Summer Fun 2010

August 7--visit with the Biggerstaff family. Nikki, Isaac and Alex came to see us in our new house while they were in the area visiting Nikk's family. Alex is 5 days older than Mae. It was difficult to get them to both be still long enough to get a picture!

Nikki, Alex, Mae and me sharing some pie.......the girls mooched several bites from their mommies, then they switched and mooched from the other mommy!

August 7--Isaac Biggerstaff and Ella. Isaac is 6 days older than Ella.

Mae Mae enjoying some Blueberry Dream Pie!

Nicholas and Ella ready for church......Niko is giving his little sister a kiss. Sweet!!

July 30--Nicholas completed Skyhawks Tennis Camp and he was very proud of himself

July 30--Nicholas at tennis camp

Princess Ella and her babies........Ella dresses up as a princess nearly every day

Grand Camp Part 2

One of the many fun group activities at camp. The children were not remotely concerned by the 90+ degree temperatures!!

Nicholas with his swimming buddies. Every time the kids would swim, they had to have a buddy that they stayed close to in the water. The lifeguards would blow a whistle every 15 minutes and the kids had to hold up their hands with their buddies.

Nicholas and a new friend building a marble maze. Meemaw and Papa said that Nicholas was really friendly at camp and played with lots of different children.

Nicholas standing in the observation tower overlooking the lake

This tree looks like a cross........can you see Nicholas?

Papa and Nicholas building a marble maze. One of the cabins, Crumpacker, was full of games and activities for the campers.

Nicholas enjoying some swimming time

Grand Camp Part 1

Nicholas outside of "Mission Village" where his cabin was located. His cabin was named "Rhodes" after a Brethren missionary......at least, that's what he tells me.....

Becker Lodge

The Grand Camp 2010 group

Arky Parky where the kids play

Meemaw and Nicholas inside the chapel

Nicholas just spent 3 days at Grand Camp with Meemaw and Papa Carl. Grand Camp is an opportunity for children (ages 5-10) and their grandparents to attend church camp together. They had a great time. The camp is located at Camp Mack which is in Milford, Indiana. They had worship services, campfires (can you imagine.......in this heat?), group activities, crafts, lots of swimming, meals and next to no air conditioning. The Detwilers toughed it out the first night and stayed at the camp in a cabin with fans going just trying to get some decent sleep. The second night, they decided air conditioning was priority one so they drove back to Nappanee to sleep.

The main building at Camp Mack, Becker Lodge, was nearly destroyed by a fire on July 12 of this year. The building dated back to the 1920's. What a loss. No one was hurt but some major changes were made in order for the camp to continue running. The campers had previously eaten their meals in Becker Lodge so some large tents have been set up to accomodate meals and meal prep. It's amazing to me that the staff at Camp Mack, with a lot of help from volunteers, have not let this catastrophe slow them down in their efforts to provide meaningful camp experiences for children.

Hendricks County Fair Fun

Last week was our local fair and we took the kids on Wednesday evening for a big fun time. We visited with lots of animals and ate lots of fair food. Mae didn't necessarily appreciate the horse that whinnied in her face.......poor Mae.......she screamed and shook and was so scared. Bad mommy for thinking I could pet a horse while wearing Mae in the sling.

We watched a horse pulling contest with big draft horses.......so cool. While we watched, they were pulling 7500 lb. Can you imagine? And they loved it. They were jumping to get started when their handlers would hook them up to the big weight. Then we let Nicholas and Ella ride some animals........Ella chose Molly the pony and Nicholas chose Jonas the camel. So fun.

Mae is 10 months old!!

Our little peanut is becoming such a biggie girl. She says "DA DA DA" and just lights up when Daddy comes into the room. She's nowhere close to saying "MA MA MA" despite my unceasing efforts to get her to speak the sounds that will melt my heart! She's very busy and gets into everything. It's ever the challenge to keep the Barbie and Polly Pocket accessories away from her little hands and mouth!

Mae Mae tries ice cream!!!

While in Nappanee, we visited Dairy Queen for some cool treats (b/c our most beloved ice cream place, The Chief, was closed......grrrr......). Anyway, we let Mae Mae try some ice cream. She would scrunch up her face like she was in so much pain and then she would want more. So funny. I guess the ice cream was a little too cold for her liking!

Summer Vacation--part 2

We enjoyed getting to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Detwiler at Greencroft Healthcare Facility in Goshen. The kids enjoyed meeting the resident cat and rabbit. We spent a few afternoons in Meemaw and Papa's backyard in a baby pool they had purchased for our use. The girls wore matching swimsuits........super cute. One evening, we were invited to visit with friends on the lake in Syracuse. We swam and had a cook out and took a boat ride. Niko and Ella were little fish. They wore their life jackets and had a big fun time. Niko jumped off the pier over and over. Ella would float and "swim" and jump off the pier if you held her hands. The boat ride was very fun but very busy. I held a very wiggly and uncomfortable Mae......she was wearing a life jacket that was very safe but very bulky. Lenn kept track of Ella and Niko who kept wanting to try out different parts of the boat while I kept wanting them to sit still!! We did get back to the dock in one piece and our kids are still talking about the great day we spent at the lake.