Camp Aunt Antsy. . .actually, a visit to Aunt Nancy, Uncle Jim and GramGram's House in Kansas

Grannie and PaPa took the girls to Kansas in the bus. . and we all met them. Just imagine, four adults and two kids in a van all the way to Kansas. This should have been a 10 hour trip that turned into a 14 hour trip! Ouch! Ironically, the trip home took us 10 hours, but felt longer. . maybe because I had finished my book.

There is so much to do at their house. . tractor rides with Uncle Jim. This was Zachary's personal favorite.
Bug catching. . .you would think we don't have bugs in Texas with the number of creatures the kids were entertained by in Kansas.

And horse rides. All four kids loved hanging out with Baby Benjamin. . who is now 2, so soon it won't be OK to call him "Baby Benjamin".

Chloe and Benjamin

Kennedy and Chloe

Me and GramGram

Zachary and Kaden

Uncle Jim. .he had all the fun activities.

All five enjoying juice after a hot day!

Finally. . .every day had some trampoline time. It made most of the adults extremely nervous, especially cousin Joe given all the trampoline accidents he has seen at work!

The final highlight before we got back in the car. . .Uncle Jim teaching the kids how to rope a calf!!!

HE GOT IT!!!!!!

Now, Kennedy gave it a try.

And Kaden had to give it one last go before we loaded the van.

I forgot to mention Zachary's second favorite activity. . .the septic truck came to empty the house tank and the bus tank. . .Zachary was pretty impressed with how the truck operated. It was painful to stand by and watch (mostly because the smell was horrible). . but he was interested.
We had a great time. . congratulations once again to Cousin Betty and Randall on their wedding (the reason we came to Kansas in the first place).

Catching up. . .so, summer has officially started and we have already had a busy one. For those of you who know Aunt Kim. . her IPhone goes everywhere. What a great way to pass time, and funny how even the kids have figured it out. Don't worry. . despite Chloe's wish, she won't be getting an IPhone of her own any time soon. We had a picnic in the park for PaPa's birthday. . .lots of fun in the waterpark and playscape. We were luck to have Aunt Susie and Uncle Dave join us and the Parent Family.

Chloe had her first Kinderdance recital (Kennedy is also in her class). Chloe loves everything about being a ballerina. . .wearing pink dresses, sparkles, dancing around, you name it. It was very entertaining. As you can see, she would sing all the songs she was dancing to. . what a performer!










Our weekend trip to Fredericksburg, TX. . .we asked the Clement crew to join us on our adventure. What a cute little town with lots of wineries, produce stands, fun restaurants, etc. It reminded me of a Texas version of Manchester,Vermont. We planned the trip around peach season. . we wanted to bring home a bunch. Unfortunately, our travels throughout the day that ended at Enchanted Rock. .missed all the orchard stands.

What a great idea. . let's take four kids age 5 and under into a candy store!?!?!? Below was the result.

After touring around town, we got in the car to head to Enchanted Rock. . Sis was a bit tired!

But Zachary stayed awake ready to hike the mountain (?).

We had two choices. .take an easy 4 mile hike to the top. . or a steep ~1 mile trip to the top! Well, with four kids and four lazy parents. .we opted for the quick ~1 mile trek. After a little complaining (i.e. "I'm thirsty"--it was almost 100 degrees), we made it to the top.

Now heading back down. . you can kind of get the perspective of the hike.

Now we jump to Father's Day Weekend. The girls (Chloe and Kennedy) headed off to Kansas with PaPa and Grannie on the annual bus trip. This has left Zachary and Kaden home with us and resulted in many days in which Zachary or Kaden picked the fun activity(ies) for the day. On Father's Day, the big boys were asked what they wanted to do. . Jeffrey had done his research and discovered that one of Kim and Monica's favorite performers was hosting a Father's Day show on the Lake. It was a long drive to get there (a good nap for Zachary), but well worth the trip.

Bob Schneider performing

The whole gang. . in the second row! Not bad seats at all!

For those of you who do not know Bob Schneider, here is a clip of him performing his now most popular song 40 Dogs.



Kaden sat through the entire show. . .maybe that is why Bob sang the Batman song for him (fortunately, he cleaned up the lyrics for a family show).

However, Zachary was a bit restless. He found the catfish (that were larger than him) an interesting attraction.

Our next Zachary adventure. .he has been begging to drive the GoKarts we pass by every day on our way home from school. With the girls gone, Kim and I decided to take the boys. Zachary has been watching Herbie a lot lately and loves the car. He kept saying "Go Herbie. .GO!". He was not too bummed that he was only 2 inches shy of being able to drive his own car. . maybe in a few more months!

It was a bit hot, so we were getting pretty sweaty!

He loved riding on the train. .not quite as fast as Mommy driving the GoKarts, but at least it had a bell.

Oddly enough, his favorite thing was to pretend he was the carousel operator for the baby carousel inside. . he stood by waited for little kids to climb aboard and then start the ride once everyone was on safely.

I think I foresee a summer job in the future?

Well, that is about all for now. We are heading out to Kansas this weekend to see GramGram, Aunt Antsy, et.al. . and of course to see the girls. I am sure we will have more photos once we return. Zachary is still calculating his negotiations in getting the girls to ride back in the van with Mom and Dad and Aunt Kim and Uncle Jeff so that the boys can ride back in the bus.