4th of July

 We had a very busy, wild 4th of July week. Both John and I ended up having the week off, which was amazing. But, all kinds of things fell into that week that prevented us from camping as much as we wanted to.

Emma had a softball tournament the weekend before the 4th. Her team went 2-0 the first day, and then on Sunday they went 0-2 and went home. They just didn't pitch or hit very well, which makes it tough to win games. And it was miserably hot outside, so that didn't help matters any. 

After the tournament, we stayed home on Monday as well. Emma had some driving hours with her instructor, and then both kids had games Monday night. I went to Elliott's baseball game, and John went to Emma's game (he helped coach all season). Finally, on Tuesday we got to head to Yankton to go camping. 

Emma decided to sneak a little birthday party into our camping week. So, on Tuesday, we brought 5 extra girls camping with us. We brought Hannah T, Hannah P, and Rachel with us, and then Callie and Chloe met us at the campground. On Tuesday, we had a beautiful day, and Jim brought his boat out, so the kids had a blast tubing and swimming off the boat. Chloe, Callie, and Rachel had never tubed before, so they were pretty nervous, but they loved it. We also had paddle boards and beach swimming, so everyone was having a good time. After the afternoon filled with boating and swimming, we had a supper of burgers and hot dogs and then we played some games and had some chill time at the campsite. 

We also had a great campfire where the kids roasted strawberries and Smores. We also ended up playing Imposter around the campfire and that ended up being really fun. There was a lot of laughing, and fun. We stayed up too late, but eventually sent the girls to bed. All 5 girls slept in one tent, and their belongings were in the second tent. Everything went great, until 2:00 am when it started storming and all 5 girls came into the camper. They hung out inside until the storm let up and then they went back to the tent. Nobody got much sleep that night. It was an adventure. 

On Wednesday, we had some breakfast, and then did some more swimming. Elliott also had a rocket that we were launching and having some fun with. The girls also played some Tapple and Catch Phrase, and then the energy level started to get a little low. We ate some fajitas for lunch, and then I took the girls home. I went to Vermillion first to drop off Callie and Chloe, and then back to Sioux Falls to drop off the rest of the girls. Most everyone slept on the way home. 

John and Elliott also came home on Wednesday, and we did some laundry and unpacked the tents and extra supplies we didn't need anymore. Then, we headed to Elliott baseball game, and then slept in our own beds, which was amazing. 

Thursday, we headed to the lake again, just the 4 of us. We spent a lot of the day in Yankton, getting groceries, and running errands. Elliott wanted to go to a card store, so we did that. We also stopped at a pet store and saw cats, birds, mice, and all kinds of other animals. We did a little thrifting, and then we ate supper at Charlie's Pizza. It was amazing. We even played a little more Imposter at Charlie's. 

Friday was very hot. So, we headed to the beach to swim. The kids did some paddle boarding, and John and I blew up our big floatie that had two inner-tubes connected with a cooler in the middle. We enjoyed some floating, and then we played catch with Elliott and swam with him for a a while (Emma went back to the camper after a while). We enjoyed some good food and a fire, and then enjoyed the air conditioning, and another night of storms. 

Saturday was the 4th of July. We ended up going to Vermillion for something different. We went to the National Music Museum, which was pretty cool. We saw a lot of instruments, read a lot of history about music, and Emma bought a harmonica, and Elliott bought a kazoo, and they had a lot of fun with those. Emma learned the beginning part of Piano Man and played it around the fire that night. And Elliott drove us crazy with the kazoo. 

After the museum, we ate some sandwiches at Mr. Smith's which is a pretty well-known place in their Ace hardware. And it was good! We ate them in the park, and then checked out the events going on in the park for the 4th. It was fun. Then, we headed back to the campsite. The kids cooled off in the camper while John and I went on a bike ride. It was still hot, but it was nice to move around. Then, we did some swimming again, cleaned up, and had a nice fire. We also had some fireside music with the harmonic and kazoo. Once it was dark, we walked down to the lake to watch fireworks. There were 11 different places shooting off fireworks. It was pretty cool. We had an amazing 4th. 

Sunday was our clean up and go home day. We were all ready to be home. We packed up, make the. long drive back to Jim and Barb's house and put the camper away. We ate some lunch, and then headed home. We did about 5 loads of laundry, unpacked, and then settled back into our home. 

We had an amazing week off, but we were all ready to be back to our own beds and schedules. Not too much else has been going on. Emma finished her season of softball, and she had two amazing hits to finish the season. I was so proud. Elliott continues to basically live at the farm. But, he has been mowing lawn, helping with landscaping, learning to pump gas, helping can pickles, and more. So, I can't complain. He is learning a lot this summer and getting in some good grandparent time. Emma continues to be busy with band and crafting. 

This past Sunday, we drove to Windom to meet Ryan and Emily and Mom. We had supper with them since we hadn't seen them since Confirmation. It was a nice supper and a nice way to catch up. And we learned that Ryan and Emily are expecting a baby in February, so that is very exciting. 

This weekend is another busy one. I have the Bethel softball tournament on Saturday (90+ degrees outside, can't wait) and then we have the potluck at the parsonage after that. And the Sioux Falls Airshow is going on Saturday and Sunday, so that's exciting. I really enjoy watching that. And we have church and a voter's meeting, so we will keep busy. Summer keeps flying by!

Tubing fun 

Some of Elliott's team 

The girls 

Games in the tent 

4th of July 

Ice cream!

Emma turns 14/Summer things

 In the blink of an eye, Emma is 14. She took driver's ed training in Parker for a week in June, and she has already had her behind the wheel training, and she passed her written and driver's test as well. And actually, today I took her to the DMV, and now she has her instruction permit. She can now drive, as long as an adult is with her. That is crazy! I had her drive me to band practice tonight, and she did very well, but she was pretty nervous. 

Emma also has been going to High School Orientation for the last couple of weeks. She goes Monday through Thursday, 8-3:15pm. They are long days, but she loved it. She met some friends, had fun, learned where her classes are, and just generally had a good time. And now, she is starting to ramp up with Band practice. She has had a couple evening this week, and a few days next week, and then she is in full blown band camp. She has days that go from 1-9pm, and she is going to be putting in some long days. I am so proud of her. She does enjoy it, and she is excited to be playing the instruments she is playing. I can't wait to go to football games and competitions. 

Emma still likes drawing, painting, crafting, being messy, coloring her hair, having her own style, scrolling on her phone, hanging with friends, listening to music, and just vibing in her room. She is really excited for high school and moving on to bigger things. She played fastpitch softball this past summer and really enjoyed that. This summer we will work on getting some driving hours, and get her ready for high school. 

Elliott also played baseball this summer. His first half wrapped up last week, and his team did pretty well. They had a great season. Now, he is starting his second season and he's on the same team as Rory and Jacob. The only thing the team is missing is a coach at this point. 

But, back to Emma. For her birthday, we got her an Olivia Rodrigo album, some fabric for crafting, an April Ludgate Funko pop, a monster drink, and a new water bottle. She was a happy girl. 

We also had a nice summer weekend with Katie. John, Emma, Katie and I ate at Pho Thai. It was delicious. (Elliott was at Grandma and Grandpa's house). We also went to the Levitt with Katie for some live music. The music group was pretty good, and we had a fun time, but it was a little hot. When we had enough, we dropped Emma at home, and then the three of us when out for a couple drinks and some adult time. 

We also finally made it to Luverne to the drive-in movie theatre, and we saw Toy Story 5. We brought Katie and Elliott with us, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. We got there early because it was the opening night. So, we played some boardgames, played catch, and just had a nice evening. We had to wait until 9:45 for the movie to start. We all enjoyed some concession stand food, and the movie was great. It was about midnight before it was over, and we all headed home-we did not stay for the double feature. 

On Emma's actual birthday, we ate at Wing Stop (per her request) with Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jim. We ate there before an Elliott baseball game. It was a fun evening of celebrating Emma. 

Softball games and sunsets 

The Strikers 

Luverne Drive In 

The Levitt 

Rainbow after the baseball game 

Birthday Girl 

Camping with Jeff and Samantha

 Well, I got about a month behind in blogging again. It's hard to keep up with life. A lot has been happening lately, so I will try to catch you up. 

Back in June, we went to Platte to do some camping with Jeff and Samantha. We left Friday afternoon, and got there in time for supper, drinks and visiting. Elliott is super into Pokemon again, so he brought his Pokemon game along and spent a lot of time playing with that. Some of Jeff and Samantha's friends came over, and we enjoyed visiting, some games, and then we headed to bed. 

On Saturday, we all slept in, and then we cooked up some eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. Then, we headed out on the pontoon for some fishing. We had a great morning of fishing, even though it was really windy. We caught a lot of fish, but we only had 5 keepers. But, we all had fun. Elliott was the minnow man, and he kept everyone's hooks baited and he helped reel in some fish. Emma was the professional netter, and she netted every fish that needed netting. We spent a solid 3.5 hours on the river, ate lunch on the boat, and then came in. We cleaned fish, and then John, the kids and I went to the State Park to shower, which felt amazing. Then, the evening was filled with drinks, dice games, Pokemon, a lot of kids running around, football, frisbee, and more food. We had a great evening and all stayed up too late. 

On Sunday, we went fishing again. and we had a beautiful morning. We all really enjoyed our fishing outing, caught a lot of fish again, and had some keepers again. It was great. After the fishing, we came back, packed up and headed home. Both kids had a ton of fun and wanted to know if we could go back another weekend this summer. 

At home, we unpacked, made some very fresh fish tacos, and then relaxed and got ready for another week of work. It was a really nice weekend, beautiful weather, and good bonding time. 

Fishing

Emma and her net

Catching fish 

Pokemon

Birthday Girl