We've had such an exciting summer so far! We've been to Des Moines two weekends in a row to get our van fixed so we decided to stay over and have some fun while we were at it!
During our first trip we stayed two nights and went to the living history farms. It was so neat to see all the different farms in the different time periods. The kids really enjoyed it. They got to pet a cow and pump some water from a well, they even got to attempt mowing with an old fashion weed wacker...the guy was pretty brave. Arianna was swinging pretty high and it wasn't a toy!! It was a warm day and a lot of walking (and pushing the stroller/pulling the wagon) so we were all tuckered out when it finally came to an end.

On the same trip we spent an evening at Chuck E. Cheese which the whole family enjoys. The kids get to play for free on the play equipment, and then we all enjoy the token games when they are tired of the play set. This time we decided not to waste money on eating there, the kids are always too distracted to eat while we are there anyway!

We also ate at the Machine Shed Restaurant and the kids and I all got to take a ride on a John Deere Tractor. The driver was especially kid friendly and everyone fell in LOVE with the tractor. It was a bumpy ride and later when we rode a wagon at The Living History farms, Ethan informed us that he liked the bumpy one better. The kids are interested in picking out the John Deere tractors from the others now as we drive around.

During the middle of week we took the kids to the park and worked on our bike riding skills. Arianna has been doing okay, but seemed to finally figure out riding with two wheels, we let Ethan give it a try too, just to see what he could do, and he took off! THey are both excited to be able to ride without training wheels. Now Ethan wants his bike back so we are working on Arianna going back to her bigger bike...it might take a few more tries until she is comfortable being further away from the ground.

Arianna and Ethan have also figured out how to swim this summer also. It's amazing what they pick up in such a short time. Arianna can now swim from one side of the pool at camp to the other in the deep end! Ethan does as well when he isn't worried about the deep waters. Isaac is happy to just sit in his boat and cruise around, and I think I 'll keep him there for awhile longer.

Last weekend when we went back to Des Moines to finish the work on the van we went to the Botanical Center. It was so pretty. They gave the older kids a little scavenger hunt where they had to find certain trees, leaves, and flowers. They loved seeing so many "weird" trees that they are not used to seeing. I loved taking pictures in there! It was so much fun, and so many neat natural backdrops. I also enjoyed that it was a shorter outing than the previous week, I think we'll have to save the longer adventures for a couple more years.



This weekend we needed something to do, so I thought it would be fun to have a treasure hunt around town. So I made up clues and hid things with more clues in someplaces I thought the kids could guess from the clues and let Andrew and the Kids try to find them. Our last clue they had to order at sonic. The waitresses were more than happy to help out, it was so cute watching Arianna order her drink and clue. Andrew was slightly embarrassed but overall it was a HUGE success. Arianna thinks we should do it every day!

My summer term 2 class has 3 weeks left! I will be GLAD to see this section go... The teacher leaves a lot to be desired. I've decided I need to spend class time just reading the book, and trying my best to ignore what he says so that I won't be confused. He really is a nice guy, but seems a bit too smart for my understanding, and he refuses to watch the clock! Some of the kids turned the clock ten minutes faster in hopes that we would get out on time, but no luck!
Arianna is finished with all of her many trips to the dentist for now...poor thing only has 6 teeth left on the bottom after the dentist finished pulling. Her top two front teeth are getting pretty loose now too. If those go before some of the others fill in, she will have a really difficult time eating. We were so proud of her, she was scared but did so good, the dentist was impressed also. She had 4 cavities and 3 teeth pulled (in three visits) with just novacane, Andrew opted out of the anesthsia.

Well thats what is new for the last few weeks, I thought I would put in Ethan's swollen ear picture from his latest moquito bite...just in case you need a good laugh!