More Summer Fun!

Happy 4th! Here are the kids in their Red White and Blue!

We all went over to Perrigos for the 4th but the weather put a damper on the fireworks!
We were able to catch the parade on the 5th. I ventured over with the neighbors. (and yes, Kale HAD to wear his work gloves to the parade!)

We managed to see the entire parade just before the rain came down and we had to trudge home. Everyone was soaked except for Ava and baby Ellison who had the luxury of being covered by the stroller/carseat shades and slept the whole way home. Next time there is a chance of rain... I think we'll drive :)!

Our old neighbors were back visiting from Colorado. It was fun to get all the neighbor kids together for a reunion. Kale misses his buddy Jack! We got together for supper and as you can see by the rosie cheeks they had a great time playing all together again!


We went to Lake Rathbun with my parents and Shannon and her family (minus Maddie).

We had a really nice cabin at Honey Creek Resort. They have a great little water park area perfect for kids Kale and Jakes age. My dad commented that Shannon and Sheldon should never take jake off an insurance policy for any length of time. He is an accident waiting to happen! :) Both boys had a great time playing in the pool. Jake is just..... well, fearless and not yet so graceful...not a good combination!!
Despite the luxury of our air conditioned, nicely furnished cabin, we did manage to get very "close" to nature. I would say within the first half hour of unloading all our things (which btw we brought our WHOLE house) Kale come running from the hallway as proud as can be and said "Hey guys, you know what I saw running in the house?!?!....a mouse!!!" sure enough, there was a BIG mouse prancing down the hallway like he owned the place. (unfortunately, kales excitment for the cute little mouse as a new pet quickly turned to fear when he saw my freak out reaction..lol..I need to work on that!)
Joe thought he was be the manly one and rescue us all by capturing him. Within minutes of his entry into the room he was last seen, we all heard a girlish shriek and joe came dancing out! Wish i had that one on video!
The front desk brought in sticky traps but this mouse had been around the block a time or two and he managed to gallivant around the cabin the entire weekend untouched getting a rise out of everyone every time.
We are quite sure "Mickey" rain off with Jake's Paci. It was nowhere to be found...so he had to make do with a pink paci from Ava. Desperate times call for desperate measures!


Yummy Smores!



Nana and Ava looking thoughtful...


Here is Papa followed by his little ducklings..

We also did a little boating (dad was having some problems with his boat--we think its time for him to upgrade). Here is Captain Kale with Hawaii five-0 himself :)!

Here is jake on his first boat ride. He looks a little stunned in this pic but he did enjoy himself!


jake put a few miles on Kales bike..... like a mentioned before...insurance policy necessary!



I slept in a room with Ava and as I was up early with her Sunday morning I felt as though I was being stared at. Sure enough, there sitting happily at the foot of my bed was a tree frog! Totally disgusted I made sure everyone was aware of my uninvited roommate! (although after the initial shock I decided I would much rather have a frog in my bed over a mouse or a snake!)
Shannon came to the rescue this time. This too ended in shrieks and dancing as Shannon found out those little buggers can jump very high and have little suction cups on their long toes that can make it easy for them to quickly climb up human arms..LOL. By now, of course, the whole cabin was awake! :)
Here is Kermit himself!

Kale was very impressed by his new pet but we did manage to get him released into the TREES where a TREE frog belongs!

After coming home on Sunday, we finished off the weekend with the postponed Fourth of July celebration. Kale loved the Jump houses and the long awaited fireworks display we watched with our neighbors Jill, Jeremy and Maylee from our driveway!