Day 4, more

My sister and her crew stayed for some pizza and then a family friend came over to take some pictures of the little girls for their third birthday.

You never know what you are going to get with kids this age or these girls!

After we finished up with the pictures, daddy pulled in. He worked part of the day and then came to join us in Minnesota for the next portion of our trip.

More cartwheels

It is hard to do a perfect cartwheel with cold sprinklers spraying you! (The water is hard to see)

Amelia cartwheels

Round one of cartwheels

Gemma runs in the sprinkler

This girl is fast- it is hard work keeping up with her!

Day 4, cousins

On Thursday afternoon, my sister and her kids came into town. The kids just love to play with each other and don't get to often enough.

The first order of business was to empty all the toys from the new toy room and deposit them equally in all the rooms of the house.

Once that was accomplished, grandma and grandpa turned on their sprinkler system (fancy!) for the kids to play. William and Andy were delighted to find uncle Mike's old squirt guns were still functional.

The girls were more entertained by filling up buckets and trying to slowly scoop water from one bucket to another.

Amelia enjoyed cartwheeling through the sprinkler and Gemma and Zelda did some silly dancing and running. Overall, it was fun for everyone!

Day 4, quarry hill fun

We jam packed the fun in!

On Tuesday, we attempted to go to the county fair for a tilt a whirl ride. The kids were so disappointed that the rides were open until much later in the evening!

We did enjoy our yearly mini doughnuts and cheese curds though!

Even though Gemma wasn't signed up for camp (she is too little), she enjoyed herself as well! She loved drop off and pick up times when she could explore the center and interact with exhibits. She loves their big fish tank, the bees and the bird viewing area. She also loved taking short hikes after the kids were dropped off every day. She especially enjoying spotting turtles at the pond and choosing which way to turn at the intersections.

One day, grandma, Gemma and I were walking in the woods together. Gemma turned to me as we came around the corner and we had the following conversation:

Gemma: this is a nice place
Mama: yes, it is!
Gemma: what should we call this place?
Mama: there are lots of trees here! Maybe we should call it Beautiful Trees or Wonderful forest. What do you think?
Gemma: I think we should call it the Forest of Doom.

There are things that this third child says that I cannot imagine our older kids saying. This, for example.



Thursday was William's big day canoeing. He was so excited and a little nervous. That morning over breakfast, I overheard him out of the blue ask Grandma Kim:


"grandma Kim, how do canoes work? What makes them float?"

I didn't hear her exact words, but it was a pretty in depth explanation for 7am.

Later, grandma, Gemma and I were walking around the pond and saw the campers out getting ready to canoe. When I pointed out William to Gemma and grandma, Grandma gave a little laugh.

"I would have answered a little differently this morning when William asked about how canoes work if I knew he was going to be riding in a canoe today!"

Berne pizza

Where was William?

Well, he was with the pack of boys running around. Despite my best efforts, he only stayed with us for short periods of time. Like to drink half a gallon of water. Or consume 1/2 of a pizza.