Vacation!

Mark, Kyleigh, and I got back from vacation yesterday. We had a good time and put on A LOT of miles. The kids got to ride a go cart, mini motorcycle, and gator. The rode their bikes down the air strip, jumped/played on hay bales, and had a wiener roast. One day we went to the Minnesota Science museum. The kids had fun diagnosing illnesses, looking at the dinosaurs, and just taking all the exhibits in. We took the kids to the IMAX Omnitheatre show called Titantica. We met my college roommate Christy for supper after the museum.

Mark helped install a septic system, stain a deck, and lay foundation and a sidewalk on his vacation.

On Sunday we drove to Bismarck to see Brady and Jodi and meet my parents. On the way we stopped in Fargo and had lunch with our friend Donn. Monday Valynn, Mason, and Kyra went to the ND State Fair with Grandma and Grandpa Larson. They will be in ND for two weeks. Mark, Kyleigh, and I headed back to IL, we spent Monday night in Mankato with the Scheel's. We had a great visit with everyone. Kyleigh was glad to be back after three 8 hour days on the road. Mark and I are busy working on our to do lists, when Kyleigh lets us, I think she's missing her siblings.

Kyleigh turned 11 months on Monday. Last Saturday she pushed herself up to standing and took five steps. She didn't do much the following days which is probably due to being in the car most of the day, but today she is back to pushing herself to standing and taking 3-7 steps before falling down. She is getting braver with letting go and trying to keep her balance. I'm sure one of these days she is really going to take off.

Summer Days

I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. Thursday the kids and I went to the Lakeview museum. The kids had fun, we even went to a Planetarium show which they LOVED! The exhibit was on memory and we learned some pretty neat facts. After the museum we took Kyleigh to the doctor and she has another ear infection.

On Saturday we loaded up the bikes and we biking on the Rock Island trail, we stopped at a camp ground/ picnic area and had our picnic supper. The kids were excited to make use of my new picnic backpack. During supper a train went by, less than 100 feet through some trees from where we were sitting. Valynn and Mason did a great job biking on their own, Kyra liked the trailer and Kyleigh sat in the infant seat playing peek a boo with Mark's back.

Sunday after church we worked in the garden and then met the Endres' at the pool in Chillicothe. The kids had a great time and played for almost 3 hours. I got to go down the waterslide a few times and Mark lounged by the pool and read. We then took the kids to McDonald's for supper.

Today and tomorrow Valynn has a horseriding camp through Girl Scouts. She was a little nervous to go because she didn't know anyone. I'll let you know in a few days how the liked it, but I have a feeling that as long as she's on a horse she's in heaven. The other three kids were excited because they got a babysitter this morning while I took Valynn. The sitter is coming back tomorrow.

Minot Daily News Article

Look who's quoted in the paper.

Hail to the Chiefs!!

We went to the Peoria Chiefs game last night on the annual outing with St. Timothy Lutheran Church. It was a good game and the Chiefs snapped a three game home losing streak. Of course lots of visiting was done and maybe not as much watching the game as we should have. The best part for the kids of course was the food, hot dogs, cracker jacks, and pop. Kyra made a new friends last night, Wes and Christine, his parents are the ones Kyra always sits with in church, Wes' sister was the wedding the kids were in last summer. While Kyra was on his lap she got hit with a ball. It his the side of the suites, bounced and hit the back of the seat in front of her, and then hit her knee. She cried but wasn't hurt. Mason was given the ball that hit her and the Chiefs then gave Kyra a baseball. Wes then took Kyra to get her ball signed by Homer the Chiefs mascot that she kept watching all night (a dog). Wes also gave Valynn a ball so that all the kids had one. After the game the kids were able to run the bases. Valynn and Mason flew around then, Kyra was in no hurry. Valynn is on the right and Mason is in the blue in front of her. Mark is in the tan and Kyra is next to him (first picture).

The Lazy, Hazy, Days of Summer

It's hard to believe another week of our summer has gone already. I am happy to say we are finally getting some sleep around here. Kyleigh decided not to sleep more than 1-2 hour stretches at night for over a week, needless to say, both Mark and I were dragging because we were taking turns getting up with her.

On Tuesday we met the Padilla's at Safety town and let the kids ride their bikes. They always think it's a cool place to go.

Wednesday we had a wiener roast in our backyard. We had been promising the kids one and what better night than when it's only about 65 outside.

Thursday we were supposed to meet some friends at a local pool but it was too cool to enjoy swimming so they came over here for supper and a visit. The kids went behind the dam to play in the little creek that runs back there and got soaking wet. All in fun.

On Friday we went to the fireworks in Wyoming. We had a great spot where we could see all of the fireworks. It was a nice cool evening and we enjoyed the fireworks, except for Kyra. She loved the fireworks but didn't like the loud noise that comes with them. Kyra doesn't like loud noises but as long as she knows something is going to be loud she is OK with it.

Speaking of Kyra. Her quirk lately has been to call us King and Queen and to refer to herself and siblings as Prince and Princess. It is so cute, Mark will say I love you and she corrects him and says no King loves me. She will ask if the Queen needs any help and inform us that Princess Kyra would like some juice.

Yesterday we got our second crop of spinach and peas planted in the garden. Mark has been busy mole hunting again, so far he's gotten 5 this year. We are having some acquaintances from Florida over for supper tonight. We met them 7 years ago on our honeymoon in Maine and they are up visiting relatives nearby this week.

This is the Queen reporting and we hope you all had a fun and safe holiday weekend!

10 months, last games, and party, party, party......

Kyleigh is 10 months old today. Wow, in two months we will no longer have a baby in the house. She got her second tooth yesterday and has been trying it out on me. I have little bite marks on my arms and legs.

Valynn has her last softball game tonight. Here are some pictures that our friend Chris took of her game. He got some great action shots. I did pitch 1 1/2 innings, lets just say I was relieved. Mason had his last game this morning. He got a treat, Mark was his coach. Mason's regular coach was gone today so Mark stepped in to coach. Mark is also going to help coach Valynn's game tonight because one of our coaches will be gone.

On Wednesday we finally made it to the pool. The kids had fun swimming, Valynn went down the slide and Kyra and Kyleigh had fun in the baby pool. They weren't ready to go home after 2 1/2 hours of swimming but mom was. They keep asking when we'll go back.

Thursday we met the Drake's at the Farm Park in East Peoria. The kids had fun feeding the animals. The kids were given an ice cream cone with food in it to give to the animals. We now know that animals will eat ice cream cones. Valynn and Mason got another stamp in their passports though. We had a picnic lunch and then met the Bane's at a Sprinkler Park. After cooling off in the water we went to Dairy Queen and then headed home with four exhausted kids.

This is a busy weekend for Valynn, she has three birthday parties to attend, all neighbor kids. I had best get a snack for the kids and ready for the game.

Go Baby Go

I had to take a video of Kyleigh using her walker to get around. Just within the last couple of days she has had another physical development explosion. She will crawl over legs and siblings if they are on the floor. She loves playing around the kitchen table, her own little obstacle coarse. She will pull herself to standing on more things and has started cruising. Notice in the video how she has a constant stream of conversation going. She is getting very loud which gets to be annoying as we can't watch TV. Her other favorite activity is to take the books off of the shelf in the office.

I hope everyone is having a good week. We were going to go swimming today because the heat index is close to 110 but the kids weren't on their best behavior at home so we postponed it until tomorrow, behavior depending. Thursday we're meeting some friends at a Sprinkler park, should be fun and cool. Valynn and Mason are going to vacation bible school this week with the Bowdoin's. Bible school is a couple of hours in the evening. Stay cool everyone!