Two weeks left of summer 2015! Here's what we've been up to.....

Again, an insane amount of photos ahead. Please just skim! I need to update more than once a month so the posts aren't so long. My apologies! :-)

Our garden has done great this summer. Our cucumbers are huge and delicious and so are our tomatoes. Nothing is better than a tomato fresh from the garden!

Lots of ice cream consumed this summer. 

I saw this photo looking at something else and had to save it to my photo stream and text it to Heather. Love Cosmo! And P looks so little!

Stella was gone somewhere so P and I walked to Kum-N-Go to get him a treat. 

Took Porter and Owen to SkyZone one day. 

The same day Stella went to Adventureland with her friend, Ally. 

A few days later the 4 of us went to Adventurelnd. I bought discounted tickets in May and wanted to use them before summer slipped away from us. The kids rode their 1st upside down ride, The Dragon! They loved it! Here they are waiting in line. 

Selfie on the Sky Glider. 

Hadley and Owen came over for a sleepover and we went to the Indianola Balloon Classic. It was really fun! We'd been once before, several years ago, but it ended up being too windy and the balloons didn't launch b

So pretty!

Their favorite!

Headed back to the lake since Scott and Nora and kids were up there. Mike and I bought a new tube bc our old one bit the dust. Getting ready to try it out. 

I tried paddle boarding for the first time. Loved it!!

The kids after mass Sunday morning. 

Porter caught a big fish one morning!

Annual weekend at Fogel. A relative brought their new Beagle puppy. 

Water balloon fight!

Uncle Ken treated the kids to ice cream. Yum!

The next day we dropped P off for his first time at CYC! He did the mini week, 3 days/nights. He had a great time! Showered and brushed teeth once each! Oh my!

There were 8 boys from his class that attended this week. Great group of boys!! There were also quite a few 3rd grade girls from SFA at camp that week. Perhaps some summer camp romances happening. Hahaha! Maybe in a few years! :-)

A pic I copied from the CYC website. Only 2 campers got chosen to help sell candy at the Canteen and P was one of them. He was pretty pumped up about that!

While he was gone I had a girls night out and did one of those paint parties. It was really fun. I'd definitely try it again. 

Chris and Kim were back from AZ and spent a couple days/nights in DSM. Wed night we took them downtown and explored some of what Des Moines has to offer. 

The Papajohn Sculpture park. 

Swinging at a park along the river. 

Stopped for ice cream at Snookies. 

The next day we took them to the Iowa State Fair. Neither Chris nor Kim had been before. 

More ice cream!

Butter cow!

We met with mom, Sara, Hannah and Haydn for a bit and the 3 girls rode this ride. Thrill rides aren't really P's thing so he opted out. 

Giant Slide!

Big Boar!

Porter's turn for a selfie with me on the Sky Glider. 

A camel ride before heading home. 

We had a long weekend visiting the Gaddums and Chicago!!

I woke up Sat morning and found the kids bonding over cartoons. Something I'm sure Brittany and I did often!

Lots of swimming time. 

Cute kid photo. We should of had a parent photo taken, too!

We headed to downtown Chicago on Sun morning. This was our kids first trip to Chicago. 

In front of the big ferris wheel on Navy Pier. 

On the ferris wheel. Mike was terrified. Definitely not his thing!

Porter on the swings, Stella is on the very edge of the photo. Oops!

An air and water show happened to be happening that day and we saw the Blue Angles flying. Pretty cool!

Cooling off with sno cones. 

At the end of the pier. 

We were beat at the end of the day. The kids didn't want to go out for dinner so we ordered in true deep dish Chicago pizza. Yummy!

Millennium Park under the bean, which is actually named Cloud Gate. 

Saw lots of selfie sticks here. LOL!

Long Update on our Summer!

I apologize in advance about the amount of photos, please just skim over. This is mostly so I don't forget what we did this summer. LOL!

Summer is flying by like usual! We've had a rainy start, cool temps, but finally starting to warm up. 

Piper, Kathryn and Stella came downstairs with "makeovers." 

Mike and P went to the Ozarks for a boys weekend with some friends, Stella and I had a pedi before picking up her friends to come over and play. 

P and Leo boating in the Ozarks. 

They found a little turtle and put it on a remote controlled boat. Hahaha. Luckily the turtle escaped before the boat returned to the dock. 

Stella spent 5 days/nights in Lake Panora for CYC. The big excitement was the tornado warnings going off one night. 2 funnel clouds were spotted right near the camp. ALL the camp kids and counselors had to spend the night in one large room (the only building with a basement in case they had to go down sometime during the night). Pretty sure no one slept that night! They did get a chance to take a nap the next day. 

There were 6 SFA girls from Stella's class that were there that week. They weren't all in the same cabin, but it was. Ice for them to see familiar faces around camp. 

Abby I., Stella, Berlin, Abby P., Ally, and Megan. Stella was in the same cabin as last hear, St. Ann. 

On her bunk. 

The CYC website updated their password protected photo page daily. It was always fun to check at night and see if I could spot Stella or any of her friends in the pics. You could just copy them to your iPad. Sweet! Here's a few of my favorites. 

Ally, Abby P, Stella 

A blurry Ally, Stella, Berlin and their counselor

Ally and Stella: BFF's!

First thing she did after getting home (after showering) was hanging with her baby dolls and watch a show. 

P had his last baseball game. He really enjoyed it and had a great group of kids from his class on his team. Still hoping for a win......next season! Haha!

Summer reading is going better than last summer!

We dyed Stella's hair with Kool-Aid. She was so excited! (still waiting for it all to wash out.....it's getting lighter!). 

Stella's little friend Averie came over to hangout while Porter went to her brothers house to play. 

4th of July at the lake! Linda working way to hard in the kitchen!

P loves to fish. 

I think Stella and Grace are on the tube. Loved that Grandpa came out with us a few times!

Stella, P, Grant and Guy love to "surf" on the tube. They are so funny, the also love to hang their bodies off as the tube, switch spots as the tube. Pretty comical. 

Headed to the annual 4th of July foot parade on Sunset beach. Steve likes to drive the golf cart over. 

Scott, Linda and Mike before the parade. 

The boys, Jack, Grant Porter, Guy. Yes, Porter needed a larger shirt. Ha! 

The girls, Kelsie, Karlie, Stella, Grace. Nora's sister Lynn and her family were driving back to STL from Yellowstone and going right by Okoboji so they stayed a couple nights. We had a great time with them and their 3 kids got along great with ours and Grace, Grant and Guy loved having 2 sets of cousins around!

The parade. Always so cute and fun. View to my front. 

View to my back. 

At the end Lynne, the lady that organizes this and one of Linda's dearest friends always has treats to hand out to the kiddos. 

Later that day we met up with the Rickfles crew to play on the lake. P and Owen on the Maui Mat. 

Stopped by Barefoot Bar on our way home. Nora, me and Nora's sister Lynn. 

Loaded the kids up to watch the fireworks on the lake. 

Kids watching the fireworks. 

Cuddling with grandma when we got home. 

Lake girl! She went straight from the lake to the car....riding home in her swimsuit. LOL!

Headed to MA to see Anna and the girls. Extra bonus was seeing Brittany and her boys. This showed up in my photo stream from P's iPad. A selfish of Filson, Porter and Ian. Crack me up!

Showing Papa all their loot from their $5 they got from him to spend at the Dollar Store. 

The 6 grand kids stayed all night in a hotel with Nana and Papa. 

Sara, Anna, Mom and I went out for dinner, leaving Papa in charge of 6 kids!

At the zoo the next day. 

Porter "tanning" as he calls it at the pool. Ha!

This weekend we made a last minute trip back to Boji!

Stella kneeboarding. 

Sugar Shack is a fav!

We had friends renting a place up there and invited them over to boat/tube/play on Sat afternoon. You can't see them all but Stella, Abby I, Porter and Gabe on the water mat. 

Cute pic of Porter watching Stella kneeboarding. 

Porters turn on the kneeboard. He loves it, too!

Hanging with Grandma before heading home.