Wrapping Up Summer

Well, it's been almost a month again since I posted anything.  Nick returned from Fargo the last weekend in July and was very happy that one of his Ballard wrestlers won the national championship.  That weekend we drove over to Ledges State Park and hiked and played in the water for an afternoon.  It was a hot day, so wading through the creek was pretty nice.  Jack even got to go with us and did awesome.

 Gracie and Owen jumping off one of the bridges at Ledges State Park

The following weekend I took the kids to the Des Moines Farmer's Market, which was crazy busy!  We found a lot of good food, but didn't stay very long.  Nick had a meeting for wrestling, and then we headed to his sister's in Muscatine to stay the night and watch Lucas be baptized the next day.

 Stopping at a restaurant.  Owen is wearing dad's hat and sunglasses.

The obstacle course at DuRochers' camp.  Owen was all about climbing.

Another obstacle...trying to balance the board.

Once in a while we find time to ride horses.  Gracie and Owen are riding Dancer here.  Nick has taken Bullseye out a few times, too.  This was such a great night to ride! 

Gracie on Dancer

Owen on Dancer

Nick helping Owen on Dancer

It's also unbelievable that school starts a week from today!  We have been school shopping for the last couple weeks and I think I'm almost done.  The kids are ready to go back and Owen will start kindergarten!

Gracie and Owen showing off their new back packs!  They helped shop for all their school supplies and packed everything they need for school.  They just need August 26 to get here!

More horse riding.  Notice the gate is bent.  Apparently Bullseye does not like to be in in the barn when there is thunder and lightning.  Kind of scary how powerful horses are.

August 7, we decided to go with some friends to the Maxwell Rodeo.  This was such a fun night and the kids got to see all the events that go on at a rodeo.  Gracie insisted on wearing a dress, which she ended up getting pretty dirty.  I believe she was the only girl in a dress there.  Kind of crazy considering she wears her jeans and boots all the time at home.  I don't think she'll make that choice again.  Owen loved watching the bull riding and also watching the rodeo clown walk on top of the gates and entertain everyone.

Owen with Nick at the rodeo

In between two of the events, all of the kids were invited to go down to the arena.  Of course, Gracie was all about that, regardless of what she was wearing.  They were instructed to take off one of their shoes and race to the other end.  Then they did some push ups and dirt angels before racing back to find their shoes.  Gracie didn't seem to mind...thank goodness for Shout!  She is the one running in the dress.  Owen wanted nothing to do with this even though he was in boots and jeans.  He didn't want to get dirty.  Go figure.

Two days later, we had a visitor from Florida.  Nick's mom flew back to help celebrate all of the August birthdays for the grandkids.  It was a busy few days, but we had so much fun while she stayed.  She went to watch gymnastics and took us to the Ames waterpark.  She also weeded our garden for us!  That is one of my least favorite things to do!  So happy to have her here, but sad to see her leave again.

Ice cream cake for Gracie and Owen's birthdays!

Thanks Grandma!

Our final event of the summer consisted of going to Adventureland on our way to the Ozarks.  We did this last year and the kids loved it.  After doing Busch Gardens this year, we figured it would be fun since the kids loved the roller coaster rides so much and Owen is big enough now to ride almost everything.  We did the Dragon a couple of times and I convinced Gracie to go on the Spaceshot with me.  She was reluctant, but ended up wanting to do it again because she like it so much!  We also spent a couple hours at Adventure Bay.  They loved playing on the obstacle course in the water, which kept them busy for quite a while.  They went down some of the water slides and Nick went down the huge speed slide.

Gracie and Owen on the Frog Hopper

Riding with Nick

Another ride together

Swimming in the pool

Gracie and Owen navigating the obstacle course

Can't leave out the Ferris Wheel

Gracie and Mom on the Ferris Wheel

After Adventureland, we stopped to eat pizza for dinner, then made our way down to Missouri for a long weekend.  We arrived pretty late, but made good time with the kids sleeping the whole way.  We were able to take the boat out a couple times and swim in the pool there.  Nick and I went down to the strip one night by ourselves and we got to have dinner out at Chad and Annie's.

Gracie and Owen swimming in the lake

Nick launching Gracie into the air.

Gracie and Mom swimming laps as Owen looks on, eating Cheetos. 

River and Grandma Kate

Opening presents for their birthdays at Chad and Annie's

Nick and Gracie climbing at Ha-Ha Tonka State Park

Gracie coming down from her sugar high at Annie's

 After celebrating birthdays at Annie's house, Chad let us take out a couple of SeaDoos the next morning, which was great!  Gracie was very reluctant to go at first, but once she was on it, she wanted to GO FAST!  And they did go very fast!  The morning was perfect and we got out on the water before 8:30am I think.  It was so nice to not have many boats out there!  So much fun!  I probably could've done that all day.

Gracie and me getting ready to go

Owen had a pretty good time on them too!

So, here we are, at the end of August.  Birthdays are coming up, school is starting, and activities are getting underway again.  We have Owen's birthday party this weekend and then will celebrate Gracie's next weekend.  They each have about 10 friends coming.  Owen wanted to to ride horses again and we're taking Gracie's friends to the bowling alley.  Owen gets to take treats to school on the first day and I'm sure Gracie will want to do the same for her birthday.  

Owen will be doing flag football this fall and has his first practice tomorrow night.  He will have games on Saturday mornings at 8am.  He is so excited, and I think he is on his friend, Jonah's team, so that will be even better!  Gracie decided that she doesn't want to do soccer this year, but will still be doing tumbling, dance, and gymnastics.  She doesn't get to move up to the next level, like we anticipated, but that will be ok.  Now she will still just go to Ames once weekly instead of the two times that are required for the next level. 

Prairie Fest is next weekend, and I think Nick will be doing the Frog Jumping Contest again and the dunk tank to raise money for Ballard Wrestling Club.  Gracie committed to running in the kids fun run, which is about a 1/2 mile.  So as soon as I get done with my race, I'll encourage her in her race.  I hope it goes well and she has fun doing it!  I'm sure we'll also take part in the parade this year, as we usually do.  We were working on the float pretty late last year the night before.  Planning ahead is not really Nick's forte.  

I am hoping to get painting done in the next few days before school starts.  Gracie's room is now ocean blue, but her room needs to be put back together.  Owen still wants his room green, and the mud room needs painted, as well.  I managed to get the decks stained this summer, which took a lot more time than I anticipated.  It feels like there is so much to do, but time is running out.  

It has been a great summer and we have done a lot of fun things.  I'm looking forward to what the school year will bring and watching our kids to continue to learn a grow.  The next post will probably include birthdays and school!