Swimming?

Kansas received record amounts of rain in July, which meant cooler summer temps and ditches full of water. Unfortunately, the children aren't used to seeing ditches full of water and thought this was a great new swimming option at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Andrew also found a little turtle and named him Mr. T and was very sad when I told him he couldn't come and live at our house.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the bestest Daddy!

Grandpa and his grandsons

Hannah was happy to watch the boys ride!

At first it was fun...

And then a little scary...

 We had a fun Father's Day. Church and then lunch with Daddy, rest time and then dinner with Grandpa and Grandma and the Eigstis. And rides. Dinner at Grandpa's house always included fun rides!

Fun Day at the Farm

Grandpa bought this awesome cart/tricycle toy many years ago and the grand kids are finally big enough to try it out.

It took them no time at all to the get the hang of it!

 

Hannah wasn't too sure about it and was content to let Grandpa hold her while she watched the boys.

Andrew giving Luke and Adam a quick lesson on how to drive.

The boys also discovered this freaky giant bug. Extra points if you can tell me what kind it is!
Update: My friend Lisa, found the answer to my question. A Cottonwood Borer is the answer and a I found lots of info on it when I Googled it. Sometimes the Internet is very helpful! And thank you Lisa for saving me search time!

Jonathan and Adam were accidental twinkies for the day.

Jonathan showing Adam some love.

Adam and Hannah were too small for the horse cart, but not for the wagon!

And then we discovered a frog and the horse cart was completely forgotten!

Hannah didn't understand why she couldn't turn the pages of the little kids' book.

 

What's better than one frog? TWO!

Then it was time for BIG rides.

 

Andrew prefers Grandpa's new four-wheeler. "It's faster!"

Even Hannah got a ride on the new 4-wheeler. She wasn't nearly as excited as the boys and refused to go near it without Grandma,

 

A couple weeks ago, we met the Nisly family at Carriage Crossing for breakfast. Verlin and Violet and family were in town to help with harvest so we got to see them too. Breakfast was a little chaotic and so sadly there are no pictures to document the giant table we filled and the yummy food we consumed.

After breakfast, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play. Grandpa had bought a horse cart/tricycle many years ago in anticipation of the fun it would bring to the grandchildren. So much fun in fact, that Andrew declared we needed to take it home with us. We also had lots of rides on big machines and enjoyed a beautiful day in June, a rarity in Kansas! Oh, and we also tormented frogs. How those poor things survived the love they received that day, I have no idea!

Memorial Day Fun

Andrew and Luke

Running boys

Jonathan and Luke

We went to Hutch Sunday evening to celebrate Memorial Day with family. The wind was fierce - think Hurricane force, but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to play outside! The boys were running races and had a little trouble running in a straight line because the wind kept pushing them. But they didn't care and kept running and running and running. (I'm also blaming wind for my blurry pictures. Not sure why this happened, so it must've been the wind!)

And then for a special treat, Andrew and Jonathan spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Notice I did not say that they slept at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Jonathan was up at 3 needing a drink, and then they were both up with the sun around 6:30. But they had a great time despite being exhausted. And their parents had a nice break and ran some errands with only Hannah and got lots done around the house! All in all, it was a great 3-day weekend!

Applesauce and Frogs

I found these pictures from July on my mom's camera and had to post them...

Andrew found this fat frog and played with it ALL day.

Helping make applesauce!

The pictures of Andrew with a frog are from July 4th weekend. He spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa and had the time of his life. It had rained a TON that weekend and so there were mud puddles to play in and frogs to catch. And after it stopped raining, he got to go fishing with Grandpa. He informed us later that he caught 5 fish and Grandpa only caught 4. Unfortunately Grandpa forgot to take his camera, but there will be a next time and photos will be taken!

And then in mid-July, we got a bunch of apples and worked all day with Grandma to make applesauce. The boys were big helpers - washing the cut apples and running the cooked apples through the sauce-making machine. Later when we all were enjoying the yummy applesauce, Andrew told Keith, "Grandma makes the best applesauce ever!" Keith asked if I helped, and Andrew said, "Yeah, a little." I see where the love is!