Sunday, July 21, 2013

South Dakota, Motorhome, and Bears, Bison and more!!

We had another awesome motorhome trip with Grammy and Boppa!
We went up to South Dakota, through the Badlands.
This is definitely our favorite motorhome destination!

We hit all of our favorite stops and had a wonderful trip!


We love visiting the Badlands.  They're so beautiful and great for climbing!

One of my favorite recurring photo ops!

Buggie!

Great family picture!

My beautiful girls!

3 time Junior Rangers!

Beautiful!


A new stop this year was the Mammoth Museum.
It is an incredible, active dig of mammoth remains.
It was both educational and cool!


Our all time favorite place is Bear Country!!
It never fails to impress, and the same can be said for this year.

I love this shot.  I like watching the girls grow each year!

Grumpy bears!


A close second favorite is Old MacDonald's farm.
It's a great petting zoo, with pig races and horseback rides.
We also camp at a place very close and this is a must do!



Another one of my favorite shots I get year after year!

Wall Drug is another fun stop.
Besides the ice cream, it's always fun to do a little window shopping!

Water fun!
They have a great mining place at Wall Drug that the girls look forward 
to every year.  They have a mine shaft we get to hunt inside of with our 
lantern hats and gem panning as well.




Half the fun is the motorhome driving!


We made a new stop this year at the Corn Palace.
The girls had fun learning more about the history, shucking
 corn, and shopping!

Avery finally got her one penny passport!

Our last stop was Reptile Gardens. It is one of  our favorites
and has an awesome garden and fun alligator show!

We are so grateful for this amazing experience.
Every year we look forward to our motorhome adventure
and to the wonderful memories we make together!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Summer Fun!

Some random shots of our random summer fun!

Ella's BFF Rachel moved away, all the way to Hawaii!
She will be missed dearly!

 The girls hamming it up on our way to Riverside!

Summer trip to the Science Center.  It's such a great summer
stop, especially with good friends!






Monday, July 15, 2013

Riverside Bible Camp

Ella and her friend Anna had a great week at
Riverside Bible Camp together!

So grateful for great friends and great worship!













Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July!

Celebrating the 4th of July is one of my favorite traditions!
(I know, I say that about them all!)

This year was extra special because Ella got to participate in
the Waukee parade with her WAC team.

After the parade, we had our annual pool party at
Grammy and Boppa's, followed by Fireworks!

Happy Birthday, America!

Getting ready, and staying cool before the parade.

Dave drove a truck that Hummel's so kindly loaned us!

I stayed cool inside the truck!

A blast was had by all!!

I can't resist an excuse to make some yummy desserts!
Avery has perfected the cannonball!


Avery was a little unsure about the sparklers.
I think we got her to try once, for a second!



The "Claires" have no fear!




Enjoying the fireworks!

Monday, July 1, 2013

WAC - Warriors Athletic Club - Softball!!

Ella decided to give competitive softball a try this summer.
I have to admit, I'm super excited and super nervous!
I love SB, but not sure how I'm going to like being part of another
competitive sport.
So far, it's been great!
We have great coaches, and fun teammates.

Ella is catching and really enjoys it.
It's fun watching her be part of the action!
Go WAC!


2nd place finish at their first tourney, not too bad!



Aves get lots of "me time" while we watch Ella!


When she's not catching, she plays 'pitcher'.  It's coach-pitch,
but she gets lots of fielding action.

We find the shade wherever we can!