had homework each night to read over certain verses in the Bible. At the end of the camp each camper was given a Biblical character that they displayed during the week of camp and the counselor presented it to the camper in a special ceremony. Maddox received the trait 'dependability'. Eric and I were super proud of her and she had a ton of fun!
Not only did Maddox go to camp each day at church, we also got the opportunity to host the 22 counselors for dinner the night before the last day of camp. They brought all their gear and shoes ;) over for a nacho bar. We ended up serving 30 people that night with the addition of 8 of our small group memebers who helped us provide the dinner. It was so fun having the counselors in the house and hearing all their great stories. These kids, as I called them, as most all of them are in college of some sort- Olivet Nazarene College or some other Christian college-were all so so grateful for us sharing our home and food with them. They were thankful for allowing us to just let them chill throuhout the house. They don't often get to hang out in a relaxed setting all together so they were thrilled to just go outdoors and relax on the patio and the grass. You could really see, listening to their interactions and conversations, their love for the campers and more importantly their love for the Lord. We thoroughly enjoyed hosting them.
Kennon enjoying some nachos with Jaylynn one of our small group kiddos.
Maddox with Natalie and Sara, another two small group kids, and one one of the counselors.
It was great having the house filled with such joyful characters for the night.
As I mentioned above each camper received a Biblical trait at the last day ceremony. They spread all the traits out on the table and the counselors would come along and pick traits for the kids. It was great fun listening to them deliberate which child was going to get which trait. The counselors could only give the trait out ONE time per team which made creativity necessary when assigning the traits.
Someone from Springhill was in charge of capturing action photographs during the week which were then made available to the parents at the end of camp. The following pictures are from Springhill's camera. Working hard to climb the rockwall. She didn't make it to the top but she sure tried her best!
Working on her tie dye shirt
Slip n slide jumpy house
Playing gaga pit with her friends from Echo Peek
Final day performance. Maddox is in the middle, just off the shoulder of the big fella covering his face. Poor thing... a little stage fright I believe.
Receiving her Biblical trait Dependability from Miss Jess and hearing the associated verse. Luke 16:10, Psalms 55:22, Psalms 145:18, Proverbs 11:13, Proverbs 19:22
Groovin' to camp songs.
Receiving her character trait from Miss Jess her counselor.
This year RAGRBRAI started from Washington and rode to Muscatine the final day. Eric decided to ride with a buddy so we loaded up overnight bags and his mountain bike and headed down to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean's place on Friday evening. Washington was bustling with bikes! What a fun atmosphere. We had a yummy grilled dinner- hamburgers and hotdogs, beans, fruit, veggies and plenty of time to play with Grandpa and Grandma Friday night. Then Eric got up early Saturday morning and hit the road on his bike. The kids and I were able to hang around the Knowles ranch and enjoy the outdoors a bit before we headed for home. Friday night when we arrived it had been raining and this beautiful rainbow came out just as we pulled in the driveway.
Grandpa Jim got out the glider plane for the kids to try on Saturday morning. Kennon has been BEGGING for a drone in recent weeks and we keep telling him it is very difficult to fly. I think he understood that a bit more after he tried to fly Grandpa Jim's glider. Even I had a hard time keeping it off the ground! Luckily it is built of styrofoam and can withstand multiple nose dives into the ground. The remote control is very complicated with two toggle sticks, one for throttle and the other for direction. We got one thing figured out quickly….turn the throttle off as the plane is headed for the ground to keep it from burning up the motor/breaking the propeller. I'm certain this is one of those things that comes with hours and hours of practice..and with lots of patience. We'll try again next visit!
A visit to Washington isn't complete unless we stop to see Great Grandma Reta. The kids enjoy running about her apartment, playing hide-n-seek and getting a piece of candy from Reta's floor mate, Barb!
Pile in…!
After playing in Washington a bit more, we headed home for church.
Since Maddox entered grade school this year she was able to join in our neighborhood Backyard Bible Club (BBC) weekly lesson. My good friend Kim and her husband have been putting on BBC for the last 5 years trying to teach the neighborhood kids ( and their parents at times) about the Bible and the Love and purpose of Jesus Christ. I think in past years Kim and Tim and one other couple, who has moved out of the neighborhood now, presented all the lessons themselves. This year several of us from the neighborhood divided up the lessons and took a week. Eric and I did the last lesson of the year for the club. It was the rather prominent lesson of the Cross, specifically that Jesus payed the price for our sins and died on the Cross for us to be able to have a relationship with God and live eternally in Heaven. It was a pretty deep lesson but I hope Eric and I did it justice. Kim and Tim do a great job of having fun activities both before and after the lesson to encourage participation. We usually do yard games of some sort ( ultimate frisbee, capture the flag, big ball, 9 square in the air, gaga pit etc) prior to the lesson work and then the kids do fun swim relays or have free swim after the lesson. And of course they leave with a snack and hopefully more awareness of the Love of Jesus Christ. It is generally designed for kiddos entering 1st grade through 6th grade but since Eric and I volunteer on the BBC team we brought Kennon who did well hanging with the big kids. The last day of club Chick-fil-a donated an awesome dinner, and a huge bounce house! They brought oodles of nuggets and chicken strips complete with all the sauces, bags of waffle chips, a huge tray of fruit and their yummy chocolate chunk cookies. Chick-fil-a is a Christian based company and they love to be involved with and encourage spreading the word of the Lord. Such a fun summer! We are so thankful to have all these great activities and people like Kim and Tim who encourage Christian based family fun.
Eric getting after Robbie's flag during Capture the Flag
Megan, another BBC team member, guarding the goal.
Eric and I talking about The Gift He gives us during the lesson.
All the kids opening The Gift….. He gives us the gift of eternal life in Heaven as long as we individually make that decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We can develop and further that relationship with him through spending time in the Bible ( the gift) and praying and talking with God. Pretty simple stuff when I type it out on paper but what a big, intentional job for each of us to do.
Teaching the 5 Finger Gospel to the kiddos. ( Maddox and Kennon learned our lesson all the days leading up to our club night that week- they heard Eric and I practice it several times so they got up in front to help us out) .
1. God created Me ( thumb up point to yourself) To be in Relationship with Him ( cross pointer and second fingers)
2. I sin and become separated from Him ( make the 2 sign)
3. Jesus, paying the price for my sins died and rose again on the 3rd day ( make the 3 sign)
4. I am FORgiven IF I repent and ACCEPT Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior ( make the 4 sign)
5. I am a child of God and His Champion in Heaven ( make the 5 sign)
Such a cool way to teach the kids how to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and have a relationship with God.
'I am a child of God and a Champion in Heaven'. High 5!
Water relay races in the pool facilitated by Mr. Tim ( Kim's husband). Maddox is at the far left on the pink noodle with her buddy Avery.
Maddox is far left again in the flower suit. Kennon was on a team as well with some big kids and he faired really well.
Last week I took Maddox back to school shopping. We got all her school supplies on Thursday and then returned on Friday to pick out her first day of school outfit. I thought she picked out an adorable one! She looks so old! New shoes too….although both these pairs ended up returned and we got a different gray pair but they are all adorable. It was super cute Thursday night when I took Maddox to Target. We were there for a fairly long amount of time. It was nice to have 'just Maddox' and she really behaved well. It is really amazing how good the kids are when we take them places individually. Together they tend to pick at each other. We got to Target at like 7pm, light out still, and didn't leave until almost 9 o'clock, dark out. Maddox was so perplexed that it could change from light to dark all the while we were shopping! Friday Kennon got in on the clothes action and got a few new shirts for school too although he wasn't too thrilled about trying them on.
Saturday Maddox was invited to her first roller skating birthday party. There is a really nice clean rink up in Eldridge not too far from here. She has never skated so she spent a fair amount of time on the floor ( and developed hoards of bruises this week :( ) but she was a trooper and kept at it and BEGGED to have her birthday party there. I was able to secure the rink in September for her birthday and she is thrilled. Luckily there are 1/2 walls around 3/4 of the rink for the kids to hang on to and then they have several of these walker things on wheels that the kids can hold on to while they are learning. I was really proud of her for getting out there. She and her good school buddy Avery encouraged each other!
Skating…. :)
One of Maddox's Kindergarten friends and classmates, Elaina, built a new house basically right behind our home. She moved in in march and the neighborhood has really been filling in around her. She turned 6 this past weekend ( the same weekend as the skating party) and had a little party in her backyard. Her dad is a building contractor and constructed this amazing slip in slide!! It went down her backyard all the way to the creek that runs at the edge of their land. It was complete with a 2x4 frame, a thick tarp, a sump pump to pump the water back up to the top and a huge haybale backstop. When they invited us I really thought it was going to be the like $9.99 Walmart slip in slide which certainly would have been loads of fun but this was like that on drugs. Maddox had a really fun time and I enjoyed getting to know all of her extended family. Elaina's uncle is the Pleasant Valley High School principal and almost all her aunts and uncles are triathletes and runners so there was no shortage of conversation. So fun!
I thought it was plenty fast but next year Michael, Elaina's dad, said he was going to move it over a smidge on the steeper part of their yard! YIKES!
Sunday we had our annual neighborhood block party. We normally close down one of the streets in our neighborhood and have it right here but this year we opted to do it at one of the neighborhood parks and it worked out really well. The particular park we picked has multiple play structures for varying ages and there is a picnic structure and tables, a huge field for soccer and a basketball court. We brought our bags game and Kim and her son Parker constructed a Bags Bracket to engage the adults while the kids played on….primarily this old school merry go round…one of two left in Bettendorf. It was a great time to catch up with the neighborhood moms and dads. The kids begged not to leave at the end of the night.
I think my last post had some recital pictures but these were taken by the professional photographer and I was able to purchase them this last week. Maddox is signed up for ballet again this year and we are excited to see how she progresses.
Maddox starts school on August 23rd. She'll find out her teacher next Tuesday the 16th. She would like one particular teacher but we certainly don't know who she'll end up with and from what I hear they are all good. Kennon will start his 5 year old preschool program on the 31st. I'm hoping after that we can get into the swing of things with our fall schedule. Kennon and Maddox are both playing soccer again and Awana will start again mid September. Eric and I will again be Leaders at Awana in the Cubbies room ages 3-5. Although it is a big commitment, every Tuesday for the entire school year, we know we are impacting the kids in the class and it is good for both Maddox and Kennon to see us serve at church. We continue to host our small group on Sunday evenings although we may need to make a minor adjustment with the timing of that given the kids' soccer schedule. These last could of weeks of summer we've been enjoying as many Quad City activities as possible….Monkey Joe's, Splash Landing, museums and parks. Our only 'camp' right now is Kennon's tennis lessons from 9-10 in the morning then we are free to do fun activities. We are hoping to go to the Iowa State Fair next week on Eric's birthday. Happy back to school everyone!
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