Lake Day with Friends

We planned a lake day with our friends for the last weekend in August. The weather started out a little shakey, but turned out nice. Our kids love being with the T Family. We missed their oldest daughter, who was at a church event, but still had lots of fun with the rest of their family. I readily admit that these pictures aren't very good, but you can imagine that between 6 active kids, 2 dogs, and open water we took whatever we could get! :)


Heading out on a pleasure cruise...


Walter thinks R is the best!


N enjoying some time with his mom.


Walter with Miss B and Mr. R, enjoying a trip around the lake.


Henry and Mr. P looking out for pirates and sea monsters.



Getting a chance to drive.


Two handsome boys, if I do say so myself!


A few shots of the boys together.



Mr N driving the boat with my dad.




We got in a little swimming even though it could have been a little warmer.


The water guns got a lot of use...





Gus played fetch with Miss B all day long.


Squeezing a few more minutes of play.

Grandma Josie's Birthday

Mid-August, we celebrated Grandma Josie's birthday at Uncle Larry's house. It was great to catch up with everybody and the kids always love getting a chance to play at the lake with their cousins.


Henry couldn't wait to get in the water.


Grandma A with her sister, Aunt Sherri.


Walter doing a little photography work.


Relaxing with Grandma


The boys spent a lot of time building sand castles on the beach with their cousins.


Happy Birthday!


Henry and cousin D, watching Grandma open her presents.


Walter and Cousin L discovered they both love to play with the life jacket buckles.


Lake Florida the next morning

All By Myself

Walter was so proud of himself for putting on this pair of Henry's "pants" all by himself. I didn't have the heart to point out that the pair of pants was really Henry's pajama shirt!

Back to Swimming

After visiting our friends, we spent the night at my parents' house and drove to the lake. My sister rode with us and I'm sure she enjoyed listening to the Highwaymen singing "Highwayman" each of the 20 times she heard it! Henry ended up falling asleep early that night so Walter and Nate went for a swim together.




Little Swimmer


Eating up a little alone time with Dad.


Big jump!


A beautiful, calm night...perfect for swimming.


Henry loves playing with his "Bucket O' Soldiers" at the lake. Notice how he has his tanks all lined up.


W's not as interested in the army guys, but he wants to be doing whatever his big brother is doing...


Boppa recently introduced Walter to shaving cream - as you can see, he likes it.



Working hard


This isn't a great picture, but I have to include it because it reminds me of the new things Henry did this summer. He started putting his head under the water while swimming, "diving" for items in the pool, swimming on his own without help from Dad, and for the first time, and was able to swim out to the raft at the lake to play with the big cousins...without Mom or Dad being with him (but watching from the dock)! He's definitely growing up.


Having fun with the "short/little Mimis" (his cousins).


Pretending to be a pirate.


Starting to swim on his own.


Henry loves being able to swim out further with the older cousins this year.


The sure love swimming with Dad.

Visiting Friends

The last weekend in July, we made a quick trip to the cities to visit our friends at their new house. We met Randy and Kristi when we were in Seoul picking up Henry and they were picking up their son. We ended up connecting back in MN and our two families hit it off. They have 5 amazing kids and it just so happens our boys LOVE to play with them. We are very thankful for their friendship.





We all enjoyed the "ice cream parlor" in the new house. There were lots of flavors and toppings to choose from, which Henry and Walter thought was great!













The girls serving ice cream and brownies.

Apparently, all we've been missing in our house is 2 mattresses that the boys can jump on! The kids burned a lot of energy while jumping, climbing, and sliding in the basement.







R taking a big jump.


All worn out.


Brothers taking a quick rest.


The older kids enjoyed watching the younger kids. These three, are really some of the nicest kids you could ever meet!


Always playing with guns...


Starting to wind down - watching a movie together.