Triathlon!

My mother-in-law, Linda, participated in a triathlon in Okoboji over the weekend. She turned 60 years young in May and her goal was to accomplish a triathlon in her 60th year....and she did it!!! We are all so proud of her, she started training last fall and she did a great job!
I woke up at 5:30AM that morning to help Linda get ready, I thought the sunrise over Lake Okoboji was beautiful that morning. Here is Linda in her wet-suit. It was a chilly 59 degrees that morning! Good thing she had her wetsuit. I snapped this photo before we left the house. She and I headed to Pikes Point at 6AM.

Here she is getting ready to start her triathlon! Swimming was first, then the 18 mile bike ride, than a 10K race.

Getting out of the water after the 1st leg of the competition....she still has a smile on her face after being in that cold water! :) Hopping on her bike to begin the 2nd leg of the race.

Mike and the kids met us right when Linda was finishing up the swimming part of the race, then we drove around and stopped at a few different spots to cheer Linda on during her bike ride. Here they are holding up the sign that we made for her. Stella told me what to write on it, it read: "Good, Good Job Grandma! We love you. You are the best runner, EVER!!!" :)

Sailing by on her bike.

After the bike ride, putting on her tennis shoes to do the 10K (and final!) leg. Still smiling!!!!!

And she's off!

Crossing the finish line!! Whoo hoo!!!!!!!!

Uncle Chris pulling double duty again with the kiddos.
The evening of her race, here is Linda soaking her sore ankles in the hot tub, enjoying a cocktail and sporting the GOLD medal she won for age bracket!!!!!!!!!!

Porter giving Grandma a HI-FIVE for a great job!

We left Okoboji early Sunday morning to get home for a birthday party that day. Then we invited Hannah over for a sleep over (Haydn was in Mt. Ayr). This morning after we got home from the park, Hannah wanted to paint so we got out the paint and set everything up outside so that the house wouldn't get completely trashed!

Porter decided he would rather paint rocks than paper. :)

This is the reason we painted outside. Can you see how gloopy his rock and fingers are?!?!? Ick!

Stella painting a rock. And then Hannah working on her masterpiece.

After Hannah left and Porter was napping, Stella and I were playing outside and I was flipping through Family Fun magazine. I found a cool activity to do in the magazine and Stella wanted to try it out. It was really cool!

Porter getting in on the action after his nap (notice they are both wearing different clothing from this mornings painting activity.....they were both covered in paint!).

Chasing Porter with bubbles!

Flying Solo

Porter is spending a couple of days with my parents, this is the first time he has been down there by himself, normally he has Stella with him. Mom says he is getting along great! She is really good about emailing photos of the kids when she has them, so I thought I'd update the blog with Porter's trip to MA. He'll come back home tomorrow morning.
Here he is this morning on a picnic at the old train depot. Playing with the ISU football!

These were taken last night. Porter's face cracks me up in this picture! All the grandkids love to play in this tree next to my parents house.

What is a trip to Nana and Papa's house w/o treats?!?!? Enjoying a popsicle.

Papa and Porter enjoying sometime in the hot tub. Thanks for the photos, mom!!

VBS

Stella is participating in Vacation Bible School at a church in West Des Moines, it is a huge church and the VBS has a huge turn-out as well. This is the same church that I volunteered once a month at last school year to lead a mommy and me music class. Anyhoo, I brought my camera today to take some pics to show Mike just how large the VBS is! A far cry from the bible school we had back in Maloy where there were probably 10 kids total!!!!!!
I was upstairs getting a photo and trying to zoom in to get Stella and Hannah. Stella is in the 4 year old class and Hannah is with the 5's. At the end of each day the 4 and 5 year olds gather together in the gym and sing songs. Stella is near the right hand bottom in a turquoise top, Hannah is hard to see, she is near the left hand side next to a boy in a blue shirt. A shot of the gym where the 4's & 5's gather. There are probably 10 sections of each age group. Then the 1st grade-6 graders gather upstairs at the end of each day. Each section has 4 teachers, the church needs about 2000 volunteers to help with VBS! Crazy, but the kids have so much fun! :)

The last song they do each day is done with sign language.

Hannah and Stella at the end after VBS today. :)

Girls Day!

Today after Stella got out of Vacation Bible School we went and picked up her BFF, Berlin. Berlin has a new baby sister and we thought her mommy would enjoy some quiet time this afternoon while the baby and her younger brother were napping. While Stella was at VBS I met mom and she took Porter home with her for a couple of days. Stella will go spend a few days in MA next week. So we met Mike for lunch and then the girls and I headed to the mall....what can I say, we are a bunch of females!!! :) While at the mall they had lots of fun playing at the playland, then riding the escalators. They also got a manicure, which they thought was big stuff! I wish I would of had my camera on me, they were so cute and excited during the whole thing!
When we got home we made some brownies.... Showing off their pretty nails.

Another photo of their nails! Berlin picked out a hot pink color and Stella choose a bright purple.

Right before we took Berlin home I changed them into the shirts I bought them today at the mall. They say BFF, which they thought was so funny! They kept saying Best Friends Forever all afternoon! They are a hoot!

Mackenzie's Party

Last weekend we traveled to Minnesota to help Mackenzie celebrate her 3rd birthday! The birthday party was so much fun. :)
Stella taking a swing at the pinata. Porter checking out one of Mack's new toys---he loved playing on this thing even though it was never turned on! :)

Singing to the birthday girl.

Stella and Porter adore their dog, Chipper!! They gave him LOTS of attention!!!
A couple of our college friends drove down to see us when we were at the Kohls'. Here is Beau, Kohls and Mike, they were college roommates their senior year at ISU!

Okoboji

***WARNING*** Longest blog post ever!!!!!!!! :) We had a wonderful time in Okoboji over the 4th. This was our 3rd trip up there since the end of May, but the first time I remembered to bring my camera. The 4th is always a lot of fun at Okoboji b/c all of Mike's family makes the trip up there, so Scott, Nora, Grace, Grant and Guy made the trip from St. Louis. And Chris made the trip from Phoenix. We haven't seen Scott and his family since Christmas, so Stella fell in love with Grace again! They had a great time together and Grace was so good to Stella. In the above photo is Stella and Grace playing in the Jeep. They would duck down anytime a car would drive by and yell "CAR"!
Below is Stella, Porter and I on the 4th, they are sporting their 4th of July head-gear courtesy of Nana and Papa. They actually wore their headbands for quite awhile that night.

Porter the bartender?!?!? :)

The Grant-ster.....he had a nasty fall a couple of days before we got to Okoboji and had scrape on his nose.

Guy-Guy-----SO CUTE! Love his dimples! :)

Chris playing the piano with S & P, Chris really plays the piano great!

Stella and Grace

Okoboji! This is the view from Steve and Linda's deck.

My wonderful inlaws!! :)

The best shot of Steve and Linda with their grandkids....you can see Grant trying to escape in the bottom left-hand corner!

Linda and her girls.

All of the Davidson babes! Stella, Nora, Linda, myself and Grace.

The boys are on the run!

Uncle Chris giving a two person piggy-back ride to Stella and Grace.

Stella lighting her sparkler.

Entranced by her sparkler.

Stella and Porter looking for some fish.

Stella and Porter LOOOOOOVE to fish. They spent a ton of time out on the dock fishing.

P-man

Grace....eating doritos on the dock. :)

Scott driving the golf cart with his kiddos. The golf cart is another fav past-time with the kids.

Chris and Steve on the kayak.

Steve with a fish, Stella & Porter.

Kissy, Kissy, Fishy, Fishy.

In Arnolds Park (the local amusement park).

I took Stella to Arnolds Park one day when P was sleeping. She has a season pass, but Porter is mostly too small to ride on anything. She has a lot of fun going to Arnolds Park.

Stella and I went to our dear friend, Lucy's, house today as soon as we got home to welcome their newest family member, Eva. Eva is SOOOOOOOO cute! Stella is in love with her, as am I. She *almost* gives me baby fever!! :)