Memorial Day Weekend

Thank goodness my mom invested in this giant tube.  It provides entertainment for our kids in every season.

Little brothers are so pesky.

Some family members of a more athletic persuasion played a little softball. 

These two puddin' heads were the outfielders.

Spectating from box seats.

My family!  (Denna, Gordon, Carey, Cassie & Courtney)

Cassie & Gerrit (aren't they cute??  They dressed the same on purpose)

They surprised me and celebrated my birthday.  This is me thanking Courtney's family for the cute card, which I soon found out was also signed by Cassie & Gerrit...because Cassie was the one who actually bought the card and graciously let Court's fam sign it too since they forgot a card.  I was embarrassed.

We spent a morning playing at the beach in the middle of town.  It's the one we wouldn't have been caught dead at when we grew up there (all those dang tourists!), but now that we're tourists ourselves we totally love it!

Greg and Owen spent a lot of time on the dock.

Owen wanted to jump off, but Greg had to show him how it was done first.  Good form!

A little pep talk...

Lift off...

Nice spash...

They stuck the landing!

Camping

So sorry for the major delay, everyone.  My father-in-law tells me (every time I see him) that he's memorized the Simple Woman's Daybook, so I'd better post something new.  Here it is, Russ!

We went camping in May--the maiden voyage for summer 2010.  We started quite cool and rainy, but it turned out to be a beautiful weekend.

Checking out the fishing spots.

We hiked a pond trail and looked for frogs and turtles.   We didn't find any of those, but I did find a tick on my jeans.  I felt crawly the whole rest of the trip.

We did not catch one fish, though we tried more than once.

We did have some good food, though.

Black Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit for the day.

We checked out the nature center, and there we were able to spot tons of turtles sunning themselves on logs in the pond.  Maybe 20??

Sophie and Owen had fun playing with kids from the neighboring campsite. 

We hiked to the top of Mt. Tom.  "Mount" being a relative term considering we live in the Midwestern plains.

There we are in all our camping glory, at the top of Mt. Tom!