Tuesday, July 16, 2013

July Happenings Part 2...


I had Camp Veggie Tales this past week (sorry, photo won't turn).  At camp, we made tons of crafts, played fun games, ate yummy snacks, read and sang songs and had a blast.  The above picture is all the campers and the below picture is me pretending to be a shark, scary, right!?!?!
While I was at camp, Mommy and Cooper told me they just sat in the parking lot and waited for me, um... these pictures say otherwise. It appears they went strawberry picking without me and with our neighbors :(
 Genevieve and Cooper
 Next up... the Northern WI State Fair!  We had a great time getting ripped off enjoying the rides, food and people watching :)  We rode on the ponies around the carousel a few times.
 Took a ride around on the caterpillar rollercoaster
One of our favorites is this car ride.  It is like a mini whiplash machine on each corner.  Cooper was a bit hesitant as he was squished by me on the curves :)
 Motorcycles~ VROOM!
Semi-truck ride (Devan is driving and Cooper is riding next to him)
 Carpet ride on the slides (Cooper was too little), so I went down with Genevieve
 Yummy, corn dog!
 Farm Tractors... Dreamin'
 We always stop by the Education Building to steal ideas for Mommy's classroom and see some of the cute artwork and writing projects.  Cooper had to test drive an old desk.  He looks ready for preschool this fall :)
 Our last stop, to Daddy's dismay, is the huge ferris wheel.  While our parents nearly pass out from the fear of falling, Cooper and I enjoy the view!
 Can't forget a treat before we go.... Turtle Cheesecake on a Stick (she has run 8 miles since this indulgence and still thinks it stuck with her)
 See my sugary lips.... mini donuts, YUM!
 We haven't slowed down... we went back to the lake for an afternoon of waterskiing with Uncle Jim, Auntie Karri, Jimmy and cousin Bennett (who was staying with Grammy over the weekend).  Bennett and Cooper hit the trainer....
 Cooper felt like skiing on the boom with Daddy
 My turn!
Daddy and Uncle Jim did a double barefoot run while Mommy drove the Mastercraft and was quite proud of her driving skills!
 Mommy took a slalom run
 Daddy and Jimmy (15 months) Boating
 A few attempts at holding the wiggly bugger while trying to get a cousins pic :)
 And there you have it!
Cooper was exhausted from the day, like so tired he decided to just lay down right in the middle of Grammy's yard.
 On Sunday, we went tubing and swimming with our neighbors.  They bought a new pontoon and were excited to take us out on the lake.  This tube was much trickier than ours since you had to hold on for dear life without the built-in seats.
 Daddy took Cooper since he wasn't feeling all that brave with just the kids.  We did some major head banging over the waves!
 Finally, our last photos (which are out of order) came from my last day of camp.  Mommy and Cooper watched Lily and Lucy for a bit one morning at their house.  While there, they dressed up as a police officer, cheerleader and butterfly princess.  These are all fairly foreign in our house. 
 Next up, they had their own rock concert in the living room.  Laurie Jo was entertained by the photo texts Mom sent her that morning!
So there you have it!  It has been a crazy-busy 2 weeks, but then again, it has been crazy-fun and well worth it.  We promise to post sooner so that you don't have these LONG posts to read!  Thanks for sticking with us :)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Busy Beavers

Earlier last week, Jondrea took our pictures at a retired barn near Mommy's school. Jondrea works with Mommy and had some connections to the farm. She posted a small sneak peek album for us and will have the rest of our photos in the next week or two. Here is a glimpse of our photo shoot!
lklay's Klay Family 2013 album on Photobucket

It was just one week ago that I updated the blog and with the number of photos posted this week, you will know how crazy busy we have been!  Last weekend, we went to Grammy's house to finally get some of our toys out on the lake.  I was dying to use my motorized jet-boat that replaced my jet-ski from last summer.  It doesn't go fast at all, but is fun to drive around!
 Grammy gave Cooper this non-motorized croc that has an annoying squirt gun attached.
 Mom and Dad gave us this huge blow-up ball that we can sit inside of and hurl ourselves down a hill.  We think it will be a lot more fun on the snow but still wanted to give it a try. 
 It is hard to believe that our first ski outing was on June 22nd.  Typically, we are skiing in May and Daddy starts in April (can you say, "fanatic?!?!")  Cooper was feeling brave to hit the trainer on his own this year.  He made it up very quickly and kept a smile on his face until he looked behind himself, lost his balance, and landed in the middle of the lake.  He screamed for a minute until we got him back into the boat.  He wanted to ski again within a few minutes, so we don't think he was traumatized too terribly.
 I have decided that the trainer is for babies, so I was ready for the boom and "real" wooden skiis.  Daddy wanted to talk me through my first attempt, so here is the footage from my first REAL skiing debut!  Daddy has two skiis on and I have two kid skiis.  He helped cradle me up and from there, I was able to do it myself :)
 A proud Daddy
And a very happy waterskiier (see me peeking and smiling at the paparazzi?!)
 Instructional t-ball is every Tuesday night.  I am getting better with throwing and catching, my best skill is hitting off the tee.  Here are this week's pictures...
 Daddy had a hospital association convention in the Dells at the Kalahari and he asked if we wanted to join him... um, YES!  Mom knew this wouldn't be easy as both Cooper and I are daredevils on the waterslides and from 8:00-4:30, she would be alone with us.  Nonetheless, she was very proud of her management skills and we all had a blast!
 We mostly went into the indoor waterslide park during the day along with an outdoor pool that was quiet.  The craziness was outside at their outdoor waterpark which we only ventured out to a few times.  The good news is that Kalahari requires kids under 48 inches to wear a life jacket, so it was just another way we had a built in mini babysitter while there.
 Free edema
 At night, we went to their indoor amusement park (hello, money suck!) and had to try the kiddie bumper boats.  These were our favorite.  The lady let us drive them for 15 minutes just because we were so darn cute on them.  As you can tell, we only had each other to slam into.
 Kalahari jungle carousel
 A huge indoor ferris wheel to cap our night
 Before we left the Dells, we went on the army duck boats.  We thought it was amazing and SO fun to go from land into water in these huge things.
 Amazed.....
 We arrived home late on Friday night and the next day, we ventured to the Twin Cities for an adult only baseball outing.  Mom and Dad along with Mommy's siblings gave Papa tickets to the Twins game for Father's Day.  They sat in right field, 1st row... super cool seats.  The day was beautiful and they had a great time with everyone.  The Twins beat the Royals too :)  While they were at the game, we were with Grandma Carla, all 5 of the littles and yes, she survived with no problems at all!
 Our friends Arlyn, Jennifer, Jacob and Aiden came from Tampa, FL to visit family and friends.  We were able to sneak church and brunch in with them on Sunday.  It has been over a year since we saw them last, so it was wonderful to see them and the growing twins.
 Right after brunch, we zoomed to Finley's 5th birthday party at his grandparent's house who live on the lake.  It was a pontoon/tubing/water-fun party.  It was probably one of the most awesome parties we have ever been invited too.  They had a waterslide for kids to zoom down.
 A wide sprinkler slip n' slide with mats for extra sliding power :)
 Check out this birthday cake!  You will be seeing it at our party next year for sure!  It was amazing!
 Next up, pontooning and tubing, our first tubing experience!  The birthday boy, Finley, gave us a quick orientation and off we went!
 We were ALL smiles and cheers!
 There were many kids at the party, so we worked on being patient for our next turn.
Cooper, Easton and I on our 2nd tube run!
I ended up having 3 turns because I promised I wanted to join the big boys on a fast run.  I was laughing while bouncing and zooming across the waves.  I am fearless.
 We had popsicles to cap off the awesome day.  Thanks Finley for inviting us to your party!  It was SO fun!
This morning, we went to our 1st movie at a REAL theater.  Our community has 25 cent kid movies during the summer and today was the movie Smurfs.  We were invited by Lucy, Lily and Laurie Jo.  The best part (besides being surrounded by these cuties), were the buttery and salty popcorn, candy galore and Sprite.  We actually sat through the movie really well.  Cooper only needed to use the bathroom twice during the show and Lily and I sat next to each other (first date) and cracked up laughing.  It was music to Mommy's ears.
So excited, I just couldn't keep my eyes open!

Have a great 4th of July week everyone!  We will post our 4th of July festivities