Summer recap: July

The kids went to camp by themselves for the first time this summer.  They have gone to Camp Mack's Grand Camp with Todd and Cathy since they were 5, but this year they also went to Sampler's Camp.  They were gone for 2 nights and had a blast!

Landon with his new friend Bryce.

Emmy with her new friend Jenna.

While the kiddos were gone, Matt and I celebrated our anniversary (year 17).  We went shopping for some new furniture and out to eat at Corndance.

We made our trip to Potawatami Zoo even more fun this year with Erin, Alaina, and Nadia.  The kids had a great time checking out the animals, riding the train and carousel (well Caleb did not like that part!), and having a picnic lunch.

July was a busy month because the kids were in 4h this year for the first year.  They participated in Poultry Club and each showed 7 chickens at the Elkhart County 4h fair.  They absolutely loved the fair.  On Friday, they picked a favorite bird and participated in the Showmanship Contest.  The judge asked them questions about their bird and had them take the birds in and out of the cage.

Then Saturday was the big show where they had to show all 7 of their birds to the judge.  Landon ended up with 1 honor bird and Emmy had 4.  2 of the birds were on the final table for Grand Champion!  We were pretty excited for them for their first year!

We also had some time to do some other things at the fair.  The kids participated in the rooster crowing contest where Landon won 2nd place and the chicken fly off contest where he won 3rd place.  He won $15 total.

Circus performers

 We got free track seats to the Casting Crowns concert from one of Matt's student's parents.  This was Landon's first concert (Em went last year to see Danny Gokey).

 On Wednesday,  it was Kids day where each ride is $1 so the kids each took a friend and we spent the afternoon riding 11 rides each!  They had a ball!

Landon with Micah

Emmy with Claire

Landon with his chicken Lennon who got 3rd in the fly off.

 We also spent a day at Ox Bow park riding bikes and playing on equipment.  The kids loved pretending this was a Ninja Warrior course and wanted me to time them.

Potawatomi Zoo and picking blueberries

We've been having lots of fun this summer and going to the zoo is always a highlight.  Kristina, Caleb, Brooklyn, mom, Emmy and I headed over to Potawatomi Zoo in South Bend.  Matt and Landon decided they wanted to go fishing.

Caleb loved all of the animals, but especially the tigers!

We took a little train ride around the zoo and ate lunch in the park.  It was a gorgeous day and wasn't very busy.  The kids did well and Caleb fell asleep on the way home!🐒🐪🐯🐢🐆

pretty baby girl!

The next day, we all packed up and headed to Beech Road to pick blueberries.  Last year, just Emmy and I picked from our family and we ate all of them.  This year, we brought along the boys and picked about 20 lbs worth.  Plenty to eat and freeze for later!

This boy picked a few berries, but mostly ate and played in the dirt! 😁

Dutch Creek and Salamoni

We went to Dutch Creek Animal Farm in Shipshewana.  It was really cool.  There were so many different types of animals that I had never seen.  You could feed a lot of the animals.  We took a wagon ride to feed some of the bigger animals.  Landon loved the goat pen.  There were slides in and out of that pen.  There were also small animals to feed and hold.  My kids weren't too impressed with it for some reason, but I thought it was really cool.  I would definitely go back and visit.

wagon ride

goat pen

We also went to a new campground, Salamoni, with the Davis crew.  We had a great time.  The campground had had a lot of rain (which was weird because it hadn't rained at our house for quite awhile).  Several of the sites were under water and so was the beach, which meant no swimming!  It was also really hot, so the kids had to find ways to keep cool.  We were close to the reservoir, but couldn't swim in it, so that was a bummer.  We rode bikes, boys played basketball, kids got wet with the hose, and had fun playing on the playground!

Graham and Easton liked hanging out with Emmy!

Emmy made bff necklaces for her and Kenna out of Legos.  She wears it all.the.time!

May fun

The month of May always flies by so fast in our house.  It's usually the end of the school year, which is always busy, Mother's Day, baseball starts, and Emmy's birthday.
Here are some pictures from our month:

 Landon moved up to the minors this year with the pitching machine.  He is on the Mariners.  He's getting better at batting and got his first hit last game.  It takes some getting used to.  He LOVES baseball and is constantly practicing, watching, or playing the video game!

 Mother's Day

Kids always want to take a silly picture

We had lunch over at Steven and Kristina's new house

The next day, Matt and I took a personal day to go with the kids on their field trip to the zoo.  It was freezing and a little rainy, but we had a fun day!

Emmy's group

Landon's group

Mother Daughter Banquet: Emmy and Gma in matching aprons.  I missed them from the front :(

Clash Day at school...we were looking good!!