50th

Don and Kathy celebrated their 50th Anniversary on Friday.  We spent the weekend in Minot with them.  Tyler, Jess, Huxley, Mike, Shellbie, and Breann were also there.

Green-Brown Belt

Eric had testing for his Green-Brown belt last week.  He always gets nervous for testing, even though he does great.  He passed.  We were not able to attend the graduation ceremony on Saturday, since we were in Minot, so he will receive his belt on Wednesday.

 High forward rolls.  He rocked it.

 Punching combos

 Falls

 Kicking combos

 Choke releases with Tyler.

Reading

This has been Megan's favorite book of the week recently.  She can read it all by herself with only help on 2 words....she is excited.  

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

Summer Fun

Now that we are home from our cross country trip, we are getting into our summer vacation routine.   

 Megan is taking tennis again this year.  Today they played a volley game, and she was the last player standing!  She was very excited to win something, even if the prize was just pride.

 The boys got new bikes this year.  They will be riding bike in the Bike 2 Believe float in the 4th of July parade, so they have been 'training'.

 Megan would do this all day long if we had enough of these weeds in our yard

 Today, Megan finally mostly mastered the skill of getting her bike to go by herself.

 We have lots and lots of sidewalk chalk, which leads to lots and lots of sidewalk art in our driveway.

 Kacy wants to swim in the pool.....

 We took our inaugural dip in the pool today.  The kids were freezing!  I bribed them with Laffy Taffy to go in the water.  Megan lasted the longest.

 Can you tell which kid this is????

 Eric jumped in.....and got right back out.  He went straight to the bathroom to take a warm, warm, warm bath.

Days 7 and 8

I took no pictures days 7 or 8.  They mostly involved just getting to our destinations.  We traveled from Co Springs to Deadwood on day 7.  Had our picnic in Cheyenne, WY and spent some time on the playground.  There was an old steam locomotive there.  It was cool and rainy when we got to Deadwood.  We found a burger place (Eric must have bacon burgers.....).  Then, we left the kids all alone in the hotel room so we could gamble a bit in the casino in our hotel.  It took us 20 minutes or so to lose $35 before heading back to the room.  Day 8, we drove home to Mandan.
It was  a great trip!  Kids did great with the long days of traveling and touring.  Saw lots of beautiful scenery.  That being said, I missed the farmland of North Dakota, and the clean towns and roadways!
We always talk about next summer's vacation on our drive home.  I think it will be another cruise....a vacation where we just show up and don't have to plan anything, or load/unload a vehicle every day!

Day 6: Buffer Day

We were happy to let the kids sleep in Thursday morning.  After breakfast they spent some time in the pool (we had it all to ourselves).  Then we hung out in our room doing nothing, and it felt good.  We ate at Popeye's for lunch, then went to the Air Force Academy.  This one of my favorite stops of the trip.

 The Air Force Academy Chapel.  This place was cool.

 Inside the Protestant Chapel

 This is what I call a pipe organ!

 Awesome and powerful sight to see the freshman students in formation.

 The kids were impressed, too

 Inside the Catholic chapel

 There were falcons on display in the Visitor's Center.  The 2 kids with them are sophomore students in the Academy

 Don and I are considering these requirements for the kids' rooms

 my 2 history buffs inspecting the B-52 on display

After the Air Force Academy, we went back to our hotel to swim and chill out some more.  We walked across the street for supper at Old Chicago.  Yummy Yummy.