More fun with Mima and Pop-Pop

Alex, Mima and Pop-Pop left in the wee morning hours on Tuesday, to head off to Provo. Mima tearfully left her baby boy at BYU. They are officially "empty nesters" now.

Mima and Pop-Pop arrived back at our house in the wee morning hours on Saturday. Saturday we took a walk on the bike trail by our house. Pop-Pop and I were dressed in our running clothes and ready for a work-out. I was really proud of the older girls who kept up with us for the first fifteen minutes before going back to Mima and Dad. After Pop-Pop and I had finished our run and we were all walking back, Bella asked if someone would run with her. She can't go very far at one time but she sure is fast! I was one proud Mama as visions of future cross-country stars ran through my head. Then we headed back home for lazy Saturday naps. Afterwards, we grilled for dinner, played Apples to Apples (kids version), celebrated Pop-Pops B-day with a DQ icecream cake, and finished the night with the "Princess Protection Program" movie. We had 4 sad kids as Mima and PopPop headed home Sunday morning but lots of fun memories from the last 2 week-ends.

Cahokia Mounds

On Monday, Jacob, Bella, and I took Mima and Alex to the Cahokia mounds. Dad and Pop-Pop had to work and the older girls had school. Its a interesting place that I probably never would have bothered going to if not for a suggestion from a friend. It was a huge Indian settlement that had its center about 20 minutes away. The visitor center is built over the archaeological site and has markings to show where different structures existed. There is also life size replica buildings and structures. There is more information at the different exhibits then one could ever hope to absorb. You can also take a walk around several of the mounds and even climb Monks mound. Monks mound was the highest mound and the site of the Chief's home so he could look out over the settlement. There is over 150 steps to the top. I think he lived up there so people would think twice before making the climb to complain to him about any problems they hoped he might fix. I know I would've thought twice!!

A view of the WoodRiver Refinery- the site of the project Jared is on

A view of the St. Louis skyline

The last two pictures were not posed. As we were walking back to the car, Bella and Jacob were walking together like this on their own. It was too cute!

After the kids came home, we went swimming at the pool. Bella was very excited to show Mima and Pop-Pop where she swims and the waterslides there. She also showed off how she can swim almost the whole length of the pool now. This may end up being the last trip to the pool this summer. It closes this week-end and we are having abnormally cool weather this week.

Penguins for Uncles

Alex has been asking to go to the Akron Zoo since he was a little boy. He has always loved Penguins and as wonderful as the Cleveland zoo is, it does not have Penguins. His mom promised to take him, but never did. Then his older sister promised to take him and her children, but she too failed him. The poor boy graduated from high school and left Ohio for college without a trip to the Akron Zoo. On his way to BYU, he stopped at his sister's house in St. Louis and she saw a chance to redeem herself. Two Saturdays ago, we headed to the St. Louis zoo with Uncle Alex to finally take him to see Penguins.

While we were there, we decided to check out the Sea Lion show. We were in the second row, up close to the action. All of the children (and adults) LOVED the show.

I love the Cleveland zoo. Its location makes it easy to get in and out of, and the parking is easy and stress free. I had no qualms about driving there several times a month with the kids. We enjoyed our membership there for several years. The St. Louis zoo is a bit trickier to get to and parking is a nighmare. As a result we don't go near as often. I also loved the layout of the Cleveland Zoo and it was easy to see the whole zoo everytime we went, sometimes we could even fit the Rainforest in. But that being said, from a Conservation Biologist viewpoint, the St. Louis Zoo is a gem. The habitat for each animal is much more natural. My favorite part is the River Walk. I wish all zoos could be so true to the animals native habitat. Jacob's favorite part is all of the view posts for the elephants.

Bella and Pop-Pop wanted to ride the train all day. As we were leaving, we decided to give in and take them on the train ride. Jacob told everyone he saw the following week that he rode the train. Guess it was well worth the enjoyment he got from it. Oh, and Bella and Pop-Pop really enjoyed it too.



Since Saturday also happened to be Alex's B-day, we stopped at Bobby's on the way home and treated Alex to the best frozen custard. Alex's good friend Katie used to live in Maryville and was extremely jealous when she found out Alex had gone. It was one of her favorite places. Penguins and Bobby's, what more could he ask for on his B-day?



I forgot to mention we did all of this AFTER the first Super Saturday I was in charge of. When we got home, we ordered pizza and stayed up singing Karoake. Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED when I finally stumbled into bed that night.

School again, school again

The kids started school with a half day on Tuesday. Mom started the school year by meeting friends for breakfast (although I still had 2 tag-alongs). Dad gave the kids father's blessings the night before but Katy was still nervous. We still haven't figured out why. She moved up to another school, but due to the move and differences in the 2 districts, the child has gone to a new building every year so that shouldn't have upset her too much. She looked like she was going to throw up when she was boarding the bus. I guess it was just moving into the "big kid" school and riding the "big kid" bus. We got a call from the school to ask if Katy was a car rider or a bus rider. The office said she wasn't sure. Really? She's always ridden the bus, every year, almost everyday. And now that I have 2kids in 2 different schools that start and end at the same time, along with 2 extra neighbor kids, there is no way I can pick her up. All was well when she realized a girl from the next street over was in her class. Xandy was fine. She loves to be with friends. She was very upset when her best friend didn't end up in her class again, but has already made a new friend who is on her bus and in her class. Her only gripe with school is she actually has to do work and she thinks she misses out on fun at home. When Katy got off the bus at the end of the day, Bella yelled "Wow Katy you are such a big kid now"
There is something wrong with my camera, so parts of each picture are blurry.

Tuesday- the 1st day

Wednesday- 1st whole day

Thursday- we almost missed the bus this morning so I actually took this pic on Friday

Friday- we made it through the first week

Last week of Summer

Our last week before school started was packed with lots of fun and some dentist appointments squeezed in. Although my kid's love the dentist so that was even fun in their opinion. We went to the pool almost everyday, played with friends, slept in, read books, went to a B-day party at Chuck E Cheese and relaxed. Thursday, we went to Splash City with some friends. Splash City is part of one of the nearby town's recreation dept. It is a wonderful waterpark that is can entertain children of all ages. Its compact and overflowing with lifegaurds. There was a Hurrican harbor, a smaller version of the harbor for little ones, a baby pool, a regular sized pool, waterslides, a huge sand pit, a surfing simulator, and a rope/raft obstacle thing. We paired our kids off in the buddy system and sent them off to have fun while we played with the little ones in the baby pool. Later that night, the kids could check out their classrooms and drop supplies off. The next evening, our friends showed a movie on a projector in their back yard. They even had a popcorn maker. It was a blast. The fun came to a screaming halt on Saturday, when I made them clean their bedrooms and the playroom in prep for school starting. But, we even managed to squeeze in a trip to the pool since they worked so hard.

Peaches and Blackberries

We went to a local orchard to pick peaches and blackberries with our neighbors the next week. We had a great time and picked lots of fruit. After we were done picking we had a picnic lunch. The kids loved the blackberry jam I made last year so we picked tons of blackberries and made several batches of jam. We also decided to try some peach jam this year. I wasn't sure if we'd like it or not so we only made one batch. We used the rest of the peaches to freeze for peach pie and made a few dozen peach pecan muffins, which were to die for!! Turns out even my peach wary husband loved the jam. The next week, we headed back to the orchard to get more peaches. Good thing we brought Dad along this time. The trees were so picked over the kids and I couldn't reach any. Dad had to do the picking while we pointed out where the good ones were. We made 2 more batches of jam and snacked on a lot of peaches. Pick your own farms, have become a tradition with the kids and I. We look forward picking blueberries, blackberries, peaches, apples, pumpkins, etc and making yummy foods with them. Alexandra wanted to take a cooking class at the Y, but the times interfered with the times I watch the neighbors after school. I promised her I would have cooking classes with her at home. After making all the jam, we decided to make some rolls to eat with the jam. We used a recipe from Jared's great- grandmother. She had entered the recipe in a fair and won a blue ribbon. The girls had lots of fun measuring the ingredients and stirring it all together. It was a hot day so we decided to put the dough in the car to help it rise. They thought that was hilarious but it worked wonderfully. Everyone really enjoyed the rolls, and its no surprise the recipe won a prize. The only downfall is now the girls want those rolls for dinner everynight, but that is definately not going to happen. I did make more this week-end while my parents were here.

The wagon ride back to the car

The first batches of jam

Notice the peaches floated to the top in the first batch. I'm pleased to say that did not happen in the other batches

Six Flags

The Saturday after we came home from Ohio, we went to Six Flags. Using the free tickets the girls earned coupled with a coupon, we were all able to get in for the price of one admission. When we woke up, the skies were gray, but we crossed our fingers and headed out anyway. It rained most of the morning. I think we have some kind of amusement park curse. Standing there like drenched rats brought back memories of our Disneyland trip. At least it was August and not December this time. The rain once again helped with crowd control and the sun actually made its appearance sometime late afternoon so we can't complain too badly. We spent half the day riding rides, and the other half playing in the waterpark. My girls definately do not have issues with heights and speed. Bella was just barely tall enough for the Tony Hawk ride and rode it 2x. I glanced over at her while we were being whipped upside down and in circles and couldn't believe I had actually allowed her to ride on it. She loved it though. After it stopped raining, Jacob insisted on standing under the hand dryer until all his hair dried. He got lots of laughs and attention from ladies using the restrooms. We ended up staying much later than we had originally planned. Even though I was teaching RS the next day, I wasn't worried. I had it all prepared and just needed to print it out. Imagine my horror, the next morning when I realized we were completely out of ink. Good thing we have late church and I had time to hand write it out.

A few of the "kiddie rides"

Reception Pictures

The cute couple waltzin'
Dancin' away

My cute family

Tonya and Dustin

Grandma and Aunt Karen

Katy, Emma, Uncle Phil and Marcus

Me and my little buddy

The happy couple

Oh, yeah, remember these two cutie-pies?

Here they are again, but Brooke didn't want her picture taken this time, so I had to try to sneak one. Looks like she would've been better off just posing for me!

Hard to believe that its been 6 years already! They may have grown, started school, played sports, and both been baptized, but they are still cutie-pies! Wish they could still be in the same ward, Katy misses having such a great friend in her church class.