Klay Family

Oops! We realized on our last post that we forgot to include our chilly day at the beach with Lily and Lucy. Nothing like hitting the beach in August with suits and a fleece on, ha!

Oh my goodness, pretty certain this will be in our wedding slideshow in 20 more years.

Mommy took us to Beaver Creek to see the butterfly garden. She had high hopes that one would land on our noses so she could snap a million dollar photo. Instead, Mommy had 2 butterflies land on HER. We mostly just chased the butterflies around the butterfly house and saw some neat chrysalis!

Photo bombing the attempted snapshot of the butterflies on this bush behind me

We also spent some time in the nature center where Cooper did some bird watching and I talked to the painted turtle.

One of our summer bucket list items was to drive out to a car shop/field where Lightning McQueen and Mater were supposedly parked. It took some driving around, but Daddy finally spotted these two favorites of ours. It was magical in our eyes to see them and touch them too. Check that off our list!

Our parents invited friends to Leinie's for a brewery tour and then to Loopy's to float the river a few weekend ago. They had a great turnout with 14 floaters :) While they enjoyed the day (especially Daddy), we spent the day and evening with Grammy (sorry no pictures as we are certain we kept her and the pontoon very busy).

The next day our parents came to retrieve us and we decided it was another great day to be on the water. We had fun pontooning and stopping at our favorite pub on the lake, along with Grammy, Uncle Matt, Auntie Jill and our cousin Emmett.

Daddy golfed in the United Way tournament hosted right at our golf course. We ran out to greet him bright and early as they tee'd off on our hole. We wish we could have golfed with him that day (quite honestly, we mostly wanted to just ride in the golf cart!)

Speaking of the golf course, we FINALLY received some rain. It wasn't just a little bit either, but a soaking 2 inches in just an hour or so. The ground is so solid, it made puddles, rivers and small ponds all over the place. Since we were stir crazy in that short amount of time, Mommy suggested we put on our monster rainboots and head outside to play. We LOVED this impromptu craziness.

And as you can imagine, it was bathtime right afterwards!

Yesterday, we spent the day on the lake with Auntie Stef, Uncle Bruce, Lexi, Sam, Kyra and Bennett (and Grammy). Mommy forgot her nice camera, so she only took a few snapshots of our final event- a spin in Grammy's hot car to the rootbeer stand. We sure love Grammy and her midlife crisis splurge :)

We can't believe our summer is coming to a close. It has been a blast with just about everything checked off our summer bucket list. We have "sampled" our favorite summer activities- new and old. Our last week will be spent getting ready for back to school as well as a quick jaunt to the cities to pontoon with Papa and Grandma Sharon, a family reunion and our last fun wish, a ride on the trains at a local park. Ah, this is it....

One summer plan included a pseudo-camping trip 2 miles down the road from our house. Our parents thought this would be a great intro to camping for us, so we reserved a campsite for one night. Cooper and I were beyond thrilled all week in anticipation. Daddy had to dust off the camping gear and soon, we were filling up the garage with camping necessities.

What our parents learned from this overnight trip was that it didn't matter if you camped for one night or seven, you still needed all of the camping ~~crap~~ stuff. Our site was wooded and spacious and we quickly set up once we arrived.

Since Mommy is a Pinterest junky, she put the kibosh on Daddy's original BBQ plans. She instead wanted to make things more complicated with foil dinners, pudgie pie breakfasts and other authentic camping meals. The above photo was our foil dinner and it was yummy (OK, maybe she was right).

The woods meant we got to use the facilities in our own backyard. The campground restroom was 100 yards from our campsite, but this convenience was one we couldn't refuse (the boys that is).

What would camping be without s'mores? We must've heard our parents tell us a million times to be "careful" around the fire. What they learned is that they are glad we do not have a fire pit in our backyard.

"I AM being patient, I like my marshmallows BURNT!!!!" (He later made Daddy eat them)

Bedtime stories with a flashlight=awesome! We packed our favorite blankets and crocodile sleeping bags, our dream lights and flashlights. What we failed to check into was the overnight low as it dipped to 50 degrees that night, BRRRR! It was not a good night's rest for anyone :(

We brought our bikes for rides around the state park and I met a new friend! If you look closely, he/she is bright green and crawling on my bike helmet. It was a walking stick and a very intriguing bug I must say!

The state park had fishing piers and canoes to rent, so we took advantage of the lake.

So how was the camping experience you are probably thinking.... if you asked Cooper and I, we LOVED it! It was the best, so fun to sleep in tents, make food on the fire, and explore the woods. If you ask our parents, they would say it was a TON of work, freezing cold in that tent, and just a lot of hard work with two little guys. Mommy voted to camp in the backyard next time!

We went to our local Farmer's Market the day we went camping to get some veggies for our meals. Mommy was playing with a photo app and made this collage from our visit. Cooper and I love the cookies at the Farmer's Market while Mommy loves the music, beautiful produce and flowers. Speaking of which, the amazing purple flowers below were planted along the sidewalks at the Farmer's Market and we want to plant these in our yard. If you know the variety, let us know; they were gorgeous and unique!

We went blueberry picking with Kerri earlier in the week. We were lucky to pick the tail-end of raspberries and there were plentiful blueberry bushes. We picked for an hour and a half and came home with delicious berries for baking and snacking.

We went to kickball to cheer on the parents! Debbie is the Gator Lady who sells beverages to thirsty adults (and she has Gatorade for kids too). Debbie lets us sit with her and sell drinks while getting tips. We both came home with quarters for our piggy banks. Megan and Easton joined the party with their freshly painted faces. Cooper told Mommy she couldn't have his money so she told him that he couldn't have hers anymore either. He told her that was OK since he would just get some from Daddy then.

What would life be without that little stinker?!?!?!?

He is pressing his face against our waterslide net while making scary sounds. This picture might come up and bite him in the rear someday.

Ah, love summery, warm days!

We have been busy with soccer camp. We signed up for a 3 week soccer camp that runs for 45 minutes twice each week. We mostly work on basic skills with a few games thrown in. We are the only kids wearing shinguards and soccer gear, but after watching Mommy play soccer, we figured we needed to dress for the part. I will play soccer games this fall for parks and rec while Cooper has one more year before he can start on a team (sorry Coop!)

I am officially riding a 2 wheel bike (NO training wheels!) Santa bought me a big green bike complete with hand brakes. Mommy kept riding Daddy about the size of the bike... she said it was TOO big, hand brakes were too hard, blah, blah, blah. He got tired of her nagging, measured the bike and what do you know, it was too big. He then stomped to Wal-Mart, bought the red rocket, and the minute I got on the bike, I took off. Mommy smiled, Daddy just stared. So, here I am, on my red rocket complete with a special bird light and bird horn (from New Mexico). I have completed 2 longer bike treks (3 mile treks each time). I love riding my bike!

We went to the beach on a windy day with Lucy and Lily but ducked out early to take them to our favorite nearby rootbeer stand. There, we entertained guests with our silliness on the swings, downed a ton of cheesecurds, and drank too much rootbeer.

That night, Daddy's hospital hosted their annual colleague picnic. They had lots of games, inflatables and picnic food. Cooper and I did the Bootcamp Challenge about 20 times each. We loved the fast slide!

We also had fun on their construction themed inflatable.

Speaking of Daddy's work, he received an awesome award a few weeks ago. We took a picture of him with the ROOT AWARD so you could share in our excitement for him. He was chosen as divisional leader of the year between the 2 hospital systems in our area! We couldn't be prouder of him. The root is a symbol of strength and leadership. The root is from the hospital sisters in Illinois who took it from some special tree (we think). Anyhow, it sits proudly in his office for the year. Way to go Daddy!!

Our parents celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary on August 12th. On Saturday night, they went to a local winery and to a favorite restaurant. They bought several bottles of wine and Daddy "carefully" buckled their precious cargo into the backseat. Look closely, thank God Cooper and I are not buckled in like this!