just some pictures and video

A BBQ chicken loving power ranger...

I guess we can't expect her to be too ladylike. She is, after all, my daughter.

We enjoyed being home this weekend. Lots of dining on the patio and catching up with the neighbors. We get one more weekend here (which will include a half marathon- we're hoping for a little less humidity), then we're out of town for the next three-- then Jerod starts kindergarten!

You know your kid's spent a fair amount of time in Iowa when...

Man, July is crazy around here.

For the past six years, Chris and I have spent the third week of July at the Christian Conference Center in Newton, Iowa counseling high school camp. This was quite a labor of love this year. We spent six days at home after our Fourth of July journey, then it was time to head out for camp. The problem is, I'm a home body! All the logistics of two trips so close together had me pretty beat. In the process, I repeatedly said, "This is the LAST year I'm doing this!!!!". Famous last words maybe, because we really had an unbelievable time there this year. We'll see what the future holds...

The kids have been at VBS this week with some friends. They had a great time, but are pretty wiped out. Most of our scheduled stuff for the summer is done. Now we're just going to hang out and enjoy what's left of summer. Jerod asked for snow today (he's wanting to snow board). Who's child is he????

And the title of this post...
When we got back into town last Sunday we were driving at 66th and France (a very busy area, right in the middle of town). Jerod said, "Is there a double yellow line here?".
"No," we replied.
"Good, then it's ok to pass tractors here."

You probably had to be there, but Chris and I got quite a kick out of it :)

This is what happens...

This is what happens when you don't get your kids to bed in time and they go completely off the deep end. This was the Friday after Jerod's overnight camp stay and he was exhausted. He entered the delirious phase and pulled his sister along. This is probably too much exposure, but how do I not post this?

Overnight at Camp Can of Tuna

I just dropped off Jerod and his pal Porter for day four at Camp Tanadoona (also referred to as Can of Tuna). Bonus activity is that they're staying overnight. I'm a little ambivalent about this. Chris and I have been away from our kids a fair amount, but they've always been with a grandparent or at a sleep over with a friend. We won't have any contact with him until 4:00 tomorrow when we pick him up. So, this is uncharted territory for us. I guess we're all growing up :)

On Monday when I dropped them off, Elise threw a complete fit because she wanted to stay. I basically had to force her into her carseat. She eventually calmed down (a piece of chewing gum tends to make everything ok for her). We then talked about how she could go when she turns five. This morning as I was getting her out of the car I said, "Elise, remember, no fits today." She replied with, "I go when I'm five."

When we returned to the car and she realized she was nearly buckled into the seat, she started fussing. "When you're five," I said. She calmed down immediately and said, "Maybe later, I go when I'm five."

This is a big deal for my historically super volatile daughter. It was nice to see her start to lose it, then reel herself back in and cool down.

Summer photos from a bad photographer

Hot weather is here. That's a good thing... we LOVE the five days out of the year that it actually feels like summer in Minnesota :) We are back from celebrating the 4th in northeast Kansas. We had a great trip and fabulous accommodations thanks to some friends of Grandma Kathi. Travel with our kids is getting to be much less of an ordeal than it once was.

Chris had a birthday on the 3rd. He turned 29, again.




Jerod is at a day camp every day this week. It's pretty strange to have him gone all day. I guess it's a little preview of what kindergarten will be like for us. He's also doing soccer and coach pitch baseball. I'm struggling to keep up with his schedule.

We are enjoying being home this week and getting ready to leave again on Sunday. Chris and I will be counseling at church camp next week, and the kids will be in Woodbine at my parents'. We were supposed to camp this weekend, but have decided we need to stay home and gear up for the week ahead of us.

Other than that, we just keep on keepin' on. Chris and I are signed up for two more races, so we're running our legs off. I feel summer slipping away, so we're all trying to make the most of it!

Summer Fun

It finally feels like summer around here. The kids have done swim camp this week and last and have done great. They're both swimming unassisted now.
This past weekend we were camping out west and it did NOT feel like summer. The wind was howling the whole time we were there, and rain was falling 90% of the time we were there. The tent stayed up, but I'm not sure how. We ended up coming home a day early :(
We head out either tomorrow evening or Thursday morning for our annual 4th of July pilgrimage. We're off to Tecumseh, Kansas.
Not much else to report. The bottom picture shows the blimp (kind of) that flew over our house for most of last weekend. The U.S. Women's Open golf tourney was held at a country club a few miles from here. The kids were pretty fascinated with it.