More Okoboji Fun!

We spent almost a week at lake Okoboji last week. It was a lot of fun and our "staycation" for the summer.
Porter and Stella love going to the beach by Steve and Linda's house to play in the sand. The sand castle Stella and Mike built.

Stella doing flips at Arnold's Park.

Porter and I on the Ferris Wheel.

Our good friends joined us Monday-Thursday at the lake. We had such a good time with them! Jeff, Lucy, Berlin, Eric and Eva had a great time, too! Stella and Berlin and 2 months apart and Porter and Eric are 3 months apart.

Porter and Stella picked out new shirts to take to the lake and we bought an extra one for each of their BFF's! :) Porter and Eric playing checkers in their matching super hero shirts.

Tubing. Lucy gives it 2 thumbs up! Buddies

Sweet Eva passed out on the boat. She was such a good girl the entire time she was there.

We dropped Eva off at the house, Linda and Steve listened for her, and the rest of us headed over to Barefoot Bar! :) They have a huge wooden swing set, sandbox and teeter totters for kids to play on. What a great idea for a bar!!! :)

Stella and Berlin in their matching shirts.

Eva at Arnolds Park

I bet they rode this roller coaster 2o times that day! Standing in line for the Ferris Wheel

Steve and Linda with all the kiddos before going out to eat our last night there. Eva was calling Linda "grandma" by the time she left! Too cute! :)

Random Summer Photos

A handful of photos of the kids from the last month.

Porter ended up in our room last night due to a loud thunderstorm that woke him in the middle of the night. When I woke up today, I'm not sure how Mike and I slept last night considering Porter was a total bed hog!!!

Stella participated in the summer reading program at the library. For each 100 pages she read she got to enter into a chance to win 8-10 different prizes. She was able to enter 4 times and each time she choose "lunch with a librarian" (this was not a popular category!!). She was so excited when she found out she was one of the lucky winners! Today was the her day to have lunch with a librarian. She picked out her outfit and accessories and wanted me to straighten her hair. She had lots of fun! Here she is at Chapter's Cafe, a cafe that is hooked onto the library.
Stella has learned how to braid and here we are making friendship bracelets.

Porter in the park today.....karate chop! Running through the neighbors sprinklers

I was cold a few weeks ago sitting near the AC vent and put my slippers on, then Porter went and got his slippers, of course Stella couldn't be left out! It was probably a heat index of 115 degrees outside and we are sporting our slippers! :)

The kids had a lemonade stand last month. They both made $3, which is a lot considering we have no traffic on our street!! They were very excited. :)

Adventureland

We spent yesterday at Adventureland, we were supposed to go with some friends at the beginning of June, but that didn't work out for us. We all had a great time. I think we'll be getting season passes next year to the park.

Stella on the Frog Hopper, she's on the end. Porter didn't want to go at first, but by the end of the day he went on it a few times. Self portrait of Stella and I on the Tornado roller coaster. She was very excited to ride it, but did NOT enjoy it! Her face turned white at the first drop and it couldn't get over fast enough for her!

Porter flying an airplane

I have not been to Adventureland in years, probably close to 20 years. There is now a huge water park attached. It was great! We spent most of the afternoon there. He's P trying to stay cool under the shade of the stroller and drinking from a straw.

Part of the water park. There a a bunch more slides, a huge lazy river and next year they are adding a huge wave pool!

Stella drying off. She lost her 3rd tooth on Tuesday, you can kind of see the missing tooth on the bottom right hand side of her mouth.

Taking a spin on the dragons. It seems I only took pics of the "kiddie" rides, probably since the bigger rides Mike and I were on them with. They were really brave and rode a lot of big ride. The Silly Silo was their FAVORITE!!

Mike trying to stay cool in the shade.

The kids and I on the Gallion. They LOVED this one! We sat towards the middle b/c it isn't as scary there. This was after the water park and Stella and I didn't change back into our gross sweaty clothes, just stayed in our swimsuits and cover-ups.

4th of July in Okoboji

Finally updating the ole bloggy-blog with the 4th of July photos from Okoboji!! We had a wonderful time at the lake (as always) with all the Davidson clan. Scott, Nora, Grace, Natalie (Grace's friend), Grant and Guy came from St. Louis and Chris and Denise came from Phoenix and Denver.

Mike got a new phone a few days before we left for the lake and the kids loved playing all the new games on it! Lol! Here's Porter playing a race car game. Cuddle time with Stella and Chris

And Grandpa and Porter

Steve and Linda have a new tube this year. It is awesome! So many people can fit on it at one time. Here's all the kids on it before we took them out on the lake! They all had turns on it, I just don't have photos of everyone on it being pulled from the boat.

Here's Natalie, Stella and Grace doing "No Hands!". Stella, of course, LOVED riding it with the older girls.

The boys at the front of the boat.

The kids loved anchoring the boat and swimming out in the lake. The little boys really enjoyed doing this!

Hot tub time!

The BIG boys on the porch swing (Mike, Chris, Scott). The reason this is so funny, other than 3 adult men sitting together on a porch swing, is the night before Mike and Scott were sitting on it and the chain broke on one side. It was pretty funny. Although Scott didn't think so as he was laying on the ground in pain!! (It's funny now!!) :)

Sunday afternoon, Steve and Linda took the kids out for lunch and to see Cars 2. So the 6 of us went out for lunch then on a boat ride to Barefoot Bar. Nora and I both spotted these super cute swimsuit coverups that some of the staff was wearing and ended up with one each! :)

Chris and Denise

Self portrait on the way home from Barefoot Bar

Porter and Guy in the hot tub. They had lots of fun playing together.

The annual 4th of July Childrens Parade on Sunset Beach. Getting lined up.

Family photo

The St. Louis Davidson clan

The parade

Chris and Denise were on a walk one evening and came across this turtle. Chris brought it home for the kids to see. They loved it!
Mike driving the boat out to see the fireworks.

On the way to the fireworks (you can see Porter's shiner in this photo, he got that the evening before we left for the lake! Hit it on the corner of the kitchen island).

Porter zonked out during the fireworks. Not sure how that happened since we were right under them!

It was a great long weekend! We are already looking forward to next year! :)

Sleepy Rexy

Rex has taken to falling asleep in Stella's room this summer. We find him in all sorts of places!

In Stella's baby doll crib.... In the baby doll stroller (Stella moved it over to her bed and she is pretending to sleep in this picture)!

Close up

At the foot of her bed (this is where he is usually stretched out!).